Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Hooray! I'm Overweight


When I looked at the photographs my colleague took today I didn’t recognize the guy in the pictures, and it was me. Today I weighed in at the fitness center and found that I have lost a total of 41.25 pounds since January 3, 2007. My body mass index (BMI) is now 29.9 so, I am no longer obese; I am officially overweight. I reached my previous goal of losing forty pounds last week; my next goal was to become overweight. Today I reached that goal. As promised I am posting the new photographs. Previously I posted several before pictures. I am fourteen pounds away from my next goal, to become normal according to the pre-1998 BMI. That was the year they lowered the BMI normal rating from 27.4 to 25 and reclassified 30 million Americans as overweight. I don’t buy it for people who exercise. The BMI was designed for a sedentary population and I work out 3-4 days per week. Muscle weighs more than fat, you do the math.

When I looked at the photographs today, I literally didn’t recognize the guy in them. Sure, he was familiar, but he wasn’t the person I see in the mirror every day. This may take some time to get used to. I wonder why everybody else can see it when I can’t. I still see the fat 57 year-old man I became so comfortable with. I bought three new pairs of slacks when the trousers I was wearing became unbearable; that should have given me a clue. I’m on my second belt and when I wear a large T shirt, it is looser than the extra large ones I used to wear. I guess I will have to get used to the new me because if I don’t, the cognitive dissonance between my actual size and my perception could be my undoing causing me to go back to the old size my head is more comfortable with. I’m not going to let that happen.

Here is my recap from yesterday.

Daily Dietary Recap-5/1/2007
Calories Protein Carbohydrates SodiumFat % Calories from Fat
1190.5 45.65 g 205.74 g1309.5 mg 17.05 g 12.89%

2 comments:

david mcmahon said...

You're an inspiration, Joel,

Cheers

David

Unknown said...

Way to go Joel. That's quite an accomplishment. Maybe your mirror is bent. You look pretty lean to me.

Murphy