This Is Hard For Me

Today is day 15 of the cleanse.

I am really enjoying the food challenge and the weight is beginning to come off too. Bonus!

I want to talk about BMI. I think most people know what it is, but if you aren't sure got to Wikipedia, it does a good job of explaining it.

Now I know I am overweight. There is no escaping that fact. I have been since I was a preadolescent. The reasons, although I suppose understandable, are nevertheless at this stage in my life, mainly irrelevant. By that I mean, the past is so far in the past that it is long past time for me to wiggle out from under the protection of the "I am damaged goods" umbrella, and face up to the fact that I need to take responsibility for my own health. I think the last thin picture of me was when I was about 7. If you take a look at my family you will see I am an anomaly. My family is, if anything under weight. My brother and I joke that there was a very unfair fat cell distribution between us, as in I got all of them and he got none. Now I do want to recognize right now that being underweight is also a serious issue and it is something he has batted with his whole life. I have talked to many "naturally thin" people and they have all said that they are astounded that it is considered rude and politically incorrect to comment on someone being over weight, but it seems perfectly acceptable to comment on someone being skinny. Read here for a little more on that subject. It is not okay to comment on peoples weight period. You have no idea what their struggles are and how they ended up where they are now. Nor do we know how they are trying to alter themselves. Not okay.

So back to BMI. Mine is 38.4 This is a number I am more uncomfortable with than my weight. In October, which is the last time I weighed myself I weighed 280 pounds, with a BMI of 40.2. Morbidly Obese or Obese Class III. Not 400 pounds, not 500 pounds, and still morbidly obese. *Deep Breath* Seriously? I have often felt fat, but I have never felt morbidly obese. I weighed myself a week into the cleanse and was at 270 pounds. Happiness is brief but still, 10 pounds lighter, I'll take it! This week I am down another 2 pounds. I haven't posted measurements since Feb 2010 - I'll do that this week too. So now my BMI is 38.4, which is condidered severely obese or obese class II.

Obese: Well above ones normal weight. A person has traditionally been considered to be obese if they are more than 20 percent over their ideal weight. That ideal weight must take into account the person's height, age, sex, and build.

So what is my normal weight? According to the BMI calculator I am using, it is 178 pounds. That is 90 more pounds. That is more than my daughter and son put together. I think I would be ecstatic to weigh in with a 1 as the first digit. Though for the moment as long as the number is getting smaller I am happy.