My Journey From Obesity to Normal. First Stop: Stuck in Overweight!

Because of the long holiday weekend looming here in the U.S., I anticipate that today will be pretty slow. Therefore, it's a good time to record something personal and not offend my readers who may be looking for a "Mack Attack" such as the one I launched yesterday against Allergan, which I labeled an "unethical marketer and the the drug industry poster boy for off-label promotion" (see here). I guess most people started their vacations yesterday, because I didn't get any response to that attack.

Anyway, today I record here the first leg of my my journey from obesity to normal weight. The following chart shows my progress to date:

This chart was created by an iPad app that I am using to record my meals, weight and exercise history. The app is called "FatSecret." It syncs up with the FactSecret.com web site so that whenever I update data using the iPad, my Web account is also updated and vice versa. There's also a community, buddy system, etc. on the Web site, but I haven't used those social networking tools yet. That may change, however.

As you can see from this chart, I seem to be a bit stuck at my current weight of 191 lbs. My current body mass index (BMI) is 29.0. According to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute's BMI calculator, that puts me out of the obesity range (BMI greater than 30.0), but at the high end of the overweight range (BMI = 25 to 29.9). To get into the normal BMI range of 18.5 to 24.9, I will have to lose another 27 lbs!

Since I am halfway there, I can look at this as a glass half empty or half full. Right now I feel half full, I can tell you that!

My goal, however, is to reach 175 lbs by the New Year. I am using the Numbers app on my iPad to plot my goal each month against my actual weight:

I missed my "goal" this month by 1 lb! Actually, I have been resetting the goal based on past performance. In August I reset the goal for the beginning of September to be 190 lbs. That's an 11 lb drop from the goal I set at the beginning of August (you can see the graph dropped steeply). I now have set my monthly weight loss goal to be about 4 lbs, which I hope is more realistic and attainable.

If you have any ideas how I can keep on schedule -- including some good low calorie recipes/meals, etc. -- let me know.

To those of you who have called me an "ass" or worse, thanks for not prefacing it with "fat"! When I lose that additional 27 lbs, nobody will be able to legitimately call me fat. I may, however, still be an ass!