BMI-TMI?

After all this training at the gym I was curious what my BMI (Body Mass Index) was.  At my heaviest I was considered obese with a BMI of 32. I was so stoked to just get down to overweight a few years ago.  Now, 50 pounds from my heaviest, I'm still in the overweight category with a BMI of 27.  That's frustrating.

 

However, there might be some light at the end of the tunnel: I'm only 14 pounds away from a normal weight.  Just 14 pounds!  That gets me very motivated to stick with this and so do all the risk factors associated with being overweight/obese.

 

Since most of the following things run in my family, even for skinny relatives, it gets me very concerned:

• Coronary heart disease (Dad just had his first heart attack in February)
• Type 2 diabetes (Great uncle)
• Cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon) (They found cancer on Dad's kidneys)
• Hypertension (high blood pressure) (Dad, both grandmothers)
• Dyslipidemia (for example, high total cholesterol or high levels of triglycerides) (My triglyceride levels are already on the rise according to my last round of blood work)
• Stroke (both grandfatehrs had multiple strokes)
• Liver and Gallbladder disease
• Sleep apnea and respiratory problems
• Osteoarthritis (a degeneration of cartilage and its underlying bone within a joint)
• Gynecological problems (abnormal menses, infertility) (I was diagnosed with PCOS at the age of 16)

(http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/effects/index.html)

 

And I don't say all that to be a Debbie Downer, but instead to rejoice in how far I've come to try and keep myself healthy!  I know I'll still have to worry about these things even if I get all the weight off, but that will be at least one less thing on my plate--no pun intended.

I want to age beautifully and gracefully and stick around a hell of a long time. 

So 14 pounds?   I can start with that.