Q: Where is the safest place to be during a tornado? A: Browns Stadium, since nothing ever touches down there

In honour of the upcoming festivities this Sunday (and if you're not watching it, you're probably in medical school), I thought I'd start with a joke.

OK, so this is it. Time for honesty. Embarrassingly honest, honesty.

And some math.

To start off, I weighed myself this week. I honestly can't remember if it was on Monday or on Groundhog Day, but in order to know where you're going you have to know where you're starting. Even Garmin starts where you are and not once you leave your neighbourhood.

So the weight this week: 238.5

I know. Holy s%#$ right? I think that means I actually weigh more than most of the GUYS in my class, let alone the girls.

Here's the good news: I've bottomed out. I've pretty much stayed at this weight for years now, so that's the only silver lining. I even found some stuff from my college PE class where I was 3 pounds lighter, 3 years ago. It also said my BMI was 40 and my lean body mass was 151 lbs (meaning I'm 151 lbs of bone, muscle, water, and organ tissue [not extraneous fat]).

So now it's time for some math.

If you've ever wanted to know how to calculate your own BMI, here's the equation.

BMI = (your weight in pounds * 703) / (your height in inches squared)

or

BMI = (your weight in kg) / (your height in meters squared)

If you don't want to square your height, just divide it twice by the same number.

So for me: my BMI = (238.5 * 703) / (63) / (63) = 42.2

What does that mean? Well, it means I'm worse off than I thought. I thought I was in the 30's, but I literally just found out that I'm in the morbidly obese category. What makes things worse is that I'm not alone.

http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html#State

A guest lecturer showed us the content of the page listed above in a lecture on Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which I think really got the ball rolling for me. If you click on the link above, it will show you a graphic representation of how obesity has become rampant in the USA since 1987, state by state. It is a nationwide problem. It is also a family and personal problem for me.

Back to the math.

So what is a good BMI? Where should I be, and how much do I have to lose to get there?

The numbers once you get over a BMI of 30 are still somewhat under debate, but >30 is widely accepted as "obese". The lines below were taken from a lecture of mine.

• BMI Definitions
• BMI >30 is Obesity for all adult age groups (>18)
• BMI <>Underweight for all adult age groups (>18)
• BMI >18.5 to 24.9 is a Normal weight for all adult age groups (>18)
• BMI 24 to 29 is a Healthy wt for age (>65 year olds)
• BMI >25 to 29.9 is Overweight (18-64); BMI 29.1 to 29.9 is Overweight (>65)

OK, so if I am going to get to even the upper-limit of normal for me, that will be

BMI = 24.9 = (X * 703) / (63*63)

= (X * 703) / 3969

24.9 * 3969 = X * 703

92030.4 = X * 703

131 = X

I need to lose AT LEAST 105 pounds to be in the "normal" BMI range.

There are some problems with BMI. It doesn't take into account how much of your body mass is muscle. So a guy who's 200 pounds may not have excess fat, he may be Arnold Schwarzeneggar when he was in his prime.

For me, I'm going to aim for 130. I actually have pictures of me from high school when I was this weight (or close to it). What's sad is that at the time I was distraught. I would cry, thinking I was too fat. I wouldn't change in front of people. I would buy jeans a size too small because I was in denial, and because I didn't want to be ANOTHER size bigger than my friends. I was miserable, probably depressed, only now I look back and think I was beautiful. What's heart-breaking to me is that there are hundreds of other people out there who have either been in that same situation, or are feeling the same now.

You are not worthless. You are still beautiful. For once, when someone says "I know how you feel", trust me when I say that this time it's true. I do know how you feel.

You are not alone.

And one more thing...

Go Pack, Go!