A second new start...or...how Bob Harper kicked my butt

OK, so I'm (sorta) starting over (again). Today I picked a spot in the bathroom to keep the scale and I weighed in (first thing this morning). 245.5 lbs. I did it twice so even if I got two different numbers I could average and get one closest to my actual weight.

Then for breakfast I started with my SparkDiet - .75 cups fresh blueberries, 6 oz low fat strawberry yogurt, 8 oz coffee, 1 low-fat nutri-grain eggo waffle with a little peanut butter on top. I've never been much for eating actual blueberries, mainly just blueberry baked goods, but it wasn't bad. After the first few bites, I could close my eyes and I could really taste the berry, and it was nice. And the waffle with PB is awesome, esp if you wait a little while and let the PB warm up and melt into the crevices. I also don't feel hungry! Yum...

If I'm correct, coffee, tea, and water count as "water" every day (since they're calorie-free), and my goal is to take in 8 cups. I've had two so far, working on my third.

How have I gotten this much water in already? Well, I just finished a workout. I know! It's so early! I went into Sam's Club yesterday and got a pilates dvd with stretchy bands (LOVE pilates) and one of Bob Harper's dvds - The Biggest Loser: Cardio Max Weight-Loss. I can tell that by the time I get really good at this dvd, I'll have quads and glutes of steel. It involves a LOT of squats and lunges, jumping up from squatting, etc. It def got my heart rate going. There's a warm-up to it (5 min), then three options -

1. to start off with, just do the Bob Harper Cardio Max for 25 min (Level 1)

2. once you're good with that, step it up a notch with an extra 10 min long High-Intensity Cardio (Level 2)

3. wow, you're good with both of those? OK then hot-shot, add in a Level 3 High-Intensity Cardio for another 10 minutes.

Of course there's a 5 min cool-down too. At the moment, I'm good with the Level 1. I do think I may have to get some new shoes. The ones I have...they're more for the Body Pump class at the gym and not for all this squatting. By the end of it I wanted to roll my soles over a rolling pin.

There is a Maximum Results Program (haven't looked into that so I'll check that out another time) and a Music-only option if you know the movements and don't want someone stopping every so often to tell you/demonstrate what to do next.

I will say that I'm proud of myself.

Also that I need another sports bra cause with all the jumping the one I have is useless.

Now I keep track of all of this at SparkPeople.com. You get points too, and there are "trophies" to serve as another motivation tool. There are also options for you to track your goals, talk with others, recipes, articles, work-outs, a TON of stuff, and it is all, 100% free. Yes, you read that right - FREE. Lost your motivation for working out and want to get it back? There's a bulletin board for that. Have a tiny apartment and aren't sure what workouts you can do? There's a bulletin board for that.

And yes, want to track your progress on your iPhone? There's an ap for that.

The best part is that it's about a life-style change, so they start you off slowly. You'll get motivational emails suggesting small steps you can take, and there is a particular sequence to them so it's not random. They serve to help coach and guide you. This isn't a 100-m dash, this is an Iron Man, a Marathon. You wouldn't want your surgeon to be a first year college student would you? No. You want someone who has put in the work, who has been pushed and put through the wringer through college, medical school, and residency. The same goes for this. Don't take on too much for you to handle at a time and work yourself up.

Can't wait to be able to kick this dvd's butt.

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!