Thursday, August 16, 2001

Fitness Update - 200 lbs (BMI 26.4)

Woo hoo! I was estatic when I stepped on the scale and saw all of those zeros after 9 months of effort. I'm still continuing to gradually drop weight at a rate of 0.00 to 1.00 pounds per week; primarily because I've changed my diet to be more healthy in the past year and I've tried to be more active physically. Sure, it would be nice to lose all of the weight overnight, but then I'd be at risk of bounce-back and end up weighing more than when I started, so losing a pound or three per month is just fine. (Back when I started, I dropped almost 2 pounds per week for a full two months before I plateued for about 3 months with hardly any weight loss.)

WeightFocus Weight Loss Strategies Focus -- Setting Reasonable Weight Loss Goals discusses a study that they undertook in regards to how patients set goals and how satisfied they were with the results.

Back when I started reading up on what my ideal weight was, I was classified as obese (but was in denial about it) at 232 lbs and my BMI was 30.6. According to various charts, my ideal weight is somewhere around 162-182 lbs, which was 50-70 lbs less then what I weighed at the start. So in order to meet those standards, I would have to lose 21-30% of my weight (that's a lot of weight to lose).

Their study indicates that people who focused on their goal weight were much less satisfied with the results if they only made it part way then those who focused on the amount of weight actually lost (and who didn't pay much attention to a goal weight). I sorta figured this when I started, so I made a bunch of mini-goals that weren't as focused on weight. If I remember right, my goals were:

- lose 40-60 lbs (but I'd be content with whatever I lost or with slow improvement)
- get aerobically fit (my at rest pulse was in the mid-80s)
- lower my blood pressure (134/82 was too high for my liking)
- be more active and feel more energetic (a way to manage feelings of depression about my body image)
- lose the spare tire (this goal was more important then the weight loss, after all if I put on muscle mass and lost the fat around the middle I might weigh more then when I started)
- learn to eat better (I wasn't good at keeping an even blood sugar level through the day)
- avoid adult onset diabeties (I figured I was a prime candidate if I didn't lose the weight, even without a family history of the disease)

(A lot of these goals are discussed in WeightFocus Demystifying Weight Focus -- Self-Esteem and Weight: The Positive "Weigh"; an article that I did not read back when I set my goals.)

posted by Wuphon's at 7:10 AM