Halfway to Obese

This week I went to the doctor’s office to get a physical. My body mass index (BMI) is at 27.37 kg/m2. This puts me in the overweight category. Here’s my weight category breakdown:

  1. Healthy: 125-164 lb.
  2. Overweight: 165-197 lb.
  3. Obese: 198-263 lb.

I’m 5'8" and I weigh exactly 180 lb., which puts me right in the middle of the overweight category. Halfway to a healthy weight, and halfway to obese. This scares me.

I was at the top end of the healthy category in high school and likely through the first year of marriage. Then over the last 4 years I’ve creeped my way up to the middle of overweight. Based on those stats I could easily be at the bottom of the obese category within the next 4 years if I didn’t change anything.

I recently started working out regularly, and I’m aiming to increase the frequency of those workouts, but I don’t think that’s enough. I think I really need to change my eating habits too.

My goal is to drop 16 lb. in the next 4 months. That would put me right at the top of the healthy range. My doctor recommended a book called The Abs Diet, saying that though it has a cheesy title, it really does contain some good science. I just purchased it on amazon, and I’m going to give it all I’ve got.