17 Nov
Moving the Goalpost
For most of 2007 I have set a goal for weightloss that I confessed here and ‘in the real world’ was wildly random. I came up with the 196 lb. goal by simply starting with my weight last December (392 lbs.) and cutting it in half. When I would tell people that I know; family, my doctor, the Weight Watchers staff, etc. this number they would voice some skepticism. I felt that this was the typical family response of, ‘yeah right’ and dismissed it with an ‘I’ll show them’ attitude.
With 70+ lbs gone, I rewarded myself with the purchase of a fancy digital scale that also reads my bodyfat% using bioelectrical impedance. You don’t know how big of a deal this is. I avoided scales like the plague for 20 years. Generally the only place I would encounter scales were at the doctor’s office or at the various diet groups I would committ myself to, but to buy one? Never!
Since I purchased this scale, my weight has fluctuated a bit, but my bodyfat% has steadily gone down (thats a good thing), from 39% to 37%. Using that number, I have 118 lbs of
FAT on my body! According to this site, that is the size of an average 20 year-old male! I seriously doubt that. What did they do, measure 5′5″ pipsqueaks? Most 20 year-olds I know are 180-200 lbs.
Anyway, (present weight) 320 lbs (minus) 118 lbs of fat, brings me to a lean body weight of 202 lbs! Since I KNOW that no one can get to 0% bodyfat, how can I get to 196 lbs? I would MUCH rather be a beefy Eastern Oregonian.
So let it be known (and reflected on my weightloss goals page) that my NEW GOAL is … 230 lbs!
That number is only 90 lbs away and I am hitting the iron 3x/week (on average), so it may get tweaked. Let’s assume that my lean body mass stays around 200 lbs. Weighing 230lbs would give me a 15% bodyfat reading.
Not bad.
But the funny thing, according to the government, I would still be obese with a BMI of 30.3!







Posted by Lady Rose on 17.11.07 at 10:31 am
Your scale sounds very cool I may just have to get one like it - and I think the body fat percentage is a much healthy number to go by. So don’t worry about the bmi guide - it is a guideline only and doesn’t apply to every one.
Posted by Kimberly on 17.11.07 at 10:31 am
What I find funny about the BMI guidelines that are currently in use is the fact that most body builders are considered obese because of the weight of muscle that they have. Seems to me that those guidelines need to be rethought and redone somewhere along the lines.