38.6

According to the National Heart and Lung Institute, I started the year at a Body Mass Index of 38.6. This puts me in Obesity Class II and once again firms my resolve to get back on the weight loss track. Whilst in London, I had lost three stone (by their reckoning… a stone is 14 pounds. By our reckoning, I lost a total of 44.6 pounds.) before I went on holiday with my friends to South Africa.

That was three weeks of too much fun, too much food, too much beer and too little moderation. In a highly unhealthy yo-yo to my weight, by the time I made it home to Lakewood, I had gained nearly 30 pounds! That's about 7 pounds per week! It had to stop.

Glad to say that I had I have gotten the diet back on track and as of this morning's weigh in my BMI is 36.5 and I am headed in the right direction. Using my treadmill regularly, doing some resistance training, and regularly walking with Saga in the park is a big part of that. A more sensible diet and the lack of almost any beer is another.

I say almost because I was given a few bottles of a very nice British ale by my friends Terry and Angie a couple years ago when it appeared that I was going to be leaving London for good. (before the five-week trip became a two-year stint…) I finished the last bottle of that ale last night. I had been rationing them. Now that you can no-longer carry liquids on planes, I have no idea how I am going to get my fix of ale. (…but perhaps that is a good thing!)

Wherever you are today, I hope that you're having a great day!

Don Bergquist - January 15, 2008 - Lakewood, Colorado, USA


To calculate your BMI:

Take your weight in pounds, Divide it by your height in inches squared, multiply the result by 703.