BMI

So you walk into the doctor's office and the first thing they do is get you on the scale. You think to yourself holy crap, I should not have eaten that donut this morning or maybe I should have worn clothes that were not so heavy. The scale is not going to be in my favor and then I am going to have the reign of fear put in me by my doctor. Those are some perfectly logical thought processes that everyone goes through when stepping on the dreaded scale. Then the doctor stands there and moves the bars over until he finds the correct reading of first the hundreds and then tens when the balance beam stops leaning to one side. Hop off and then you are on the way to sitting and listening to the lecture ensue.



One of the first things the doctor looks at is where your weight and height measures on the Body Mass Index chart. Then from there, he/she tells you what category you have been thrown into based on those two things that are used across the world regardless of your body-type, muscle mass, or body composition. So in essence, it is a useless chart that doctors use to try and make you feel like crap and it works nine times out of ten. 

I think it is important for a person to note that there are actually six different levels to a BMI chart as opposed to the four that are normally shown.

• Underweight: 16.5-18.5
• Normal: 18.5-25
• Overweight: 25-30
• Obese Class 1: 30-35
• Obese Class 2: 35-40
• Obese Class 3: < 40

Of course you want to try and stay in the normal range but these days, staying in the normal range is very tough and often not doable because that is how a person can begin to look anorexic or sickly. My friend is about the same height as I am and looks like she is of normal weight but because she is 2 lbs heavier than she should be she is classified as Overweight. Imagine going in to the doctors office and hearing that you are in that category because of two measly pounds!

I am sharing all of this with you because with my being under 200 lbs now, I have decided to focus on the number on the scale and the BMI chart. Not because I think it is the best way of measuring what I should be at but because it is another way to track where I have been and where I am in my journey at that particular moment in time. It also helps to remind myself that my journey is not over and although I may look good and people tell me I do not need to lose any more weight, in reality I do because I need to get down to where I feel comfortable and a weight that is medically acceptable. 

The picture to the right is one that I have on the backside of my bedroom door. When I wake up in the morning, and go to open the door, I see this every day and have a constant reminder of where I have been and where I am going. This part of my journey is all logic and that is where the BMI scale comes in. For me, it is logic. I started my journey last year at a BMI of 41.6 and sitting in the Obese Class 3. As of yesterday morning, my BMI was 31.5 and I now sit comfortably in the Obese Class 1. If you are not a math person, that means I have dropped 10.1 BMI points within the last year and two categories. I think that is pretty impressive for anyone. 

So the next time I make a trip to the doctor and I am being read the riot act for being in the obese category for BMI, I will just nod and smile. I know where I have been and where I am headed. This girl has a lot of work to do that the scale could not tell the doctor even if it wanted to. It could not tell the tale of a girl who started out at a BMI of a 41.6 or of having such determination and focus that said doctor is only meeting me in the middle of my journey, no where close to being finished. But it is okay, because one day very soon I will no longer be one of those obese statistics that everyone cringes over. I will be overweight and then "normal" and proud of the hard work and the long journey it took me to get there.

☺Ashley☺