Crunching Numbers

I got a few e-mails from folks asking me how I decided my goal weight.  They  are saying that looking at my pictures I should be at goal. Well pictures don't tell the whole story, in fact there are a few factor that I considered when I determined my goal weight.

     1. BMI:   Body Mass Index which  is a number calculated from  my weight  divided by the square of my  height.  It provides a good indication of body fatness.  I know that  the BMI formula depends only upon weight and height, its assumptions about the distribution between lean mass and adipose tissue are not always exact.  But I have a  lot of  fatty tissues so I am unlikely to overestimates  body fat  unlike those with more lean body tissue. My goal is to be in the normal range of 18.5 -25.

2.  WAIST: Waist Circumference above 35( in women)  is associated with an increased risk for type 2 diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease when your BMI is between 25 and 34.9. To determine my waist circumference, I located my  upper hip bone and placed a measuring tape around my abdomen .I made sure that  not to push in my skin, then  took a breathe and measured my waist. .  I don't have  specific goal in mind just to be below 35.

 

3. LEGS: I want my legs to be muscular and shapely. So until they look the  way I want I will keep pushing forward. I carried a lot of my weight in my legs , so I need to burn that fat stored there.  See my leg idol on the right ----------------->

So I still have a few months to go in my journey and  if I have not complete my goals by July 20, 2011 I will keep going. In fact I will never stop this pursuit because this is a lifestyle change, nothing about this is temporary.

New Phase.

   So a friend completed a side by side photo of me and as you can see there is a huge difference. I am so pleased that all my hard work is visible to the world!!!!!!  When I look at these pictures both of which shock me. I am convinced that I made the right decision, when I decided to change my life. 

What a difference eight months make!! I have about three months left until my goal day and I am going through yet another transition. I have had to walk a fine line when it came to nutrition because I  have been exclusively breast feeding my son. He has a huge appetite and I  have  been eating an additional five hundred calories a day.  I made the personal decision to wean him and as of Thursday I will no longer need those  additional calories.

So I had to sit down and see where I was getting those calories from. I realized that I would add unnecessary snacks into my day to fill the gap.  Looking at my daily journals, I realized that it wont be that difficult to reduce my caloric intake. I am however  giving my self a week to adjust, I am reducing my calories daily instead of drastically. So a hundred a day until I am on a normal diet. 

So instead of ten  mini meals a day, I will go to six mini meals a day in a four day span. I did consult my doctor about reducing my caloric intake. She reminded me that my activity level is very high. So if I get hungry, I should  drink water first to see if it is thirst. If I am still hungry ten minutes later then I need to eat something  high in protein. Something that I did not think of and I love my doctor because through out this journey she has personally handled all of my phone calls. On a side note you too should be contacting your physician if you are starting any diet or excercise  program.

Poor Visibility

Usually when you hear the term visibility you think of meteorology.  I have been thinking more and more about my visible self. I think that we have the ability to make ourselves less visible to the world. We do this by hiding our smiles, wearing frumpy clothing or not engaging others. I am sure I can add several other things to the list. I think the point is that when you are unhappy with yourself you do things so that you feel others don’t see you.

It is a skill that I believe I mastered when I was unhappy with my appearance. I think that becoming visible is a complex process that one goes through. Part of the problem is that when you lose weight, it is hard for you to see your transformation. You have people that you love telling you on a daily basis how wonderful you look.  It is possible that when you look in the mirror you still see some things that you need to work on.

I think as we become more visible things change about you.  For example confidence:  I am more confident and I have a positive attitude that I think is contagious.  I am usually very cheery and I think that my students even see a difference in my attitude. I walk with my head high and smile all the time. So far I like being visible, I think when I am visible I can change the world. Becoming my visible self has allowed me to improve every aspect of my life.