Are you obese? Calculate your BMI

Obesity is all around us, but most of us don't really know what obesity is. We see people all the time who we know are overweight, but we're cautious to refer to them as obese. That word's just got too heavy of a connotation (excuse the pun).

Well, according to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, obesity refers to having a BMI (Body Mass Index) greater than 30. Overweight is between 25 to 29.9 BMI. And Normal Weight is 18.5 to 24.9 BMI.

My current BMI is 37.6 - well into the obese range. But when I started this transformation, my BMI was somewhere around 56. So I feel good about my progress, but even as people are starting to call me "skinny" (yes, I know they're being nice), I still have a lot of work to do to simply become "overweight".

To calculate your BMI, you can use the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute's BMI calculator here: http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/.

September weigh-in: 285 lbs.

It's been a while since I posted, so I wanted to put out this quick update. I'm down to 285 pounds, which means I've lost about 8 pounds in the past month. Not bad I think considering I'm focusing on building muscle while maintaining my healthy, balanced diet. There's more I could be doing in the diet department if I were more intent on dropping weight fast, but as I've said in previous postings, that's not my primary objective.

I've been hitting the gym regularly still (about 4 to 5 days a week). I go mostly in the evenings, and after a late workout I usually drink some Casein protein before bed. This ups my caloric intake for the day, but these are good calories, and my weight loss is still steady and at the rate I expect.

Well, more to come. Gotta get to work!