BMI

Before beginning my exercise program, I needed to measure my starting point. The last time I remember stepping on a scale was after my first year of college. Most newcomers to college experience the ‘freshmen fifteen,’ the fifteen pounds that freshmen put on in their first academic year of higher education.

But I experienced a freshmen forty. September of 1999 when I moved into my dorm at SUNY Geneseo, I weighed 140 pounds. Nine months later I weighed 180 pounds.

Today, in England, my scale read out a small number in stones. After converting it to kilograms the number got larger. Finnally getting it into pounds it was larger still and I discovered that I weighed 212 pounds. I had crossed the 200 mark — by a lot — without knowing.

This shocked me.

I’ll admit to having a prejudice against fat people, a fattist, as I have been called, though like most people with prejudice I excuse those I know personally. My dislike of the obese lead me to create a chart showing obesity rates around the world. The chart’s data is based on a measurement called BMI: Body Mass Index. To calculate BMI you take your weight in kilograms and divide it by your height in meters squared. If you aren’t one for math and unit conversions, you can use a BMI calculator

With a mass of 96 kilograms and a height of 1.82 meters my BMI is 29. To my horror, this is one point away from obesity according to the BMI chart. I had smugly drawn a comic to mock fat Americans while unaware that I was almost one myself.

Time to put the donuts down and get my ass in the gym.