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.

Step 1: Joining the Gym

Now that my wife-to-be decided that change needed to happen, how to start getting in shape after a winter of slothfulness? My usual fitness tool, my bike, needed repairs after six months on the porch exposed to the elements. It did not occur to me when I stored it for the season that bike + rain + time = rust. I regarded the rust as a cosmetic problem but learned this was not the case. My bike doctor diagnosed that my bike needed an everything transplant — from the chain to the gears to the breaks — to keep it alive. Total estimated cost: £200. That amount of money gave me pause and I thought about better uses for it. I had a month until the wedding and I would need to use the bike as much as possible if I expected to see results.

However, this year summer has not happened. It’s been the rainiest June on record in London since records began. This did not bode well for regular exercise. While I know I should still go out in the rain on my bike, I don’t. I tried cycling in the rain last Autumn. It did not go well. I skidded, went over the handle bars, hit my head, blanked out, pulled something painful out of the bloodly mess that was my elbow that I later learned was my tendon, then stumbled home for six kilometers.

Now I stay in when it rains.

Instead of reviving the bike I directed the funds toward a gym membership. I’ve tried in the past to join a gym but after a short time gave it up. I learned from my past mistakes that only one thing matters about gyms: location. If a gym takes any effort to get to, you won’t go. Luckily for me there is a gym across the street.

I paid my £70 one-month-no-contract membership, had a buff man named Gavin show we how to use the equipment to appease the Gods of health-and-safety, and I’m ready to start.

August 2007 Goal: Get in Shape for my Wedding

Some time ago, my girlfriend and I were discussing the seriousness of our relationship and we decided to get married. We fully settled the deal about a month ago with plans to marry one month from now.

On a recent morning, my suddenly-fiancee and I lay in bed, discussing plans and our future lives together when she gently reached over and pinched my chest.

“Oh my,” she said. “You’re developing quite a pair of man-boobs there.”

I objected, but knew that she was correct. Over the past year I have become more sedentary and slowly put on weight.

“You really need to do something about those.”

And so it was. We are to be married at the beginning of August, which gives me this month’s goal: 30 days to get in shape for my wedding. As always, suggestions welcome.