Man, I don't want
to waste an entry on this. I was gonna do a nice big
entry when I hit my goal next month with a little
parody picture of this goofy thing from
2001:
It would only be
40 pounds lost this time - but it's still the same end
result. But no, I have to stop 10 pounds away from
this goal and hold a mirror up to everybody. Look at
this thread:
Props to Greg for
that pic - made me laugh. The thread at this point is
expected and didn't warrant an entry. But then it
continued...
You know, maybe
it's because I'm used to NO ONE reading The
Journey, but I don't remember this type of
judgement in 2001 when I was 150 (I'm 160 right
now). Judgement goes both ways, imagine the thread at
185?
"Careful!
You're gonna be as fat as me!"
"nice, but
I think you'd be looking ill with another 10
up"
"Too
fat."
"Is this a
Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull
thing?"
"10 more?
No way. You look great. More would be TOO
fat."
LOL - that's
actually really funny when you reverse it. And a lot
of the comments are indeed just a "poking fun" way of
congratulating me on the weight loss and
I did take them with a grain of salt.
Like, in this entry's video:
Clearly, several
of those comments are attached to legitimate "way to
go" comments and I just picked the ones that fit
the theme. But there's a bigger issue at hand and it's
really getting bad in this country...
I am
presently 5' 9.25" and getting shorter. :-) Like it or
not, your spine does indeed compress over time and
although I was once 5' 10", and for the past 10
years 5' 9.5"... Measuring now I've lost yet another
1/8 of an inch. Gravity is a bitch. LOL. And
truthfully, I probably never actually hit 5' 10"
20 years ago I just thought it sounded better.
:-) So here is the healthy BMI range for my
height:
Like it or not,
160 (though perfectly healthy) is on the high end of
the scale. My goal of 150 is not too thin. It's
pretty much dead-center on the healthy scale, with
"dead center" being 147.5. The BMI scale is a fairly
generous range taking into account your bone structure
and the only time it's "off" is if you're a
muscle-bound athlete. But do understand this:
muscle-bound athletes are indeed overweight. Shaq's
heart doesn't give a fuck that he was in the NBA. The
weight of his body is absolutely a strain on his
heart. He can do amazing things with his weight, but
so could Chris Farley. I don't lift weights. I do
push-ups for muscle tone, but I don't want bulk.
I want to be healthy. I want to have a low
fat percentage. Healthy fat percentage for a man my
age is 8% to 19%. I'm at 16% now, so on the high end
of healthy, but when I hit 150 pounds? I'll be
around 13%. Again, damn near DEAD CENTER.
The truth is,
though, pictures lie. Take this one, me at
170:
Does that guy look
20 pounds overweight to you? That's a 25 BMI and
20% body fat. Black kicks ass doesn't it. My face is
also lengthening in my old age and even my longer hair
adds to looking thin. But the truth behind that
picture? I am TWENTY POUNDS heavy. And don't for
a second think this is a "Hollywood" thing. If
I was trying to be actor thin? I would be
135 pounds. You sit in enough audition rooms and you
realize that REALLY quick. When I saw Shia
Lebouf at Coffee Bean a few years back and thought it
was a homeless man who hadn't eaten in a week
I understood that far too well. Thankfully
that's never been my game. This is about being healthy
for my kid and my family. Oh and on
THAT FUCKING TOPIC...
"hey
dude..most first time fathers gain sympathy weight
with their wives..."
This person didn't
come right out and say it, but I'm not naive to the
implication. I was aware of it the day
I started to lose weight: I'm selfish. Most
caring men gain sympathy weight which makes
your pregnant wife feel better. The truth is, Talya is
thrilled that I'm getting in shape. I have
serious food issues, Talya doesn't.
I gained 10 pounds in 2 weeks in April (180 to
190) and we both ate the SAME THING. My body
wants desperately to be heavy and if I didn't
start fighting it right now? We would be in a helluva
place once the baby is here. Talya is a pilates
instructor. Being healthy and fit is a part of how she
makes a living. Me being healthy while she tries to
get the baby weight off is going to mean
THE WORLD to her. I knew that. If
I was 190 when she was 3 months pregnant... can
you imagine what October would look like? Holy shit
guys. This is incredibly important to both of us and
for our child. And it's not an "attraction" thing.
I've been with every single body type in the world -
and "healthy" and "attractive" are not the same thing
to me. Adele is attractive, she is not healthy and
soome of the most unattractive women on the planet
have a healthy BMI...
...but nothing
beats the feeling of being active and healthy. And our
spectrum has moved in this country. All these
cries that the BMI scale is "outdated". Why, because 2
in 3 Americans are overweight? Because 1 in 3 are
OBESE? So now, me being on the high end of
"healthy" and wanting to be in the middle of
"healthy" makes me too thin? (sigh). I truly do
fear for the next 20-30 years. Michelle Obama tries to
help kids get more fit and she gets bullied from the
right because she's "telling people what to do" and
infringing on their "freedom". Uhm, ya know what
infringes on your freedom? 50 extra pounds. Yeah, how
dare the government demand restaurants provide
calories. Information. God Forbid.
Anyway, don't want
to get political, I did that last entry, I just wanted
to tell everyone to calm the fuck down. In about a
month I will get butt naked and show you all that
I am in no way too thin. Underweight people can't
do the amount of push-ups I can do.
