HeartlessNinny
Heartlessness is a virtue
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2005
- Posts
- 14,664
So HBO had a documentary on just how fat America has become, the health impacts, how it affects children, etc.
I didn't intend to watch all four hours of it so quickly but I was pretty entranced. Of course everyone knows that being fat is bad for you, but it turns out I had a lot to learn.
That of course made me think about my own health. These days I don't exercise that much. I don't snack, but my diet is probably fairly bad (though it's not nearly as bad as some of the folks they had on the doc). But as some of you know by now, I'm a pretty huge guy. As long as I've been alive I've been a goddamned titan. When I was born the thing they use to measure babies wasn't long enough for me. In grade 7, when the girls typically out grow the boys for a while, I was by far the biggest and tallest. Even now I'm usually the tallest guy in the room at 6'5". More to the point, though, I'm 300 pounds.
I'll readily admit that that's overweight. I don't pretend to be in the normal range. But according to the BMI, the scale they use to rate obesity and whatnot, I'm massively obese with a rating of 35.9.
I find that ridiculous. If I wanted to fall under the very top end of 'normal' on the scale (23.7, to be precise -- 24.9 and under would be normal) I'd have to lose one hundred pounds. And that's just to qualify for 'normal'.
What a crock of shit. Here, take a look at me. I think I may have posted this pic before but here it is anyway:
As you can see I've got a bit of a gut, but do I honestly look like someone who's a couple of steps away from being morbidly obese (40 on the BMI scale)? Come on. I don't think so.
The only thing I can think of is the fact that I probably won't live as long as a typical person because of my sheer mass. My heart has to work harder, plain and simple, so I'll probably be dead sooner.
I dunno. I've felt the need to shape up recently but this BMI thing really annoys me. Maybe it's my ego talking, but still. To be fair the doc says that losing 5-10% of your mass leads to significant health benefits, so you don't need to lose massive amounts of weight to get healthier. I figure that's something to keep in mind.
I didn't intend to watch all four hours of it so quickly but I was pretty entranced. Of course everyone knows that being fat is bad for you, but it turns out I had a lot to learn.
That of course made me think about my own health. These days I don't exercise that much. I don't snack, but my diet is probably fairly bad (though it's not nearly as bad as some of the folks they had on the doc). But as some of you know by now, I'm a pretty huge guy. As long as I've been alive I've been a goddamned titan. When I was born the thing they use to measure babies wasn't long enough for me. In grade 7, when the girls typically out grow the boys for a while, I was by far the biggest and tallest. Even now I'm usually the tallest guy in the room at 6'5". More to the point, though, I'm 300 pounds.
I'll readily admit that that's overweight. I don't pretend to be in the normal range. But according to the BMI, the scale they use to rate obesity and whatnot, I'm massively obese with a rating of 35.9.
I find that ridiculous. If I wanted to fall under the very top end of 'normal' on the scale (23.7, to be precise -- 24.9 and under would be normal) I'd have to lose one hundred pounds. And that's just to qualify for 'normal'.
What a crock of shit. Here, take a look at me. I think I may have posted this pic before but here it is anyway:
As you can see I've got a bit of a gut, but do I honestly look like someone who's a couple of steps away from being morbidly obese (40 on the BMI scale)? Come on. I don't think so.
The only thing I can think of is the fact that I probably won't live as long as a typical person because of my sheer mass. My heart has to work harder, plain and simple, so I'll probably be dead sooner.
I dunno. I've felt the need to shape up recently but this BMI thing really annoys me. Maybe it's my ego talking, but still. To be fair the doc says that losing 5-10% of your mass leads to significant health benefits, so you don't need to lose massive amounts of weight to get healthier. I figure that's something to keep in mind.
