It's week 3 in my diet and below I tabulate the results. Tonight's discussion is on the BMI or Body Mass Index.
Welcome to my weekly Diet Diary. At the beginning of the new year, I started a Low Carb, High Protien (LCHP) diet. It's the Atkins version but there are many others. I'm chronicling my journey here. I both want to share my experience and hear from you as well as have an enduring record for future reference.
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Body Mass Index (
BMI) is
a metric based on height and weight that is used to classify people into Underweight, Normal, Overweight and Obese. The idea is that it is a reasonably unsophisticated measure that anyone can use on their own. If you have your height and weight you can calculate (or look up) your BMI.
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Formula |
Example |
Metric |
Weight (kg) / [height (m)]2 |
78.93 / 1.752 = 25.77 |
English |
Weight (lb) / [height (in)]2 x 703 |
(174 / 692) * 703 = 25.70 |
The formula is only applicable to adults over 20 years old. It is not meant to be very sophisticated accounting for every body type. It is meant to be useful for the average person: not a high performance athlete or body builder, not pregnant etc. If you find yourself in a special category, you can always use the more sophisticated percentage of body fat measure. What does the result mean? Here are the weight categories according to the BMI.
BMI |
Weight Status |
Below 18.5 |
Underweight |
18.5 - 24.9 |
Normal |
25.0 - 29.9 |
Overweight |
29.9 and above |
Obese |
In my last diary I mentioned that I had been up and down between high 160's to 180 the last few years. I've know about this BMI chart for a long time. But it didn't really sink in that for my height, anything over 168 is technically overweight. I've gotten to 170 a number of times and thought,
good enough! I should be aiming for at least 158 so that I have a ten pound buffer before going overweight. It's a lot easier to lose 10 pounds than 25.
For reference, I'm 5'9" and in my middle-late early 40s.
Week Summary
|
Total |
Week |
Start date |
12/31/2013 |
01/14/2014 |
Report date |
01/20/2013 |
01/20/2014 |
Days on Diet |
21 |
7 |
Start weight |
183 lbs. |
176 lbs. |
Current weight |
174 lbs. |
174lbs. |
Weight Lost |
9 lbs. |
2 lbs. |
Pounds per day Lost |
.43 |
.29 |
Daily Activity
Date |
Weight |
Exercise |
01/14/2014 |
175 |
45 min stair climber |
01/16/2014 |
174 |
30 min swim |
01/18/2014 |
174 |
30 min Stair Climber |
01/20/2014 |
174 |
30 min swim |
Note: I don't have a scale at home so I only have data for days I go to the gym which has a scale.
Analysis
I had thought after last week I had started a nice run but instead it's just a stubborn plateau. I'm counting the first five pounds I lost in the first week as water weight. That means three weeks into the diet I am only down 4 pounds of fat. I know there will be plateaus, there were last time I was on the diet. But they are hard to cope with. I just keep reminding myself that at least I'm not going up.
Other
I'm considering adding waist measurements. I might have plateaued this week on the scale but I did perform better on the tug test. The tug test is how hard I have to tug to button my pants. It's subjective but I know things are a bit more comfortable.
I also received my blood glucose meter which also measures ketones. I'll give it a test drive this weekend.
Last week's diary here.