My Story, Part Nineteen
Creaky. That’s how I feel when I’m rolling out of bed. I would like to say that things were better when I was younger, but realistically, I don’t remember ever not being creaky, back to high school. I’m sure it had everything to do with being heavy.
I was far from the most athletic kid. Yes, I played some sports, sometimes even organized, like basketball, but I was more likely to be the last kid picked when sides were chosen than not.
I started cycling in college, not so much as exercise (although I did think about it) as much as transportation. I had a job that was off campus, about two miles away and starting 1/2 hour after my last class. The parking situation at my university was horrible and the walk to my car alone would take a half hour, so instead, I decided it was time to try a different route.
I discovered that I liked cycling; I liked the practicality and the speed, and I came to like the challenge. One of my friends (in much better shape than I was) also started to ride, and he was more interested in road cycling than I was (in my early days, I rode a mountain bike).
But when college ended, I got less interested in cycling–and my weight went back up. I’m not sure how much I weighed in the undergraduate cycling days, but I know when I started my current job I weighed in at 235 (and of course, we’ve already documented my high of 265). Did I hurt? You bet. Fortunately, I never had a serious injury in any of my joints, but when I was heavy, it sure wasn’t easy. When I picked it up again, cycling wasn’t awful, but it was a lot harder to ride up a hill, and running was about out of the question.
While weight gets the headlines, it’s not the whole story. Weight is a flawed measure–muscle weighs more than body fat–but it’s also an easy measure that’s cheap and quick to get. A little more advanced (but since it’s dependent on weight, still flawed) is body mass index, or BMI. It takes into account your height and weight (but surprisingly, not your gender) to determine if you’re underweight, normal weight, overweight, or obese. There are many BMI calculators on the Web; I use this one. Body fat would likely be the best indicator, but it’s not easy to measure–yes, there are scales that do so, and I have one, but I find the consumer grade ones maddeningly inconsistent.
At 265, I had a BMI of 38, clearly in the 30+ category meaning obese. At 185, I’m at 26.5, which is still in the overweight category, but approaching normal weight. If I can ever get to my goal weight of 165, I would have a BMI of 23.7, which would be just into the normal weight category (18.5-24.9).
For me, it’s easier to have a goal weight than a goal BMI, but the best goal is to not feel so creaky on cold mornings. I’m still not great, but I am better, and I’m hoping as I continue to make my way through this journey I can one day say I’m at a “normal” weight–and not creaky when I wake up.
June 1st, 2009 at 4:04 am
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