Goals

As I already detailed in my introductory post, I’m 6′2” tall and currently weigh 280 pounds. This gives me a BMI of 35.95, putting me squarely into “obese” territory.

Playing around with the numbers a bit, I need to get down to 233 just to hit the “overweight” range, and then all the way down to 194 to reach the “normal” range. I realize that BMI is not a perfect way of calculating your overall health, but it gives you a pretty good idea of where you’re at in terms of weight. And in this case, I’m going to use these 2 numbers to set my weight loss goals.

So my first goal is to get down to 233 pounds, dropping me below the “obese” range. I have to lose 47 pounds to get there, and if I really put my mind to it and stick with this, I think I can lose an average of 2 pounds per week. Especially near the beginning of this process, when I have the most excess weight to get rid of, this should be pretty reasonable. As I move forward and begin losing the “low hanging fruit” of my excess weight, things will likely slow down and I may have to scale my estimates back to 1 pound per week. But for now, at the 2 pounds per week rate, I should be able to lose 47 pounds in 24 weeks, giving me my first goal:

Goal #1: 233 lbs. by June 18, 2010

This first goal will get me out of “obese” territory, but what I’d really like to do is get myself to a normal, healthy weight. According to the BMI scale, I need to get down to 194 pounds to make that happen. That means losing another 39 pounds past my initial goal. I hope to keep up the 2 pounds per week loss rate, which means I should be able to lose those 39 pounds in 20 weeks. This gives me my second goal:

Goal #2: 194 lbs. by November 5, 2010