Goal 2010.1: Reduce my weight and waist to double digits.

The perennial New Year's Resolution. But this time I mean it!

My weight at the moment is about 125kg which gives me a BMI of 36.5 and, because I am not a Californian Gubernator, that's not good. A 36.5 puts me in the `Obese' category with a `severe' risk of health consequences. The Australian government suggests that BMI isn't the best indicator for ill health and that waist size is a better measure. Well, my waist is in the 120cm range which is 20cm into the `substantially increased' risk range.

Hence, therefore, and in conclusion I have a goal in 2010 of reducing my weight (in kilograms) and waist (in centimetres) to double digits. A 99kg weight would give me a still overweight BMI of 28.9 but it drops to a merely `increased' risk of health consequences. A 99cm waist measurement is also an indicator of `increased' (instead of `substantially increased') risk.

To get into `healthy' ranges I'd need to drop to 85kg weight and 94cm waist. Of course, to be `healthy' is a long term goal (as is getting into more than half the clothes I own and having my wife not call me `gendut' anymore) but I'll shoot for the double digit targets as an initial goal.

How will I achieve my lofty ambitions? Well, I fall into the energy deficit camp of weight loss. One looses weight by expending more energy than one consumes. I've lost weight using this `method' at lease twice in the past. Once (when I was a younger and better looking Shaved Gorilla) I lost 20 kilograms over about two months during a summer break from University. I worked picking blueberries which basically involved six or seven hours per day of standing, bending, stretching, and walking. All very `low-impact' but repeat seven days per week for two months with no excessive eating and when I got back to University I was literally the focus of attention for a day or two.

According, once again, to the Australian government, a sedentary male, such as your humble, narrating Shaved Gorilla, requires 8,900 kJ energy intake per day to maintain a healthy weight. Thus, to reduce my weight I can consume less than this amount of energy and/or become less sedentary thus increasing the amount of energy required to `maintain' weight.

One gram of fat equates to 37kJ of energy. One kilogram of fat therefore equates to 37,000kJ. Making the (erroneous I am sure) assumption that an energy deficit is made up by burning fat stores, I need, over the course of 2010, to have a total energy deficit of at least 25kg X 37,000kJ = 925,000kJ ... almost a MEGA joule! Divide by 365 and I need an energy deficit of at least 2,534kJ per day to achieve my weight goal.

Maths is great and weight and waist measurements are nice ways to track progress but in reality I don't know enough about the physiology that makes my body tick and as a result I can only make an energy deficit target as a guide to weight loss. My body will lose weight as a side effect of the direct actions I take day to day. I can't directly control whether I'll loose weight but I can take actions to enhance the possibility of losing weight. Actions like pushing less food stuffs into my face hole and making sure the food stuffs that do enter that orifice are suitably nutritious. I can get off my fat arse and go for a walk on a regular basis. I can time how long it takes me to walk a certain distance and try to beat it on a subsequent walk. Walking the same distance faster expends more energy.

But, taking a deficit of 2,534kJ as a guide it means that if I want to maintain my sedentary lifestyle I need limit my energy intake to 8,900 - 2,534 = 6366kJ. I don't really want to remain sedentary and I don't think I can restrict my energy intake to 6,366kJ per day so I'm going to take regular exercise. weightloss.com.au reports that if I walk for 30 minutes at 5 km/hr I'll burn 7.37 kJ/kg * 125kg = 921.25kJ. Walk for an hour and I'll have expended 1850kJ. This coupled with a diet restricting my energy input to 8000kJ and I'll have achieved my daily energy deficit goal.

Easier typed than done however. My first task will be to examine what I eat and ascertain the amount of energy I am currently consuming.

I'll make a go of it and review and report weekly regarding whether I've been a good boy with my eating and exercise and provide a track of weight and waist measurement. If I'm really motivated I might take a photo per day and stitch it together at the end of the year.