In your face!

This whole "morbidly obese" thing has really been bothering me...  Seriously...  So, I decided to figure out just WTF all these numbers mean, and where they should be.  I mean, I know what BMI is.  I also know there are several means of calculation, and that many argue that a computation based solely on height and weight is ineffective.  The military uses a water displacement test because it takes into account things like muscle weight versus fat.  Obviously, that was not how my BMI was figured...

I'm 5'2" and weigh 145 pounds.  According to the National Institute of Health, that puts my BMI at 26.5  According to their guidelines, I am merely "overweight."  If you use 5'3" as my height (since that's what my OB measures me at), my BMI is 25.7, and I am still overweight, but by a smaller margin.  There is no calculator for BMI during pregnancy, so I don't know that my numbers would change or not.   

I can deal with being slightly overweight.  I had a friggin' disease that was destroying my organs and was on the brink of organ failure for my kidneys and my liver, for crying out loud!  Digestion was a joke for my body.  I stored all the wrong components of food, and could neither digest nor absorb all the right elements.  My body stored fat like crazy and exercise only made me dizzy because my red blood cells couldn't carry oxygen.  My body density was declining because I couldn't absorb calcium.  My body hurt all the time because it wasn't being nourished, despite all the hording going on.  When I did shed a few pounds, the metabolic process was so screwed that it caused even more things to shut down and I went into ketosis and put more strain on my kidneys.  There's something very wrong with that entire picture!  Knowing that I was able to go from 165-170 to 155-160 in just 3 months all because I removed gluten from my diet proves to me that there really wasn't anything I should have been doing differently aside from finally getting my diagnosis.  Was I overweight because of my own actions?  Yes.  Did I know that?  No.  As far as everyone else was concerned, I was eating exactly what I should have been - whole grains, fresh fruits and veggies, protein, good portions, and not eating too often.  It was inconceivable that I was still gaining weight!  It was the gluten that was killing me - just piling up in my intestines, creating more and more holes in my entire digestive tract, spilling more and more gluten into my blood stream, doing more and more damage to my red blood cells, my white count, and every other thing it came into contact with.  When I look at my old posts, and the readings my doctor gave me at the visit that led to my diagnosis, I wonder how I was still standing...  

So if I have to carry a few extra pounds around for a while, I guess that's okay.  After the baby, I know I will never get pregnant again, will breastfeed as long as the baby wants, will no longer be eating the very food that was killing me, and will be so busy running around with 3 kids that I won't have time to think about being overweight.  We already try to set a good example and have little to no junk food in the house, so losing the weight should be fairly easy...  And if it isn't, I know I'm too unhappy to just sit there, wallowing in my own misery. 

I'm not gonna walk around thinking, "Way to go, asshole!  You're obese and you're 24!"  I'm going to think, "You're temporarily obese and you can do something about that." 

So there stupid person who didn't know what the f*ck she was talking about at that office!  :-P

*Day 23: I am grateful for sunny days and kids who LOVE to play outside!

Comments

[dijea]

I'm only overweight, but not pregnant and have 27.7 BMI. I'm trying to lose it, but you know I blame it on a sedentary lifestyle that is rampant in the US. We need more outdoor and other activities instead of video games and TV.

Soapbox is now put away, looking for cookies. You are not overweight - you are pregnant. Worry about your BMI when you have a 6 month old.

[Kitty]

Dude all of those things are so subjective anyways. If you go by my height & weight, I would be considered "obese". However, several doctors I have talked to about this tell me that I am not obese at all, just overweight. There is so much more that factors into it. Sure, I weigh WAY more than I'd like to. But I am tall, I have a HUGE pelvis and hips, and am generally a large framed person. I have a lot of muscle on me as well, which makes my weight even more. I don't think I look obese at all. Granted, I still think I'm fat, but that's beside the point.

Anyways, the point of all of this is to tell you that I personally don't give a rats ass what the damn scale says. If you feel good and think you look good, then that's what matters. And you can't be too hard on yourself when you have a baby inside you. ;P