BMI and my quest for my college body

I just calculated my BMI this morning and it came out to 27.4 which puts me smack dab in the middle of overweight according to the guidelines. I currently weigh a 180 pounds at 5’8”and that isn't the most I have weighed. I once hit 196 post knee surgery and recuperative two month carb fest.

Sadly I am overweight. Based on the calculations I should weigh 163 pound to squeeze into the normal category. The last time I weighed that was in college in 1982 and I was in my twenties. I was playing college hockey and on the ice about two hours a day. I also weighed in the 160’s in high school.  When I weight lift I usually weigh in the mid 170’s. I am conflicted because I feel great and looked great at 175 pounds but that still puts me in the overweight category. I am also ravenously hungry at 175 pounds.

It got me thinking that maybe 175 pounds was too much for me and I did not have to carry all that extra muscle and feed that extra muscle and lighten the load on my knees. For every extra pound you weigh it amounts to an extra leg load of five pounds when walking, running and hiking. That means 20 pounds is an extra 100 pounds on my knees. I can do without that. I imagine that most adults could lose about twenty pounds or more. My personal benefit is that I love to hike and I would love to save my knees for a few more years.

So I plan on getting to 24.8 BMI in eight weeks. That would require me to go from 180 to 163 and lose 17 pounds. Basically in order to drop my BMI 9% I have to drop my weight 9% and lose a little over two pounds a week. So here is my strategy:

1.     Eliminate Sugar: This will help me drop the first 10 pounds within two-three weeks.

2.     60 minutes of cardio which I truly hate. To make it more palatable I will ride the stationary bike if I watch TV and hit the StairMaster while watching a TED Talk. The Ted Talks are great as they average around 15 minutes.

3.     Daily: Air Squats building up to 150 a day (50 three time a day). 25 Push ups building up to 100 (25 three times a day). I have to be careful when I lift weights as I tend to gain muscle mass and stagnate on the weight loss.

4.     Go low carbs, medium protein and high fat. This provides the greatest satiety and prevents binging.

5.     Reduce stress with prayer and mindful meditation. Reduce my cortisol and cravings.

6.     Get 7-8 hours of sleep. Again reduce cortisol and carb binging.