This week's weigh in shows I am just one more pound away from reaching a whole stone! I've also lost another inch from my waist, which is super - my total inches loss is now 5.5. This means today's weigh in put me at 11st 4lbs and a 31.5 inch waist. My BMI is now 26.2 - slowly creeping towards the healthy range, which begins at 25 so I'm quite pleased about that. My waist measurement has just hit the magic 31.5, which is the top end of healthy - phew!
I think it goes to show how warped our perception is when it comes to being a healthy weight - or perhaps just mine. I would now consider myself a normal size; though I can see where I'm still carrying too much fat I don't feel like a 'fat person' anymore. However, judging by my BMI I'm still medically overweight. We've now become so used to high weights that we don't see it anymore unless someone is really obese.
I hope that my blog has shown that you don't need to be the size of a Biggest Loser contestant to be putting your health at risk, and equally you don't need to lose an enormous amount of weight to cut your risks of developing health problems. A recent BBC article said the NHS was backing the idea put forward by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellent (NICE), that people should 'lose a little, keep it off' - losing just 3% of your body weight, which is likely to be just a few pounds. Put into context this would have been 5lbs for me at the start of my Fat Ass blog. NICE claim that just this small loss would help reduce blood pressure as well as the risk of type 2 diabetes and some cancers.
The NHS reports on a 2013 study of the nation's obesity crisis goes further by saying that the UK is the "fat man of Europe" and it's scary to see that the NHS statistics back it up. Did you know that 1 in 4 UK adults are now classified as obese (BMI 30+), and 2 in 3 adults are obese or overweight (BMI 25+)? They're shocking statistics and the forecast is equally so - more than 50% of adults could be obese by 2050! Imagine the disease that could be avoided if we all lost a little weight - the strain on the NHS must be enormous. In fact, obesity has been blamed for 30,000 deaths per year with 9,000 of those being people younger than retirement age. Having a BMI of 30-35 has been found to reduce life expectancy by three years; having a BMI of 40+ could take up to ten years off of your life - you may as well have taken up smoking for your whole life.
We all expect the best treatment from the NHS when we find out we're unwell - but are we really doing anything to help ourselves? Not everyone will be able to get themselves below the magic '25' BMI number, we are all different shapes and sizes and no one is perfect, but perhaps we could all lose 3% if we needed to? I challenge you to lose 3% if you need to - let me know how it goes.
My favourite quote from the NHS article, which really sums it up:
'"People don't choose to be obese," says Professor Jebb. "It just happens for a number of reasons... We've all got the potential to be far. In the environment we live in, it's easy to overeat and be less active. Some people need to work harder than others at keeping weight gain in check."'
Nobody (except Homer Simpson in his moo-moo episode) wakes up one morning and thinks to themselves, "Hmmm, I fancy being obese and putting my health at risk", but I'm sure plenty of people (like me) wake up and think, "What the hell happened!!"
Finally, now I've scared you all silly, the Race for Life is on Tuesday and I'm just £15 away from my target. If you'd like to you can sponsor me on my Just Giving page - and thanks to all those who already have, whether online or in person. Dig deep people :-)
Finally, finally - I found my 'before' photos the other day and they're horrendous. I decided that once I have some decent 'after' photos they can all go on the blog - NO SHAME!
