You must keep your body mass index (BMI) between 18.5 and 24.9.   If
your BMI is above 35.0, you are officially obese. Your likelihood to
develop hypertension, diabetes, and all the complications thereof is
multiplied by TWENTY.

Between 25.0 and 34.9, you are only overweight, that means your
prognosis is better. But at any BMI above 25.0, you will be at higher
risk of having to contend with gallstones, high cholesterol,
hypertension, colon cancer, heart diseases, sleep apnea, and stroke.

This is according a 10-year follow-up study published in the July 9,
2001 edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

This basically means if you are fat, you will probably lead a
miserable life after 40-50, of which losing a limb to amputation and
suffering from sexual impotence are not the worse features.  We will
not talk about your premature death and your absence at your children
college graduation; media bashing of fatness will prevent anyone to
date you, let alone to have kids with you.

The way to avert these woes is to keep a close eye (two close eyes)
on your BMI. Calculate your BMI is henceforth your focus.

BMI is your weight in kilograms divided by the square of your height
in meters.   Since you are unlikely to tell me the whole truth,
nothing but the truth, about your true weight and height, I will use
my personal measurements.  I am 6’6”tall and weigh 170 lb of hard and
bulging muscles (I won’t count the square chin).  I will first need
to convert my height in meters, and my weight in kilograms.

For height: 1foot is 12 inches and 1 inch is 2.54 cm (we will use
2.5).  So, my height in inches is (6 x 12)  + 6.  The total is 72 in.
+ 6 in = 78 in.  In centimeters: 78 x 2.5 = 195 cm, that is 1.95
meter.

The formula involves, not the height, but the square of the height.
As you know very well (hmmm!) the square of 1.95 is 3.8.

For weight: 1 lb is 0.45 kilogram (a kilo being 2.2 lb).  Therefore
my weight is 170 x 0.45 = 76.5 kilos.

Plugging the numbers into the formula, my BMI is 76.5/3.8 = 20.1.
Right where it should be.

If your BMI is above 25.0, you need to lose weight, and you must
start yesterday.  No weight loss diet is better than the next.  The
trick is to burn more calories than you take in.  The best way to do
it is to eat only three meals a day, decrease the size of your
portions, drop juice and sodas, avoid snacking, walk up the stairs
every time you can, and stroll leisurely around your block for 30 to
45 minutes every day. Simple, isn’t it?

You can also use the Al Sharpton method.  Go protest on the Puerto-
Rican island of Vieques.  Cop 90 days in jail.  Observe a 30-day
hunger strike.  Leave jail cell 30 lb lighter. Whatever works for
you...

(OdlerRobert Jeanlouie, Wednesday, August 29, 2001)