Body, Or Boloney, Mass Index (BMI)

I had my yearly blood draw and body measurements done today. My company provides this program, which if taken, entitles you to a discount on health insurance premiums. Since I work out of my home a nurse is sent to the house. My blood pressure was in the usual range for me, 100/80. My pulse was 60. So nothing unusual there. My weight was 200 lbs. so I've still heading in the right direction having lost 22 lbs. from my late 2009 high of 222 lbs.

But its a little disheartening when you plug all the numbers into the BMI measurement formula and realize that you fall into the overweight category. According to the formula my BMI is 25.67, which puts me about a 1/3 of the way into overweight. In order to be at the top of the normal range I'd have to drop to 186 lbs. The normal range for someone my height, 74", is 148-186 lbs. I'm sorry but if I weighed 148 lbs people would be rushing me to the hospital.

I must acknowledge that in my prime fitness years, 25-35, when I was running 40-50 miles a week, doing step aerobics 3x week and playing basketball 2x week I was in the 180-185 lb. range. For a while when I was training real hard for 5 and 10Ks I even slipped down below 180 lbs. on occasion. My wife said I had the build of Abraham Lincoln during my thinnest days. Not a look I was going for, but I could run all day long.

I definitely have a weight goal in the <= 190 lbs. range. But I'm doing a lot more weight and resistance training now then when I was younger so I know I can't, and probably should not, get down to the weight I once was. I've gone through several weight loss/gain cycles since I was 35 and 200 lbs. always seemed to be the bottom rung as I varied between that and 220 lbs. Getting down into the 190's, and staying there, will definitely be a victory for me. But I won't be using the BMI as my scale for success or failure.

Smoke On The Water

As a teen one of my favorite 70's songs was Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water". I was reminded of this song while watching the HBO documentary "GasLand" and I have to say that, while I'm not normally one to react to this type of show, this film really bothered me. What other reaction could one have when you see kitchen tap water set ablaze?

What are we, as a country, allowing corporations and the chase for the almighty dollar do to our future and the heritage handed to our children. The natural gas companies are currently ripping up North Texas. How can we be sure what results when chemical fracking is destroying the natural division of our underground resources? This could make the Gulf oil spill look like a Greenpeace project.

It would be considered a crime if any other company injected solvents into aquifers like this. But in 2005 clear air and water acts were deliberately overridden to allow companies to do this. If Americans don't wake up and regulate business to save the environment, our children won't be able to live in this country. Is corporate America sociopathic in pursuit of the next quarter's bottom line?

How long will it be before we have "Fire in the sky"?

'Gasland' Documentary Shows Water That Burns, Toxic Effects Of Natural Gas Drilling

2010 East Texas Major Zone

2010 East Texas MZ (Part 1)



2010 East Texas MZ (Part 2)