Is There A Thin Me?

Is there a thin me?

Before I get into the thick of it, the facts.

I am 5 feet, 10 and one-half inches tall (1.79 meters). I weigh about 178 lbs (80.9 kgs). According to the CDC website, this puts me into the overweight category with a BMI (body mass index of 25.2. The normal range for BMI is 18.5 to 24.9. The overweight range is 25.0 to 29.9, and so I am CDC-certified overweight. Of course, if I wanted to be in the middle of the BMI range, at about 21.7 (the mid-point), I'd have to lose nearly 30 lbs. I am not sure if I could lose 30 lbs without looking quite cadaverous!

Still, let's also look at body fat charts. The human body needs a certain level of body fat (called "essential fat"), else the organs will start breaking down in very bad ways - 3-4% body fat is absolutely necessary. According to most health charts, a body fat percentage for males aged 18 to 39 years of age should have between 10 and 20 percent. Ideal for non-professional male athletes is a range from 12-14% My body fat percentage is 17%, putting me in the healthy range but on the high end.

What is interesting about this is that fat people float in water easily, and anyone with body fat below 15% will tend to sink even with a lung full of air (below 13% in sea water). All my life I've always sunk in water (doing the so-called deadman's float), while those around me floated like leaves on a pond. So, I guess I've only recently been creeping upward on the body fat percentage. Not that I have tested my ability to float since I dislike getting wet beyond a driving rainstorm or being in the shower.

So, according to the BMI, I am anywhere from 2 lbs to 30 lbs overweight. According to the body-fat charts, I need to lose anywhere from 3-5% body fat. At 178 lbs, I need to lose anywhere from 5 to 9 lbs of body fat. I guess this would put a target range for my weight to be about 168-172 lbs. Enough of the data! I get it - I gotta lose a bit of weight. Exercise more, eat less, etc. Blah blah.

Back to the question. Is there a thin me? I guess I need to explain the question.

First, many people have commented that weight change can affect everything - their outlook and inlook, their health, their attitudes and how other people view them. If I do lose another 6-10 lbs, will I become a different person? Will others look at me differently? Will I look at myself differently?

This is a difficult question. I think maybe not. There's not much difference here anyway, and I suspect that the physiological differences between 168 lbs and 178 lbs is minor at best in the short run. I'll still wear the same clothes, likely, and just tighten the belt a bit. My suits will hang looser, but not so much that I would have to get them retailored. And given my rather small footprint in other people's lives, I am also guessing that not 1 in 10 people would even notice.

But this doesn't quite settle the question. "Is there a thin me?" has another, slightly different meaning or point. I guess I should rephrase the question - "Is there a different person inside of me, a person that cannot manifest himself without shedding the extraneous fat that surrounds my body?"

Many overweight people say, "I am a thin person trapped in a fat person's body." This is hard to decipher, because I am not sure if they mean that thin or fat, they are the same person? I take them to mean that they have a different person inside of them that cannot be expressed without losing the weight that traps them inside. Now, do I have such a person?

I say above, that I would not change if I lost 10 lbs or so. But, can I be so sure of that? Consider the changes that I would have to make to lose the weight:

1. I would have to include regular exercise in my daily routine. At least 30 mins per day, mixing cardiovascular with resistance or strength training.

Result - I would get off the couch more, resulting in less TV and movie watching, and more outdoor activities. I would become more active, possibly including more people in my life as I interact with others who share the same activities. I would have more energy throughout the day, and might decide to do more with my day than I do presently.

2. I would change my diet to include less carbohydrates, more protein and vegetables. My portion sizes will decrease, possible drastically as I eat less but more frequently. I would eat out less, and spend more time at the grocery store shopping for fresh food, possible decreasing what little free time I do have.

Result - The time I gain by watching less on the couch would be more than taken up by exercise and spending time cooking and shopping for groceries, resulting in less time overall for down-time. How would this affect my psyche and my need for stress-less downtime?

3. These changes would have to be permanent, else I gain the weight back. What are the long term consequences to making permanent changes to my lifestyle?

In the end, this thought exercise is inconclusive. It is fairly difficult to predict everything that would happen. Would I indeed be a different person? Would I like this new person, if such a person would exist after the weight-loss? Would I be happier?

Certainly, the vain side of me wants to look better, and losing 5% body fat would get me far more cut than I am now. I am not sure if I would be more than incremental health benefit, at least in the short term, so this really would be for an internal and external mental benefit.

Is there a thin me? Give me a month or two to find out.

-David