Facts.

In the interest of transparency, I am going to give you some unsolicited information. I’m baring my soul here, people, have the decency to listen.

• I’m 25, turning 26 in January.
• I am 5’6.5”
• I weigh 148 pounds
• My BMI is 23.5

So, looking at these numbers, I seem like a normal-sized person. Not overweight, not underweight, but normal. And I am. I’m not interested in fitness as a fix to a problem, I’m interested in fitness as prevention.

You see, my mother is 59 and obese. She’s been that way for most of my life. She’s always been overweight, but as she gets older, her weight becomes more of a problem. Diabetes, joint problems, high cholesterol and heart conditions run in the family. Both of my mother’s parents died young – mid-50s and mid-60s. So you understand why I worry about her.

And in turn, I worry about myself. My mother was a wonderful mother to my brother and I, and made sure we got exposure to a variety of fruits and vegetables. I never went hungry, and I certainly didn’t see fast-food as a staple around our house. She made healthful meals that introduced me to a way of eating that has kept with me throughout my life. Even now, I have little interest in fast food. But neither does my mother, and her weight has gotten the best of her.

The only difference I can see between the two of us is exercise. My mother, with her bad knees, bad feet, and other physical problems, has a hard time doing any exercise that has impact. Even walking hurts her after a while. She’s doing her best to work around it, but I don’t want to see myself in that place.

Hence, at 23.5 BMI, I am already having a little panic attack. A BMI of 25 is considered overweight, and I have merely 1.5 little points to make it to that place. That’s only 8 pounds away from where I am right now. I gain 8 pounds, and I’m in the “overweight” category. It just won’t do. I can’t have only a cushion of 8 pounds. It has to be more.

So, hence I want to get into shape. Lose around 10 pounds, and get myself to a BMI of 22 or less. That, to me, is healthy. It’s in the middle of the range, giving me a healthy cushion between me and the “overweight” BMI of 25.

So there you have it. That’s why a 25-year old with a healthy weight is so concerned about fitness. The more proactive I am, the greater chance I have of being a healthy 30-year old, a healthy 40-year old, and a healthy 50-year old. I want to see what life looks like when your 80, so I’m not going to let a lack of fitness be the reason I don’t.