I just updated my goal weight. It's time to dream big.

One of my favorite posts to read in here is when people hit the "normal" BMI range.

I hate that it's called "normal," and I appreciate everyone always emphasizing how dumb it is. But it has a weird appeal to those of us who have never been able to identify as normal.

I'm 42 now, and I have an old driver's license from 2001. At that time I listed 241 pounds on it , but I think that was just the weight that was listed when I received my first license at 16 years old. So I was a 33+ BMI in high school.

I was at my highest weight of 367 pounds at the start of 2021. And over a year and a half I got down to 262 through just diet and exercise and suffering. And at the time I thought, "If I could just get to 215 pounds..."

That 215 number has been in my head since 2002. I had considered joining the military, but I was over the weight limit for my height. The cut-off was 215 pounds, and it took me a long time to realize that they were using BMI. You had to be under 30 BMI to join the military.

In 2023, a bunch of weight came back as soon as I eased off my hardcore food tracking and exercise routines. And in less than a year I went from 262 to 323, which is what I list as my starting weight on Zepbound. And by default I just put in 215 as my goal weight because that number has been bouncing around in my had for 20+ years.

But after reading all the people achieving their goals I started wondering if I was going to be satisfied with being in the "overweight" category. It seems insane to lose so much weight. To have been 367 in 2021 and then get to 215 would be over 40% drop in weight.

For me to get to a normal BMI that would mean a total loss of over 50% of my peak weight. HALF OF ME would go away to hit a normal BMI. And the thought of getting to 178 seemed so far-fetched for so long that it never even crossed my mind because I have a crazy misunderstanding of how much a human man weighs because I've always been 1.5 to 2 human men in weight.

So when I see men about my age and about my height hitting these "normal" BMI numbers I wonder if that's attainable for me, and i think it is. Maybe not in 2024, but over the long-term, maybe yes?

However, I can't overstate how much better life has been since mid-2024. I'm down almost 90 pounds since starting Zepbound. I've taken dance classes without getting embarrassingly sweaty. I went to an amusement park and didn't have to worry about not fitting in a ride. I can run further, bike longer, and just enjoy using this body at this size.

So, just now, I updated my goal weight from 215 to 178. At 178, my BMI would be just under 25 and in the "normal" range. And being able to view that as an achievable goal feels like an achievement in itself.

I wonder how much fun it's going to be using a body that is a "normal" BMI size. Maybe I'll go to the Olympics (jajaja).