First step: I wasn’t overweight at 17, but I sure am now. I want more energy, and I don’t want diabetes. So, along with my ideal attitude, I need to return to my ideal weight. Here are some values I found on the Internet for a man whose height is 178 cm (5’10”):

• Robinson formula (1983): 71.1 kg (157 lbs)
• Miller formula (1983): 70.4 kg (155 lbs)
• Devine formula (1974): 73.2 kg (161 lbs)
• Hamwi formula (1964): 75.2 kg (166 lbs)
• WHO’s Healthy BMI Range (for a 58-year-old): 58.6-79.2 kg (129-175 lbs)
• WHO’s Healthy BMI Range (for a 17-year-old): 56.1-78.9 kb (124-174 lbs)

Let’s go for 75 kg (165 lb). Today, after going to the toilet, cutting my fingernails and exhaling as much as I could, I weighed 91.8 kg. That means I have to lose about 16.8 kg (37 lbs). Apparently, a reasonable rate of weight loss is 1 to 2 pounds a week, so it should take me (ideally) between 19 and 37 weeks.

My next birthday is on Wednesday, October 21st, thirty-one weeks from now. I’ll weigh myself every Wednesday, and try to hit 75.0000 kg on my birthday (my 18th birthday?). If all goes according to plan — there’s nothing wrong with being optimistic, is there? — this should be my progress:

Might I be setting myself up for public embarrassment? Hey, that’s a tired old man’s attitude! It’ll be GREAT! I’m gonna LOVE weighing what a seventeen-year-old should weigh.