As I have mentioned before, I have been working on my diet and physical activity over the past eight months. I have lost quite a bit of weight, and I’m slowly edging in on my goal weight. I’ll reach it in a few more months.

I saw a friend recently whom I had not seen in about four months. She praised my weight loss, telling me how great I was looking. I thanked her and told her I still had about 20 more pounds to lose. “Why?” she inquired. Without hesitation I answered, “To reach a healthy BMI.”

“Oh, yes. That’s right. You are a nurse,” she joked.

Smaller size? More energy? Nope. “Healthy BMI.” Thank you, public health jargon, for invading my personal goals and lifestyle. It’s right up there with “behavioral risk factors” and “health promotion activities.”

And before I was too embarrassed with my public health nursing nerdiness, my friend, an MPH, confessed to using “smokeless tobacco product” outside her work setting. We just had to laugh at ourselves.