Funny, I Don't FEEL Obese...
So, a few days ago at work, there was a health fair. I don't think I've ever paid these any mind in the past. This time, I decided to go down and get checked out. My decision was driven by the fact that since moving here a year ago, I haven't done anything at all to find a doctor or dentist or whatnot, so, even though I haven't been to a doctor since about 2002, I at least used to know I had a doctor. Now I feel adrift. So, I went down to the health fair for a twenty minute check-up.
They had converted one of our conference rooms into a mini health center, with several stations. At first things seemed to go well. Blood pressure: 116/64. Very good. Height: 73 inches. Keeping it real. (Missing the all-important 74 inch mark, but 73 inches is enough to work with, what with the poofy hair and whatnot.)
Things took an ugly turn on the scale. I'll refrain from divulging actual numbers (and you can see my photo below, but the problem on the weight front is that I realized, for the first time, that I have gained 20 pounds since moving here a little over a year ago. I previously had absolutely no suspicion that such a thing had transpired. I was rather stunned.
But it got worse. The next station was for the measurement of body fat. I will cut to the chase here. I am obese. My body fat percentage is 27.2%. Nearly 1/3 of me is fat. Again, without divulging actual numbers, this translates into fairly more than FIFTY POUNDS of fat on me.
Part of me receives this information with a spirit of denial... Thinking that surely the medical industry must be setting their defined terms too aggressively, to scare the public. I am not ready for a marathon (OK I am not even ready for a 5K) but surely I am not "obese"?
But the honest part of me embraces this truth and stands to face it. I get no exercise (apart from some cycling last spring, abandoned over the baking summer months, and not yet resumed this fall). I drink too much soda. I don't really govern what I eat, other than loosely avoiding most fast food, most of the time, and... Well, that's actually about it. I would have thought I tend to eat reasonable amounts -- maybe I do, and the problem is more about content of food and lack of exercise. Too much meat? Too much pasta? Too many creamy sauces?
The pamphlet the health fair folks gave me, a generic handout on which they scribbled my test results, warns of fairly dire potential consequences of obesity. Dropping dead, for example.
Friday, I resolved to get back on my bike, stop drinking sodas, and flatly stop eating fast food. Saturday I hiked with my daughter instead of cycling (which included carrying her and giving her a ride on my shoulders, so this was a reasonably taxing outing... Not as good as cycling, but OK) but then toward the end of the day for various reasons I had a Coke and an In-and-Out cheeseburger. Lame.
On Sundays, I usually don't eat before Church, and today is one of those days. I may be able to get out on the bike this afternoon.
I wonder if I can lose those 20 pounds and shed maybe 7.3 points of that body fat in this coming year.
New words to live by, from the health fair pamphlet:
"Reducing your intake of fats (in particular saturated fats such as pork, beef, whole milk, bacon, butter and cream) which contain twice as many calories as sugar, may be particularly important to a successful diet."
"Other recomendations... include drinking six to eight glasses of fluids daily, eating more low-calorie/ high fiber foods (fruits and vegetables), finding ways to deal with stress effectively -- without food -- and consuming less sugar."
(Posted mostly via Blackberry.)
They had converted one of our conference rooms into a mini health center, with several stations. At first things seemed to go well. Blood pressure: 116/64. Very good. Height: 73 inches. Keeping it real. (Missing the all-important 74 inch mark, but 73 inches is enough to work with, what with the poofy hair and whatnot.)
Things took an ugly turn on the scale. I'll refrain from divulging actual numbers (and you can see my photo below, but the problem on the weight front is that I realized, for the first time, that I have gained 20 pounds since moving here a little over a year ago. I previously had absolutely no suspicion that such a thing had transpired. I was rather stunned.
But it got worse. The next station was for the measurement of body fat. I will cut to the chase here. I am obese. My body fat percentage is 27.2%. Nearly 1/3 of me is fat. Again, without divulging actual numbers, this translates into fairly more than FIFTY POUNDS of fat on me.
Part of me receives this information with a spirit of denial... Thinking that surely the medical industry must be setting their defined terms too aggressively, to scare the public. I am not ready for a marathon (OK I am not even ready for a 5K) but surely I am not "obese"?
But the honest part of me embraces this truth and stands to face it. I get no exercise (apart from some cycling last spring, abandoned over the baking summer months, and not yet resumed this fall). I drink too much soda. I don't really govern what I eat, other than loosely avoiding most fast food, most of the time, and... Well, that's actually about it. I would have thought I tend to eat reasonable amounts -- maybe I do, and the problem is more about content of food and lack of exercise. Too much meat? Too much pasta? Too many creamy sauces?
The pamphlet the health fair folks gave me, a generic handout on which they scribbled my test results, warns of fairly dire potential consequences of obesity. Dropping dead, for example.
Friday, I resolved to get back on my bike, stop drinking sodas, and flatly stop eating fast food. Saturday I hiked with my daughter instead of cycling (which included carrying her and giving her a ride on my shoulders, so this was a reasonably taxing outing... Not as good as cycling, but OK) but then toward the end of the day for various reasons I had a Coke and an In-and-Out cheeseburger. Lame.
On Sundays, I usually don't eat before Church, and today is one of those days. I may be able to get out on the bike this afternoon.
I wonder if I can lose those 20 pounds and shed maybe 7.3 points of that body fat in this coming year.
New words to live by, from the health fair pamphlet:
"Reducing your intake of fats (in particular saturated fats such as pork, beef, whole milk, bacon, butter and cream) which contain twice as many calories as sugar, may be particularly important to a successful diet."
"Other recomendations... include drinking six to eight glasses of fluids daily, eating more low-calorie/ high fiber foods (fruits and vegetables), finding ways to deal with stress effectively -- without food -- and consuming less sugar."
(Posted mostly via Blackberry.)
posted by Genki na Pengin at 1:23 PM
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