I had to laugh a bit at Brigid’s post this morning.
See, I just had a physical done, and all the assorted bloodwork that comes with that. And I’m about 50lbs overweight. Now mind, I hate being this much overweight, it does things to my knees (which are already screwy to begin with), it slows me down, and it gives my mother another thing to get on my case about (which again, she has no room to get on my case about, but thats a mother for you).
And yet, my doctor has never seriously gotten on my case about my weight. Why? Well, I do get daily aerobic exercise in the form of chasing the dogs around the yard, but thats not really it. What really keeps my doctor off my back is the bloodwork results she gets back every year:
Complete blood count: normal
Chemistry Panel (kidney/liver function, etc): Normal
Thyroid: Normal
Total Cholesterol: 179 (should be under 200)
Triglycerides: 87 (should be less than 150)
LDL: 119 (normal should be less than 130)
HDL: 43 (normal for a male is 40 or higher, female is 50)
So this year my LDL is a hair higher than it was last year, and my HDL a bit lower. I’ll look into what I can do to fix those, but even then the only thing thats “out of the ideal range” is my HDL, and that only barely.
Would I like to loose at least some of that 50lb? Sure, and I keep plugging away at it. But you know what? I’m healthy despite it. So phooey on all those major political figures who keep insisting that any extra weight is GOING TO KILL YOU, and *blows raspberry* at Michelle Obama.
The effects of excess weight can vary with individuals, so if the bloodwork is looking ok, it probably isn't a problem. In my case I've fought weight all my life, due to insulin resistance that has finally developed into Type II diabetes. Some people just have better genetics than others.
Point, and I'll admit to some luck in that matter. My mom's built like I am, only moreso. She's got mildly high blood pressure they're keeping an eye on and thats it.
It just pisses me off occasionally to watch them harp on WEIGHT when there's so much else involved.
If I wasn't getting excercise I'd be borderline diabetic true, but I keep reasonably active and it makes all the difference.
Had a set of bloodwork done a while back. Fasting blood sugar was normal. Then they handed me a sweet drink, and told me they'd draw blood in an hour. Since they'd insisted on doing the set at O-dark-hundred and I was on 2nd shift at the time I curled up in a chair for a nap. The one hour bloodwork showed bloodsugar over the top of the normal range. But by that time I was waking up and getting antsy, spent the 2nd hour pacing the waiting room out of boredom. 3rd set of bloodwork the blood sugar number was on the low side of normal, but still in normal range. Not only do I get out and move with the dogs at least once a day, my job is such that I'm on my feet for several minutes twice an hour every hour. If it wasn't I might be in trouble, but for now I'm good.