As I’ve commented on before, about once a week I come across
another news article screaming headlines about the “Obesity Epidemic” and how
much of taxpayers money is being gobbled down by out of control fat people,
causing an overwhelming drain on the health care system.
Almost daily, I come across posts on blogs from self
important people boasting about their own socially acceptable clothing size and
all the hard work they do to maintain it.
Repeatedly, they advise people of my own size to, “STOP EATING MCDONALDS
AND GO EXERCISE!”
So, in the interest of full disclosure, I’m now going to strip
for you. I’m going far, far deeper than
clothing and showing you what this 267 pound, 37 year old woman looks like on
the inside.
Below are the real numbers from two health blood screenings
I had performed about a week and a half apart.
I’ve arranged them into a handy chart for your convenience.
Type of Test
|
09/18/2012 Results
|
09/28/2012 Results
|
Ideal Range
|
Total Cholesterol
|
184 mg/dL
|
184 mg/dL
|
Less than 200
|
LDL Cholesterol
|
107 mg/dL
|
118 mg/dL
|
100 to 129
|
HDL Cholesterol
|
53 mg/dL
|
42 mg/dL
|
More than 60
|
Triglycerides
|
118 mg/dL
|
121 mg/dL
|
Less than 150
|
Fasting Blood Sugar
|
110 mg/dL
|
95 mg/dL
|
Below 110
|
Hemoglobin A1C
|
|
5.7%
|
4% to 5.9%
|
Blood Pressure
|
144 / 70
|
122 / 80
|
120 / 80
|
As you can see almost all of my numbers fall into the normal,
healthy range. The first blood pressure
check was performed at work by our health screeners who tend to stress me out
(also they tested it first thing in the morning immediately after I’d run up
two flights of stairs). When it was
re-checked by my personal physician the second time it was right on target in
the ideal range, which is where it’s been for me for all the six years I’ve
been a patient there.
The hemoglobin A1C test was performed at my request because
I didn’t like the borderline 110 number I got on September 18th. The A1C doesn’t just look at a single day the
way the standard test does, but gathers a three month overall picture of where
your blood sugar tends to fall. My
normal score of 5.7% puts me inside the “low risk” category for adult onset
diabetes. Also, as you can see, on the
second test my daily blood sugar result had fallen down into the normal range
as well.
I was also informed that I have “excellent” liver and kidney
functions, although they didn’t give me numbers for that.
My HDL (good) cholesterol score is a little too low. This is a common problem for people trying to
loose weight because we restrict calories and fats, even good fats. Avocadoes, nuts and fatty fish are all good
sources. I eat avocado and nuts fairly
regularly but I’ve been slacking on the fish.
If anyone else knows of another good source I’m very open to
suggestions!
These results are not a fluke, and I am not a freak of
nature. This naked picture of the inside
of my body is the direct result of the fact that I exercise about five times a
week, I keep to a low meat diet, I restrict sugar and carbs, and (surprise
surprise) I don’t eat fast food. Most
recently I’ve also cut artificial sweeteners from my diet and almost all
caffeine, and I’m happily reaping the benefits of increased sleep because of
it.
It’s difficult for me to fully convey how painful it is to
be judged as inferior anyway, despite all this extremely hard work, based
solely on the way I look. The reason our
health screeners stress me out so much, is because despite these numbers they
still score me as a 72 (or a “C”) for health and label me high risk for
everything, solely based on my BMI being too high for them. They don’t acknowledge any of the work I do,
they merely say, “TOO FAT!”
I watch videos where people call for the government to
regulate what people are eating, because they shouldn’t have to pay for health
costs generated by slobs like me.
I read article after article, and opinion after opinion on
why people just can’t understand why the fatties can’t seem to stop chowing
down on so much fast food, their smug and sanctimonious faces aimed squarely in
my direction.
Make no mistake here, my journey is no longer health
based. I HAVE ACHIEVED good health
already and I claim that prize as fully my own.
I carry it around inside my chest because it’s the only place I
can. It has to be enough because it’s a
badge that no one else can see.
My remaining journey now is 100% aesthetic. Maybe that’s shallow. No, actually I’m sure it is shallow. But it’s my
choice and my journey to make should I choose to. I am not a drain on anyone’s health care
costs and I will no longer accept guilt and shame, or a lack of acknowledgement
for all the work I have and continue to put in.
What I am going through is not the business of, nor the concern of the American
Health Associates. Period.
So I read and absorb all these things, strap my armor
securely in place over my battered heart, and then I get up, crank up the
music, and launch into yet another of a hundred thousand workouts.