Yesterday I had Part 2 of my yearly physical, the part where you sit down with the real doctor and they go over the results from all the tests you took in Part 1 and then try to scare you into being healthier. Their scare tactics totally worked this year.
I’ve gained 12 pounds since last year, and am currently at my heaviest since before I started running (five years ago). I knew that I had gained weight, so this wasn’t a surprise, and it’s something I’ve already been trying to work on because at this point last year I looked better, ran better, felt better, my clothes fit better — on and on. So losing weight was already a goal.
The shocker was that my total cholesterol has gone up 37 points. 37!! It’s still just under 200 total, so I’m still in the normal range, but whoa — 37 points! The really bad thing is that my bad cholesterol jumped up by 51 points. 51!! That was enough to push it into the range that might be ok if I didn’t have a family history of heart disease; however, both my grandfathers died from heart attacks.
Those jumps are so large that I don’t really even know what to make of them. I’ve been exercising regularly over the past year, so the increase has to be due to a change in diet. I’ll just say it now: it’s diet. When you’ve gained 12 pounds in a year — and your boyfriend has gained 15 — it’s not hard to figure out. Ah, Jose and me, we’re just sitting around getting fat together.
So this calls for less eating out, more packing lunches, and continuing to exercise. My biggest problem is lack of willpower. And my love of french fries and Starbucks.
To get a better idea of the trends, I had them print out my bloodwork for every year they had on file — 2002, and 2004-2007. Interestingly, though 2007 has by far the worst cholesterol, 2006 had by far the best numbers. That made the increase look even worse. So whatever I did from March 2005 – March 2006 was really, really good because it lowered my numbers so much from previous years. And whatever I did from March 2006 – now was really, really bad.
To celebrate the start of a new leaf in eating habits, I went to the rodeo and ate a deep-fried Oreo.
Hey Beck, I wonder if those test results might vary from day to day. Maybe your 2006 test understated and/or your 2007 test overstated. I could be completely making this up.
I had no idea you could deep fry an Oreo. My mind is racing with all the possibilities. It’s like I’ve been reborn.
Keith, the scary part is that it was actually really yummy. Like a doughnut with a soft Oreo in the middle.
They also had many other deep-fried treats: Snickers, Twinkies, Tootie Rolls, brownies, cheese, and Coke and Dr. Pepper.
Now, I’m not sure exactly how you deep-fry Coke and Dr. Pepper, but they did. It looked like funnel cake in a cup.
You did not mention the best option… deep fried pickles!! It sounds weird but mmmm it is so good.
i had a deep fried oreo. once. it was painful.
get back in the game girl! if i can lower my bad stuff by 100 pts you can certainly do it for the little amt of points spoken!
Very nice! I have put on a few pounds since Africa myself. I don’t try new super unhealthy foods like fried random things. I don’t know that I like it now, so it is no pain to skip. 🙂
I had fried coke at the NC State Fair last October. It was ok, but a regular funnel cake would have been better and cheaper.