Health Assessment

[AlohaDawg]

So my health insurance includes this service called "Health Pass". In addition to setting up no-copay complete physicals with your personal physician, they also do a general health assessment including a fitness assesment.

So I went in the other day, feeling kind of confident in the fact that I've been steadily losing weight and exercising for the past 6 months or so.

So I'm a little surprised when I score 72 out of 100.

Here are the raw numbers for you - (first parenthetic is the "norm" baseline and the second is my comment)

5'10, 193#                     (>128 and <173)        (huh?)
Waist 38"                       (<40)                        (can't be)
Body fat 26%                (8% - 19%)                 (where?)
BMI 27.7                       (18.5 - 24.9)               (huh?)
Cholesterol: 107 mg/dl   (<200 mg/dl)              (woo hoo!)
HDL: 30 mg / dl             (40 mg/dl or higher)    (what is this?)
BP: 104/59                    (<120/80)                   (woo hoo!)
Heart Rate: 64 / Minute                                     (woo hoo!)
Fasting Glucose: 84 mg  (<100)                         (woo hoo!)


So here is what they tell me:

1) 5'10# guys should weigh between 128 and 173. I wrestled 155 in 8th grade (I wasn't fat then either) so I'm supposed to have gained no more than 18 pounds in the last 23 years.

2) Body fat should be <19 %. Hard to fight that one but I don't know where my body fat is. I assume it's in my gut but I've been losing inches around the waist steadily for 6 months now.

3) HDL: I need to raise my 'good cholesterol'; even though my 'bad cholesterol' is 1/2 of the limit of 200. Any tips on raising my 'good cholesterol'??

Just as a side note, if I bought #####es with 38" waist I would have to cinch them up with rope or wear them all ghetto stylezz with my ass hanging out. I don't know what that is about.

I'm looking at these numbers and thinking I'm in damn good shape, considering my current level of exercise and especially considering the turnip-shape of the woman giving me these instructions.

Has anyone else here been handed a seemingly nonsensical and internally conflicting assessment of your general health?

[pmcd9]

Turnip shaped women make the rockin' world go round.

~Paul

[wombat]

I once had a doctor who, when I expressed concern about my weight, said that it was good to have a little extra, in case you got lost in the woods.

While it is clear from looking around that most Americans are overweight, those charts of ideal weights always seem quite insane to me. They definitely don't leave any margin for getting lost in the woods.  Or a long illness, which could happen to anyone even if they avoid the woods carefully.

[miles]

Regarding the waist size, as someone who is currently employed in the retail clothing industry, I know that waist size on a clothing label does not always accurately reflect actual waist size.  That's why in some brands I'm more than comfy in a 34, but am usually a 35 and sometimes a cozy 36 (since Thanksgiving, anyway.  It's been a rough several months).

Also, I've heard it matters where you carry your weight.  If you carry a large portion of it on your gut, like I do, I guess you are considered a more likely candidate for diabetes.

Diabetes!  DIABETES!

Diet starts tomorrow.  Again.

[AugustWest]

I am signficantly overweight, mostly owing to the fact that I really really enjoy eating and drinking.  However, my cholesterol numbers are pretty good (real good HDL and tri-glycerides) and I'm in reasonably good physical condition.  I exercise.  I bet I can squat more than you (maybe not Asherdan).  I would like to get my body fat percentage down into the low 20's, but I'm not holding my breath.

Anyhow, as to recommended weights.  I can recall seeing a chart that said I should weigh 145.  I'm 6'2".  145!  I think I may have weighed that when I was 16 and 4 inches shorter.  If I got to 220 I'd be fuck*ng trim!

The problem is that I'm working from home now and I have plenty of spare time.  Also, I just discovered AB and I TIVO every episode of Good Eats.  So I'm cooking more and therefore eating more.  Also, my gym membership ran out and I can't afford to reup.  So, it's more of a challenge to maintain myself.  But hey, I guess I'm up to it.  I'm spending a lot more time wielding a hoe, plus I got into the pool the first time today and I put up the badminton net.  Exercise is where you find it.  Just have to find a little more self-discipline on the eating front.

[side_show]

Also, my gym membership ran out and I can't afford to reup.

Hey yo on the down low...  You should totally contact the nearest YMCA (or any other community centre with a fitness program- it's been a personal health life-saver to me.  At the YMCA, they have a sliding scale for those who apply for membership assistance.  During my university days, I paid $10 a month for full privlidges, including all free classes!  I even had a classmate who got a membership for $5 a month.  It was super cool.  Right now my SO and I are on a family plan that is just slightly lower than individual memberships.  Next month when we move into our new house and deal with all the financial issues, we're going to both apply for membership assistance again, cause we don't want to give up the fitness!  It's fun to stay at the YMCA ... though the locker room is indeniably creepy.

[Golfhaus]

My old manager used to go with her school-aged children (probably about 8 and 10) to the Y to take showers. Apparently, they had oil heating their water (one of probably about five houses still doing so, and apparently she's in some historic district where you can't do much to a house), and over the years they had managed to miss payments and get service cut off from every oil provider in the area. Hence, they had no hot water, and could not GET hot water. So every morning, they piled in the car, drove to the Y, took showers, and then she dropped them off at school and came to work.

I could not imagine.

[side_show]

Nor can I - that sounds like hell.

[AlohaDawg]

Also, my gym membership ran out and I can't afford to reup.

Hey yo on the down low...  You should totally contact the nearest YMCA (or any other community centre with a fitness program- it's been a personal health life-saver to me.  At the YMCA, they have a sliding scale for those who apply for membership assistance.  During my university days, I paid $10 a month for full privlidges, including all free classes!  I even had a classmate who got a membership for $5 a month.  It was super cool.  Right now my SO and I are on a family plan that is just slightly lower than individual memberships.  Next month when we move into our new house and deal with all the financial issues, we're going to both apply for membership assistance again, cause we don't want to give up the fitness!  It's fun to stay at the YMCA ... though the locker room is indeniably creepy.

Funky. Not only have I never gotten offered a sliding scale at a YMCA, I have been forced to repay the 'initiation fee' every time I've changed cities, which gets pretty old when you are buying family memberships. That's 4 different Y's for those keeping count. That said, the Y here in Kailua, HI is really really good about assisting single moms and needy families with heavily subsidized summer programs and school intercession programs so the parent(s) wouldn't miss work, which is pretty darn good of them.

The oil water heater story illustrates everything that pisses me off about 'historic districts'. I don't think you should be forced to put up with those kind of issues - I'm sure changing out the hot water heater will not change the appearance of the place, and living in a house that's 100 years old does not mean living like a family that's 100 years in the past...

[pmcd9]

I've seen enough This Old House to know that living in a historical district means you can basically put a brand new house underneath a historic facade.  If these people can't afford to pay their heating oil bill they probably can't afford to replace the aged heater.  It's that fact, and not the historical society that's stopping them from taking a hot shower at  home.

~Paul

[AlohaDawg]

Agreed, although I do know a guy in Evanston who was disallowed from replacing some household infrastructure (kitchen cabinets!) by Historical Nazis.

It's nonsense, I say.