The Speculist

The Check-up

Back up two pounds this week 231, for a total weight loss of 66 pounds. I seem to have about a six pound range that I live in over the past several months, from 227 to 233. Right now my weight isn't really going anywhere, so the fact that it isn't going down is nicely offset by the fact that it isn't going up.

Anyway, yesterday was my annual physical check-up. Lots of encouragement there:

• For the first time that I can recall, I was normal (or better) on everything. Blood pressure, pulse, all blood levels, internal checks that they do on guys over 40 (okay prostate, are you happy?), reflexes, EKG, and so forth. Everything was at least good.

• Great news on the cholesterol front. My total cholesterol measured in at 161, with an HDL (good cholesterol) level of 77. This gives me a cholesterol ratio of 2.09:1, well under the target of 5.1:1 or lower. Dr. Harris compared this level from the same test a few years back when my triglycerides were at about 230 (today they're at 51) and my overall ratio was at about 4:1. It goes to show what a role genetics plays in all this that even when I was a lot heavier and my diet was a lot less healthy, I was still well out of the danger zone. But still -- my ratio is now only about half of what it was.

  A proposed new way of calculating overall cholesterol is to divide the bad LDL level by the good HDL level. When measured this way, a result of 3.5 is considered good while 1.7 or lower is, like, extremely good. Calculated that way, my level of 0.96 is practically off the charts. I think this all comes about as a combined effect of diet, exercise, and the daily intake of a fiber supplement.

• Dr. Harris noted that the stabilization of my weight noted above is apparently being offset somewhat by muscle gain. So the 230 pounds that I weighed four or five months ago isn't the same as the 230 pounds that I weigh now, composition-wise. I've added a lot of muscle. He endorsed the emphasis on exercise and made the radical suggestion that I might not need to lose any more weight, depending on how much I continue to bulk up.

Personally, I think I've still got at least 15-20 pounds to go, even with the muscle gain. The doctor agreed that that might be the case, but that I should continue on as I am now and see what happens. Will I stay at 230, with the composition continuing to change, or will I eventually break this plateau and drop another 20 or so before deciding that I'm done?

Either way, I can't tell you how satisfying it is to have my doctor tell me not to worry about my weight!