About four weeks ago we started a Vibrant Living program at work, aimed at making all of us healthier (and therefore more efficient working machines). It's perfectly lined up with what I'm trying to achieve here, so I'm throwing myself into the program.
Yesterday we got the results of our blood tests back and had a workshop to establish our overall health score baseline so we can gauge our improvement for testing again in three months time.
So these are my results:
For each section you go through a scoring exercise from 1-5 with 5 being the worst, and then add them all up. A score of 30 means I actually just scrape into the 'poor'category, so clearly I have some work to do, but it's not all doom and gloom.
For example, my total cholesterol is in the mid range, but in actual fact my bad cholesterol levels are very low and my good cholesterol levels are very high (relative to normal for each). So in my head I'm going to score myself two points less on cholesterol, which puts me into the 'good'category :-)
It stands out quite clearly that I have some areas of improvement on skinfold testing (I'm in the top bracket - gulp!), waist to hip ratio and alcohol consumption. I'm sure my quest for healthier living without great sacrifice will take care of the skinfold and waist to hip ratio.
Where I know I'll struggle is on the alcohol consumption - simply because I don't want to improve.
Let's think practically. Scoring myself a 4/5 for alcohol consumption means that in an average week I drink between 9 and 11 standard drinks. Sound high right? BUT consider that a standard drink is 125ml of wine vs a normal person's (ok, a Bex person's) glass of wine, which is probably closer to 200 - 250ml (about a metric cup).
Now let's dust off the grey matter and do some math...
11 standard drinks = 11 x 125ml = 1375ml of wine
Bex standard wine = 200ml
1375ml / 200ml = 6.8 Bex glasses of wine
Now a typical week could have a combination of any of the following:
Yesterday we got the results of our blood tests back and had a workshop to establish our overall health score baseline so we can gauge our improvement for testing again in three months time.
So these are my results:
For each section you go through a scoring exercise from 1-5 with 5 being the worst, and then add them all up. A score of 30 means I actually just scrape into the 'poor'category, so clearly I have some work to do, but it's not all doom and gloom.
For example, my total cholesterol is in the mid range, but in actual fact my bad cholesterol levels are very low and my good cholesterol levels are very high (relative to normal for each). So in my head I'm going to score myself two points less on cholesterol, which puts me into the 'good'category :-)
It stands out quite clearly that I have some areas of improvement on skinfold testing (I'm in the top bracket - gulp!), waist to hip ratio and alcohol consumption. I'm sure my quest for healthier living without great sacrifice will take care of the skinfold and waist to hip ratio.
Where I know I'll struggle is on the alcohol consumption - simply because I don't want to improve.
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| NZ Central Otago pinot noir - so good! It seems unfair to call out Amisfield specifically when there are so many fabulous options |
Let's think practically. Scoring myself a 4/5 for alcohol consumption means that in an average week I drink between 9 and 11 standard drinks. Sound high right? BUT consider that a standard drink is 125ml of wine vs a normal person's (ok, a Bex person's) glass of wine, which is probably closer to 200 - 250ml (about a metric cup).
Now let's dust off the grey matter and do some math...
11 standard drinks = 11 x 125ml = 1375ml of wine
Bex standard wine = 200ml
1375ml / 200ml = 6.8 Bex glasses of wine
Now a typical week could have a combination of any of the following:
- Once a week with dinner at home - 1 glass of wine
- Once a week dinner with bf's parents - 2 or 3 glasses of wine (and/or a gin and tonic)
- Casual drinks on a Friday/Saturday night with friends - maybe 2 to 4 glasses of wine (depending on the occasion)
And this doesn't even include if we go to a party/BBQ/into town (granted, this is not every week - god, I'm getting old).
By testing standards I've pretty much prescribed myself as a heavy drinker, but I actually think I drink less here in Singapore than I did in NZ, and when I compare myself to friends I don't actually think I drink that much (maybe I do??)... I know, I know, excessive consumption of alcohol has all sorts of health problems associated with it and will slow down my 10kg goal, but at this point in time I don't feel like this is excessive.
I like wine, and giving it up would be a major sacrifice to me, and since this is a quest for healthier living without great sacrifice, I'm going to keep my 4 points on the alcohol scale and maybe try to have one fewer glass per week.
On an extremely positive note, official weekly weigh in was this morning and I am back on track - down 2.5kg in total in 7 weeks. That's 0.4kg per week, which also includes two weeks in India on a business trip.
Yippeeeee!
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