I read in the UK papers that there is to be a new drive against obesity with general practitioners screening patients in the age group 40-74 and prescribing weight management and exercise for those who are overweight. Not before time as Britain turns into a nation of slobs, but it takes time and willpower on the part of not only the patients but also of the doctors to see this campaign through.
In my post of 11 Nov ("Not so vital statistics") I gave my baseline measurements prior to embarking upon training for my 10km running events in 2009. Worryingly I found that these indicated that I was in the high risk bracket for a coronary or a stroke, so I was determined to do something about it. Today my dimensions are quite different from then, with my weight having dropped from 80kg to 73kg. That gives me a Body Mass Index of 24.11, down from 26.42 and bringing me into the "healthy" bracket of between 18.5 and 25. I'll be more comfortably within the bracket after I've shed another 3-5 kg. My hip measurement has reduced from 101 cm to 97 cm and waist from 99 cm to 91 cm giving me a waist/hip ratio (which is apparently a better guide of health) of .94, down from .98 last November. So things still aren't quite so good as they might seem as a ratio of above .90 puts you in the death zone.
The thing that amazes me is that last November I visited a GP who diagnosed me as having hypertension (high blood pressure) and prescribed ACE Inhibitor medication. Over the last couple of days I have been testing my blood pressure without taking this medication and I am now enjoying a normal blood pressure reading. Tablets are perhaps too often the easy way out and I'd have been better managed if he'd called me a "fatty" and shamed me into making the lifestyle changes that in the end I decided to embark upon unilaterally. It's the doctors who need the guts if their patients are to shed them.
