The Health Assessment

My work, AEP, is pumping a lot of money and propaganda into keeping its employees healthy. One of the things we do is an annual health screening, where you take an hour off work, go have your blood pressure checked, get weighed and measured, get a flu shot, and have some blood drawn to check your glucose and cholesterol. I skipped this last year (for some reason that was important then, but is so insignificant now that I can't remember what it was, naturally), and the year before was when I was pushing 255.

The last time I had a health screening at work, I was winded any time I had to walk up a single flight of stairs. This year I walked from the 8th floor to the 16th for my morning exercise before going down for the screening. Here are the numbers they gave me:

Category	My measurement	Desired range
Total Cholesterol	123 mg/dl	Below 200
HDL Cholesterol	39 mg/dl	Over 50
LDL Cholesterol	63 mg/dl	Below 100
TC/HDL Ratio	3.2	Below 4.0
Triglycerides	104 mg/dl	Below 150
Glucose	109 mg/dl	70-99 fasting, Below 140 non-fasting (I wasn't fasting)
Blood Pressure	100/66 mm Hg	Below 120/80
BMI	21.36	18.5 - 25
Body Composition	15.5% Body fat	For males 30 - 39, 11.4% - 19% is the "Good" range

So, a few notes. First, I'm going to live. I had 2 cups of milk, two cereal bars, and two pop-tarts approximately 3 hours before the test, and my glucose level still came back just slightly over the normal range for fasting. So, it's unlikely that I have diabetes. I expected my body fat percent to be less, but I'm still just barely in the "Good" range for males aged 20 - 29, and since old men like me always try to measure ourselves against our younger counterparts, I feel smug.

My HDL, though, I don't know what's up with that. It was low last time, and low the last time my doctor drew blood. I get plenty of aerobic exercise, I've never smoked, I don't drink, and I eat plenty of soluble fiber, and I've definitely lost weight, many of the things suggested to increase one's HDL level. Perhaps I should eat more fish. Dunno.

One of the perks AEP is throwing at employees to keep them healthy: cash incentive. Attend a screening, fill out a web form, get $100 in the form of a Visa gift card. Talk to a "coach" about it later, set some goals, achieve them, get another $100 card. Think about this for a minute: There are over 21,000 AEP employees, each eligible for this program. AEP is will to throw, just as cash incentives, not including the cost of people to process the information, draw the blood, the equipment, etc., over $4,000,000 at employee health. Four million dollars.

So anyway, this isn't a journal about how fab my company is, it's about me and my health, and hopefully some motivation for a few people who may stumble across this. I was at risk for some serious health problems. My BMI was 31, light activity left me winded, I ate at will, snacking throughout the day. I sat at my desk at work, I sat on my couch at home. My most strenuous activity was mowing my own yard, which left me exhausted and dehydrated from profuse sweating. I had no training in nutrition or fitness. I studied a little on the Internet about food and exercise, and patiently whittled away at my condition. In less than a year, I had lost 70 pounds, and was fit enough to join a soccer team.

...and fit and confidant enough to attract a young, beautiful woman to marry me, to help me celebrate my upcoming midlife crisis.

With only moderate maintenance, I've kept my fitness level and my weight in check, having lost a total of 80 pounds, and having just finished my second year of soccer. And as my recent health screening numbers show, I probably have several active years left in me, and have extended my life by at least a decade, and improved the quality of my life immeasurably. All this with nothing more than moderate, consistent effort, and learning as you go.

You can, too.