This is not the blog I was thinking about writing today.
An hour ago, I was prepared to state that personal trainers are agents of the devil. An hour ago, I really wanted to have a protracted pity party about how much I hate exercising, and how I might have to renew my inhaler prescription because my chest hurt from being so winded. (At any time, I can trigger a refill for Advair, Singulair and two different inhalers, because I am the Queen of Bronchitis.)
But that was before I came home to a ringing phone. It was the doctor’s office with my blood panel results.
I started the day with a half-hour personal training session at my gym with Leslie Moraitis, whom I introduced you to a couple of days ago. It was a very tough session, again with the innocent-looking contraptions that made my muscles cry. The equipment is by Kinesis, if you want to Google it, but they’re pulley-type things that at first glance appear harmless.
They’re not.
I’m not going to lie. By the time I finished, I was plenty irritated. Yes, I had a “great” workout, but part of me was feeling a little … evil. Unhappy. Between that Kinesis crap and working out with a 15-pound medicine ball, I was ready to cancel all future sessions. Personal training isn’t for me. It’s for masochists. Masochists with deep pockets, because it ain’t cheap.
I am a ball of attitude when I get home, just in time to pick up the phone: It’s a nurse with my labs. The news isn’t great:
· Overall results, normal
· Iron deficiency (no surprise)
· Cholesterol is 205; need to get it under 200
· Blood sugar 6.2 percent, which is “at the top end of normal”
It’s the last one that gets to me. I have never, ever had a blood-sugar problem, which has to do with diabetes. Thankfully, it doesn’t run in my family, so this is something I managed to achieve all by myself. The nurse said that Dr. Bean wanted to prescribe something. I didn’t ask what it was; I simply refused it. People with diabetes can lose weight and be off the meds forever. I’m losing weight, so I see no reason to add another drug and its side effects when I had no real need.
I looked online for more info. The 6.2 is my hemoglobin A1c measurement. The American Diabetes Association recommends an A1c goal of less than 7 percent, while groups like the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists recommend a goal of less than 6.5 percent. I would be considered “prediabetic” if I thought that meant something, which to me it doesn’t. Either you have diabetes, or you don’t. I do not – but am uncomfortably close.
I had my blood panel done one week ago. I’ve lost a few pounds since then and have been exercising a great deal more, but maybe not enough to move the needle a significant amount.
I’ll go back for retesting in three months. I’m looking forward to it because I know every single one of those numbers will improve, from the scale to my bloodstream, because I’ll continue to eat healthier and workout more.
Even with (demon spawn from hell!) trainers.
It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable. ~ Moliere
Leslie J. Ansley is an award-winning journalist and entrepreneur who blogs daily for TheRoot. She lives in Raleigh, NC.