Tag Archives: genetics

What is it about dentists…

…that seeing one always makes you feel about 10 years old. Being told your brushing technique needs work at 30 is somehow humiliating.

Being told that South Asians, in addition to having a higher propensity for diabetes, also have a greater propensity for gum diseases, makes me feel a bit like a genetic fluke, and worry a little about Hippo’s state of being.

Here’s yet another reason to hope s/he takes after his/her mother.

BMI, damn BMIs and genetics

I finished off day 16 of Juneathon with another 60 crunches and a few push-ups not even worth counting. A pretty depressing day on the exercise front, and the knee not feeling substantially better – and no material change this morning, so didn’t even attempt cycling. This morning’s effort was another 60 crunches which I’ll top up with some more this evening; see if I can do a thousand or so crunches in the next five days of enforced no running – adding deep stretching and push-ups as the week progresses.

But as to the subject line; people who’ve known me for a while (say, more than 18 months) will know that I was a little tubby up to Apr 09 or thereabouts. In the run-up to the wedding I lost about 19kg, dropping my BMI from 29 (on the verge of obese) to 25 (on the threshold of normal), which I was pretty pleased about. When I saw the Doc yesterday about my knee, whilst he did congratulate me on “turning my life around”, he did make clear that as a man of South Asian origin my propensity for type 2 diabetes (the type caused by having too much fat in your system) is much higher and I should be aiming for a BMI of 23. This is going to mean another 5-7kg (the best part of a stone!) needs to be lost. Whilst this was the long term plan anyway, it was a bit frustrating – I thought I’d met the ‘healthy’ goalpost and was just aiming for ‘fit’ whereas it now feels like I’m still in the fat camp fighting my way out.

But I will do it, damnit. I’ll kick the crap out of my genes by any means I have available, even if it means I become a calorie counting nark once again. Bring it on.