I've been to him for injury issues around my tennis elbow, but never just for a well check up. It was the most amazing doctor's appointment I have ever had! One of the biggest reasons why it was so great= I have a consistent resting heart rate around 50 bpm which made him bust out into a grin. A normal resting heart rate is 60+, with heart rates coming in below 60 showing great conditioning, aka an ATHLETE. My blood pressure was 110/70 or something close to that, which is what I've been running at routinely for the past year, again a sign that I am healthy. He proclaimed that the BMI scale is crap and I am the healthiest person he has seen in weeks. :D
So according to my heart, I am an ATHLETE. Let me just pause so I can let that sink in to my brain. And just to remind me....Tony Horton says I'm a goddess! It's ok, you can be jealous, my husband is awesome.
We had a long discussion about why my doctor doesn't like using the BMI scale as the only measure for health which stemmed from the main reason I came to see him- what should my goal weight be?
He really had me thinking and asked me what I would do differently if my goal weight was 160 vs. 170 vs. 180 for example. He wrote out the official BMI numbers for each of the weights and pointed out the small difference between them, especially compared to the big, SCARY, morbidly obese number that I was 3 short years ago. But when it comes right down to it, I am NOT on a diet, I have changed my lifestyle. I immediately answered "nothing" when he asked me what would change for me if the goal weight was 160 vs. 180 which I really hope will prove true. After replying that I consider my body type to be muscular vs. slender he narrowed in on a target that is higher than the BMI scale. He point blank told me that if I wanted to be a muscular athlete the BMI scale would hold me back and leave me frustrated because it doesn't take into account body types. I need to let my body find it's happy medium through healthy eating and exercise, which is what I'm doing now.
What a great feeling to have your doctor say he is impressed and thrilled with you! So much so that he ended up hanging and talking with me for almost an HOUR. He told me afterwards that his schedule had cleared a little before I came in and he wanted to really pick my brain about how and why I have been so successful and make sure I knew how proud he was of me. He said he so rarely gets to witness a miraculous success story
Thanks Doc for being an awesome support for me and making me feel truly special.
::big grin::
