Monday, January 14, 2008

Fitness goals

I'm not a fat person. In fact, I'd generally be described as being tall and skinny (although now I think I look pretty well proportioned for my size). I'm 6'5", and I weigh about 191. That places me squarely in the normal category for BMI.

However, I have high cholesterol. Wickedly high. 338 points high. When I was a kid, this didn't really matter, because I also had insanely high HDL. (Read here for more information about cholesterol). When I say insanely high HDL, I mean that my HDL was so high that despite my very high cholesterol levels (I've been at this level pretty much my entire life), my doctor did not think I would have issues with heart disease.

Unfortunately for me, the last time I got my cholesterol checked (about three years ago), my HDL levels had plummeted, and now I just had high cholesterol without the safety net of 'good cholesterol.'

About a year ago, I got married. I decided that I didn't want to have a heart attack at 35 and leave my wife a young widow, so I should reclaim my HDL.

With all that background information, here are my goals:
* Get my LDL cholesterol <= 100.
* Get my body fat percentage in the 13-15% range.

I'd like to achieve both of these over the course of the next year (by 1/1/2009), and without the use of any prescription medications.

I may re-evaluate my goals or my timeline after 2/7/2008, which is when I have my first doctor's appointment to get my cholesterol screened.

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