The new me... She's in here somewhere.
Today I saw this on Tumblr....
and honestly, that's me in a nutshell. I've always had a lot of self confidence and a high self esteem, but the result is, I've not really had an accurate perception of my body shape.
Last week I had a full body composition scan (DEXA scan). The news was not good. I have a VERY high proportion of body fat, the distribution of which places me at high risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. My lean muscle mass is low, and will cause me mobility problems as I age if I don't address it now. The only good news was that my bone density is very good for my age.
The thing is, I have actually had a complete dietary change since I returned home from my US holiday in January, and I have lost 5kg (10 lbs) since then. I would HATE to have seen what my results would have been back then. According to the BMI assessment, I'm not very far from the "healthy" weight range (only 3kgs to go), but the full body scan suggests my true healthy self is buried under about 15kg of excess body fat. It was a massive wake up call, and I'm grateful for the friend who told me to ignore the scales and get the scan to truly assess my health.
So, I'll be keeping my new lifestyle as far as food goes (I'm eating a ketogenic diet) but there is desperate need to include weight or resistance training to build my muscle mass and increase my strength. I'm also increasing (adding is probably more accurate) cardio exercise to help burn more of that bad fat that has accumulated in my middle. Here's to a healthier me, which is my primary goal, and if a slimmer me goes with that, then that will be all the better.