I have had plenty of physicals in my life, starting back when I was 13 and needed one to play football.
Since that time, I have come to accept two things: 1) I'm going to be told that I need to lose weight. 2) I'm going to sit with my shirt off for awhile while the doctor checks my overall health.
I've never been a "shirt off" kind of guy. I've always been self-conscious about how I looked with my shirt off. Even when I would go to the beach or the pool, I would wear a t-shirt until that last minute before I jumped into the water.
Sometimes I'd even swim with my t-shirt on.
So sitting shirtless on an examination table for what seems an eternity is one of the worst parts of the physical for me. (Not saying that I love the rest of it, but most of that stuff is done quite quickly.)
I'm sure the doctor isn't too fond of it either. After all, he's sitting there staring at a guy who has made many years of wrong choices when it's come diet and exercise. Meanwhile, the guy is babbling on about how he's losing weight and has changed up his diet. (For some reason, I feel like I have to emphasize this to the doctor every time I go in. It's not unlike how I tell my dentist that I floss every day, even though I really mean "Every day since last week when I realized that I had this dentist appointment.")
So as I sat there, shirtless, I made a decision. If, for nothing else, I am going to lose this weight so I don't look like a liar to my doctor. I imagined what it would be like next year, coming into the room 70 pounds lighter. With biceps the size of my head and a washboard stomach. (My imagination gets out of control sometimes.)
Even then, I will still probably be self-conscious about taking off my shirt, but what can you do?
As a side note, all is well with my physical-ness. I am still waiting for the blood tests to come back, which will be the real test to see how my mostly vegetarian diet has done with leveling out my cholesterol. I'll let you know what happens.
Until then, I'm off to workout. I've got some weight to lose within the next year.
Since that time, I have come to accept two things: 1) I'm going to be told that I need to lose weight. 2) I'm going to sit with my shirt off for awhile while the doctor checks my overall health.
I've never been a "shirt off" kind of guy. I've always been self-conscious about how I looked with my shirt off. Even when I would go to the beach or the pool, I would wear a t-shirt until that last minute before I jumped into the water.
Sometimes I'd even swim with my t-shirt on.
So sitting shirtless on an examination table for what seems an eternity is one of the worst parts of the physical for me. (Not saying that I love the rest of it, but most of that stuff is done quite quickly.)
I'm sure the doctor isn't too fond of it either. After all, he's sitting there staring at a guy who has made many years of wrong choices when it's come diet and exercise. Meanwhile, the guy is babbling on about how he's losing weight and has changed up his diet. (For some reason, I feel like I have to emphasize this to the doctor every time I go in. It's not unlike how I tell my dentist that I floss every day, even though I really mean "Every day since last week when I realized that I had this dentist appointment.")
So as I sat there, shirtless, I made a decision. If, for nothing else, I am going to lose this weight so I don't look like a liar to my doctor. I imagined what it would be like next year, coming into the room 70 pounds lighter. With biceps the size of my head and a washboard stomach. (My imagination gets out of control sometimes.)
Even then, I will still probably be self-conscious about taking off my shirt, but what can you do?
As a side note, all is well with my physical-ness. I am still waiting for the blood tests to come back, which will be the real test to see how my mostly vegetarian diet has done with leveling out my cholesterol. I'll let you know what happens.
Until then, I'm off to workout. I've got some weight to lose within the next year.
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