Paleo Diet - Day 224

It looks like I've exercised a bit more than I did last week, as my weight has fallen by 2 lbs, down to 165 lbs, as of this morning. This changes my BMI (Body Mass Index) to 22.4, which is right in the middle of the "normal weight range." Checking my bodyfat percentage to see if this change reflects the loss of body fat or not, I have found that my chest measurement (taken with the caliper I used last time) is now 13mm, while my abdominal measurement is 11mm and my thigh is 12mm. Looks like I gained some on the chest measure (either that, or one of my measures was a bit off; probably the first one), but I have lost 10mm on the abs and 1mm on the thigh. The end result of these measures, according to the Build Muscle & Gain Weight Fast Guide's body fat calculator, is 13.68%. Not bad! That's a drop of 2.74% from last week's measurement and, according to the body fat chart on About.com, that's toward the lower end of the "healthy" range for a man of my age (55). In fact, I'm within 3.68% of what their chart says is "underfat." Of course, that all varies with whom you ask. If you ask a bodybuilder, he'd think 13.68% is grounds to call me "chubby." Typically, those guys have bodyfat percentages ranging from 2% to 4%. But, for normal non-superhumans like me, especially at my current weight, that would be a bit extreme. Considering where I've come from, just seven months ago, 13.68% body fat is looking very good.

On to the blood sugar, now, which is at 93 dcl/ml this morning, exactly the same as last week. Quite normal, in other words. So much for my doctor's statement that type 2 diabetes is "incurable" and that I'd have it the rest of my life, eh? Maybe if I had used the Metformin he prescribed it would have been, and I think that was his plan for my future; i.e., to keep me as another source of revenue. This guy's approach to medicine is all about prescribing drugs for everything, not preventing or curing disease. The truly frightening thing, though, is that he's the norm among physicians, these days.

As for my blood pressure, it's beginning to look as though my hope of a positive trend indicating it's time to dump my blood pressure medication may be occurring, after all. Today's reading is 115/69, again, with medication. That's three weeks in a row, so far, that my blood pressure has been below 120/70. If this continues or dips lower, it may be time to discontinue the Lisinopril and call my high blood pressure "cured." At that point, I'll be a normal healthy 55-year old and will be completely free of any prescription drugs. Yes!