By Dr Irwin Lim, Rheumatologist
About 3 months ago, I shared with you some of my body statistics. One Fat Rheumatologist. Not very pretty but I hoped it would provide me some motivation.
During the last 3 months, I've tried to do some exercise, on average, 5 sessions a week. This would include 2 rides on my spin cycle in front of the TV lasting up to an hour; 2 sessions with a gentle warm-up followed by simple push-ups, crunches, lunges followed by stretches; and 1 hour-long session with Mel, our exercise physiologist where she gets me to do stuff my body obviously finds quite foreign such as boxing, skipping, plank-ing.
During this time, I'm actually eating more.
However, the type of food and timing has changed a little. I now make sure I have a good breakfast, I try to find time for morning tea, lunch is no longer optional, a small afternoon snack gets me through my pm patient list, and finally, I've reduced the size of my dinner. I eat less carbs at dinner with larger portions of vegetables. The change has not been dramatic and has been very palatable.
I now share with you the body composition scan results, the 1st from January and the current one:
My total body fat has reduced from 26.3% to 22.7%. A drop of 13%.
I'm quite happy with the result. Nice to know that some simple dietary change and exercise can make a difference.
I'm going to enjoy a few Easter Eggs this weekend.
Dr Irwin Lim is a rheumatologist and a director of BJC Health.
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