Well I didn’t get weighed last week and feel particularly fat at the moment.

It didn’t help when we had a ‘dress-down Friday’ last week and the polo shirt I wore was a little more snug than I would have liked. Travelling home on the train I was sure that I could have balanced a pint of beer on my belly if I really wanted to!

My wife had decided that she was a bit worried about my weight, so 3 weeks ago I went to the doctors for a general check-up. Guess what? Yup, he told me that I was a bit overweight, oh, and that my blood pressure was up, even over 3 readings (to rule out ‘white-coat syndrome…)

He also took some bloods for various health checks, which to be honest I’d never had done.

I was with some relief last night then that I got the results.

My main worry was, of course, cholesterol. This turned out to be very low at 3.7! It did take me a little while to convince the doctor that I didn’t actually live on a diet of carrots.

Blood pressure was still up though and the was a slight liver erm… disfunction – both of which could be due to alcohol.

No I don’t think we’re talking about alcohol abuse here as I only have about 1/2 a bottle of red or white wine with the evening meal, but I wouldn’t be surprised if, in the eyes of the government, I’m a ‘binge-drinker’!

Well I’ll try to cut down on the booze a bit. That should help both the blood pressure, the liver function and also no doubt my weight.

I would recommend that everyone has these basic tests done periodically, especially if, like me, you’ve been absent from a doctors surgery for a number of years.

I was half expecting bad news and for the doctor to suggest that I should read any books a bit quicker otherwise I wouldn’t have time to finish then… The actual outcome was a great relief.