“So, you are an apple.”

My annual check-up with my doctor. Blood pressure elevated but not too much. That reddish splotch, not cancerous, just veins that have reached a dead end. But my cholesterol and LDL (the bad cholesterol) are too high. Not quite high enough that my doctor wants to give me medication, but high enough to encourage a little more attention to “lifestyle” modification. And that weight around my waist, that visceral weight, well— I’m an apple. That’s what my doctor said and it took me a moment to figure out what she was saying– a soft way of saying “fat.”

Some people accumulate their extra pounds at their hips, but visceral fat is the fat that statistically tends to point to higher risk for cardiovascular problems and even diabetes. Weight outside, weight inside. With heart disease a genetic factor in my family, this elevates the risk even higher.

So the doctor wants me to lose weight and actually I want to get thinner too. I have been trying for some time, but obviously not hard enough. Clearly, looking better was not a strong enough motivation. Now something more is at stake.

Though I believe I eat fairly healthily, it’s time to get a bit stricter around diet and calories. More fruits and vegetables. More fish. Less sugar. Smaller portions. Much more exercise. It’s time to take care of myself physically, in a deep and profound way. It’s time to shave this apple into something closer to its inner core.

I’m on it.