I finally did it.

This past week, I bit the bullet and went to see my doctor for the dreaded P-word.

I got a physical … and I am alive to tell you about it. Well, to tell you about some of it.

It was mostly good news. Certainly, better news than whenever I went for physicals when I was home from college, or when I moved back to the area, a little more than seven years ago.

Back then, I was lucky. My poor eating habits had my cholesterol way too high, and were wreaking havoc on my liver. But my doctor was hesitant to put me on medication, thanks to my age. If I can remember that far back, he summed it by telling me I had time to get this right.

So of course I ran right out and started exercising and improving my lifestyle habits. Yeah, right.

My last physical was in spring of 2009. A little less than two years later, I started the “90 Day Commit to Get Fit” program at Hampshire Hills, and finally got everything in check.

Actually, that’s understatement. Going into the program, all of my numbers – cholesterol, weight, body fat, etc. – were not good. By the end, I was in the best shape I’d been in since high school. Of course, that wasn’t saying too much.

A year after that, in early 2012, my weight was the lowest it had been since I was in college. Had I gotten a physical then, the doctor probably would have fainted from shock.

But instead, I was there this week, and his response to my numbers was positive. Cholesterol was good, with the exception of some slightly elevated LDLs. Other numbers looked all right, and I thought I was going to get out unscathed when he hit me with a surprise of his own. I could afford to lose another 20 pounds.

Time for some full disclosure: when I weighed myself before the physical, I was six pounds heavier than my final weight for the “90-Day” program, but 15 pounds heavier than a year ago. Recently, my feeling has been that if I lose about half that, I’d be in pretty good shape.

But another 20 pounds? There might be nothing left of me, I thought at first.

After that number stewed in my mind for the rest of the day, I could see it. Maybe losing 20 pounds means I’ll end up looking good enough to show off my abs, rather than just being happy with not having to suck in my gut.

Joe Marchilena writes a fitness column for Hampshire Hills. For information about the “90 Day Commit to Get Fit” program, call 673-7123 or email hhinfo@hampshirehills.com.

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