A .6kg loss this week. Very nice, thank you very much, I'm firmly in 70s land now.
Better yet, it was time to take the tape measure out on Saturday and I registered a delightful 16cm (6.2") overall loss. Lovely.
So why the gloomy title for this entry?
Well, I was waiting on the result of a much more important number this week. And the news is not good.
One of the reasons I'm doing this is because I have a family history of high cholesterol and I had fairly high cholesterol myself. Not high enough for medication, but high.
I wanted to bring it down with diet and exercise. So, as you all know, I've been steadily losing weight, eating well and exercising.
So you'd think that my results would have me over the moon.
Not so.
My cholesterol levels have actually INCREASED.
Now, before I flung myself into traffic in dispair, my doctor reassured me that it is mostly my 'good' cholesterol (the HDL cholesterol) that had increased. I'd only had a tiny increase in the 'bad' cholesterol (the LDL cholesterol). With my family history of high cholesterol, there's not a whole lot I can do. The odds are stacked against me.
Not only that, but I'm not a smoker, I don't have diabetes and there's no family history of heart disease. So I'm not really at risk.
But my levels are now over the minimum for medication.
She's giving me another six months to work at this with diet and exercise. I've looked at some literature and there's not a lot more I can do to change what I'm eating other than to reduce the amount of cheese I eat (and substitute other forms of protein and dairy) and be more militant about trimming fat off meat. In six months, I hope to be at goal.
In six months, I'd like to have my cholesterol at a managable level. Because otherwise, I'm on medication for the rest of my life.
Yes, photos are forthcoming. However, you don't get to see the dress until the hat is ready. And then, I promise, photos galore!
Bear with me, but if you want to try a different approach to your high cholesterol (I mean different as in - more than excercising) - I have 2 people with ultra high cholesterol in my life that did 2 different plans that worked. Neither is on meds anymore.
#1 - My Mom. My Mom has had high cholesterol her entire life. She's went on Atkins and off all cholesterol meds, has been fairly faithful to it and at her last check up for cholesterol hers was the lowest it's been her entire life.
#2 - Abdul - a co-worker. His Cholesterol was dangerously high (500) He read some articles about a research study in Sweden I believe. They found that eating 2 medium sized carrots a day reduced cholesterol as much as meds do. Also another study said grapefruit had a similar effect. He ate 2 carrots a day with his lunch and had grapefruit snack (must not be juice, because it's the membranes that you need - I realize this may interfere with other meds - so check with your doctor) after work everyday for 2 weeks. When he retested 2 weeks later (at his request - so he could see if what he was doing was working) he was back down quite a bit and when he went back for his official check up 6 months later he was in the normal range.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
Way to go on another loss, you're legendary!
That's a bummer about the cholesterol. My dad had high cholesterol too (lucky I didn't inherit that), and I know he's brought it down, so I'll ask him what he did?
have you tried that logicol margarine that REDUCES cholesterol? I have only ever heard good things about it!!!! maybe it is worth a shot - better than medication anyhow
Oatmeal? There's long list of really good-sounding recipes over at SkinnyDaily.
But if you can't get the LDL down any other way, then relax about the meds. Hey, I've been on Lipitor for a year now (for reasons other than ldl cholesterol) and love it. Started feeling much better after about 3 months. Yeah, i know, the stuff ain't cheap. :(
Also, word is out that some heart docs are putting themselves and their patients on statins by age 60 whether their labs show a need or not. Seems that even if we keep the cholesterol counts way down all our lives, by the time we reach 60-65 the junk has accumulated enough to cause artery problems anyway. Which is why so many people with low LDL counts still have heart attacks as they reach their late sixties. (Have read in numerous articles that most heart attack patients do not have high LDL counts, nor have they for years previous.) There's been lots of chatter in the U.S. media about all this in the last year or two. Don't know how much has been in the Aussie media.
Hi possum,
wow, I can't believe all the advice everyone is offering. From carrots to oatmeal.
What a nice (or not so nice), non weight related goal to aim for.
Congrats on the weight loss.... tipee tooeing to that finish line and I'm oh so proud.
well done on your result this week! maybe another six months will help? you know you're doing everything right... hang in there foxy!
I'm happy to hear your good cholesterol is up. Hopefully the bad will decline soon. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.
Whoa! Great job on the 70s! What an accomplishment! My mom also have very high cholesterol depite being in shape and eating very well. She is on medication and it handles it well. there are always ways to beat that! You sound very healthy and are doing all the rights things. Don't worry!
Congratulations on another loss and making it even further into the 70's! Sorry to hear about the cholesterol results. Good luck getting to goal and reducing your cholesterol in the next 6 months. Only 13.7kg to go, you will get there! :o)
Served up by Kelli at 05:10 on 19|10|04