I got a small win today in a less visible area

simslions

New member
Hi community, long-time, first-time. 39/M here.

Back in the first half of March, my annual lipid panels started showing some increasingly alarming patterns that I could no longer ignore: HDL was at 59, LDL was 195 and total Cholesterol over 260. My doctor in his notes mentioned 'statin' and my cholesterol ratio being around 4.5 (with 5 being the point of getting on meds) and I kicked my ass in gear.

I had already been in the gym 3-4 days a week, still relatively light on lifts, and was routinely running 5k on the treadmill. I ate well, imbibed little with wine and brown liquor, drank only water and coffee otherwise. I was using a food scale and counting calories, but could not figure out where all that cholesterol was coming from, as it inched higher, year-over-year. Until I finally saw it and had to make a painful cut: heavy cream in coffee. Some days 3 tbsps or more.

I traded it for half-and-half and at a much lower amount, and started eating that gross Fiber One cereal, making sure my veggies were up, much fewer saturated fats (< 20g a day target), increased almond, blueberry, and apple intake, etc.

While I haven't lost significant weight (I still have terrible portion control), I got my panels back this last week: LDL was down to 156, HDL was holding at 60, and my overall cholesterol ratio was 3.9, which, all things considered, was not bad and took a huge weight off my shoulders. My levels are back down to where I was at 9 years ago, and I'm hopeful it keeps sliding with these changes.

This is just a reminder that not every bit of progress is visible on a scale, in a mirror, on your fork, number of plates, or reps in your set. Not everything is immediate or easily measured, but it's just as important to stick with it anyway (and to make sure you're accounting for all your calories when you're not seeing changes).
 
@simslions Nice work.

I see so many people just give up. People just keep doing what they are doing and throw their hands in the air.

It’s worth workng for your health. Your choices do count.

So, great job. I would not have guessed going from heavy to half n half plus Fiber One would have done the trick.
 
@masterofjuice I stepped up my lifts by a lot, stopped fucking around in the gym and worked on my compound lifts, slow and steady making gains using Lean gains as a guide. But bodies are funny so who knows what it was.

I also started eating just bags and bags of baby carrots and full bags of shelled edamame for lunch. I hated it but I was just focused on getting that number down. Fiber and protein every meal. I'm sure the heavy cream was just the proverbial cherry on top of some additional changes, but damn was that the one I missed the most.
 
@masterofjuice I loved edamame already. The carrots were a harder sell but I'm down to not needing a packet of almond butter to get 130g of carrots down.

I hate squats. I read something here that said "if you want to see improvements, go in and do every work out you hate" which is what kept me from skipping that for something easy like leg press or dropping chin ups for lateral pull down. Both are fine but I think there's a good reason I dread squats but don't mind DL, OHP or Bench, so I need to get it.
 
@familylink I usually eat them raw. The baby carrots end up too slimy so I found some carrot sticks at Kroger that are serviceable. I usually pack 130g of carrots, 200g of apple slices and eat that with a pack of Justin's almond butter (28g) and a Quest Protein chip bag and I'm good for lunch.

All that just kinda rumbles around for a while and, from what I've read, ferments in the small intestine where it gets converted to short-chain fatty acids, binds to the excess LDL cholesterol particles like soap binds to dirt on your hands, and then carries it all away in feces.

From what I've gathered, cooked carrots end up losing some of those fiber benefits, but trade off by being better for immune health by releasing carotenoids. YMMV.
 
@simslions Nicely done, but don't stop here. Ask your doctor to test you for APoB which is a much more useful prediction of cardio vascular health than HDL/LDL/Ratios and aim to get it under 80.
 
@simslions It's always interesting to see how much of an impact "minor" things have on one's health.

I started reducing intake of animal products in 2018 and in 2020 I started closing in on being plant-based. In 2023 I started going into whole-food plant based, so trying to remove as much processed food as possible. My mom has always had extremely high LDL cholesterol levels and I would always suggest her eating plant-based but she never believed me, so in May 2023 both of us got some blood work. This is probably the most proud I felt in terms of health efforts. Total cholesterol 123.8, LDL 60.9, blood sugar 86.5.

I sort of maintained the good eating habits, but I started eating some processed foods. It's so easy to fall out of good habits, in particular when you are surrounded by people who prefer other things. I started eating so much fried plantain, I tell you, so much, every single day. Just recently in May 2024 I had to get some blood work and my surprise when my LDL cholesterol had gone up to 112 and my freaking blood sugar had gone up to 126, and within my ability to recall (which can always fail) the main thing that probably caused it was binge eating those fried plantains. I'll check this month to see how things are after making radical changes once again.

If I were to recommend something to help your LDL decrease is to consume flaxseed as frequently as possible. One tablespoon per day is sufficient, you can buy it whole and grind it (once it is ground, it starts losing nutritional value within some weeks) and eat walnuts, they also have some decent amount of omega 3.

Good luck in your journey, you got this!
 
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