Lowering Your Cholesteral

Here Are 11 Tips To Lowering You Cholesteral....

1. Set A Target

2. Consider Medication

3. Exercise

4. Avoid Saturated Fat

5. Eat More Fiber

6. Eat Fish

7. Drink Red Wine

8. Drink Green Tea

9. Eat Nuts

10.Switch To Healthy Margarine

11. Don't Smoke

I never thought at the age of 27 that I would have cholestoral issues. However, I found some old blood work from back in 2005, when I was 21, and my cholestoral was 234 which is even higher than it is now. I am concerned because 5 months ago my cholestoral was 191 and it shot up to 226 and my ldl bad cholestoral went from 110 to 134. In 2005 my LDL was only 126.  Anyway, at first as I was really upset wondering how could I lose 15 lbs and have my cholestoral go up? But, then I realized that I lost that weight up to October and I simply maintained it over November and December. So I was not eating healthy during those two months. Now, knowing this, I will have to make a conscious effort to work on lowering my cholestoral. I feel like I am 50 years old just saying that sentence. The above list is a great starting point. And, as always, I say better to know what is wrong then to not know and not be able to work on fixing it.

Not The News I Wanted

I would like to start this post by stating that I really hate having PCOS. Ok. Now that that has been said, I went to the doctor a few weeks ago to have routing blood work done. I found out that my estrogen levels have not signifigantly improved since the last time I had them checked. Also my cholestoral went from 191 to 226 and my LDL went from 110 to 134. PCOS causes heart disease, diabetes and obesity along with other wonderful things like infertility and hair loss.  PCOS can kiss my a$$. So the diabetes drug I take, Metformin also known as Glucofage, will now be increased to 3x per day. This is the drug that makes me sick. Also my estrogen pill will have to be increased. I have this image where I die of a heart attack while weighing 500 lbs - childless and miserable from taking ungodly amounts of medication everyday. I sound so awfully negative. I am just mad that I lost 15 lbs and all I did was get worse. Well ok how can I spin this? Talk about motivation to eat right and exercise ! I need to trust that once I get the right combo of life style and medication that I can beat this PCOS thing. Maybe I was starting to win and PCOS said no I must fight back. I have no idea. I thought losing weight would help, but obviously I am not doing something right. I am sad, but I will get over it.

Just Say No To New Year's Resolutions

Every year after the holidays millions of American make New Year's Resolutions. Now I am no scientist, but if I were to estimate I would say that 95% of resolutions fail. Also, I would guess that 95% of people make the same resolution every year. I am done with New Years Resolutions and I think maybe we should all be done with them. Over the next month millions of Americans will spend billions on gym memberships, diet foods, exercise equipment, stop smoking aids, info mercial gimmicks, self help books, etc. etc. etc. The only people who win are the people selling the stuff.

Change is not going to happen over night. Change doesn't come once a year in a spurt of national motivation. Change happens every day any day of the year. Change is deciding on this random Tuesday that I will work out that I will eat healthy. Change is making new habits slowly over time.

So I say to all my loved ones about to start their 50th new fad diet - Don't Do It. Stop and think about your life. Think about how many times you have tried and failed. Maybe its a sign. You know they say the definaition of stupidity is to try the same thing over and and over expecting a different outcome. So stop trying the same things over and over that don't work and figure out what does work. I will almost gaurantee you it isn't a fad diet or  it isn't a gimmick on tv. If there were a magic diet or a magic pill or machine that worked then we would all be skinny. But, we aren't - are we? It's not about what you do one month out of the year it is about what you do 365 days a year. If you take in more calories on average that you burn you will gain weight. So figure out a way to make small sustainable changes over the whole of the year instead of trying to fix it all one month out of the year. Remember change is a process and slow change is the best change. Good luck to you all!

The End of December

Well December is almost over. So final damage was 3 lbs. Not too bad for 2 months of not so great eating. So 14 lbs lost so far. I have 6 months left until my 28th birthday on July 4th. I would like to lose another 30 lbs by my birthday. That would be about 44 lbs total. I think this will probably require more time than I originally thought. It took me 2-3 years to put on the 80 lbs so it is not unreasonable to expect it to take about the same time to take it off. I still hold fast to my ideal of losing 1 lb per week. Losing weight slow is the best way to do it. The slower you lose the weight the better chance you have of keeping it off. I think I will take this next week to prepare myself for the New Year. I will work on my motivation and try and get my resolutions and goals in order. 2011 here I come !!!

December

Sadly I just realized that I didn't post anything for the whole month of December. Well there really wasn't anything to write about other than a whole bunch of food that I should not have eaten. I am kind of anxious for Christmas to come and go so I can get back to my plan and start powering forward. I think I will have gained 3-5 lbs for this month. Hopefully a lot of that is water weight and will come off quickly after Christmas. I went back to the dr last week for blood work. I haven't gotten the results yet, but hopefully my hormones are doing better. I know that for sure my hair is much better. I have even been getting compliments from people. The dr wants me to go back to the imaging place for another ultrasound of my overseas to check for more cycsts. Not very excited about that after the awful experience I had last time. I was thinking the other night how do you explain PCOS to a person who doesn't know what it is? " Well I have an endocrine disorder which is the hormone system of the body where my estrogen and testostorone and other hormones are out of wack and this causes diabetic insulin resistance, obesity, metabolic syndrome, hair loss, infertility, and painfull cysts in my ovaries." Man that sounds depressing. But, it is only as depressing as I let it be. So I really didn't accomplish much over the last couple of months. I lost 17 lbs over the first 4 months or so, but I find after about 4 months motivation really starts to wain. I don't see anything wrong with taking a break and regrouping as long as the end goal is still in sight. If it takes me 2 years to lose this weight and not 1 then fine that is just how long it will take. The end goal is change. Real change. Not a quick fix. This isn't a quick fix kind of problem. This is a process. I'm hoping for real change.