C_Heath

Yep, been riding pretty hard for 7 months, lost almost 40 pounds. Man, I was pumped to get my phsical and see how much my Cholesterol, HDL, LDL, etc had changed. I came home from work 3 days in a row to see if my card was in the mail. Today it came and IM PISSED! It was like it was a photocopy of my last physical (in 2004) I might add.

Cholesterol was 211 from 203 IT FREAKING WENT UP?

Triglycerides 165 from 172 Wow, what a difference!!!!!! NOT!

HDL was 41 in 04' now its 47! WTF?

LDL 131 from 133 2 freaking points?

screw this, were the ribs and fries?

Anyone want a new Trek? Cheap?


Anyone got a smoke? lol

Im just venting. I went from a 36 waist to a 33. Weigh 170 from 222 I feel and look better but Im not ashamed to say I ate a bacon cheesburger and about 2 plates of Fries tonight for supper! Take that Triglycerides! lol.

As a follow up, I still felt guilty after supper.


Ok,,,,,,Ive busted my ass, why did I see no better results? Oh, yea, on a funny note. My doc wrote a little note at the bottom. " Chris, you need to Watch the Fat intake and pick up MORE Exercise!"

SOn of a @##$@

More**********??

bikeferret

If you really are eating well and exercising, you should go in and talk to your doc about it. It could be genetic factors that are playing a role, and something worth keeping an eye on. Some folks just aren't blessed with good cholesterol.

!!Comatoa$ted

Did you fast for 12 hours before you tests? Did you fast more than 12 hours, or consume alcohol before your tests?
Have you been sick lately, or take any sort of drugs?
Have you gone a while without exercising?

Your LDL/HDL is about 2.8, which as the stats indicate is a below average risk for CHD, so not looking at any number in isolation presents a decent outlook for you.

Diurnal variations can affect triglycerides by 40%.

As well does your diet contain a lot foods that are high in cholesterol, such as meat and shellfish?
It may also be genetic, high cholesterol and triglycerides values may be present in your families genetics.

At least most of the rise in cholesterol was because of the rise in you HDL, so at least you are going in the right direction. Keep up the good work and hopefully next year’s physical will be more to your liking.

IMO the new you is still better off, numbers don't always tell the whole story.

DannoXYZ 

It's not the total cholestrol that counts, it's the ratio of HDL to LDL and you've improved that. So good work!

C_Heath

Screw it, Im gonna keep busting it. Im working FULL time now and its cooling off quick here. 57 out this morn. I have the trainer ready and Im gonna keep rippin. Im not gaining this weight back.

Yea, I fasted 12 hours. At least I feel better after reading the above posts.

enamore22

But how do you FEEL?

SoonerBent

Genetics do seem to have a lot to do with it. My wife started on Weight Watchers a couple of years ago and I decided to do it with her. This means lots of fruits and veggies, only lean meats, fish and poultry. But heavy on the fruits and veggies. The stuff thats very good for you. Plus a few hundred miles a month on the bike. Result, sometimes my overall cholesteral will be as low as 220, my HDL 50, LDL 138 and Triglycerides 180 but usually not. However, my 88 year old mother has always had numbers 10 to 20 percent higher than mine and she's the healthiest 88 year old I know. So screw the staton drugs I'm going to eat, ride, live and hope I turn out like dear old mom.

SB

!!Comatoa$ted

Age appears to have a lot to do with cholesterol numbers. It is quite normal to have a higher cholesterol number as you get older.

I heard something this past summer indicating that if you have high cholesterol and you are active, you are probably at a reduced risk for health problems related to cholesterol in comparison to someone with the same cholesterol numbers who is sedentary.

In the end it is just a number and the number itself does not take wholly into account the vast variability of the population. It appears to be a more of a guide.

mrfreddy

first of all, let me just say that the lipid hypothesis is pure bunk. There is no proof whatsover that high cholestoral levels CAUSE heart disease. Sure, half of CHD victims have high cholestoral, but course, that means half don't. Association does not equal causation.

that said, if you are going to obsess over your lipid profile, you also need to look at your LDL subtypes. You want large fluffy LDL, not small LDL. This is because the large type are too big to permeate cell walls and build plague. Or something like that.

Low triglycerides are highly correlated with large LDL, ie. low triglycerides are good, high trigl. are bad.

your triglycerides are kinda on the high side, and your HDL is kinda low (High HDL is also good). You probably dont have a lot of the idea type of LDL.

the best and easiest way to lower your trig. and raise your HDL (your numbers arent that great, btw) is to eat a high fat, moderate protein, low carbohydrate diet. I know this goes against all the current dogma and standard advice provided by the standard advice givers, but it is nonetheless absolutey true.

SimiCyclist

Your exercise and reduced calories sound great! Just work on the fat intake. You already conquered the hardest part!

I eliminated red meat, eat only lean skinless chicken, fish and mostly vegetarian meals at lunch. I get in about 15 miles after work 4 - 5 days a week with anywhere from 50 - 75 miles on the weekend. My last blood panel (3 weeks ago) came up with triglycerides 67, LDL 68 and HDL 39. Several years ago I was well over 150 with the triglycerides, over 200 on the LDL, below 30 on the HDL and around 300 lbs (down to 190 now).

BTW your HDL actually improved as increased HDL is desired. Its probably a reflection of the riding. My experience showed increased exercise definitely affects HDL.

jsigone

congrats on the weight lost. I did the same thing last year and felt great about it. You should too. Don't beat yourself up on the numbers. Life isn't about numbers, cuz sometimes you have no control over it. I'm sure you feel great about yourself and have better selfesteem. Keep riding and doing what you're doing.

Don't feel guilty about the good food, it's ok to cheat now and then

wolf_river_mike

I'd ask for a B test.

CTAC

I'd say that is a pretty good improvement. HDL is supposed to rise with exersise, and that is a very good thing. Your LDL/HDL ratio changed from 3.3 to 2.8.

Bean Counter

Hang in there. This is exactly what happened to me when I first starting riding/losing weight 3 years ago. Dropped 25 pounds & changed my diet (ate better foods). 6 months later, my total C count went from 212 to 225.

I did what you say in the quote above. 2 years pass & I dropped another 15 pounds. This time, my total is 185.

'nother

I had a similar experience, but with high blood pressure rather than cholesterol. I was hoping that by losing 30+ pounds I could keep my blood pressure under control enough. And I did affect it, but only very slightly, not enough...very frustrating and disappointing.

Doc says there was probably not much more I could do (already minimizing sodium intake, and have a reasonably healthy diet) -- genetics are heavily stacked against me. So I suck it up and take the medication. But I am still riding the bike, not so much for the weight, but because now I'm totally addicted

ericgu

You don't mention what you are eating - that can have a considerable effect on your numbers.

bikeferret

One more thing. You could have had genetics, especially in things like high bp, that would have caused you to be worse off in the time it has been since your last measurement. So your diet and weight loss has helped a lot more than you can realize because you can't see what your numbers would have been. So maybe like the above poster you can keep plugging away until you overcome that hump. Anyways, good luck!
I am blessed with good genetics, conversely. I had decent BP and lipids at 300 pounds, even though I was in godawful shape. Happily down to 200 and falling now.

krazygluon

Not that I know too much, but I'd look at genetics and diet. Its not what people want to hear, but reducing animal consumption does a lot for the numbers you're worried about (as long as you don't overcompensate with dairy) I'm not saying go all-out-vegan, but try a healthy meatless meal or two during the week.

mrfreddy

sorry, but this is just not true.

cutting out the carbs, and eating a high fat/moderate protein diet will definitely:

raise your HDL (my HDL is 67)
lower your triglycerides (my triglycerides count is 76)
increase the proportion of your LDL from small (dangerous, supposedly) to large fluffy (considered safe) - my LDL is mostly the large fluffy kind.

cutting out animal foods means eating a high carb diet. this does the exact opposite - lowers HDL, raises triglycerides,increases the number of small LDL.

ericgu

Meatless is good if you replace the meat with whole grains, fruits, and vegatables. Meatless is bad if you replace it with refined sugars and carbohydrates.

In fact, I'd look at getting rid of as much refined food as possible.

kuan

I'd say that's freaking good too.

edzo

switch up

get your fat content from almonds. amazing results in weight loss and blood numbers.

but take the bloodwork with a grain of salt. it is bunk science unless your numbers
are freaky out-of-sight. but they ain't. so go ride