Jan 12 Tuesday

morning all.

thanks for the link Kairk.  Will certainly ponder it.

as for cholesterol issues, am not an expert by any stretch, but how much worse would the numbers be if the tremendous effort of weight loss had not/are not being attended too.  Sorry if sound too pollyanish and I realize that it is disappointing and a worry, but doing our best is something to applaud.  

Calories were 1019 and steps 11,874.  Scale not moving but that is likely because of the excess of the day before.

we keep on keeping on in spite of discouraging bumps along the way.

Happy Tuesday.

Good morning all,

Just dropping in to say have a great day!

Lorna

Good morning, Peeps!

125.9 this morning. 

Today is Paula's bodpod day, I think!

Kairk's functional fitness article is timely.  My first session with a personal trainer is tonight and he is all about functional fitness.  I'm excited to get started.

Have a terrific day!  Shel

I don't think you are being too Pollyanish.  It is a good reminder that cholesterol is just one piece of the cardiovascular picture.  Even if cholesterol doesn't improve with weight loss, every other risk factor (blood pressure, inflammatory markers, sugar levels, etc) does improve. 

Not to say that it isn't incredibly frustrating to have something out of whack when you were hoping for better!

Good Morning !

     Thanks for the reminders that no one "marker" is the be all or end all.  I'm not overly stressing about my LDL.  My triglycerides are great and my HDL is in the ball park. I know I'm eating clean, and the Lipitor should help raise my HDL.  It's all good !

     Shel... can't wait to hear how your first session goes with the trainer !

     Paula.... inquiring minds want to know how the Bod Pod went ! 

     141.2 today.... 130 pounds down, and five pounds from the bottom of my target range !!!  I'm muscling through, no matter what !!  If I lose a few more shifting into maintenance, it's all good. 

     Just have to share with people who get it.... my all time high was 345, right before my divorce eight years ago.  I got down to 175 on Weigh****chers that time, and regained to close to 300, although my VSG starting weight was 271.  So, I've lost over 200 pounds from my high eight years ago. Kind of puts any other bumps and challenges in perspective !!

     Have a great day !! 

Diane

What a pleasure of now versus then!  Congratulations!  

So much effort goes into all weight loss attempts. Isn't it nice to know that we have an edge to keep it off this time?  Besides the VSG, I feel like this board is part of my edge.

125.4 today. Good eating day yesterday, just below my calories range and carbs were not too bad. Back from BOD POD testing with surprising results - I will post a separate entry on that.

Got my hop on at the trampoline park last night. It was so much fun! My upper back muscles are sore from doing windmills over and over again while jumping!

Not sure what I want to do for exercise today. Probably should do boot camp again so I can go to level 2 next week with it. I think I'm ready for level 2 yoga but doing yoga right after boot camp on Sunday was a killer. Perhaps I can spread them out more today.

Cholesterol - treatment is based on individual risk these days, not so much what the numbers are. The more at risk you are for having cardiovascular disease, the higher the intensity of therapy (i.e. high intensity statins), You can download the ASCVD Risk Estimator to you smart device or there is a link you can do on your computer below. This will give you your % risk of having a cardiovascular event in the next 10 years.

The treatment guidelines are as follows:

The guideline emphasizes that lifestyle modification (exercise, blood pressure control, ideal body weight, not smoking) remains a critical component of ASCVD (cardiovascular disease) control/prevention - first line of defense!

• Four groups most likely to benefit from statin therapy are identified:

1. Patients with any form of clinical ASCVD (previous heart attack, stroke, bypass surgery/stent placement)

2. Patients with primary LDL-C levels of 190 mg per dL or greater

3. Patients with diabetes mellitus, 40 to 75 years of age, with LDL-C levels of 70 to 189 mg per dL

4. Patients without diabetes, 40 to 75 years of age, with an estimated 10-year ASCVD risk ? 7.5%

• Risk assessment for 10-year and lifetime risk is recommended using an updated ASCVD risk calculator: http://my.americanheart.org/cvriskcalculator

A more detailed article of this can be found at http://www.aafp.org/afp/2014/0815/p260.html

So, if your risk is high, treatment is a good idea.

I know I was disappointed when my cholesterol numbers didn't improve much with my weight loss. I have bad genes as far as cholesterol manufacturing goes!

Thanks so much for this detailed response !!  I knew this was "your area" !!  Can't wait for your next post !  Sooo excited for you !!!

Diane

Scale the exact same as yesterday. Yesterday was an excellent day for health all the way around: high protein, low carb, low calorie (not quite 1,100), plenty of fluids, and a GREAT workout.

Now, I need to get more sleep. That is the one thing I struggle with. First, I don't go to bed early enough (but that's my internal clock) and two, I have not slept through the night since I can't remember when. Most nights I get just around 6 hours of sleep. Not enough to promote health (and weight loss). Any suggestions on how to get to bed earlier would be much appreciated! 

Great cholesterol conversation: Diane, just so you know (since my posts were disregarded by OH last night!) I started back on an entry level statin in 2014. After weight loss my cholesterol just continued to rise until my total was 233 and my LDL was too high for my liking. My triglycerides have been awesome since VSG and I will always struggle with my HDL. When I was obese my HDL was in the high 20s. I finally got it up to 48 but at my last check it was back down to 38 (despite taking 6 fish oil pills per day!)

Met a goal last night! Was able to do squat jump to box with 2 full size boxes! Made my night. My new goal is to be able to do 5 pull ups. I can't quite get one done. Couldn't quite get my chin to the bar. (I decided to try one last night. Took me a couple of days to get up the nerve! LOL.) Something new to work on fitness wise is a great motivator for me. 

The thing I love about Functional Fitness is that it really does facilitate physical functionality. The other day when putting away the Christmas boxes I took the largest, most awkward box off Ron's hands and put it up on the high shelf in the garage - no problem. I am 5 inches shorter than Ron and had to get on my tip toes to get the box on the shelf but it was far easier for me to do it than it was for Ron. Ron was not at all happy about that, but I think it is a testament for the Functional Fitness training I've been doing for the past 4 years.  (The box, btw, weighs about 40 pounds and is 4 feet long- holds the fake tree)

Linda - FYI Miralax seemed to work for 1 day and 1 day only! Haven't gone since!  

I'm late to the party today, glad to hear that everyone is doing well.  I'm at 115, which feels like a 'true' number for me - one that reflects my current size accurately.  Some poop progress after an unfruitful week, so hoping things keep moving.  Finally added back one of those crazy Quest Bars each day, which may be helping the Miralax, but i honestly don't know what works and what doesn't.  Mainly serendipity I'm still thinking.  

Off to run a few errands.