Needing to lower my weight and my cholesterol

sammi_williams

My doctor talked to me a bit about this, but she never really suggested anything on how to get my cholesterol to go down, even just a smidgen. I'm planning on moving to the UK to get married before 2014, and I really really want to be on my way to getting healthy by that point, but, despite eating better and exercising more, I'm not sure if there is anything else I can do to affect my cholesterol without having to be on medication. Any advice?

amykluver

Diet and exercise are it (that I'm aware of). But perhaps if you are more specific about what you have done or are doing with your diet and exercise routine - we (the MFP community) could offer more ideas. My husband was pretty fit & active, and the healthiest eater I knew and he got in trouble w/ high blood pressure. His quit drinking milk and stepped up his workouts and dropped 20 points off his BP (he also lost 7# in one week)! I did that and nothing changed for me. (I know my example is for BP and not cholesterol - best I have) But as a child he was told he was allergic to milk but not bad enough to have reactions - it just showed up in an allergy test so he didn't start drinking milk until college - and he LOVED it. But apparently - his body didn't like it so much and switching to almond milk really made a difference for his body (specifically his hight BP).

Moral of my story - get us more info and maybe some ideas will come in for you (some may work - some may not - just like the milk thing for my husband and I).

sammi_williams

My cholesterol is dangerously high (unfortuantely, my doctor did not give me a number), and my blood pressure has been having problems actually.

I went from eating around 3000 calories a day to about 1300-ish a day, and most of what I eat now contains or is all vegetables and fruit. I still get protein, but I've cut out almost all foods containing cholesterol (except chicken and cheese from time to time, but I try to use exactly the right amounts and make sure I don't get more than about 80mg of cholesterol whenever I do eat these things). I try to work out (at the gym) about three times a week (for an hour; I mostly use the treadmill, stair climbers, or bikes), I've started working on developing muscles little by little about one time a week, and every day I work with a medicine ball and do general cardio (15 minutes with push ups, jumping rope, walking, etc.).

I'm lactose intolerant and I can't eat eggs, so I do eat soy cheese and soy milk and a lot. I do still have regular cheese, but maybe I should cut back on that?

I'm 22, 5'5'', and I'm 251 pounds (from 258 originally).

amykluver

Really - I"d just say to keep at it and as your weight decreases your bad numbers should too. Soy cheese... ugh. But good for you for making all the cuts. Just make sure that 1300 is not too much of a cut for you to be able to maintain (eating within) so you aren't too temped to cheat (and therefore defeat your purpose).

Hang in there = persistance pays off (I feel like a hypocrite but it's good for me to say this so that I remember it too!).