How long does it take in order to improve blood test results?

Why not? See if you are on the right track.

I do my blood test once a year. My insurance has 100% coverage of an annual physical, anything else I will have a copay.
I measure my health by other metrics like: I can sleep 7 hours most nights, I am full of energy after a workout, my body has an improved shape with weightlifting. Usually, the annual test is more like a confirmation of the other metrics.

Pretty much all depends on what kind of test and if insurance will pay for it or not. I have been diagnosed T2Dm so my insurance will cover an A1C every 3 months and once daily glucose tests. Cholesterol will only be covered once a year. I also had severe anemia so they would cover a CBC every 3 months but I don't get one that often. My numbers have stayed up and I donate blood every 2 months so I get my hemoglobin tested then.

As far as how long it takes for numbers to improve, it really depends on so many factors. I was able to reduce my A1C from 7.3 to 5.5 in 9 months. Haven't had a cholesterol or triglyceride issue so I can't help you there.

I had bloodwork done almost exactly one year ago, and there were some borderline high results.

In Feb, I started here with MFP and began losing weight.

By the time I had lost 10 kg in about early May, I had the bloodwork done again, and my results had improved significantly.

lionkingbg wrote: »

No. I'm not going to quit my efforts. No way!
Do you know how much results can be improved? I've read somewhere that there are limits when it comes to improving results. For instance, HDL, LDL or tryglicerides cannot go on better more than 10%.

I haven't seen any studies on that. What I have read suggests that we're not getting the right info from standard blood tests, and that the crucial figure is the breakdown of two different types of LDLs, but I just deal with the info my doctor has me tested for.

Anyway, in my case, my LDL (which really wasn't that high to begin with) came down by something like 30%, and I'd say my triglycerides (which were high) came down by about 15%--all from diet and exercise, no meds. I would assume results would vary depending on how bad off you are in the first place, as well as depending on how much a given individual's problem is driven by genetics and how much by their weight/nutrition/exercise issues (I'm not sure if that's clear -- I'm saying I think behavior doesn't carry the same weight in all cases, and that for some people genetics is more of an influence that it is in others). Sadly, not much luck in bringing my HDLs up at my last check-up.

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My doc says 3 mos to see changes.

roobar323 wrote: »

I did a test in September which had low "Good" Cholesterol and high "Bad". I retested two weeks ago and, while I haven't get the results (I was told that if it was ok they wouldn't call me) on the phone the nurse just said that it was amazing looking at the records and I can pick them up tomorrow.
During that time I've dropped 8-10kg (I only started tracking in mid October) so it might appear as a positive already.

Congrats on that!
You say you are constantly monitoring your BP. If you have a monitor at home, you might want to bring it with you to the doctor's, so you can take your BP with your monitor and see if it's in the same ballpark as the reading with the doctor's equipment. I take my monitor with me every time I go to the doctor's, so I can be sure it's still properly calibrated. (I do have the white coat effect, so I can't just take it at home and assume it will be the same at the office. Plus, I have practically never had my BP taken "properly" in a doctor's office. They always take it as soon as I walk back to the examining room, sitting on that raised examination couch or whatever you want to call it, asking me questions as they inflate the cuff, with my feet dangling in the air and my arm held out in the air. At home I take it according to the instructions that came with the BP monitors, and which match the guidance I've found from various medical organizations online: after several minutes of sitting quietly, with my feet flat on the floor, and my arm supported on a table or other surface. So, I guess part of the "white coat effect" for me is that they're just not doing it right.

Anyway, in answer to your earlier question, mine had gotten to be higher than it should be just before I started on MFP, when I had hit the highest weight of my life and was getting very little exercise (it averaged around 140/90 at home and 160/100 if someone wearing a white coat was anywhere around), and it came down to around 122/75 in my first six weeks on MFP, which also coincided with an increase in walking. But that's just my n=1, so your mileage may vary.

As you're probably aware, you can't just take it once and say "that's my BP." So if you weren't monitoring your BP before, and you just have that one data point of 130/90, it's difficult to say for certain that you've really improved, but hey, if you're consistently at a lower number now, that's good, and hopefully you'll see some more improvement.