High cholesterol help

cherdreemz
cherdreemz Posts: 7 Member
in Recipes
Hi I recently found I have high cholesterol, 249 LDL 180. I need to lose at least 20lbs. I am close to 68 years old and am not very active. I realize I need to exercise. I decided to do a 1200 calorie diet for starters but am not sure how the macros should be considering I have to lower my cholesterol. Any help with understanding this would be greatly appreciated.

Answers

  • loulee997
    loulee997 Posts: 273 Member
    Here is an article on how macros, sat fats, and diet impact cholesterol.

    ARTICLE

    For 1,200 calories, it suggests less than 8 grams of saturated fat. I hope the article helps.

    My sister-in-law and her brother had luck with Cholestoff Plus . However, do not ever take any type of supplement without talking to your doctor first. My SIL and her brother had success with it lowering their numbers by 20+ pts after several months. But--as I said--you always have to check with your doctor before adding anything to your diet/nutrition plan.

    Good luck!

  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    Welcome. I'm also 68, but have been exercising for years. If you've never exercised, I'd suggest starting out with walking. You can start small and work your way up to faster and longer--slowly. Once you're doing well with that, you can add in other things. There's a whole world of activity out there: dancing, cycling, stretching, yoga, swimming, strength training, even home exercises. Just start and see where it takes you.

    As for high cholesterol, my BIL is a cardiologist and he put me on a low statin dose. Sometimes it's hereditary and despite eating right and exercising, you'll need that. Your doctor should advise you. However, eating correct portions and exercising have benefits all their own and are so worth it going forward. Best of luck.
  • cherdreemz
    cherdreemz Posts: 7 Member
    Loulee997 Thank you so much for the information and sending the article! Great help in that article!! So much in there that is helping me to understand . I was really confused 🤔 Thank you again

    Snowflake954 Thank you for responding and encouraging exercise! I'm supposed to have hip replacement surgery but have been doing some exercise in hopes of putting that off til a much later date so I will be adding more walking. Hoping to be able to not need meds for Cholesterol but my mom was in meds for it so we shall have to wait and hope diet and exercise will be enough. Thank you again
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    edited November 2023
    I thought I'd have to have a hip replacement for sure. Then I found MFP 10 years ago and upped my exercise. I'm still holding. I have hip pain but manage with certain stretches. I've had really good luck with "Ask Dr Jo" on YouTube for specific painful areas. She's great. I'm doing some simple hip stretches of hers everyday and it's very helpful.
  • cherdreemz
    cherdreemz Posts: 7 Member
    That gives me hope that maybe I will be able to tolerate the hip pain through diet and exercise. Thank you for letting me know that. I'll have to check her YouTube out😊
  • mbinaz2019
    mbinaz2019 Posts: 26 Member
    edited November 2023
    I'm 71 and have had high cholesterol for some time. Diet & exercise helps, but I still need to take a statin.

    For some people, reducing your carbohydrate intake can help with lowering cholesterol. It sounds counter-intuitive, but it worked for me. I still take a statin, but only 1/2 the dose I started out with, and my cholesterol is now in the normal range. Unfortunately, if I stop the statin, my cholesterol goes back up.

    https://medlineplus.gov/howtolowercholesterolwithdiet.html

    https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/how-to-lower-your-cholesterol-without-drugs

    For exercise, try Youtube videos. There are seated workouts, strength, stretching, low-impact & walking based workouts. Some geared toward new exercisers and seniors.

    My fave is https://www.youtube.com/@SeniorShapeFitness
  • maczette55
    maczette55 Posts: 1 Member
    Good you for taking the steps needed to take care of yourself. I just wanted to put a comment out there about the possible hip surgery in the future. My daughter had a hip replacement when she was 18, not for the normal reasons obviously, results from a cancer surgery and treatment. (Which she is fine now-yay science!). She was advised to postpone, because when you are young you are more active and therefore a hip replacement might last a shorter amount of time. But that was exactly the reason why she pushed for it, she was at a more active time in her life, so why go thru it in pain and with limited mobility. It turned out to be a fantastic decision for her. Of course your situation is different, I just wanted to say in her situation, she was actually able to me more active because of her hip surgery.
  • cherdreemz
    cherdreemz Posts: 7 Member
    Thank you again for those that responded. I just saw a dietician and she put me on a modified Mediterranean diet. I start that tomorrow. Its a change because I had been doing low carb of 20. To 50 grams of carbs and she has me now doing 120 🤔
    Maczette55 happy to know the decision your daughter had made was the right one for her😊

    Mbinaz2019 thank you for the wonderful information with links
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,262 Member
    Keep an eye on your HDL and triglycerides, if trigs are trending up and HDL is trending down, that is more concerning that what your cholesterol is doing. Focusing on 1 proxy is not seeing the forest for the trees and most clinicians kinda miss this important factor, it's basically reductive, where the symptom is treated instead of the root cause :)
  • zebasschick
    zebasschick Posts: 1,071 Member
    i got my cholesterol down by riding an exercise bike at light effort for 45 minutes to an hour a few times a week. it was more effective than any dietary changes i made.

    that being said, i'm a vegetarian, but i do eat dairy, so my diet isn't cholesterol-free.

    best of luck to you - i hear good things about the mediterranean diet.

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