<p>Worked out with my trainer today–TRX work and heavy weights for an hour. Followed that with a 4.0 mile walk outside. It was 23 degrees, but the sun was shining, which made it a little more pleasant. This is my second day back to working out after a week off. So far, so good.</p>
<p>Counting Down:</p>
<p>I bet you are selling yourself short. I imagine that any who hadn’t seen you since you lost 98 pounds would not only think you look night and day better, but would probably stand there with there in amazement. </p>
<p>Did you save your fattest clothes? I’ve got my 44 inch jeans on a hanger in the basement. I bet you could slip into something you used to wear and be pretty amazed!</p>
<p>Having said that… I don’t think any of us who have lost 90+ pounds are ever going to have washboard abs and so forth. There’s a certain amount of loose skin and so forth that comes with the territory. That’s OK. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t been out looking for underwear-modeling gigs…(although I must say, the [purple</a> boxers](<a href=“http://www.zappos.com/images/z/2/2/4/8/6/3/2248633-1-2x.jpg]purple”>http://www.zappos.com/images/z/2/2/4/8/6/3/2248633-1-2x.jpg) I just got in the Patagonia sale do look pretty spiffy on an ol’ (formerly) fat guy…</p>
![http://www.zappos.com/images/z/2/2/4/8/6/3/2248633-1-2x.jpg]purple](http://www.zappos.com/images/z/2/2/4/8/6/3/2248633-1-2x.jpg%5Dpurple){kind=link}
<p>Yay, Bromfield. Good to hear that you are getting back into the swing and seemingly not permanently crippled from your fall. Bullet dodged!</p>
<p>IDad, I have donated locally or shipped to my sister most of my 3X & 4X clothes. I did try them on to see the difference – and then I <em>can</em> tell. Looking in the mirror in my underwear, I can’t. The ol’ skin just doesn’t shrink back so much after it’s been stretched for soooo many years. Plastic surgery would probably help matters somewhat, but with my medical history, I ain’t going there. </p>
<p>Am trying to get to my first goal (BMI 25) by April 10th, which is the 3rd anniversary of this adventure. That’s only about 6 lbs away now, but I am losing so slowly over the past year that we’ll see if I make it. If not, I’ll get there eventually.</p>
<p>The preoccupation with washboard abs comes to us compliments of the body image industry. You can have a strong and healthy core that looks tight and trim without pining for the “6 pack”. The rectus abdominus muscles that give that 6 pack look are the surface layer of ab muscles and to get that look you need to go to very, very low body fat % and spend hours focusing on ab work that hits those muscles. And the humorous thing is that it’s the deep transverse abdominus muscles that are essential to real core strength and health and no one will every see them.:)</p>
<p>PT exercises and 45 minutes on NuStep today (yea!! they fixed it). Also got a massage this morning, and she says my TFL and ITB are so much better than they used to be.</p>
<p>However, just got off the phone call with a very good friend, that has rather disturbed me. She is 66 years old, and is overweight. She’s been having some very minor chest pains during the night, so she followed up with her internist who ordered some blood tests and a stress test. Long story short, she saw a cardiologist today who ran an EKG and did an echocardiogram. Evidently she has a small blockage which has not caused any damage to the heart yet. He offered two options - 1) do an angiogram and if needed, angioplasty; then she’ll be taking statins and baby aspirin forever. 2) don’t do the tests, but take the statins and baby aspirin and watch her closely. Now, despite her weight, she’s never had high cholesterol (her ratios have always been in a healthy range), high blood pressure or been anywhere near diabetic (her sugars are always good). So she’s going to think about it, go back and talk to her internist, then make a decision. My big question to her was, how is it that she has plaque buildup if her cholesterol has been good all these years. And if her cholesterol ratios are fine, is putting her on a statin still warranted? What is it going to do? This kind of stuff scares me because it seems like no matter what some of us do, it won’t matter… we’ll still develop plaque despite good cholesterol numbers. So confusing!</p>
<p>Teri,
Sorry about your friend. My dad was the picture of health, normal weight, good cholesterol numbers, exerciser, non smoker when he died of a heart attack one month short of 66. It isn’t just total numbers but the size of the LDL particles in our blood that can be a risk factor for heart disease. Family history is important. What did her parents or siblings die from.</p>
<p>Women frequently have different symptoms for heart ds with fatigue and GI complaints versus chest tightness and pain being most common. Being woken with pain is concerning because the symptoms generally start with pain on exertion so pain while resting can indicate worse disease. Of course it might indicate that she has reflux and not cardiac disease.</p>
<p>Echo does not show what is going on in the cardiac vessels only in the heart itself. Cath will show the vessels and a stent can be placed if an occluded vessel is noted. Most people tolerate statins and aspirin therapy but then again why take drugs if not needed.</p>
<p>Recent literature is pointing to heart disease as being an inflammatory process versus high fat in the blood process and that might be why aspirin helps. When in doubt I suggest second opinions.</p>
<p>MOfWC, I think you and I know why the boys love it. They feel like celebrities when people’s jaws drop, “Oh, wow!!! A marathon? That’s amazing. You are amazing!” The love will evaporate when they burn out or grow older so their marathon running will not differentiate them from the rest of the pack. So sad!</p>
<p>CountingDown - what you have done is incredible, and you deserve a huge round of applause. I bet your appearance has changed dramatically after such a huge weight loss, but just because the drop happened gradually, you have not noticed how significantly different you look now! Re: 6-pack abs. IMO, the majority of the pictures showing such physiques are photoshopped. As MNK mentioned, one has to have really, really low body fat for these muscles to show under the skin. I have one somewhat recent picture of me on the beach in HI that shows a 6-pack, but the rest of me looked rather unhealthy - because I rapidly lost weight due to a medical issue that came and went away as suddenly as it appeared, and my doctors have not been able to diagnose what it actually was. So my point is that some body features are not compatible with each other, but photoshop can do what Mother Nature said could not be done - and those pictures of six-packed ladies with DDD-sized chests are the proof. I just ignore these before and after shots. Just look at the real athletes - many strong, athletic ladies and men do not have picture-perfect chiseled abs! And see my post in the Leggings thread - who needs washboard abs when there are Spanx and Wunder Under! ;)</p>
<p>teriwitt:</p>
<p>The whole cholesterol/heart disease thing is about 20 years behind the times. Total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol became the standard test because for a couple of decades those were the only things that could be measured. If you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Turns out that the amount of LDL cholesterol doesn’t correlate that well with heart disease. The number of LDL particles (the protein molecules that carry cholesterol in the bloodstream) correlates better. You can have low LDL, but a high number of particles and be at extreme risk. Tim Russert’s LDL was 70 when he died of massive heart attack. Conversely, you can have high LDL, but a small number of particles and be at low risk.</p>
<p>And, of course, the marketing ooomph behind statins drives home the LDL cholesterol story to doctors and patients alike… </p>
<p>I’m not a doctor. Don’t play one on TV. And would never tell someone with heart troubles how to treat it. I would only urge them to do some serious research and make their own decisions. I think you have to be in a position to evaluate the doctor’s recommendation. There has never been a single study that shows statins improve life expectancy for wormen, even women with heart disease. That would not necessarily stop me from filling the prescription, but it would make me think long and hard about my specific risk factors. And, I would sure want more than a simple LDL cholesterol test.</p>
<p>Before I even considered taking a statin, I would insist on an NMR cholesterol test to get the whole picture: LDL particle count, triglycerides, LDL particle size, etc. </p>
<p>It is starting to look like metabolic syndrome may be the real culprit in heart disease – the collection of related issues that include obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, low HDL cholesterol, and high triglycerides. I’d make a friendly wager that your friend has triglyercides above 150 and a low HDL. In a nutshell, the triglycerides are generated by the liver in an attempt to get rid of excess sugar. The triglycerides end up being carried into the blood stream by LDL protein particles, which are supposed to be carrying LDL cholesterol. The body makes more particles to carry triglcyerides and LDL cholesterol. And the higher number of particles correlate to artery plaque.This can all occur with low LDL cholesterol on the simple tests.</p>
<p>If the Triglycerides are more than 100, my first priority would be to knock those down with lifestyle changes. They usually come down in a matter of weeks after cutting sugar and grains.</p>
<p>Here’s a place to start:</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.lipidcenter.com/pdf/Understanding_the_Entire_Lipid_Profile.pdf”>https://www.lipidcenter.com/pdf/Understanding_the_Entire_Lipid_Profile.pdf</a></p>
<p>To the basement for me:</p>
<p>Warm Up</p>
<p>Kneeling Hip flexor stretch
Quadruped hip extension
Single leg hip lift
Quadruped thoracic rotation
Wall Slides
Squat to Stand
Lateral lunges
Ankle mobility
Band assisted leg lowering
Big X walk
Walking lunges
Ladder Icky Shuffle forward
Ladder Ali Shuffle</p>
<p>Core</p>
<p>Farmers Carry
Plank Row
Side Plank row</p>
<p>Power</p>
<p>Med ball slam
Kettlebell swing</p>
<p>Strength circuit (3 sets of 10)</p>
<p>Single leg squat
Inverted row
Trap bar deadlift
Alternating Overhead press</p>
<p>Tried to shorten up the rest between exercises and keep it moving. Got done in a little under an hour. Did the single leg squats without a break between legs on third set and saw a heart rate of 87% of my max. That’s way up there for me on strength training. Tough exercise, but I’m slowly getting better at it.</p>
<p>I haven’t seen many of the young. “Mileage” runners continue their running - even into high school . The mileage isn’t good for young legs and when they don’t experience the same success in the later teen years they end up dropping out . Kids running programs need to instill a running for life philosophy and not focus on mileage .</p>
<p>Track intervals tonight . Been working with a sports psychologist that seems to be helping my training and overall attitude . Ran 4 x. 200s (35) and. 8 x 400s (75-77). Still felt good , so I ran 4 more 400s so I could justify the extra calories for a snickers bar with my chocolate milk after the workout . </p>
<p>Congratulations to all of you who successfully lost weight! </p>
<p>The good: ran 5 miles, 8:10 pace (treadmill @ hotel).</p>
<p>The bad: ate 1/2 bag of pretzels (120 calories) because I wanted something salty. Pointed to my bloated belly to demonstrate the link between carbs, salt and bloat to Mr B - and surely enough, he thought of a different reason! Lol. </p>
<p>The ugly? Going out to dinner. Have to exercise will power!</p>
<p>Tim Russert died of a 100% blockage in the LAD. Same thing I had. </p>
<p>Apologies to those who have heard my story before…
Teri, my cholesterol was 130 when I had my heart attack. HDL was 33 (way too low), LDL (bad cholesterol) was 53 (optimal) and triglycerides were 145 (high normal). Had an echo six weeks before and an EKG ten days before and all was fine. Had lost 45 lbs. in the preceding 12 months. <em>No one</em> thought I was in imminent danger of a massive heart attack. </p>
<p>Women’s heart attack symptoms are often different from men’s. I had jaw pain two months prior, dentist sent me to the primary, who sent me to the cardiologist. We then went on a long vacation, and by the end I was exhausted (not surprisingly). Didn’t think much of it. I don’t remember the two weeks before the heart attack – whether it was from the lack of oxygen, my body’s way of protecting itself, or the result of the induced coma to minimize brain damage afterwards, I don’t know. </p>
<p>From what folks have told me, I went to my old job the day of the heart attack to show friends vacation pics and kept falling asleep at the table. Apparently I then got in the car and drove home on the DC Beltway, and called my primary doc to make an appointment for the next morning. S2 says I complained that evening of indigestion “like I had before my gall bladder came out.” That night I was sitting in the kitchen (S2 says I was on my netbook cruising CC) and collapsed to the kitchen floor in full arrest. </p>
<p>I now have five stents, an implanted defibrillator, permanent heart damage and take lots of cardiac meds. Statins and aspirin are not a big deal after this. OTOH, I am alive and kicking, and am in better shape than any time since college.</p>
<p>Your friend should take it seriously. I certainly can’t advise on the angio vs. meds and monitoring, but I would not simply “wait and see” if anything develops. She’s already symptomatic.</p>
<p>Re: the weight loss: I’d be thrilled with trim!!! I don’t need to be chiseled. Am just trying to reduce my apple shape that is not good for cardiac risk…</p>
<p>The numbers today:
Calories 1290
Fat 64 g. 45% (wow, walnuts have lots of fat)
Carb 108 g 33%
Protein 82.5 g 26%
Fiber 23
Sugar 42 (almost half from a fresh grapefruit)</p>
<p>Re pumpkin and tuna: I just ate them while holding my breath so I wouldn’t tase them. When I was a kid I would put ketchup on stuff I didn’t like but no can do with the sugar in ketchup. I don’t like fish but ate it anyway. I had someplace to go so didn’t try to fix something I would actually enjoy.</p>
<p>Feel like I need to lower the fat and increase the protein. Fats today were from the walnuts and chicken mostly. </p>
<p>CountingDown- Thank you for sharing your story! Teri, I hope you might be able to share this with your friend.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your responses… I think I’m going to copy them and send them to her. Thankfully she’s the kind of friend who will appreciate the information. However, in regards to cholesterol, I really do think her ratios were good, not just the numbers. And I’m aware of metabolic syndrome, but she doesn’t fit the profile in that her blood sugar is good and she doesn’t have high blood pressure. Her family history is that her father developed high blood pressure in his 80s and her mom developed CHF in her 80s, so no family history to be pertinent here. </p>
<p>@peacefulmom - glad to see you back here!</p>
<p>CountingDown - thanks for sharing your story. It means a lot and I always think people tend to share stories with the hopes that it will help someone else, so I know it comes from your heart (no pun intended!).</p>
<p>Way to go, busyparent. You’ll see some quick results with daily logs like that!</p>
<p>Ketchup. I’m really proud of having two dinners of pan fried pork chops last week without putting ketchup on the things. Those little tablespoons of red sugar are the next nutrionally-void junk food that I would like to curtail. I won’t completely cut it out because it’s the base for one of my homemade bbq sauces, but I’m going to start pruning where I can.</p>
<p>counting down:</p>
<p>When you look in the mirror, I hope you see “big win” in bold letters. Wow. What a journey. I think I’d wake up every day figuring I’m playing with house money! You definitely brought Vegas to its knees, winning after being dealt that hand…</p>
<hr>
<p>I think that the triglyceride to HDL ratio is probably the single most informative simple, universal marker to look at from a cholesterol test. Dr. Dayspring says anything over 3.8 to 1 for women and 4 to 1 for men is a big red flag, a rule of thumb that proved unfortunately true in your case. He actually doesn’t believe that triglycerides of 140 to 150 is high normal – only high normal for the standard western diet. He thinks 100 is the real cutoff for healthy metabolism.</p>
<p>Fortunately, both things respond to diet. Triglycerides decrease pretty consistently by lowering the consumption of sugar and grains. That shows up in literally every study that has ever looked at those things and the drop starts in days as the liver stops working overtime to produce them.</p>
<p>HDL increases with increased consumption of Omega 3 fats – fish oil, olive oil, etc – although I don’t think the increase is quite as consistent for everyone. Probably a lot of heredity in HDL. Exercise may increase HDL a little bit, too.</p>