<p>idad…now you have my attention! I have never been tested for thyroid levels. I am always cold (blue fingertips), very weak nails that tear and break, hair loss (thought it was from calorie reduction), very dry skin and of course the weight gain that I have been slowly chipping away at this past year. Guess I need to have some blood work done!</p>
<p>Back in the gym after being off for a week and a half. Grateful for no weight gain! My heel is still cracked open but I managed not to bleed everywhere! 65 minutes on the bike and then worked on the weight machines and did pushups. Feel so much better! Down to crunch time…3 months to the wedding and a few goals to reach before that!</p>
<p>Yes. I guess it’s possilble. However, the HDL/triglyceride/large fluffy LDL correlation is classic low carb response. It’s noted by all of the doctors and researchers who look at numbers of low carb dieters. </p>
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<p>Yes, I think that that it is possible to get down to 200 total cholesterol with a high HDL. The author of Why We Get Fat, Gary Taubes, just posted his lipid profile. 204 total cholesterol, 68 HDL cholesterol:</p>
<p>My doc thinks that my high LDL number is associated with the low thyroid. I wasn’t just a little low on thryroid. LDL does not usuallly go up with losing 80 pounds, a sub-2000 calorie diet, and consistent exercise. It wouldn’t normally go up with falling (and very low) triglycerides. We’ll see. </p>
<p>I’m not particularly concerned. My HDL and triglycerides are so good right now (as is my waist line and my improving fitness), that I would be nuts to change my diet. I don’t know what I would change it to. I can’t cut more calories (1800 to 2000 a day is low enough). So all I could do is substitute carbs for protein and quality fat. My triglycerides and HDL would get worse and I would be walking away from a satisfying weight-stable diet that is working. That makes no sense.</p>
<p>Hah. I had never thought of it either, until yesterday. My doc had scheduled a round of blood work six months ago for end-April. He had not done the thyroid test the last time, but at seen some mildly poor kidney numbers and I think was checkinig thyroid to follow up on that (the two are also linked).</p>
<p>I had it done this week and called yesterday to get the results (curiousity about lipid profile). The nurse said that my thyroid was very low and the doc wanted to start me on synthetic thyroid today and follow up in a few weeks. She said that the high total cholesterol was common with hypothyroid.</p>
<p>I looked up the symptoms and recognized several that have been driving me nuts. My hands and feet have been ridiculously dry this winter, constantly cracking.</p>
<p>Yeah. I’ve noticed that when I’ve tried to do weekly totals. The calories never completely match up. I think there are rounding errors on the nutrition breakdown. It seems to be close enough. I have my own rounding errors in entering food quantities and so forth.</p>
<p>I can never get my good cholesterol up. It is always very low even with all of the exercise I do. My triglycerides are very low but my bad cholesterol is borderline all of a sudden. My ratio is not very good at all. My dr just told me to keep losing weight. I am about 15 lbs from goal but will those pounds really change those levels very much???</p>
<p>My tennis partner commented that I was getting thinner.</p>
<p>I won 6-4, 6-1 today. I felt lighter on the court - didn’t get tired and moved quite well. I struggled with generating pace though which wasn’t a problem when I weighed more. With the extra weight, I just did a weight transfer from back to front and it crushed the ball. I have to do more work with my body to hit hard now. The balls were soft too - this is the second time that we used them.</p>
<p>Still haven’t figure out the LiveStong percentage chart but something is odd. The nutrition pie chart shows up on my MacBook Pro but not on my Windows systems. Maybe there’s a bias to those with Macs?</p>
<p>BC…if only it were so easy! These last 15 are driving me crazy! And I exercise a ton and keep my calories around 1000 per day.</p>
<p>I am sure it would make some difference but is being 15 pounds overweight according to the not so accurate government charts what is keeping my HDL below 50???</p>
<p>It appears that the standard formula using TRI/5 as a substitute for VLDL does not work accurately when triglycerides are low (below 100 and certainly where mine is as 41). Here’s an article from the author of the book Protein Power outlining this, both from his own patients and citing two studies showing the same problem:</p>
<p>This doesn’t change my total cholesterol number, but my calculated 217 LDL number is likely over-estimated. I guess that means that I actually have a higher level of VLDL since the HDL is directly measured.</p>
<p>a) I strongly suspect that number will come down with the thyroid adjustment. I’m very low and that is a direct correlation with elevated LDL cholesterol. I’ll know soon enough. I suspect the doc will be running blood tests every 8 weeks to dial in the synthyroid.</p>
<p>b) There is a strong link between low triglycerides, high HDL, and big, fluffy harmless LDL.</p>
<p>c) My triglycerides, HDL, blood pressure, and recovery rates from peak heart rate all range from *OK to excellent *as markers of coronary health. Considering that I smoked for 38 years, *OK to excellent *is pretty damn good!</p>
<p>d) As a practical matter, I’m not going to change anything. My current diet has helped me shed 80+ pounds and it is easily sustainable even after 15 months. If anything, I’m eating a better diet now than when I started. Less refined carbs, all my snacks are whole foods (tangerines, pistachios, etc.) If anything, I will probably need to increase my calories at some point. I’m in the best physical shape of my adult life (I even do burpees, for cryin out loud). I wear the same size pants I wore when I was 25. And, I wouldn’t even consider going on Lipitor with an HDL of 88 and Triglycerides of 41. So, if I keel over dead because my LDL is high, so be it.</p>
<p>If my doctor wants to make a big stink, I’ll make him do the pattern A/pattern B test as well as a direct measure of LDL.</p>
<p>Back to workouts today after the carpet people left. And not a second too soon. Sheesh. Every piece of furniture from our upstairs is crammed into a tiny bedroom that is also my makeshift office. You literally cannot bend over to tie your shoes, while every other room is simulatenously empty while they carpet. Clothes are all in Rubbermaid bins and rolling hanger stand – all in one little room, while four closets are completely emptied. So, today I was trying to work in that room. At one point, three carpet guys were in that one little bedroom office with me, one working on the seam to the hall and two trying to rehang closet doors buried behind furniture standing on end – you literally have to turn sideways to squeeze between a desk standing on end and a stack of clothing bins and they wanted to know if I could move some of the stuff to give them more room. I just looked at 'em. I just about was going to scream. It’s like, “come on, guys…why don’t you finish one of those other rooms so I can move some of this stuff back into one of THOSE rooms!” But, as least I had a nice new carpeted hall for alligator slides.</p>
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<p>Felt really strong today after a couple of days off. Actually, I was sore all day from wrestling furniture around two nights in a row – I had to move everything from one tiny bedroom to another last night</p>
<p>I cranked up the weight on the reverse lunges to a 35 lb DB – held at the shoulder of the front leg. I hadn’t planned on it, but I grabbed the wrong one!</p>
<p>I also took a band off my chin up bar, so I’m down to just 40 pounds of band assistance. I did sets of 6, 6, 4, and 4 with the lower assistance. I’m now chinning 130 pounds of bodyweight – that’s within striking distance of the promised land!</p>
<p>My HDL has increased from 62 last September to 88 now. Three things have changed:</p>
<p>a) I’ve lost another 25 pounds.</p>
<p>b) I started taking fish oil supplements in September.</p>
<p>c) About three months ago, I cut carb consumption a bit more, with almost all of my carbs – day in and day out – coming from fruits and veggies.</p>
<p>All three of those things tend to increase HDL as does the fact that I eat a fairly high fat diet overall, which includes a lot of unsaturated fat.</p>
<p>Can’t seem to find my blood test results from a few months ago…I posted them on this thread so if I can figure out how to search for them I will do a better analysis. I am a semi low fat fat, high protein, low carb eater now. Maybe these last pounds will make a difference but even if I bring it up as much as you did idad, I would still be pretty low. Dr. told me not to quit exercising and to drink red wine! I’ll look in to the fish oil supplements. Ish…</p>
<p>Edit: Found it! " my cholesterol is borderline high. My total cholesterol is 207 while LDL (bad) is 135 and desirable is under 129. My HDL is low at 46 and they say it should be greater than 60. My triglcerides are very good. "</p>
<p>Fish oil, olive oil. There are others. I think avocado. Some of the nuts. All of those fats increase HDL. That’s the catch-22 with a low fat diet. You can go too far and cut out the good fats. That’s a problem many vegan/vegetarians run into.</p>
<p>You’ve probably already raised your HDL by cutting back on carbs. If you wanted to do one more thing, probably taking 2 to 4 grams of fish oil capsules per day would be a good step. There seems to be near unamimous agreement on the benefits of that.</p>
I’ll look in to the fish oil supplements. Ish…</p>