<p>@BB : 
I do!</p>
<p>Dropped 1.5 pounds in the last three days. That’s consistent with calorie intake and burn rate from metabolism and exercise. I’m probably getting a little too aggressive and I will have more time to eat stuff this weekend so I may go back up to (replenish - 1K).</p>
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<p>Perhaps the reason why this works for some people is that eliminating wheat eliminates a lot of junk food – cookies, cakes, pies, packaged snacks, as well as calorie-bomb carb-fat combinations like bread with butter, fettucine alfredo, etc… Strict gluten free to the level that those with severe celiac disease must do can also be very limiting when it comes to available foods (some foods that do not contain nutritionally significant amounts of wheat may be cross-contaminated with minute amounts that affect those with celiac disease), so there may not be that much available to eat, including random snacking and restaurant food.</p>
<p>Those with actual celiac disease who go gluten free tend to gain weight because they will no longer be malnourished due to the auto-immune reaction damaging their intestines.</p>
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<p>Multivitamins marketed to women of child bearing age usually do contain iron, while those marketed to men or seniors of either gender usually do not. This is because women of child bearing age need more iron than men or seniors of either gender.</p>
My vitamins don’t have iron. I have “senior” ones.
<p>Idad - any chance you could link that VA study on synthroid and cholesterol? DH has been on cholesterol lowering meds for over a decade and wonders if it is really necessary.</p>
<p>Hey, BC. Marshall’s just got a display rack of Nike tennis shorts. Dark blue. Front pockets. One zippered wallet pocket at the right hip.9 inch inseam. $14.99. No inner brief. I brought home a pair in MED and LARGE to see which fits and if I like them. Look like they could be good all-purpose men’s shorts. They are actually very similar to the Nike Swim volleyball shorts that I wore all last summer, except I think I would prefer the 7-inch version.</p>
<p>I think it’s this one:</p>
<p>[NikeStore</a>. Shop the Official Nike Store for Shoes, Clothing & Gear](<a href=“http://store.nike.com/us/en_us/?l=shop,men_tennis&sitesrc=uslp#l=shop,pdp,ctr-inline/cid-1/pid-363829/pgid-363827]NikeStore”>http://store.nike.com/us/en_us/?l=shop,men_tennis&sitesrc=uslp#l=shop,pdp,ctr-inline/cid-1/pid-363829/pgid-363827)</p>
<p>I’m going with five-inch seam these days and might even consider 3. I’ve found that I don’t need to use the Glide on three-mile runs. I need to do some four-mile runs without to see if I don’t need it anymore. Basically the skin gets hard so that it stops the chafing. I also prefer the inner brief. I’m using my 7s and 9s as casual shorts and shorts for tennis now. I just have two pairs for running, one Adidas and one Nike.</p>
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<p>I closed the window and now I can’t find it again. I’ll find it and post it again. I found another one with middle aged women – same results. Significant drop in total cholesterol and specifically LDL cholesterol with synthryroid treatment. In this case the women were all “subclinical hypothyroid” meaning, I guess, that their numbers were low on the TSH screen, but not so low that they had severe symptoms.</p>
<p>Here it is:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.jlr.org/content/22/2/323.full.pdf[/url]”>http://www.jlr.org/content/22/2/323.full.pdf</a></p>
<p>Gotta use One-Note!</p>
<p>5k hilly walk today. Absolutely gorgeous 70 degrees bright blue sky. I did nine 60-second jogging intervals – basically as many as I could fit on the flat or slightly downhill stretches between the five big hills.</p>
<p>[SlowGeek</a>! Runs for hwc1954](<a href=“http://slowgeek.com/ru/hwc1954/1703047130]SlowGeek”>http://slowgeek.com/ru/hwc1954/1703047130)</p>
<p>The jogging gets my little route back to being a pretty good interval workout. I guess I’ll know I’ve hit the big time when I jog UP one of the hills! Right now, I’m trying to avoid jogging on sections that are steeply uphill or down hill. I don’t really need another faceplant!</p>
<p>Here’s an interesting study:</p>
<p>[Thyroid</a> Function and Lipid Subparticle Sizes in Patients with Short-Term Hypothyroidism and a Population-Based Cohort – Pearce et al. 93 (3): 888 – Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism](<a href=“http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/full/93/3/888]Thyroid”>http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/full/93/3/888)</p>
<p>They took 28 patients who had their thyroid glands removed (or nearly all removed) and stopped their dose of synthyroid for several weeks in preparation for another procedure. They compared their cholesterol profiles after it had been stopped for a couple of weeks (making them hypothyroid) and again after the synthyroid was later restarted.</p>
<p>LDL cholesterol went up dramatically without the synthyroid and decreased again as soon as the synthyroid was restarted (falling from a mean of 171 ml/dl to 98 ml/dl). But, here’s the interesting part. The increased LDL was almost all in the harmless large bouyant LDL. Small and medium particle LDL (the kind associated with coronary artery disease) barely changed at all:</p>
<p>[Thyroid</a> Function and Lipid Subparticle Sizes in Patients with Short-Term Hypothyroidism and a Population-Based Cohort – Pearce et al. 93 (3): 888 Figure 1 – Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism](<a href=“http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/full/93/3/888/F1]Thyroid”>http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/full/93/3/888/F1)</p>
<p>Thanks Idad. DH says he’s read about this stuff but is still on cholesterol med’s. Wants to try going off 'em. Hard to go off a regimen you’ve been on for a decade and a half! One doc told him he thought everyone should be on cholesterol med’s = that they should put it in the water like fluoride. Ugh?! What to do. He’s gonna discuss with his doc.</p>
<p>The pharmaceutical companies, in partnership with the FDA, the American Heart Association, and others, have done an incredible job establishing “high cholesterol” as the bodeyman. They have spent 30 years working on the effort, including funding studies, outreach to pysiicians, and consumer advertising. It is no coincidence that Lipitor is the top selling drug in the United States, with over $14 billion in sales in 2006 with four other cholesterol-reducing drugs in the list of top-30 best selling drugs.</p>
<p>I know it’s a rude way of looking at doctors, but I look at them (in part) like car salesmen. When they prescribe a medicine, they are selling me a product – a product often backed by massive PR and marketing campaigns and a product that may or may not be as wonderful for me as the ads tout. I will give them some benefit of the doubt, but I’m going to poke around, kick the tires, and do a little research. Lipitor is not a cheap product. At $2 a day, that’s over $700 a year along with some pretty annoying side effects.</p>
<p>I’m sure there are many people who benefit from cholesterol lowering statin drugs, but I would want to take a long hard look at the details of my specific lipid blood profile, my real risk level, and alternative ways of lowering cholesterol through lifestyle changes. </p>
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<p>I will admit to being skeptical of the whole pharma/FDA marketing machine. I’ve seen how they’ve worked together to create and market a multi-billion nicotine business, including the studies that purport to show the stuff even works. Basically every dollar spent on tobacco cessation research is now funded by the pharma companies and conducted by researchers with a financial interest from those companies, including most of the members of the goverment boards that set health policy. Yes, smoking cessation rates have ground to a halt since the introduction of these products. That whole process has been so obviously flawed (but hugely profitable for the drug companies) that I have to look skeptically at other big pharma cash cows, particularly when I am being bombarded by advertising.</p>
<p>I know a couple in great health. Both thin with muscles that eat carefully and mix their workouts: five mile runs, strength conditioning, yoga classes four to six times a week. They both take Lipitor.</p>
<p>My mothers in her 90s and has never taken any of this stuff.</p>
<p>I moved a few things out of my closet this morning that are too large for me now.</p>
<p>I’ve had only two suits in the closet for many years. One that fit for about 240 pounds and one that fit for 210 pounds. Needless to say, I didn’t have to wear suits for a long time. I keep my old suits in a very large suitcase and tried a few of the old suits on. Most of them were slightly snug. I think that the bulk of my suits fit in the 180-195. I have some that fit in the 170-180 range and two in the 155-165 range. So I can look forward to being able to wear a bunch of suits in the near future. Of course if I keep losing weight, then it’s actually a problem. Fortunately I don’t have to wear them often.</p>
<p>IDad is a runner! You don’t want to face plant going DOWN a hill! </p>
<p>I am in Florida and I was able to run a little. Not painful but still some tightness. Flat is good. It felt good to be out there. May check out the Bikram yoga studio tomorrow if I’m not sunburned from the beach.</p>
<p>Yeah. One of my jogging intervals ended up on a fairly steep downhill pitch. I had to really throw the brakes on. A little downhill is nice, but, alas, my route has evolved to include steep hills down to and up from an old mill and footbridge across a little stream where it feeds into a river.</p>
<p>Exercise video of the week.</p>
<p>I just discovered a very cool fitness block (search for “Ben’s Blog”) from Ben Burno (Columbia grad finess trainer at Mike Boyle’s).</p>
<p>Bruno posts some of the best videos of his exercises (very heavy weights, impeccable form). On his blog, he has regular weekly feature of the best YouTube fitness videos of the week. For the most part, he posts stuff from top fitness trainers, interesting exercises, and really good form (plus some stuff that’s just crazy).</p>
<p>This one caught my eye. It’s from a top female kettlebell trainer (she’s 5’2", 120 pounds) doing a single leg deadlift with two 28 kg (62 lb) kettlebells. She makes it look so easy. It’s not easy to keep that kind of balance with no weight.</p>
<p>[YouTube</a> - Double 28KG 1 Leg Deadlift](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>I’m in awe. I’m doing this execise with one 45 pound dumbbell and not even in the same universe in terms of stabilty and form.</p>
<p>He also posts a video of a trainer doing the DB bench presses with just his head and shoulders on a bench. This is the one that both iPod nazi and Alwyn Cosgrove have had me doing in recent workouts – both one handed and two handed. I use a stability ball. Great exercise for the butt as there is no way to stay up without working the glute muscles.</p>
<p>[YouTube</a> - Dumbbell Bridge Press](<a href=“Dumbbell Bridge Press - YouTube”>Dumbbell Bridge Press - YouTube)</p>
<p>You can always find a high-school track for practicing sprints if you want absolutely flat and you can just run the straight-aways if you don’t want to worry about curves.</p>