My Victory Over High Cholesterol

Extremely High Cholesterol

As you probably know from reading my P90X/Insanity fitness journey, I had high cholesterol and was tired the whole time. My cholesterol was around 230, as I remembered it. I got that number back when I went for a physical exam in 2010.

Fast forward to last week, about 2 and half years since I did the last exam (I was a little afraid to get it tested earlier and you’re supposed to do that once a year!), I went for another physical exam. I had one round of P90X under my belt and was almost done with INSANITY so I was eager to find out what my new cholesterol level was.

The Visit – 2 Years Overdue

I got my weigh-in, blood drawn and a few other check-ups done by the nurse and waited patiently for the doctor. He came in and pulled up my lab report from 2010 and looked at me in disbelief. He said: “Have you been exercising? You seem to have lost some weight.” He then said something that totally caught me off guard “So, you must be eager to find out how much cholesterol you’ve dropped since the last checkup in 2010 which was…err..304.” I’m sorry what? 304? The whole time I was thinking that my cholesterol was around 230. He double checked and sure enough it had always been 304.

Could Have Died of Heart Attack

He did urge me a couple of years back to start taking medication AND exercising immediately. For some reason I totally blocked that out. According to my doctor, I could have had any of these complications if I didn’t do anything different and “you could have died of heart attack”.

• Chest pain. If the arteries that supply your heart with blood (coronary arteries) are affected, you may have chest pain (angina) and other symptoms of coronary artery disease.
• Heart attack. If plaques tear or rupture, a blood clot may form at the plaque-rupture site — blocking the flow of blood or breaking free and plugging an artery downstream. If blood flow to part of your heart stops, you’ll have a heart attack.
• Stroke. Similar to a heart attack, if blood flow to part of your brain is blocked by a blood clot, a stroke occurs.

The Pleasant Surprise

So yesterday I got the lab report from the doctor. It shows that my total cholesterol is now 184. Yes, 184!! The HDL (good cholesterol) is 68 which is great and the LDL (bad cholesterol) is 100 which is optimal. I was beyond thrilled!

Luckily It Wasn’t Too Late

As mentioned in my P90X/Insanity story, I didn’t start my fitness journey until October 2012. Luckily it wasn’t too late for me! I started exercising 6 days a week and started paying attention to my diet. What have I done differently from 2 years back or even 6 months ago?

• I workout 6 days a week
• I cut out fat, fried and greasy food.
• I eat lean meat and always cut out the visible fat
• I eat a lot of broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts, and asparagus
• I only eat whole grain bread & I limit white rice to half a cup, if I do eat them
• I drink Shakeology every morning (studies showed cholesterol-lowering factors)
• I take multi-vitamins and fish oil everyday (see all the vitamins/supplements I take)
• I drink at least 12 (8 oz) cups of water a day
• I cut out soda pop, regular or diet. Nada.

In just a few months, my overall outlook (both health and body) changed for the better. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE FOOD. I work out so that I can eat the delicious but healthier food 🙂

I went from this (October 2012)

To this (April 2013)

I hope this inspire you to start or continue your fitness journey. Because all it takes is a little determination, motivation and will power to achieve great things.

Let’s win in life and be a champion everyday!

Cheers,
Coach Al

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