The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[mellowmom]

Went to the doc this morning to have some "things" checked out. While on vacation I noticed that I became increasingly fatigued while exercising at Curves. Plus I couldn't get my heart rate up because I was so pooped.

Made an appointment for this morning and saw an associate of my regular physician.

While congratulating me on my weight loss and lowered blood pressure (112/66, down from 138/85), she started to freak out a bit when I told her how many calories I was averaging per day, (around 875 per day). She thinks that that's too low to support any kind of exercise and that I should be at 1200 or 1500 calories per day! She mentioned something about that being the minimum healthy amount in order to have your vital organs working properly.

She was sure I was doing some kind of damage to various major organs on this diet and so she ordered a whole battery of blood tests.

Got some of the results this evening on their (Kaiser's) website...

My total Cholesterol was 160. That's a 40 point drop since my last check-up

LDL was 107 (Below 127 is desirable) That's a 51 point drop over last check-up

HDL was 36 (That's a little low...Desirable is over 45) But that's a 19 point increase over last test results. So that means I need to continue to lose weight and exercise more. (Ironic, ain't it?)

If my triglycerides were high then I'd be in real trouble however....

Triglycerides were 86 (Desirable is below 199)

ADL, Creatinine, Sodium and Potassium were all perfect. (So so much for liver/kidney damage.)

This Medifast plan is phenomenal! I'm eagerly awaiting my A1c. Hopefully will have equally good news to share about them.

Medifast is saving my life.

Thank you to Medifast and all you inspirational Losers and Shakers out there.!

Carmel

[Prancer]

That is amazing. You are a great encouragement to those of us who have just started!! I am due for all those tests soon too.

[Arklahoma]

Carmel ~ You're numbers are fabulous!!!

[Aerie]

What a great post! That's probably the best NSV I have read about. Your body is thanking you for taking such good care of it.

[Nova]

That's wonderful news on all fronts. I'm especially glad to hear about the liver and kidney function tests. I think it's important that everyone gets their blood work done somewhat frequently so they can catch problems before they become silent killers. News like this is encouraging to everyone out there who's had health problems. Congrats.

[DogMa]

Low HDL is very strong in my family. My uncle is health-obsessed and regularly reads medical journals and attends medical conferences (even though he's not a doctor or anything).

Anyway, he exercises daily and still had low HDL. He tried niacin and everything else they recommend. The ONLY thing that raised his HDL in any measurable way was reducing carbs. Not to Atkins levels, but to about the levels we have on Medifast.

[JeepGirl]

Oh heavens that is awesome!! Thank you for sharing your good news!!

[mellowmom]

HG A1C was 6.5.

Still a little higher than I had hoped for, but within ADA recommendations for control. Kaiser wants it to be below 6.0...so I guess I'll have to work a little bit harder. But still, overall, I'm really happy with the results.

And all it took was 3 months and a whole lot of shaking...

Carmel

[DogMa]

Hey, Carmel, it's still progress. You'll get there.

[dede4wd]

Carmel, I'm SO thrilled for you! That's just wonderful! If you're getting fatigued at Curves, why not try adding a shake and see if that helps! I added one when I started walking...it helped!

I'm so thrilled for you!

DeDe

[Arklahoma]

Your A1C is great. Do you know what it was before?

[Lizabette]

CARMEL,

What great news. I have to share that my last doctor's visit with lab tests, etc. were all within normal range, including cholesterol, BP, and besides losing the weight and improved sleep apnea. IT WORKS!

Hope you made a believer out of your doctor! Keep on keeping on!



Lizabette

[TheShadow]

There is another way to raise HDL besides exercise. The good news is it also lowers LDL at the same time. What is it?? Monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and Omega-3 oils. THese should be part of every healthy diet. It seems that they also will help with the hair loss/dry skin some folks get on this diet. The extra calories are worth it. I am incorporating a tablespoon of olive oil in my diet daily, either in my salad dressing or to saute my vegetables in. It tastes great and it helps with the good and bad cholesterols. You could also take the fish oil caps. I eat salmon a t least once a week and incorporate other fish in addition to that. Other good oils are sunflower, peanut and canola.

[mellowmom]

Hi Ark,

Re.the A1C I think it was 7.5 the last time I had it checked...(18 months ago ) It was probably higher right before I started MF because I was pretty consistently getting readings in the upper 100's to mid 200's...(I was a bad, bad girl prior to MF)

I guess I was a little disappointed because the lab report said 6.5 was a High reading and flagged it as abnormal. It looks like 6.0 is the "Magic number" as far as Kaiser is concerned.

But I look at it as hey....I was eating pretty crappily for at least a year before I started shakin' with MF, so realistically, dropping my BG down to "almost" normal is a small victory. It's weird how all the other literature I've read concerning A1C says that 6.5 is okay....only Kaiser wants it lower.

[Prancer]

I just googled it and a couple of the sites say that 6 is non diabetic range and 7 is the target area for someone with diabetes. Looks like you are right there on the cusp and with all your shaking and weight loss you are going to be down there in no time!!