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Thursday, February 18, 2010

I could kiss the mailman!

I'm not in the habit of copying and pasting from one blog I write for to another. However, the blog entry I just posted on the BetterU blog is such good news, that I'm doing it just this once.

I don't look forward to getting the mail. It's usually full of bills or catalogs with pretty things I'd love to buy if I weren't spending all my money paying those bills. But today's mail brought something wonderful, so wonderful in fact that if the mailman had been here when I opened it, I would have kissed him!

In today's mail were the results from my recent bloodwork from Dr. Branyas' office. My first blood draw, on December 8, 2009 showed the following:

Total Cholesterol: 181 (acceptable)
Triglycerides: 116 (acceptable)
HDL (good cholesterol): 40 (low)
LDL (bad cholesterol): 118 (high-ish, especially with my diagnosis of diabetes)
C-Reactive Protein (measure of inflammation that can lead to clogging of the arteries): 8.6 (very high)

The results I got in the mail today showed the following:

Total Cholesterol: 117 (a 64-point drop)
Triglycerides: 86 (a 30-point drop)
HDL (good cholesterol): 35
LDL (bad cholesterol): 65! (53-point drop)
C-Reactive Protein: 2.75 (a near 6-point drop into the average risk range)

So, I still have some work to do getting my good cholesterol up, but I am more than happy with the other results. Nothing could have motivated me more to drop these 4 bothersome pounds before the luncheon than this piece of news. (Trust me, I know that I have at least 50 more than bothersome pounds to deal with after that, but I'm taking baby steps here.)

I think what makes me the happiest is knowing that I was able to do this without depriving myself of everything tasty and without being a slave to the gym.

Have I been deliberate about watching what I eat? Yes. But I've also had ice cream (low fat) and Girl Scout cookies (3, not a whole sleeve) and chips and salsa from time to time. I just make sure those are the exception and not the rule.

And I've found a comfortable rhythm at the gym. I've surprised myself with what I can do and I've tried not to become discouraged by what I cannot do (yet!).

So thank you -- Better U challengers, American Heart Association, my family and friends, blog readers -- for your support. This is not the end of my journey; it's not even the middle. But as my father-in-law would say, "It's a good start!"

(Please go on over to the Better U blog and read my earlier post, "Get'cha head in the game!")

10 comments:

Eternal Lizdom said...

GO AMY GO AMY GO AMY GO!!!!! That is FANTASTIC news!!!

Marine Wife said...

Way to go!

Michelle said...

Awesome!! So proud of your accomplishments. Keep up the GREAT work!

Shelley said...

YAY, AMY!!!! That is some wonderful news!

Anonymous said...

That is awesome!! You have done such a great jioban I'm so proud of you! Keep it up girl!

Lisa said...

Good for you, Amy!! Way to go!

Sharon said...

CONGRATS!!!

Maria said...

Congratulations!!!!!!

Cat said...

AWESOME NEWS!!!! I'm so proud of you!

Nate's Mom said...

Congrats Amy! That is awesome news. I'm so happy you are seeing results. That tends to be one of my struggles. I just don't see results fast enough to be motivating. Keep up the good work! You are quite inspiring.

Sheri in CA