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!")

It's unofficial

Today was my appointment with the cardiologist for the Better U challenge. Though the 12 weeks of the challenge doesn't officially start until January 1, 2010, as far as Dr. Branyas is concerned it's all systems go from here on out.

All in all, the appointment went well. Dr. Branyas spent a lot of time with me, going over my blood work and discussing my lifestyle habits that need a little, shall we say, tweaking (ok, overhauling).

The good news:

1. My EKG was normal.
2. My blood pressure was only mildly high.

The bad news:

1. My good cholesterol is low.
2. My bad cholesterol is high.
3. My C-reactive protein, which is associated with inflammation that can lead to clogging of the arteries, is almost 3 times what it should be. Dr. Branyas said that 60% of their open heart patients have high bad cholesterol and high CRP.

The hard to swallow news:

1. I need to lose 47 pounds just to be considered "overweight" and not the other "o" word.

Wow. That one was like a punch in the oversized gut. Trust me, I'm well aware of my size and my weight. But looking at it in that way was really a wake up call.

I talked with the good doctor about my food vices -- sugar and fried foods. She said she's never, NEVER, eaten at McDonald's and that once she went into one to use the bathroom and she was sickened by the smell of the oil in the air.

Are you kidding me? That's one of the best parts of McDonald's -- the smell of french fries getting all crispy, soaking up all that offensive oil. But Dr. Branyas assured me that soon I'll find it just as wretched as she does.

When she asked me what I usually order -- a #3 with a Diet Coke, I proudly told her that I always ask for them to only put 1 slice of cheese on my quarter pounder instead of two. Amazingly, Dr. Branyas was underwhelmed by this information.

Then she asked about my exercise routine. I knew it would come to this.

"Oh, I walk about 6 times a day -- from my office to the printer about 100 feet down the hall."

I admitted that I own an elliptical machine and it's located just 24 short stairs from my bedroom. That's when Dr. Branyas laid down the new law. Exercise. Every day. In the morning. Before the shower.

"Tell yourself that you cannot get in the shower until you've exercised," she advised.

Little did she know that not showering might not be such a big threat. I was sitting in her office, after all, unshowered. What can I say? I was running a little behind schedule this morning.

But I agreed. Elliptical before shower. Daily. 10 minutes a day to start is all she asked. That can't be too difficult, right?

So I've decided that since I'm going to be spending so much time with this contraption, the elliptical should have a name. My first thought was Jillian.

I posed the question on Facebook and got Attila and Torture. A few other people took the tack of naming it something more appealing, like Patrick Dempsey, George Clooney and McSteamy. Not a bad idea - spending time with a Hollywood hottie every morning doesn't sound so awful.

But I still haven't settled on anything. Maybe I'll give it a spin tomorrow and see if a name comes to me. And I'm open to your suggestions, so please, lay 'em on me.

The rest of the appointment went well. Dr. Branyas said she expects that by the Go Red for Women luncheon on February 26, I will have lost 20 pounds. (Really?!) I left the office armed with lots to read, a new cookbook and a fast food guide, feeling hopeful, slightly overwhelmed and inexplicably craving McDonald's.