Okay, my cholesterol is sky high again. And my kind of cholesterol is caused by my consuming 'white' foods. White, as in pasta, bread and other flour products, potatoes, and sugar. My cardiologist tried to explain it to me. I don't really get it, but when the normal range for triglycerides is 0-199, and yours is 952, it's high time to do something about it!
My triglycerides have been high before, but nothing like this number! When I had my blood work done this time last year, my numbers were pretty good. But I was at the tail end of a 4 month cycle of low-carb dieting.
I take medication (metoprolol) for high blood pressure and 'undetermined' chest pain (angina). It seems to be working because my blood pressure was great! I do have chest pain usually daily. But it's not detrimental pain. It's 'hey! I'm here to aggravate you' pain.
I am considered 'overweight' according to some weight/height charts I have found online. I am 133lbs and 5'2" tall. Some sites tell me that for my height, I should weight no more than 122 pounds. According to Weight Watchers on line healthy weight range table, I am OK. (the range for my height is 109 to 137). WW is definitely nicer to me!
I would like to just lose some belly fat. I am not really worried about the number on the scale so much as the number around my waist! Right now I am 32.5" around the waist. According to the site WebMD, a woman with a waist measurement of 35" or more is at risk for high blood pressure (have it), high cholesterol (have it), Type 2 diabetes, (don't have it) and heart disease (don't know if I have it). So 32.5" isn't in the 'danger zone', but it's inching on up there! Gotta get that number down too!
I come from a family with several generations of apple shaped body types. People I know who have this body...my mama, my grandmother, my aunt, several cousins. I don't want to say we are 'doomed', but I want to say we are 'challenged'.
I started my low carb eating plan last Wednesday. So today is one week. I have actually come down three pounds, so I am now at 129. I've been 129 for a few days. I took stock of my carb intake this afternoon and am shocked that I am probably having a whopping 30 to 60 carbs with just my morning coffee! I make a homemade version of a vanilla iced coffee and have learned that the skim milk I have been putting my coffee has 13g of carbs per cup and my flavored creamer has 5 gram per tablespoon! I guess I used about a half to a cup of milk and then probably 1/4 cup of creamer...then some sugar free, calorie free, carb free vanilla flavoring. And the goal of this low carb diet was to start with just 40 grams of carbs or less per day! Ooops!
To remedy this I google low carb coffee drinks and found a cool site, http://www.travelinglowcarb.com/ , that advises using the sugar free vanilla flavoring I already have with whipping cream to make flavored creamer for my coffee. The whipping cream is supposedly zero carbs. I hope so! And I hope it tastes as good as the author of this mentioned blog says it is! I am going to give it a try tomorrow.
Breakfast is usually coffee and a scrambled egg from McD's, or two boiled eggs I make at home. I sometimes throw in a strip or two of bacon. But not always.
Lunch is usually a salad with grilled chicken or a burger patty. Today I ordered from The Peachtree Cafe in Lawrenceville, the tuna salad sandwich with no bread - which means they put a HUGE scoop of tuna on the plate. NICE! and it came with a pickle spear (yum!) and an itty bitty cup of cole slaw. Then I had a glass of water with lemon.
Snacks are usually half an Adkins bar. (Some of these are quiet tasty - some are kind of bland). Sometimes I will have about an ounce of cheddar cheese with a handful of sunflower seeds.
Dinner tonight was a lean hamburger patty cooked with mushrooms and onions. Then I had about a cup of steamed broccoli and baby carrots in chicken broth. Happy tummy!
Because I am used to having something sweet after dinner I had to have a bite of something. I guess I was a little miffed my husband ate all his cookie cake...but I it's hard to take a half inch square of something that good, so it's probably a good thing. Instead I had a teaspoon of sugar free strawberry preserves with a teaspoon of peanut butter mixed together and just ate it off the spoon like a lollipop! Satisfied!
So my goal now is to 'fix' my coffee, drink more water (as it is supposed to help you feel full and keep you from being dehydrated and help you lose weight) and hopefully squeeze in a minute of two of exercise! Hope I can do it!
