High Cholesterol-Overweight-Need Advice

I am 25 years old. I'm 6' tall and weigh 260 pounds. (182 centimeters, 117 kilograms). I was recently told by my doctor that I have very high cholesterol (cholesterol level is 260!) though he offered little advice in lifestyle changes and immediately wanted to put me on medication (which I refuse).

I now realize that I have to make some drastic changes in my lifestyle. I've already began changing my diet. I have limited my meat intake to fish, eggs, and the occasional game meat (venison).

My only problem is exercise. I've been under the weather with bronchitis now for two weeks. As soon as I get over this I want to start an exercise program that will get me to a healthy weight (around 200 pounds, I have a very broad/large frame). I know hipforums is a great community of tight knit folks. My roommates won't give me shit for support and they are the only friends I have. They are all lazy as fuck and say that I shouldn't even worry about my health. Any recommendations on a good exercise routine that I can stick to? Any advice/support at all will be very appreciated!

 

Nice to see someone else with a larger frame. I'm 5'1", and my "healthy" weight is around 150lbs. I'm currently 165, but no cholesterol problems. I started with Yoga, moved to Martial Arts, and added weights and treadmill stuff later. Yoga's wonderful for blood pressure.

Your friends suck, dude. Bummer. My husband recently needed his mother, MY mother, and a female cousin letting him know that it's not cool to bring home a giant box of chocolate covered cherries to "make me feel better" on the day that I announced that I was going to change my diet to lose weight. Every time I talk about my body, he brings me sweets: cakes, candies, pie. It's cute that he's trying, but unhelpful.

Screw them. It's always good to think about your health, and if they're bringing you down for it then it's because you're making them look bad. Get in shape, and laugh that you'll likely outlive them.

My name is the same on Facebook. Look me up, we can compare health notes. I need an exercise cohort as well.

First, get over the illness. Trust me, no amount of exercise will help you if you get pneumonia. Make small changes, not big ones and not too many at a time. You've changed your diet. Wonderful. Incorporate veggies and fruits as much as possible, and you might switch to whole-grain breads. In your condition, I'd start walking a few minutes every day. Use a treadmill or elliptical if you have access and need to be inside. People keep telling me that ellipticals are better than treadmills for heavier starters. I find that a nice music selection on my MP3 helps a lot. Hand weights are cheap if you like, but start small. These are all the starter ideas I can think of for now.

Rock on, dude. :2thumbsup:

 

Exersize is definitely important to overall heath, and appearance, but not neccessary to loose weight, or lower your colesterol. You dont need to overwhelm yourself by adding too many changes. Keep it simple so you can keep it consistant.

Counting calories is the easiest way to lose weight, and understand where the lost weight is coming from. Track your new life at one of the many free calorie counting websites available online. It changed my life.

I was obese for over 10 years. At the age of 12 I weighed 235lbs. Since then I've lost 75lbs. 43lbs in 2010 with counting calories alone.

Now I'm 5'9" and weigh 157. Time for me to start hitting the Gym.

 

My husband says: "Oatmeal and Cheerios. Make friends with them."

I add: "Don't plaster them in sugar and maple syrup like he does, you'll lower their effectiveness." High blood pressure runs in his family. He's 6'3", 150 lbs, and has mildly high BP.

Calorie counting is awesome. I found out that on a heavy workout day I use about 4000 calories and eat less than 2000. It's not all that hard.

Don't try to lose a lot of weight at once, though. A pound or two a week is your best bet, and even then your skin will do strange things. I've developed some wacky red stretch marks all over my stomach and thighs, without even losing all that much weight. I've been transferring it to muscle, losing inches rather than pounds. This is also to be expected. I'd rather gain weight in muscle anyway, maybe a little bodybuilding...

 

Thanks for the offer for facebook friends Argiope, but I deleted my account a year ago I added you as a friend, so maybe we can compare health notes on here, I need all the support I can get!

Thank you both for posting advice. I definitely need to do the yoga thing again. I used to do it every morning with a group of older ladies at the park near me about 3 years ago, but I just really let myself go. Calorie counting is a really good idea.

I'm really more concerned about my health than appearance, but I do NOT want a huge flab of skin, so I will keep that in mind for sure.

WillyWonka, thats awesome. How much did you weigh at your heaviest?

 

I started feeling results in less than two weeks. At the beginning, it was about a month before I started seeing anything (Dropping a clothing size, muscle tone showing up, etc.), but I started feeling more energetic and generally healthy very quickly. Listen to your body, it tells you what you need. After a semester, I crave exercise like food. Today I need weights, Yesterday it was cardio. It's a very strange feeling.

Though I went overboard, with usually two hours of workout a day during the school week. Still going, just having too much fun. My body's gone through so many changes in three months that I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow to look me over and tell me I'm not dying. I'm hypoglycaemic, at a high diabetes risk, and my sugars went NUTS for about two months. I started unable to keep my sugars up, fainting every couple of days (That. Sucked.), then they were too high for a couple of weeks, then they tapered off into normal healthy sugar. The female plumbing is off, too, which is never something to ignore. If you have access to a doctor, make friends with him/her before you get really into it.

Eat carb-y food before you work out for energy, then proteins after for muscle recovery. Lots of people have told me to eat a banana before, as potassium makes that burning feeling easier. Listen to your cravings as you go. Once you're off of junk food you don't want it as much, as the body feels better after a nice salad than a cheeseburger. If you get a sudden craving for broccoli or something healthy, this means that your body needs a vitamin. Eat what you're hungry for, after you're no longer craving junk. Cravings for Cheetos may be ignored. Hubby thinks that this means you need salt. Me, I crave Gatorade when the electrolytes (salt) are off. Gatorade is awesome.

Oh, and water. Waterwaterwater. I'm always thirsty, can't get enough to drink now. Learn to carry a liter of water with you at all times. If you're working out you'll get horribly thirsty with no warning and sugary sodas are not your friend here. Once again, if you're sweating heavily you'll want some Gatorade. Water won't cut it if you're losing buckets of sweat. Let yourself sweat, though. It's good for you in general. Washes out the toxins and stuff.