Skinny Fat and High Cholesterol

[SpacyKacy]

Hi ya'll!

I've been thin my entire life and was just informed at a recent Doctor's appointment that:

• I have crazy-high cholesterol (400+) and I'm on the express route to Heart Attackville
  
• I'm "skinny fat" - I appear thin but have a high % of body fat (30%+)
  

The cholesterol is a apparently a combination of my poor gene pool (liver pumps out cholesterol like its going out of style) and my underactive thyroid. Good times! But since neither of those items is changeable, I'm here to learn about exercise and diet, and how to get into better shape and take care of myself so I can live a long and happy life.

I'm researching the Paleo diet, and hope to slowly transition into that. Doctor is recommending crazy amounts of cardio (1.5 to 2 hours a day, minimum) and calorie restriction (to dial back cholesterol production in the liver?) to get my cholesterol numbers down ASAP. Weights/other workouts will eventually be incorporated after we can adjust my thyroid meds and deal with the underlying muscle weakness and coordination problems I'm also having...

I know JACK about high cholesterol, so if anyone has a success story they can share, I'd love to hear how you got yours under control. I'm feeling overwhelmed and out of my element at this point....

[Kasie]

Cool. We have the same name. good luck with the Cholesterol levels. What does your diet consist of right now?

[SpacyKacy]

My diet is whatever is within reach at this point (a.k.a. crap) - I've never had health problems before, so I've never thought about either my diet or exercise (other than avoiding soy because of the thyroid issue).

[Laureleye]

I'm also hypothyroid. I've got my cholesterol under control, although mine was never that high. My husband's was higher, and we got his down without meds, so I hope I've got some info that will help. My husband's doc had all sorts of suggestions (cut out eggs, etc) that were useless. This is how we're eating.

1. No packaged foods, including snack/granola/protein bars. Cook meat yourself.

2. Close to 0 fast foods. If I'm really pushed, I will buy a broiled chicken at the market, or chicken breast from Pollo Loco.

3. Lots of vegetables; salads, fresh veg (raw and cooked), frozen.

4. Some fruit, both fresh and frozen (unsweetened)

5. Some dairy (2%), including plain greek yogurt. I add my own fruit.

6. Some tubers and very limited grains (wild rice, brown rice, etc). My husband eats a little bread. I eat a sandwich thin every 10-12 days, but that's it.

Cooking meat isn't all that hard. I use a George Forman grill most of the time. You can also use a crockpot.

If I'm nuking fresh veg, I drizzle with about 1/2 - 1 teaspoon of good quality olive oil, some raw salt and good pepper & nuke on high. You can cook for 1 minute at a time until you get the timing down for your micro and various veg. You can do the same with frozen veg; it doesn't get much easier than that.

I'm also working out 5 days a week (planning to up it to 6 during the next challenge). 2 days of strength training and 3 days of cardio. I feel like these are helping a lot with my health and have certainly helped with my depression.

Good luck.

[Jonesy]

Welcome!

I hope you figure out a way to lower your cholesterol and have fun doing the research.