Need help with my blood work

cholesterol
hdl
ldl
(Emilio) #1

Hi all,
First time posting so excuse my ignorance if i’m posting in the wrong area.

I’ve been on the Keto diet for about a year and even though i feel good and have lost about 60 lbs, my cholesterol and LDL have increased. (so have my HDL). The numbers below are in the Canadian system so their unit of measurement is mmol/L.
I also have high blood pressue, so my Doctor is now recommending STATINS.

My questions are has anybody else had this type of increase in blood work and if i go on statins (which i don’t want to), will it kick me out of Ketosis or make it hard to lose more weight.
i’m about 35 lbs away from my goal weight.

also side note - I’ve been stalled at 230lbs for the last 4 months.
any advice would be greatly appreciated.

ps. I also miss the 2 keto dudes podcast!! come back soon, you guys were great!!

before i was on keto
i was 290lbs - cholesterol was 5.19, LDL at 3.16. HDL at 1.49

at 260 lbs - Cholesterol was 6.28, LDL at 4.56, HDL at 1.34

at 240lbs - cholesterol 5.66, LDL at 4.27. HDL at 1.47

TODAY at 230lbs - Cholesterol is at 6.80, LDL at 4.27, HDL - 1.56 UGH…Help me

with much appreciation and respect
Emilio

(Bob M) #2

What are triglycerides?

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #3

Welcome to the forums!

There is plenty of evidence to show that cholesterol cannot possibly be the cause of cardiovascular disease. The most that can be said is that your cholesterol levels are a marker of the disease, but experience shows that manipulating markers almost invariably leaves the real condition unaffected. So by taking a statin, you can indeed lower your cholesterol, but the real cause of your cardiovascular disease—assuming you have any in the first place—will not be dealt with.

Even people who still believe cholesterol has something to do with heart disease have to admit that the best indicator of cardiovascular risk is the ratio of triglycerides to HDL. If it is 0.9 or under (2.0 or under, in U.S. measurements), then you have minimal risk. If you were to have a ratio of 0.9 or less and get an NMR analysis done of your LDL, the particle sizes would be guaranteed to fall into the healthy Pattern A of larger, more-buoyant particles.

If you really want to know the state of your arteries, ask your doctor to order either a CAC (coronary arterial calcium) scan or a CIMT (coronary intima media thickness) test. Either will give you an idea of how much your arteries are or are not blocked. Doctors do not like to order these tests, however, because there is no pill they can give you to change their results.

If you were to perform a search on these forums, you would find plenty of information related to cholesterol and its effect, or lack thereof, on cardiovascular disease. Unlike the search function on social media sites, ours works pretty well, so I would encourage you to use it. You will find a lot to set your mind at ease.

(Robin) #4

I will address the 4 month stall. If you are still eating right, just ride it out. I have had stalls for months while my pants became looser. There is progress being made that may not show up on the scale. Weight loss will begin again eventually.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #5

And it should also be pointed out that if your clothes are getting looser, that is not a stall. You are still losing fat. If the scale number is not changing, that would be an indication that you are also adding lean mass, which generally means stronger muscles and bones. I would say that is excellent progress, and by no means a stall. There is a difference between losing weight and losing fat. The latter is what we want to lose. After all, an easy way to get the scale number to go down would be to chop off a leg or two.

(Michael) #6

You said UGH with your highest HDL reading. High HDL is good, the higher the better in general. Thankfully my HDL has also gone up. Higher LDL is less clear, but mine has almost doubled in the past 6 months. Based on what I have read, I am not at all concerned until I find out if the LDL is good normal LDL or if it has been glycosylated or oxidized which are not the good type of LDL. I suspect the new numbers represent a healthy increase in normal LDL which would therefore not concern me. I plan to ask my new doctor for the NMR lipidprofile to assuage any concerns.