New Maintainers - WK of 12/5

[CorgiGirl]

I know this is a busy time for everyone. Hope you are all doing well. I had a bad reaction to a cholesterol drug this past week (weakness, dizzy, headache, among other things). I stopped taking the medicine (Niaspan) on Friday and am just now starting to feel better. My weight is holding around 107-108.75 but I will try to go back down to 105 before Christmas. Vickie

[ginabw]

I have done the Firm's 5-Day Abs workout 14 times now (14 days in a row) and honestly can't see any visible difference (and I measured too). It guarantees visible results in 10 workouts. I can feel a difference though, so I am going to keep it up and hope that I it is a bit slower for me because I was/am in pretty good shape to begin with.
In an effort to keep my fingers out of the peanut butter jar and the nut bag I have decided to keep a bag of chopped up celery in the fridge and just munch on one of those. So far so good!

[Mariasol]

gina - I am sorry you don't see any results from the Firm but it's never a bad thing to build fat-burning muscles!

I joined a December exercise challenge and have racked up 360 minutes so far! The challenge seems to have provided the motivation I needed to get to the gym. Hope I can keep it up all month!

[CorgiGirl]

I really need to work on my abs. I have several pilates exercises I do from time to time but I need to do them on a regular basis. Gina, I have been eating too much peanut butter this week. I need to get serious about dropping back to 105. I was up to 108.75 this morning. Because of my high LDL cholesterol, I have all but stopped eating beef, pork, and egg yolks. That has definitely taken the enjoyment out of eating low carb. Vickie

[ginabw]

I have all but stopped eating beef, pork, and egg yolks. That has definitely taken the enjoyment out of eating low carb

Wow! Not much left but fish and chicken! Yeah, I do like to have variety, I try to get in fish and red meat every day, not so keen on chicken, but eat that at least every other day. Breaking the peanut butter habit is pretty hard, the celery is working pretty well, but I find I also miss the pork rinds, because although celery has a nice crunch, I keep it in the fridge so it is cold, and especially at night I am cold enough, don't need something adding to it!

Mariasol, congrats on a great start to your December challenge! Do you visit the exercise board often? I have started lurking on the Firmies thread, hoping to see if anyone else has had success on the 5-day abs tape (no one's mentioned it yet!).

[Mariasol]

gina - I don't visit the exercise board but I probably should. The challenge was just something that came up in another group I belong to. It has motivated me to finally get back to the 6x/week gym routine, and I even get up in the morning to do it before work. I hope I can keep it up!

[sugarless4life]

Vickie, consider taking flush-free niacin for your LDL. It works great!! Truthfully, your dietary intake of saturated fat has very little effect on your cholesterol levels. If you restrict dietary intake, your body just makes more cholesterol to compensate for it. To the tune of 80% of cholesterol is manufactured by your body regardless of dietary intake.

For me, the niacin was a sure winner. My LDL dropped from 177 to 119 after a year taking 2 500mg of niacin daily. No side effects. Just be sure you take the FLUSH FREE type. Available at Walmart for less than $5 a bottle.

Eat your meat, hon.

Betty

[CorgiGirl]

Betty, I will ask my dr about the flush free niacin. I am torn about which side to believe - the research reports that say saturated fat has nothing to do with cholesterol and the long-standing reports that says it does. My LDL is so high (320) that I am really worried about it which is why I have caved in to the old "eat lowfat" routine. Vickie

[sugarless4life]

Are you taking the statin drugs too?

Hon, do the research online about niacin's effective cholesterol control. And pick up a copy of The 8 Week Cholesterol Cure. Its a good read.

Betty

[CorgiGirl]

Betty, I am not taking any statins. I will look for that book. I have been searching for info on the web about high LDL. Most of the info I have seen recommends low/fat eating and avoiding saturated fats. But my LDL has gone up in the last 3 months since I ate low fat per my drs directions.

We had heavy rain all day so I didn't get my 3 mi jog/fast walk in.
Vickie

[Mariasol]

Vickie,
Have you looked at the 'cholesterol' sticky on the health/medical forum? They have some interesting information about ratios there.

[ginabw]

I hit 125 again today, I think I hit it for a day or two last month too. Wish it would stay! I am being good with the snacks, only celery/ranch, but yesterday I also made another pumpkin pound cake with left over pumpkin from Thanksgiving, MMMMMM!
I think I am finally seeing results from the Abs tape workout, it seems to be firmer, not as jiggly, so things looking up there too.

[mykneesareback]

It sure is interesting what a difference the regular exercise makes, isn't it? I used to do NADA, nothing, etc. Now I feel badly if I have to skip my routine due to going out of town or something. So far I've kept my weight at 125 since mid October. That kind of thing has never happened to me before, because I quit doing any exercises that I did during the diet, plan, or whatever you want to call it. Just hang in there, I think doing some kind of thing is better than nothing at all, at least you are all trying to do that!! I guess I'm lucky, I don't like peanut butter, plain. My husband the diabetic does though, so he gets a certain amount of the natural kind with no sugar. And he puts sugar free jam on it when he chooses to have a sandwich.

This time of year is the hardest time to follow a good healthy eating plan. I am so glad it's already the 11th, part of me is glad when each day is over with, looking forward to Jan. 2 already!! lol

Take care, everyone!

Doris