Our lives are filled with numbers. Some good, some bad. 42, for example, is a great number. 263, for me, is a very bad number. It’s a number I’ve wanted to change for quite some time. And, I have. 247 is another bad number and we’ll talk about that one in a minute as well.

My LDL Cholesterol (That’s the bad one) has been at 263 for several years. At 264 doctors usually put you on medication, so I’ve been borderline for a while now. I knew I needed to do something, it was just a matter of literally getting up off my duff and doing something.

So I started walking off and on over the past couple of years .Never enough as my levels never really changed. Last year when I went to the doc, my cholesterol was still the same and I weighed 247 pounds. I didn’t feel great, but I didn’t feel awful either. I had been heavier, but I figured I’d never get there again. I just wouldn’t. How could I allow myself to get back up to 260? Wasn’t going to happen. All I had to do was eat less, right?

Well, turns out I needed to do a little more than that. If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know my favorite daughter has been trying to get the wife and I on a more vegetarian diet (and closer to vegan). I honestly thought this would be more difficult. I really did. I’ll go more into my meatless adventures in future posts.

So I’ve been eating a lot more salads, drinking a lot of smoothies (both green and fruit), and I’ve almost completely eliminated meat and dairy from my diet. I’m still trying to walk, but that doesn’t happen as often as I would like. Hopefully that’ll change in the near future as well.

What happened?

So since sometime in January I’ve been on my new diet. I don’t mind. I honestly don’t. I’m still eating as much food as I want. I like to eat. I really do. But I’m never hungry even with eating a mostly plant-based diet. I also drink a lot more water than I had been.

My weight, by just changing my diet alone, has dropped from 247 to 230. My size 36 shorts fit again and I’m not popping buttons!

I had an appointment with the doc and said she’d call only if she needed to discuss anything. Well, she called. It was to inform me that my LDL Cholesterol was currently at 193 (down from 263) and to keep on doing whatever it was I was doing and come back in a couple months for another checkup.

Color me surprised. I was not prepared for that! I figured it’d have some health benefits, but wow.

Another thing I’ve noticed, and this surprised me even more, is that every day I would take an allergy pill. EVERY DAY! Even with taking the pills, if it would hint at raining, I’d be stuffed up. If the wind blew the wrong way, I’d be stuffed up. I’ve had sinus issues ever since I was a little kid and just figured I’d have them for the rest of my life.

Well, I don’t have those issues any more. I haven’t taken a sinus pill in 3 months and haven’t had a sneezing attack, sinus migraine, or anything else I used to get on a regular basis. This, by far, has made me happier than anything. You can’t imagine what it’s like to wake up and actually breathe through my nose. To not have to worry if I have enough Kleenex or tissue around to keep cleaning my nose. To not have to take pills to control these things. It’s freeing in so many ways.

I will be keeping you up to date on my progress. It’s an interesting journey thus far and I’d like to see what happens next. To think, I have my favorite daughter to thank for pushing me in this direction. Maybe I should listen to her more often. Hmmm…

Until Next Time!

WOO WOO!