Hi! I’m Sheena, aka peanut. I’ve been listening to the MTM show for about a year now and just now have decided to join everyone on the threads. I’m a graduate student and I’ve been trying to work out for the past couple of years. I’d do really well for a few weeks, sometimes even a month or two. But, life or in my case grad school would take over and then I would be derailed for a bit. However, I know that the derailments shouldn’t keep me from going back and getting back to the gym or hitting the running trail.
So. Why am I here and why is fitness going to be a top priority of mine. Well, I’m 26 years old and had considered myself in pretty good shape. That was until my doctor thought it was a good idea to look at my blood cholesterol during one my physicals in the past two years. The results were less than appealing - turned out that my total cholesterol was above 200(!) and my LDL and triglyceride numbers, and all the markers for type II diabetes put me in the very high risk category. This was very suprising and destressing to me becuase I’m 5’3” and weighted 140lbs since graduating college, and that’s just 20lbs heavier than my weight in highschool. The BMI would put me normal to boarderline overwight at worst. I also had my blood sugars checked out and the test indicated that my sugar metabolism was impaired. Also disconcerting. Unfortunately, heart disease and type II diabetes do run in my family.
My goal was to try to do my best to get those numbers down; but, at the time, the only thing I was able to maintain consistently was eating healthier. Working out was not as consistent as I would have liked. But, the changes have helped. I have been able to get all of my cholesterol numbers under in the ideal levels from my last blood panel. When I looked at the breakdown of each of those particles (VLDLs and such) the numbers also came down too! They weren’t perfect - still in the medium to high categories (better than high to very high). My sugar test haven’t changed much and I’ve agreed (begrudgenly) to go on a medication to get the sugar numbers down. But, my doctor still wants to put me on cholesterol medication, which I really really don’t want to do.
So now, my current goal is to be more agressive with the exercise and diet to try to get the numbers down even further. I want to drop my weight to 125lbs or lower, and maintain that for years to come. I’m hoping that will get my numbers down to a more desireable level and decrease my risk for heart disease and type II diabetes. It’s disheartening to think that in my mid 20’s I was already introduced to the “ultimate motivator,” but getting healthy is what I need to do.
Thanks in advance for all the help and support!
Peanut
