Hi there everyone,

I have been doing Atkins for three weeks now and did not get blood work done before I started, I just went on Saturday and go the results today.

So far I have lost 21 pounds, all blood sugar, cholesterol both good and bad, are excellent, but my Triglycerides were up .
The doctor said to me that a normal reading is 200 and mine was 249. She said not to worry, just cut out fat in my diet!!!!!!!! So what do I do now??? Maybe this has come down, I dont know.. as I do not know what the previous reading was. I am happy about all my other tests, my kidney function is fine too.

I just want to know what is the next step in my low carbing with Atkins if I have a high triglycerides.

Appreicate some comments.


Karen

Karen, congrats on the good test results

I'm pretty sure your doctor is mistaken about lowering your fat to reduce triglyceride levels, however. The two big things that influcen tris are sugar and alcohol; eliminating them usually procudes a drop in levels. It's quite possible that your levels were even higher prior to LCing, but since you do not have any baseline numbers to go with we cannot tell.

Before you began LCing were you a sugar fiend? Will your doctor be testing again in a few months? It's advised that your first round of lipid test be done 12 weeks after your start a LC program, as this is generally how long it takes to see measureable differences.

I am confident that you'll get more qualified opinions on this, we have a number of registered nurses on the board.

Nat

Hi Nat

Thanks for posting and you are right, it possibly could have been higher because I was a total sugar fiend before I started LCing and I liked the odd glass of wine too oh and lets not forget the amount of rice and pasta I used to eat!!!!! I think the picture is becoming a bit clearer.

I myself will go and get my bloods done again in 3 months time and continue with my Low Carb ways. The doctors out here dont' really get into the nitty gritty of this stuff. Plus, the doc told met hat 249 was just a bit high, but all the reading I have done on it says I am in the HIGH range, so I want to get this down now. My fortieth birthday is in February and I want to be a lean mean healthy machine !!!!

Do you think I am eating enough of the right foods in my day? Here is a sample of my food.


Breakfast : 2 eggs either scrambled or with cream cheese made into a souffle thingie
Cup of Decaf Coffee with splash of cream


Lunch: Salad, Tuna, or pieces of cheese and cucumber and cherry tomatoes, or guacamole home made and veggie sticks, or cold meat and salad... always along those lines, or sometimes homemade soup with cream added !!


Dinner: Fish and vegetables; Beef Stroganoff and Veggies (brocolli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, sometimes a carrott or two etc) chicken and vegetables, bacon and cabbage in a stirfry etc.

Drink loads of water
and I have started walking /swimming and eventually want to find a weight training programme that I can follow to tone this blubbery body!

I would love to hear from the nurses or medics out there who are following atkins or any other lowcarb programme. Btw I dropped another 2 kgs .. 4 pounds.. so I know its shifting the weight off me.

Thanks again Nat , you are a total inspiration.


Karen

Karen, I found a little bit of info for you on lowering triglycerides.

Keep in mind the numbers are 'Canadian' not U.S. (different measuring units) and it's based on 'low fat' guidelines but it's good info nonetheless.

Nat

Thanks for the information Nat, I will enjoy reading through that.

Karen

Karen, you snuck in on me!

It seems you're on the right track. Having a history of excessive sugar intake sheds a different light on the numbers.

You are eating good fats (avocado and fish) and you've started exercising Losing fat and limiting sugar and alcohol will all help bring these numbers down.

Something else I dug up (in the article above) high triglycerides in combination with lower HDL seem to be the biggest concern. If your HDL is high this is actually 'protective' against CVD.

Having the numbers run again in a few months should give you a different picture of things.

Cheers,
Nat

Here are the actual blood levels as in the report:

Total Cholesterol 165 (200 - 239)
HDL 43 (39 - 96)
LDL 72 (<130)
Triglycerides 249 (30 - 200)

Do you think the others apart from triglycerides are okay ??

Karen

These numbers (appart from the triglycerides and HDL) are actually low, Karen. Here's a post by Doreen, explaining the numbers..

Nat

Nat you are an absolute treasure sending me all this info. It is making me relax and feel better about the whole thing.

I just did the calculation of my total cholesterol ratio to HDL and its 3.8, Doreen said in her post that 3.5 would be perfect, so I am not far off that!!

I will still go and get the bloods redone in a 3 months time and see how things are panning out. Meantime, onwards and inwards(body shrinking I mean !!! hahahaha)


Thanks so much for your help

Karen