Sat, May-19-12, 17:35
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Registered Member
Posts: 32
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Plan: High fat, low carb
Stats: 225/179/180
BF:
Progress:
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Terrible NMR numbers have me worried
I started eating LC a little over a year ago to lose 50 lbs. It was my first time at this WOE. Within 7 months of starting I had nearly reached my goal weight and have maintained over the last 8 months or so. I did this without doing any exercising. I'm in my mid 40's and I've never felt better in my life and nearly all the things that use to ail me are no more.
I eat a VLC diet (~ 20 carbs/day) that basically consists of 3 eggs and 4 pieces of bacon and an ounce or 2 of cheese for breakfast daily. I use HWC in my coffee and also use it to make yogurt, of which I have about 4 ounces at night. I cook with coconut oil and also eat 2-3 T of it by the spoonful daily. I eat fatty steaks and chicken thighs with skins and salmon a few days a week for dinner. I supplement with all the usual things (Carlson's fish oil ~3 tsp/day, 500mg chelated Magnesium, daily multi, 5,000 IU D3, etc etc). I also started using MCT oil in my coffee as well as using it to make salad dressings.
Anyway, having maintained for many months, I thought it would be a good time to get an NMR test done to see what my lipids looked like. Given the amount of fat I ingest, I expected my LDL-C to be somewhat high, but these levels are troubling. Here are the numbers (lab ranges in parentheses):
LDL-P = 3198 (>2000 very high)
LDL-C calc = 252 (>=190 very high)
HDL-C = 63 (>=40 desirable)
Trig = 74 (<150 desirable)
Cholesterol (total) = 330 (<200 desirable)
HDL-P (total) = 29.2
Large HDL-P = 9.0
Large VLDL-P = <0.7
Small LDL-P = 953
LDL size = 21.2
HDL size = 9.1
Insulin Resistance Score = 17 (0 - 100)
Particularly worrisome to me is the very high LDL-P, LDL-C and the Small LDL-P which is at the very high end of the chart.
I had some other lab work done at the same time. These were performed by my local lab. I ordered a direct LDL measurement and it seems to coincide with the calculated LDL the NMR gave.
Cholesterol (total) = 337
LDL (direct) = 242
HDL = 77
Trig = 84
ApoA1 = 189 (94-176)
ApoB = 162 (52-109)
TSH, w/reflex to free T4 = 1.36 (0.27 - 4.20)
Vit D3 = 85 (30 - 100)
CRP-hs = 0.5 (<1.0 low)
Homocysteine (total) = 9.4 (<15.0)
Glucose = 80 (70 - 99)
BUN = 11 (6 - 23)
Creatine = 0.8 (0.6 - 1.4)
Sodium = 134 (133 - 145)
Potassium = 4.3 (3.3 - 5.1)
Chloride = 94 (95 - 108)
CO2 = 26 (21 - 30)
Calcium = 10.1 (8.3 - 10.5)
AST = 32 (0 - 40)
ALT = 40 (0 - 41)
Alkaline Phosphatase = 55 (35 - 129)
Triglycerides, HDL, particle size, D3, CRP, TSH, Homocysteine are all good if not great. So why is my LDL-C and LDL-P off the charts? I've been reading that some people who eat VLC screw up their thyroid, which in turn causes LDL to spike. I was thinking of making another appointment with the doc to get a full thyroid panel. In the meantime, I'm going to change some things and go back in a couple of months to see if my numbers are moving in the right direction.
a) Increase carbs to about ~50/day in case VLC is messing with thyroid. These will mostly be in the form of veggies. Lots of veggies.
b) Cut back on the coconut oil and use it for frying only.
c) Stop using MCT oil for now
d) Stop using HWC for now
e) Cut back on the bacon and fatty meats and replace some of the sat fats with mono fats (olive oil).
f) Go back to getting some cardio, jogging a couple miles a day.
e) I've also started taking 1500 mg Niacin and 100 mg C0Q10 (ubiquinol) daily.
Any other thoughts as to why my LDL is so out of whack when everything else looks good, or suggestions as to what course of action I should take or what I should get checked when I go back to the doc in 8 weeks? Thanks.
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