Weight Loss Update: Lipid

As of this post I've lost a total of 7 lbs via calorie-counting my food intake using the myfitnesspal app (yey!). It has still been a challenge to control eating, especially last week when I HAD to give in to the delicious spread of food when I had to work in Davao. Yellow Fin is definitely the place to eat when you're in Davao City.



That 3 day eating binge caused me to gain 3lbs, which I had fortunately erased since yesterday after going all out with my running and less eating last weekend.

The best part of this weight loss journey was made just today, when I had to claim my lipid profile test results from my HMO provider. At first, I was beside myself when I checked that I still had high cholesterol, LDL, and HDL readings. I was so disappointed that I had to see one of the doctors in the HMO office to assess what needs to be done to normalize all of this. She told me that I have 3 weeks to have a low fat diet. Otherwise, she will have to recommend me to take cholesterol-lowering drugs which is unnatural and could be costly. This means eating only fish, fruits, and veggies. Anything fried should be the last food that I should be eating. This will be a challenge for me since the only veggies and fruits that I eat are coleslaw (on the side of a KFC 2pc chicken meal) and fruit shakes (which is very seldom).

At this point I would have to say that I am jealous of the missus, who has been lazy to tie up her shoes to run the treadmill and eats as much sweet desserts, has spectacularly normal blood test results! Here I am running 3-4 times a week, having run 3 full marathons and countless half-marathons with high cholesterol and she gets to lie down on bed on weekday afternoons with normal lipid/sugar levels year after year. Man, talk about life being unfair, right?!

But as I got back to the office, my disappointment turned to (slight) joy. Good thing that I have this Excel file monitoring my lipid test results. Comparing my recent blood test results with my Oct 2011 tests, it seems that (except for my HDL) the readings have improved dramatically! Take a look at the table below:



Now the readings are still way above my target so I need to keep this up (calorie-counting), especially now that I've 3 weeks to normalize these readings. Hopefully by then, I've lost more weight and have a better lipid profile result.

Wish me luck!

Weight-Loss Update: Closer to the Goal!

This is just a quick post to let you know that, after 2 years of trying to put my weight below 165lbs, I've finally achieved some momentum.

The weighing scale this morning showed me wonderful news: 161lbs!

I've lost 4lbs!

I've finally solved the 2-year riddle of my stagnant progress of weight loss. Although I'm religiously running 3-4x a week, my eating habits stayed the same. Sometimes, I've even made it as an excuse by eating more if I ran in the morning. So weight loss was never achieved. I just maintained at 165lbs which was STILL classified as overweight for my height and BMI.


MYFITNESSPAL



In the last week of December 2011, I was encouraged by an officemate (who's also in a weight situation) to try counting calories with myfitnesspal, an online app that you can install on almost any device (android, iTouch, iPhone) and can be accessed on your PC (www.myfitnesspal.com). I heard about my sister-in-law calorie-counting some years ago and it worked for her while another officemate lost a lot of weight by calorie-counting too.

So, with high expectations and a prayer, I installed the app on my android.


THE FIRST FEW DAYS

Like starting a would-be habit, it was a challenge for the first few days. Keying in the food, and I mean EVERY food that passed thru my mouth was a task on its own. I set my goal to lose 1-lb per week, which meant keeping a daily limit of 1,490 calories. This was noticeably difficult as I would often see 2500 to even as high as 3,300 calories on one day! The app even gives a preview 5 weeks from now after you complete a daily entry. So seeing a weight gain or no loss at all in that 5 week preview was a scare.

Slowly, I started to manage my food intake, taking care not to exceed 1,490 per day. In the days that I'm running, the calorie burn helped a lot in giving me buffer to eat more. But it's still a challenge (a "daily struggle" to quote my officemate) on those days that have no exercise. Do note that I still exceed 1,490 calories on non-running days but not as high as when I started this habit.

Well, the office has conducted a BiggestLoser II contest again with the final weigh-in on March 4. The prize is a cool P12,800.00 cash, so that's really motivating me now to get the weight loss going.

My original goal 3 years ago was to go down to 152lbs which is the upper limit of my normal BMI range. With calorie-counting and myfitnesspal, I think I'm closer to that goal now than I've ever been before.

I hope my next weight-loss blog reads: "152lbs....FINALLY!"

Weight Loss Update: The Verdict

After taking up running last March and eating oatmeal-only weekday dinners, I've finally decided to have my blood tested for lipid profile yesterday. I've given it 4 months as recommended by my highschool batchmate who's a doctor to take the said test after all the hard work has been put in to see my progress.

Well, after 4 months, here's my blood test results:

All have improved! WOW! Tenkyu LORD!!!!

As you can see, dramatic improvements in my cholesterol, LDL, and Triglycerides although the cholesterol still needs tweaking.

The only issue with this is that since my employer had to change health-companies this year, the interpretation of the normal range for these tests differ from one laboratory to another. Only the cholesterol normal-range is the same for both labs. Thus, I can't really say if my HDL had improved since if I use the Medicard's normal-range, I'm still low on good cholesterol.

But still, it's a big improvement. Moreover that I've lost 11 lbs since January. The loss actually accelerated sometime March when I started running so I strongly believe that it has greatly helped (coupled with the missus' imposed oatmeal-only weekday dinners) in my weight loss goal.

It's still a long way until I reach 152 lbs ---my ideal weight to reach normal BMI for my height. I hope to achieve it by end of this year in time for EG's biggest-loser contest final weigh-in.

Yup, I'm still gunning for that Zoom Kobe IV prize for the biggest loser. :)

Kating-kati na mag-10k!

Dalawang tulog na lang, May 10 na. It’s been like forever since I registered at ROX BHS last Apr25 for the BOTAK Paa-bilisan 10k. I was able to beat the deadline since it will be an additional P50.00 if I registered beyond that date. True enough, the BOTAK booth at the Step-Up-For-A-Cause FunRun said they’re already charging P300.00/head. Buti na lang! Since then, I've been eagerly waiting for May10.

Feeling ko para akong si Pacquiao when I decided to “move up” from the 5k races to the 10k race, parang weight-class sa boxing ano? Hehe. What increased my excitement in running my first 10k is when I saw the BOTAK 10k race-route (courtesy of takbo.ph):

Man! It’s similar to the Condura 10k that my colleague, LA, ran last March 22 (it’s a memorable date since this was the first 5k funrun that I joined). We’re going up the Kalayaan Fly-over…and back!!!

Huwaaaaaw!!!!

I hope to make a respectable time on Sunday. Since lately my average pace in my 5-7.5km practice run is about 7mins/km, I’ll try to aim for a 1hr 10mins time. Pero kahit maka-1:30 lang ako, ok na. At least it’ll give me something to work on in the next 10k races I’ll be joining.

Btw, a weight-loss update: it was a great morning as well today when I stepped on the scale: 1-6-9 POUNDS! Yehehehes, you read that right: ONE…HUNDRED…SIXTY-NINE….POUNDS! I’ve lost 7lbs since I’ve started running regularly, coupled with the missus’ “enjoyable” oatmeal-only dinners (weekdays lang). Hehe.

BOTAK 10K, here I come!

Weight Loss(?) Update

The reason for the question-mark on my blog-title literally questions my 2009 goal. The reading on our digital scale wasn't encouraging after I stepped onto it this morning: 177 lbs. When I started blogging my goal a few weeks back, I was at 176.4lbs. After a weekend of basketball and threadmills, I went down to 174lbs. I thought I was on the road to recovery back then but, sigh, here I am again.

The root-cause of the sudden relapse, I assume, would be the cold (cold!) mornings the entire week last week which caused me not to exercise at all. I only managed to get enough motivation yesterday morning when I walked around the neighborhood at about 7am for 30mins. The missus discouraged me from doing this type of workout again since she learned that there's a possibility of being kidnapped and asked for ransom. Haaay.

The missus said she heard in the evening news that the cold nights last week might be the last of it since temperatures are starting to rise again. I hope this encourages me to return to my loyal threadmill and jog off this excess weight every morning.

So, here I go again...