mini health update

It turns out that I have a cousin who ran into the same health issue I have. Only his numbers weren't anywhere near as high as mine were, and he was far more diligent about getting them back to normal than I was. One of the things he did was to buy one of those test kits to monitor his numbers. While I was out here he was kind enough to loan it along with a triglyceride test strip (he was out of the cholesterol one) which I used this morning. Six weeks ago they came in at 7650.

Today my triglycerides are at 228. My blood pressure is @ 120/72 with a resting heart rate of 63 BPM.

For anyone interested here's what I've done to keep up while on vacation. Last week Friday and Saturday I was traveling, but managed to get an hour long workout from loading/unloading the trailer. On Sunday we (sissy and my niece joined me) hiked three miles, then on Monday & Tuesday I walked two (easy) miles with mom, and then hiked about five miles on Wednesday w/sissy & mom. I didn't get a formal workout on Thursday or Friday, but played with the nephew for a few hours both days. I'm going hiking again today and even though sissy feels she's only good for three, I'm gonna see if I can get five out of her again.

Nephie convinced mom six miles was better

My workout schedule at home hasn't changed and is as follows. I workout one hour a day Monday thru Friday. I do thirty hard minutes on the elliptical to where I'm breaking a heavy sweat, and then another twentyfive at an easy pace on the treadmill (at a speed of 3.5 usually). This equates to about four miles per day and 300 calories burned. On the weekends I hike an average of about four miles a day with the beagle, and assume that I'm burning somewhere close to the same amount in calories.

The diet is still the same. Each day I consume a half cup of oatmeal in the mornings, a full meal (healthy of course), and a salad. I also take a total each day (half at breakfast and half at dinner) 2 grams of fish oil, and 2.4 grams of red yeast rice extract w/60 MG's of CoQ-10.

I think it's safe to say now that my numbers are and will be completely normal when I retest at the doctors next month.