Cholesterol improved, I love my rower

[gcanyon]

I have in my hands the results of two cholesterol tests. I'm male, 42, and not overweight (19% body fat before the rower, don't know now).

Back in February of 2005 (mostly pre-rower, I was experimenting at the gym) my overall cholesterol was 172, which isn't bad. But my LDL (bad cholesterol) was 131, which is borderline, and my HDL (good cholesterol) was 31, which is too low.

The statistic they use these days is the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL. 172/31 is 5.5, which is in the high (bad) range.

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I got my rower December 11th. I've rowed a bit over 700K since then. I just got my latest blood test back and:

My total cholesterol has dropped to 165. Not huge, but the story gets better:

My LDL has dropped 28 percent, to 94. This is now in the "desirable" range.

My HDL has increased 58 percent(!), to 49. This is now solidly in the "good" range.

My ratio has dropped to 165/49 = 3.4, which is in the desirable range.

In addition, my resting pulse rate has dropped from 70 to 57.

So, apart from being tired all the time (10K a day really takes it out of you) I'm a really happy guy. I've said it many times, but it bears repeating:

I love my Concept II.

[MOKO]

Congratulations. I wish I had seen a doc before, so I could see a before and after like yours.

700K since just starting in December! Well done!

[Ben Rea]

wow, this is great news congrats on the cholesterol! this machine can do wonders! good job on getting 700k since december...amazing.

[RowtheRockies]

gcanyon,

Awesome news, especially on the changes in your hdl/LDL ratios. That is significant. Has your weight changed or remained the same?

Rich

[DavidA]

So, apart from being tired all the time (10K a day really takes it out of you)

Congratulations on the great cholesterol news!
Good luck with continued erging and improved health.

David

[gcanyon]

gcanyon,

Awesome news, especially on the changes in your hdl/LDL ratios. That is significant. Has your weight changed or remained the same?

Rich

My weight is almost the same -- I've lost maybe a few pounds. I wasn't big to begin with -- 6'4", 185-190, something like 18-19% body fat. Being thin runs in my family.

I'm now probably in the 180-185 range, and I'm definitely less fat more muscle. Somewhere along the way I'll get another body composition test to see what my percentage of body fat is now.

I haven't changed my diet, except that I eat more than I did before. I'd guess I'm eating around 500 more calories a day, but that's just a guess. The makeup of my diet hasn't changed much. I'd like to switch to some more oatmeal, maybe some more soy beans (love edamame!) and see if I can get my HDL over 60, resting pulse down to 50.