Blood Tests, Cholesterol and Body Fat

So two days after the February 6th post, February 8th to be exact, I get a Physical for a client company that will require respirator (mask) protection during hazardous product handling at their site. Yes folks, sometimes the job calls for something more risky than sitting behind a computer monitor and polishing the seat cushion. The physical was NOT from my personal ‘pill pusher’ but instead from an industrial health provider the client company contracts with. Anyway, they completed blood work that included serum Creatinine and Cholesterol. The good news; my cholesterol levels on ½ dose of Lipitor are excellent; total is still way below 200 with a total cholesterol to HDL ratio of 2.04 and an LDL to HDL ratio of .95. However, serum Creatinine was high again, 1.85 to be exact.

On the day of that blood draw, I was NOT in a fasted condition. That morning I had also completed a fairly heavy leg workout that included 315 pound squat drop sets (total weight moved 16,580 lbs) and a round of 500 pound leg presses. To say the least I was pretty well cooked, fatigue wise, and I know I was dehydrated (been drinking coffee all morning). I also had my usual 6 gm of BCAA’s before and after that morning workout. What I hope; the reason for the high serum Creatinine is; 1) the severity of exercise and 2) dehydration. We’ll see!!

So right after I reviewed these results with industrial health provider’s PA, I made an appointment with my own personal doctor for my 6 month check up that includes a standard blood work. This always includes cholesterol and serum Creatinine plus all of the other goodies associated with control of blood sugar. I also had them add Testosterone and B12 to the lab work for this cycle to see if the reduction of Lipitor had any impact on those values.

The ‘blood letting’ for this second set of labs was February 15th and to get ready, I did not included BCAA’s the 2 days prior, drank copious amounts of water to stay hydrated and had backed off on my normal exercise routine which again focused on lower body weight training (squat, leg presses, leg curls, etc…).

On February 20th, I went over the blood work results with my regular doctor and guess what, serum Creatinine was down to 1.4. So in my case, the level of physical exertion during the previous 24 hours and the LEVEL OF HYDRATION are key in determining serum Creatinine. As far as cholesterol on ½ dose of Lipitor; again I had an excellent score; total cholesterol well below 200 with HDL and LDL levels right where they belong; ratios at 2.14 and .98. So I can say for sure, yes, my kidneys work correctly when I am appropriately hydrated and that on ½ dose of Lipitor I can maintain my cholesterol as long as I maintain body fat less than 15% of my total weight.

So here’s a new item; below 15% body fat allows me to reduce the statin dose by 50% of what I would normally take to control cholesterol at 20% body fat. That’s significant. Generally, it is stated that weight loss, low fat diet, with minimal exercise (walking 30 minutes a day) is the cure for cholesterol issues. PARTIALLY TRUE; here are the facts – It’s the ratio of fat to lean body mass that holds your LDL to HDL ratio to 1 or less, plus having an appropriate level of vitamin B3 (niacin). And, in order to get a good ratio of fat to lean body mass, it’s more about ‘heavy’ resistance training with any cardio based on sprints and intervals. Steady state walking and jogging or worse yet, 30 minutes on a recumbent bike, are not going to get you the health and fitness results you may be looking for.

One must also be aware of diet; so write it down. We know that total calorie intake controls body weight. Total calorie intake while monitoring macronutrients, e.g. protein rich (not protein exclusive) plus carbohydrates and good dietary fat (non-saturated), keeps you going during the ‘heavy work’ and provides the basic building blocks for muscle growth and control of cholesterol. If you write it down, you can make adjustments. If you’re not recording what you eat then you’re on a ‘see food’ diet; if you see it, you eat it.

So now I’m going to add cholesterol to my list Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s). Now that I know that I can maintain good cholesterol numbers at ½ my normal dose of Lipitor when my body fat is below 15%, I can use this to judge body fat maintenance. If it starts to creep up, I need to look at what I’m doing in the gym and what goes in my mouth. The new list of KPIs;

· Weight
· Waist size at the navel
· Core lift ‘calculated’ 1RM to bodyweight ratio,
· Core lift Total Weight Moved, and
· Total cholesterol / HDL ratio (<2.5) and LDL / HDL ratio (<1) at 10 mg daily statin dosage.

As I mentioned above, I also had my Testosterone level and B12 levels checked. I’m still at the low end of the scale for the big ’T’ (maybe 20 points higher that the last check) so the lower dose of Lipitor my not be much help here. However, the B12 levels are tops. My next goal, find an appropriate supplement to help with the big ‘T’ numbers.

Again, stay healthy, stay fit and always look at how to control that Last 10 Pounds.

MMJennings