Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 06-27-2016, 10:28 AM   #1  
Junior Member
Thread Starter
 
MWM400's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 2

Default Low HDL

Hi there, I'm new here and I did some searching, but couldn't find anything related to this. I'm a 42 year old male (hope that's OK), who has had some success with low carb eating in the past and started doing IP about 10 weeks ago. I'm down 25 pounds to date, which I'm happy about, but still have about 50 to go.

However, I'm also someone who has had low HDL labs for years now. A few years ago, I dropped a decent amount of weight from general healthy eating habits and tons of exercise.... I took up tennis. I gained much of that back after about a year once I met my now wife (I call them happiness pounds). That period where I was doing all the exercise was the only time in the last 8 years where my HDL got to 40.

Even while I was slowly gaining pounds back, I still did a decent amount of exercise, but the HDL was gradually dropping, obviously a result of too many carbs.

My concern is that I just had lab work done and I'm still really low at 28, which is exactly where I was when I started. Has anyone else had problems with HDL, and if so, how do you manage it on IP? I do eat fish once or twice a week, so it's not just a matter of eating more fish. I've taken high quality fish oil/Omega 3 supplements in the past and it's had minimal affect on my HDL.

The only thing that has seemed to work for me is intense cardio, which I'm hesitant to do because I don't want to do anything to slow down the fat loss.

Any insights from others' experience would be greatly appreciated.
MWM400 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-27-2016, 01:31 PM   #2  
Junior Member
 
AmyLouFreebush's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Austin, Texas
Posts: 10

S/C/G: 237/150.2/150

Height: 5' 5"

Default

I too have pretty low HDL - I'm 26 and a lady, but from what I've researched, the issue has little to do with age or gender. My HDL is currently 37 but was 27 two years ago, before I ever did anything to change it. Since then, I did a lot, dietary-wise to increase my healthy fat intake like eating more omega-3s in fish, nuts, and avocados as well as taking a fish oil supplement, but I didn't work out much.

My doctor was happy with the improvement in general, but said that I likely had gotten about as much benefit just from eating more healthy fats alone that I was going to get. She said the best way to increase it from that point would be to exercise. So I did! I started working out 3 times a week, but had a really rough go of it due to how overweight I was. It was hard on my joints, and I lacked motivation when I didn't see my weight going down while I was working out.

I unfortunately didn't get my HDL measured while I was working out, or else I might've seen that it went up again, but that is when I started IP and stopped working out. Since I started IP, I've been steadily at 37 for my HDL, and I think that I probably won't see an improvement until I'm in maintenance and can start working out on a regular basis. It seems like the best way to improve the stats are to increase healthy fats at the same time as working out, both of which are pretty darn hard during the phase 1 protocol.
AmyLouFreebush is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-28-2016, 02:19 AM   #3  
Senior Member
 
canadjineh's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Posts: 3,446

S/C/G: 163/150/132

Height: 5'8" 173 cm 57 yrs old

Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by MWM400 View Post
Hi there, I'm new here and I did some searching, but couldn't find anything related to this. I'm a 42 year old male (hope that's OK), who has had some success with low carb eating in the past and started doing IP about 10 weeks ago. I'm down 25 pounds to date, which I'm happy about, but still have about 50 to go.

However, I'm also someone who has had low HDL labs for years now. A few years ago, I dropped a decent amount of weight from general healthy eating habits and tons of exercise.... I took up tennis. I gained much of that back after about a year once I met my now wife (I call them happiness pounds). That period where I was doing all the exercise was the only time in the last 8 years where my HDL got to 40.

Even while I was slowly gaining pounds back, I still did a decent amount of exercise, but the HDL was gradually dropping, obviously a result of too many carbs.

My concern is that I just had lab work done and I'm still really low at 28, which is exactly where I was when I started. Has anyone else had problems with HDL, and if so, how do you manage it on IP? I do eat fish once or twice a week, so it's not just a matter of eating more fish. I've taken high quality fish oil/Omega 3 supplements in the past and it's had minimal affect on my HDL.

The only thing that has seemed to work for me is intense cardio, which I'm hesitant to do because I don't want to do anything to slow down the fat loss.

Any insights from others' experience would be greatly appreciated.
Is it familial? Familial HA is a relatively common disorder and is frequently associated with decreased apo A-I production or increased apo A-I catabolism. Another familial deficiency is LCAT. It makes a difference in whether you may have problems with coronary heart disease OR with ocular degeneration and renal failure.

Low levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), or hypoalphalipoproteinemia (HA), includes a variety of conditions, ranging from mild to severe, in which concentrations of alpha lipoproteins or high-density lipoprotein (HDL) are reduced. The etiology of HDL deficiencies ranges from secondary causes, such as smoking, to specific genetic mutations, such as Tangier disease and fish-eye disease.

HA has no clear-cut definition. An arbitrary cutoff is the 10th percentile of HDL cholesterol levels. A more practical definition derives from the theoretical cardioprotective role of HDL. The US National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP III) redefined the HDL cholesterol level that constitutes a formal coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factor. The level was raised from 35 mg/dL to 40 mg/dL for men and women. A prospective analysis by Mora et al investigated the link between cholesterol and cardiovascular events in women and found baseline HDL-C level was consistently and inversely associated with incident coronary and CVD events across a range of LDL-C values.[1]

For the metabolic syndrome in which multiple mild abnormalities in lipids, waist size (abdominal circumference), blood pressure, and blood sugar increase the risk of CHD, the designated HDL cholesterol levels that contribute to the syndrome are sex-specific. For men, a high-risk HDL cholesterol level is still less than 40 mg/dL, but for women, the high-risk HDL cholesterol level is less than 50 mg/dL.[2, 3, 4, 5]

A low HDL cholesterol level is thought to accelerate the development of atherosclerosis because of impaired reverse cholesterol transport and possibly because of the absence of other protective effects of HDL, such as decreased oxidation of other lipoproteins.

The common, mild forms of HA have no characteristic physical findings, but patients may have premature coronary heart or peripheral vascular disease, as well as a family history of low HDL cholesterol levels and premature CHD.
Therapy to raise the concentration of HDL cholesterol includes weight loss, smoking cessation, aerobic exercise, and pharmacologic management with niacin and fibrates.
Young boys and girls have similar high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels, but after male puberty, these levels decrease in males, remaining lower than those in females for all subsequent age groups.

Vitamin therapy may be worth a try, and you can exercise fairly heavily on Alternative ('Diabetic style') P1. There is a thread or two around on that you may want to search for. Some runners have trained for races doing it that way.

Liana

Last edited by canadjineh; 06-28-2016 at 02:21 AM.
canadjineh is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-30-2016, 03:57 PM   #4  
Junior Member
Thread Starter
 
MWM400's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 2

Default

Thanks to both of you for the response.

Amy, nice to see someone who saw an increase just from doing IP. I may have to be a bit more patient. I actually like exercising and miss it. But at this point, I just don't want to slow down the weight loss. If I could exercise without a detrimental impact on the weight loss, I'd happily start.

canadjineh, very informative post. Thanks. Honestly, I don't know if it runs in my family. I'll talk to my dad. There is some history of cardiovascular problems in my family history, but it's not extensive that I'm aware of (I know nothing about my mother's side of the family). I will look into vitamin therapy.
MWM400 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off



All times are GMT -4. The time now is 04:55 AM.


We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.