Beyond Willpower

Well, I got my 6 month check up at the study and my blood work keeps coming back better and better, even though I've gained some. For the first time in memory, last check up my sugar was normal at 99, this time it was normal at 95, my cholesterol was 209 before, and now it is within' normal ranges at 195. These are still high numbers for as well as I eat, I feel like genetics have something to do with the cholesterol. (my very thin vegetarian great aunt had an eleventybilliondruple bypass a few years ago.) Okay, maybe it was a quadruple, but still it was bad. and my gpa has high cholesterol as well. I've doubled my dose of fish oil, hoping that helps. Oh! My triglycerides, which were 146 last time were 119 this time!!!! WOoooooooOOooooOOooo! :D At one time they were 260, normal is under 150. My thyroid is a bit low, my hair is falling out and crispy in some places and I am not binging but I'm gaining as if I were. I'm worried. I am tracking everything ...

So, I have been vegan now since October 2010 and was vegetarian before that. In february I had blood work done that came back with 'ok' but not great results. My fasting sugar was 111. I have been pre-diabetic for almost 10 years if not longer. I started getting tested for diabetes in the early 2000's. I believe back then the results were if you were fasting and your sugar was 125 or higher you were diabetic? I think I was 124. It slowly lowered over the years but never got below 109. It needs to be between 70-99 Until now! OH HAPPY DAY! This time my sugar was 93!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited. My mom will be happy, she worries a lot about diabetes with my weight and our family history. My cholesterol is still just a few points above where it should be. My goal is to have it down to below normal in six months. I was told I have "Virtually no cardiovascular risk" based on my blood work. Woooooo! :) Oh, and my a1c which should be from 4.3-6.1 was 5.4, so prett...

So, I was trying to get into this study that focuses on diet and exercise that they are doing here in Pittsburgh. Anyhow, they did a bunch of blood test... I got my results!  *and this is what my face looks like right now!* They aren't too bad! I wish they were SLIGHTLY better...but...even though I was veggie for over a year, I was just recently vegan, so hopefully when they redo the test results in 6 months some values will be better.   These are fasting results: My sugar was 111, a little high, it needs to be between 70-99, but down 13 points from it's high. BUT: My A1c was only 5.5! Which is good! (three month reading of sugar) My cholesterol was slightly high at 209, needs to be below 200, and my HDL (good cholesterol) was a little low at 44. Needs to be 59+. She said exercise would help.  Triglycerides were good at 110. My two of my thyroid readings were good, one was slightly high, the T4, at 12.6. Should be between 5-12. She said it's not signific...