Valentines Day! One of my favorite holiday's of the year! Cody and I love Valentines Day and go all out (especially with decorations)! So this year, we kicked off Ash Wednesday and Valentines day with exchanging gifts and just having a nice quiet relaxing evening together and finishing the night with an episode of our favorite tv series right now, Criminal Minds. It was a wonderful night. (P.S. more about Ash Wednesday and lent in my next blog post).
For Valentines day dinner itself, we actually didn't go out until the Monday after because one, to avoid the crowds, two, because I had an important blood work appointment the following Monday and had to be extra good the week before to get the numbers I needed (more about this below). Due to us not being able to have our special Bonefish dinner until 6 days later, Cody bought me beautiful roses the Monday before Valentines day so I could feel special all week and not just for one day *his words exactly*.😍
But for work we had a baking competition and fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen race for the cure. It was a really fun fundraiser for such a good cause. Everyone got involved and I baked for like two days straight preparing for it lol. Thank goodness I did that because the Reeses bar I made (above) was terrible! So I did my fail-proof classic, symphony brownies (basically brownies with a Hershey's Symphony bar baked into the middle, very good)! I didn't win the competition but that's ok!
On a side note I finally fixed up my office area at work! I love my desk! (I also added a cross but brought it the next day) I have pictures of my Cody and my engineering mug and my beautiful clock that my mom got me for my college graduation present that says, "All I need is possible" my motto in life; persevere!
Cholesterol Update:
So onto my next topic, my cholesterol. The little secret I had been living the past year was that my cholesterol/triglyceride levels were that of a heart attack patient. The doctors told me that if I didn't fix it, in 2-3 years I could have a heart attack. That really woke me up especially because I didn't understand the magnitude of this and I had really never had this problem before. I have always had slightly high cholesterol due to strong genetics but NEVER like this. I was very scared and didn't know what to do. I immediately visited dietitians, did a lot of research, got opinions from other doctors on how to lower this, etc.
The worst part about it was the doctors were trying to put me on cholesterol regulating medicine at only 23 year old (at the time)! No way! That is when I put my foot down (to myself) and said no, I am not going to do that. I know some positive changes I can make in my life and I can fix this, all I need is possible ;). So that's just what I did. I believed in myself, for my life's sake. So I made a deal with my doctors to give me a year and if I can cut my triglyceride number in half they won't put me on medicine and I will do the same thing the following year until it is in the normal range. The doctors agreed and hoped I could possibly make the right changes to fix this even though I am fighting some serious genetics. They helped by suggesting I lose solely 7% of my body weight and that alone can sometimes have the best effect. So literally the day after my appointment I got to work. I did a total flip of my diet and lifestyle. I tossed all of the bad things for me in my eating, like junk food, bad processed foods, candy, deli meats (surprisingly high in cholesterol), red meats, went cold turkey on ice cream and cheese (my absolute favorite), white breads and white potatoes desserts, eggs, and peanut butter. I added in more fibrous foods, more olive oil, peanut butter (with the only ingredient being peanuts), fish oil pills, more actual salmon, grapes, ate more veggies, drank apple cider vinegar, ate more almonds, ground flax seeds, plain no fat Greek yogurt, 90% dark chocolate, garlic, PLAIN oatmeal (almost every day) PLAIN cheerios, avocados, I ate less, I added in more cardio any chance I could (got a cheapo home exercise bike) and of course prayed. I worked to lose one pound a month for the next 12 months.
So fast forward to a year later on my blood draw day (February 19th 2018). I was a NERVOUS WRECK to say the least. I was having thoughts roll through my head, what if I couldn't do it, what if it is not only better but worse😭, I was getting myself worked up as I sat in the chair waiting on my nurse to take my blood. Then I had to wait a grueling 2 days to get my results. So two days later I dared to look at the results online. I was in absolute tears. Not only did I get 4/5 of my numbers into normal range but my triglycerides dropped 311 points! I was supposed to only cut it down 231 points to ward off the medicine but I cut it down waaay past that to only 3 points above the "normal" triglyceride range. My triglyceride level is now 153 (healthy range is 150 and below) I DID IT... I ACTUALLY DID IT. I was so incredibly proud of myself. I actually did it, I believed in myself and put in the hard work. It only kept getting better as I read. My LDL dropped from 143 to 128, one point under the top of the normal range and my HDL raised 3 points (that is good) from 79 to 82 (anything higher than 62 is good) and my total cholesterol went from 254 to 241! It went from extremely high to just high (that is not a huge difference in total cholesterol but definitely moving in the right direction)! And not only did I lose 7% of my body weight (11 pounds) I actually ended up losing 8.5% of my total body weight (13 pounds)!! I am so proud of myself! I am now officially in the healthy range in my BMI! It was so exciting and so overwhelming. The doctor knew how hard I worked and was so surprised at the numbers, he personally wrote me a note attached to the numbers online sharing how proud he was that I did it! That made me shine inside!
Now to keep moving forward, this next year I will do the same thing. I plan to lose 13 more pounds putting me closer to the middle range of the healthy range for the BMI for my height and I will continue to make the healthy eating changes I need to get all of my cholesterol numbers to well in their healthy range. Here's to the next year! :) I got this!
Here's a reflection of the past years food alone:)
I ate a lot of plain baked veggies with olive oil (no salt), Josephs low carb 100% whole wheat low calorie wraps filled with either baked chicken or egg whites.
Smoothie King became my restaurant go-to filled with perfect protein without eating animal protein cholesterol or a lot of calories. It was so delicious and so perfect!
I would make my own "trail mix" for work, breakfast, or snacks. It consisted of plain or multi grain cheerios mixed with yogurt melts and reduced sugar craisins. Don' knock it until you try it!
I ate a lot of high protein foods such as above and when I had my dessert cravings I would eat either Arctic Zero protein "ice cream" or Quest bars/Lenny and Larry cookies. The peanut butter in the picture isn't cholesterol friendly with the oils but you have to live just a little bit and this lifestyle change has to be achievable long term.
To get my veggie intake up when I didn't feel like eating veggies I would drink these pure vegetable juices from time to time.
And of course I incorporated a lot of yoga (mainly for fun and relaxation) because it is and was one of my favorite exercises growing up. Without saying, the Pioneer Woman always has to be on in the background ;) #lovethatshow.
Sorry to keep everyone in the dark about my cholesterol problem, I knew if I told anyone (besides Cody) it would be a panic and people would try to intervene. I knew I could do it myself and needed to. And if for some reason it hadn't worked, I would have gotten on the cholesterol lowering medicine and of course told my family but luckily that wasn't the case:) God is so good!
I can't wait to write a cholesterol update post in February of 2019!
With so much love,
Kayla Raborn
3-4-18
