Where does someone go for advice on diet and exercise that actually can help?
I have been an athlete my whole life and still had a Widowmaker with a 100% blockage of the LAD at 43 just months after winning the 2009 over 40 No Gi BJJ Pan Ams. The cardiologist who put the stent in me said BJJ was why I am still alive. I try to eat right but am prediabetic, overweight with a ton of injuries that limit my working out the way I would like. I often end up in PT because of triggering impingements from 7 bulging discs. I actually am starting PT on Wednesday this week.
After the heart attack as part of my cardiac rehab I was handed a pamphlet by the hospital dietician and it basically said eat a balanced diet and had the food pyramid and that was it. I am willing to research and try to understand what to do but everything I read is contradictory.
Then my cardiologist due to severe pain in my muscles and joint’s took me off Lipitor and put me on Repatha and 5 mg rosuvastatin. My total cholesterol went down to 50. He said he didn’t know it could get that low and he was the head of cardiology at the hospital! He also had me on Xarelto with it. When I read blood thinners and cholesterol below I believe 130 increased the likeliness of brain hemorrhage. I stopped it after reading that and my GP asking why I was on thinners in addition to low dose aspirin when I don’t have a clotting issue. She indicated it didn’t make sense.
My cardiologist at my request had my test checked and it turned out I had a level of 163. The Urologist I was sent to put me on TRT using Xyosted. At first it was 75mg a week and after two months I still felt like shit so he bumped it up to 100 Mg. After 9 months I suddenly had extremely high BP and was told to stop TRT. Two years later I have my BP under control with meds and exercise. I am now on 100 mg Test Cypionate intramuscular. I overall am feeling better right now than I have but because of my nagging injuries I am not able to exercise the way I need to make significant gains in my overall health and strength I am not a doctor and want to do the right thing but have no idea what that is!
Even though I work out, don’t smoke and am not a heavy drinker I had a heart attack younger than my father who had his first at 48 and died from one at 58. I always chalked his death up to his lifestyle. He smoked 2+ packs a day, was a recovering alcoholic was pushing 300 pounds his entire adult life and I never saw him do anything athletic in my life. I am 57 and am scared shitless I am going to die soon based upon family history even though I am trying to do the right things.
Sorry for the rant but I am willing to do the work to lose the weight and make myself healthier but have no idea what needs to be done at this point.
Carnivore diet and lifting weights will improve your health tremendously. The food companies would have your believe lots of red meat consumption increases heart disease risk, however this goes against medical science and is nothing more than propaganda put out there from the food companies.
The carnivore diet can reverse cancer, autoimmune conditions, crohn’s disease, arthritis, and even treat autism spectrum disorders.
The establishments will do anything in their power to sway you away from becoming healthy, anything that threatens the big food corporations, big pharma and the medical establishments.
In the early 70’s the sugar companies paid the American Heart Association to put out a statement that high cholesterol so pharma could sell you statins drugs.
News flash, high cholesterol doesn’t cause heart disease!
You seriously need to stop with this f-ing bullshyte. High cholesterol can cause, can contribute to heart diesase and can be deadly. Some study against you might have, some cr*p conspiracy theory you might have, they mean nothing. Some people might believe what you’re saying, ignore medical advice, get a glimmer of hope that nothings gonna happen and eventually something might happen to them.
Same sh*t with your high hemoglobin and hematocrit posts. Just because you’re on trt doesn’t mean thick blood is a good thing, regardless of your more oxygen transportation or some tribe being born raised and living on 20000 feet altitude and no clots happen to them, or whatever you’re always posting. Thick blood is a side effect and not a good one. Is something gonna happen? Probably not, but it f-ing might and it might kill you.
There’s no “this is the universal answer” in anything health-related, unfortunately.
In addition to working with your physicians, right now, today, I would:
Start walking 2 hours a day
Drink a gallon of water every single day
Cut all processed carbs out of your diet
Those are non-controversial, immediate impact, practically implementable changes. Monitor your blood work, heart rate and blood pressure. Once these are all automatic habits, it gets more feasible to identify and layer on the next variable.
May I suggest you start a training log or just post this in Bigger, Stronger, Leaner? Posts in the Pharma/TRT forum limit you to forum members interested in that, whereas BSL will put you in the general population, which I think would be to your advantage.
I think you need to broaden your participation. I don’t want to make this a call-out thread, but systemlord, for example, is a complete train wreck (at one point legs didn’t work, diabetic, shit diet…just completely oblivious), and the most prolific offerer of advice in this section. BSL will allow you to skim others’ training logs, look at photos showing health/progress, etc.
There is a great deal of general health discussion in the 2024 T-ransformation thread, e.g. most recently fish oil, yes or no, and when to take it. Those of us with family histories of CAD are discussing its benefit.
Over there you’ll run into @SkyzykS, who also had an early widow maker and has a training log and strong knowledge base.
Edit: Ah, I see members I trust are here now. Good! I’ll stand down.
Op, i’ll help with any advice I’m asked for, as I’ve had one STEMI, one slow one, and have been figuring things out with the help of a Great cardiologist and team of professionals of various discipline since 2019 (age 47).
Of your initial questions-
Skip the bro science. Get evaluated by a physiologist/physical therapist, and consult with them intermittently as questions come up or problems arise. I’ve been through two 3 month rounds of cardiac rehab, and have a few friends I can tap for stuff like this.
I was recommended the Mediterranean Diet, but since my cholesterol isn’t and never has been high or problematic it was completely optional.
Best bet would be to contact a dietician like @QuadQueen . She’s bright, diligent, enthusiastic, and intelligent.
There are a few reasons for the things you pointed out with regard to meds that I can address in my log, as its a little more sequestered and I have no tollerance for some of the bullshit tthat flies around here.
I’m more than willing to pass along some recs but as @s.gentz asked:
I’m going to need more info to give you anything helpful. I also completely agree with @TrainForPain - you can’t go wrong with simple, yet impactful changes. I’d recommend starting there and follow-up here with more detail so we can better help you.
WTF are you talking about? I am lucky to be alive! Most people die from what I had!
I was fortunate because I was doing BJJ 3-6 days a week. The Dr. that put the stent in me told me I was alive because I was in such good shape at the time that I developed enough extra capillaries to carry blood through my heart and avoid scar tissue. Three weeks after the heart attack on a follow up he did an echocardiogram and said" if I didn’t know your recent history I would call your heart normal. There is one small irregularity but still falls within normal parameters and I expect that to heal within the next month." He went on to tell me that was not what would happen with most people but I owed my life to working out hard. He also told me when he heard my family’s history I should have been seeing a cardiologist by the time I was 30.
As far as high cholesterol I had a level of 214 when I had the heart attack. That is elevated and not considered high but due to my family genetics it was enough to cause a 100% blockage of the LAD. The Cardiologist told me when I won the Pan Ams I probably had at least a 95% blockage. Regarding hemoglobin and hematocrit I asked about it because I had elevated levels the last time I was on TRT. Nothing more and nothing less.
Truly have no idea why you attacked me. Have a good day.
Prior to my most recent injury a typical workout was 3x a week 30-45 minutes doing a peloton spin class and a basic kettlebell workout. The kettlebell workout consisted of 3 round of 20 swings, 10 deadlift to upright row, 10 sumo squats,10 bent over rows, 10 curls, 10 overhead press and a 60 yard single bell farmers carry. In the spring to get ready for hunting season I would add 2-4 miles before work rucking 3x a week with a pack carrying 40lbs most days and once a week with 75lbs. I would also do 50 per leg step ups onto a folding chair with the 40lb pack.
As far as excuses I have 7 bulging discs. 4 in the neck and 3 in my lumbar and when working out I will for no apparent reason set off the impingement in my neck and lose all strength in my left arm to the point I can’t lift a gallon of milk for upwards of 3 months. Last year I woke up and couldn’t mover my neck and now after being in PT for 3 months I still have pins and needles down my right arm every day with numbness in my right pointer finger. The year before last I was in PT for 2 months for doing 25 pushups that caused a muscle spasm and lost all strength in my left arm.
The neck injury was from HS and college football and wrestling and having 100"s of stingers from hitting my head and shoulders against my opponents. It was so bad in college I wore 3 horse collars to minimize my head movement. Fortunately I blew out my knee the first time I played on AstroTurf at John Hopkins University because they were going to take straps to the two sides and the back of my head to further reduce my movement. I am convinced now I would be completely disabled if I didn’t tear my knee up. The lumbar was me being a knucklehead. I sued to road bike up to 150 miles a week… In 2001 I went on a ride that was supposed to be 15-20 miles in February. It was a beautiful warm day on that was about 70 degrees which is unusual that time of year in NJ. I felt so good I ended up doing a 55mile ride. Unfortunately I hadn’t done that kind of mileage since October and I had a spasm in my back and literally felt my spine shift. I was in such bad pain it took me almost another hour to ride the final 3 miles.
This is why I asked what I asked because I know I need to keep working out and watch what I eat but my body breakdown issues have me scared shitless and I don’t know how to approach it.
It sounds to me in your current state you will not be able to lift/train like you used to/want to. But doing nothing instead of what you can do is an excuse. So what can you do?
You need to approach it by filling us in on your diet so we can help with that. Then you need to let us know what you CAN do so that we can make recommendations.
What I can do right now is walk with pain because of a bad Pulled Hamstring and Glute. I can’t/won’t work my chest because the pushing motion is what has seemed to trigger the impingement. I spoke to the PT while she was evaluating me today about it and said she is confident we can work on it so I can work the chest again but wants to concentrate on the main issue of the pain and lack of mobility from my fall. I have no issues on pulling and overhead pressing. Standard dumbbell curls have always caused tendonitis but I have no issues with hammer curls. I shoot competitively archery so I am pulling almost every day. I have been doing these things so I haven’t been completely sedentary just frustrated because I want to do more. My passion was cycling and BJJ both Of which I was told by the orthopedist never to do. Once the leg heals I may ignore him on the cycling. When I have lower back pain I know I haven’t been doing enough kettlebell swings, planks and stretching of my psoas.
As far as diet I eat 2500-3000 calories a day based upon my calorie tracker. Yesterday I had 3 cups of coffee with milk in the morning, lunch was Venison chili with black beans and a Chobani Greek yogurt. For dinner I had 3 beef taco’s with shredded cheddar, some salsa and black olives. When I got back from the archery range I had a protein shake with a cup of blueberries and 2% milk. Total calories according to the app was 2726 and my Macros were 30% carbs, 44% fat and 26% protein. Most days I am nearly equal on the macros. Today I had the chili again, about a cup of leftover steamed broccoli, two cups of coffee, a clementine and a Chobani Greek yogurt for a total of 617 calories 54% carbs, 17% fat and 29% protein.
Six weeks ago I weighed 292 this morning I weighed 279. I was 264 the week I screwed up my leg.
Sounds like first thing you need to do is work with the PT to get you as close to your normal as you can. Personally i would have a massage and get stretched out once every few weeks to help with mobility but not sure if your docs would want that yet or not. If you are free to stretch you cannot do enough yourself.
We also need to fix this. You are very overweight and this is not helping the situation.
At a glance this doesn’t seem all that bad but it’s obvious you need to change something. I think @QuadQueen will be your go to here.
Two takeaways:
1- Get your body back to reasonable condition from your injuries.
2-Work really hard on your diet. If you can’t exercise the way you want your gonna need to eat better/different.
Sorry, but no, all the studies on high cholesterol causing heart disease are by association only. When the artery becomes diseased, the cholesterol will accumulate in the artery.
Fifty percent of people with heart disease have low cholesterol and that a new study has shown that nearly 75 percent of patients hospitalized for a heart attack had cholesterol levels that would indicate they were not at high risk for a cardiovascular event, based on current national cholesterol guidelines.
Thick blood is a relative term and you’re making blanket statements without providing any proof of your argument. This is a lack of understanding of how the vascular system functions.
Nitrous oxide helps, expand the vascular bed to account for the increased viscosity of thicker blood. Someone who is compromised healthwise may not have a normal functioning vascular system due to disease and therefore will have problems.
For someone who is healthy, or has the genetic adaptations, the thicker blood is not going to be a problem. Comorbid conditions cause the problems, the thicker blood is the smoke, not the fire.
Most of the studies showing harm from thicker blood are those looking at polycythemia vera.
Glenn Cunningham, the guy that wrote the guidelines for TRT and the 54% cut off said we actually don’t have much data to say anything but we had to pick a number and it seemed like a reasonable number.
My own doctor said →
I can’t tell you at what level of hematocrit is too high for you, but this is pretty high. I’d recommend at least monthly monitoring of your levels at least for the Hgb/Hct.
So if Glenn Cunningham doesn’t have any data to say anything, you know something we don’t?
Today was supposed to only be an evaluation but my PT after seeing the inflammation still more than a month from my injury and the lack of range of motion did a deep tissue massage on the back of my leg. It hurt like hell for part of it but then started to feel better. She then had me do a couple exercises and by the end I had a significant range of motion increase and less limping at least so far since leaving.
I agree about the weight but even at my age I still carry more muscle than most guys in their 20’s. A few years ago my GP measured my fat with calipers. I can’t remember if I was 253 or 263 but I had 23% body fat. I know calipers aren’t nearly as accurate as some things but they also had a scale that scans you too and they were within 1% so I would assume it was pretty close.
Actually, “understanding how the vascular system” and most any other system in our bodies function is what I do for a living.
I don’t know who your Glenn guy is. Maybe he posted the trt guidelines but these things we are talking about can be very dangerous even without trt. In fact let’s forget who’s an MD and who is not. I have more than enough experience with forums, I posted regularly for almost 15 years in the golden times of bb.com. in the exercise section and I know your type. E.g. quotting some one guy and taking it as a gospel. You are the guy who posts a lot, your posts are often good. But this is just silly. There are always studies, for practically everything, that say something against what is commonly believed and proved. You like those few % and dismiss other 90+%. Ridiculous. Any, any person can simply google the potential dangers of thick blood and the link between cholesterol and heart disease. It is not just common sense to draw conclusions if one knows nothing on the subject, to believe the majority, there is also infinite amount af anectodal evidence and a stance in the medical comunity. There is really nothing to argue here further.
What weights are you pushing and pulling? If you can overhead press and deadlift enough weight to activate the stress/adaptation response, you’ve got 90% of the muscles in your body growing and are probably doing more than 90% of other people in the gym. We can talk about slight variations of the press and deadlift but for now I would just concentrate on becoming stronger in these two lifts.
Don’t waste your time doing unnecessary shit. You need to get your whole body stronger as a unit. You’ll achieve this with the deadlift and overhead press (more so than with the bench press).
I wouldn’t go on a strict caloric deficit even though I see the reasoning why other members are suggesting you lose weight. I think your bodyweight is fine and all you need to do is avoid highly processed shit and eat good food at maintenance. You’re 57 years old at 23% bodyfat. Going on a deficit will just make you even more sore and creaky. You will lean out some over time and make it to the high teens in bf% as you get stronger by eating at maintenance. But don’t make it your goal to look like a bodybuilder. It’s unnecessary and probably ill advised in your situation.
I think you misread a few things. I hurt my leg and can’t currently even touch my toes let alone doing any kind of deadlift. For the last 40 years I have had the impingements that cause me to lose strength and cause extreme pain primarily doing anything like a pushup, bench or fly’s. I have a 35lb kettlebell which is what I use primarily then have a 10 and 20lb dumbbell set plus an adjustable weight dumbbell set that goes up to 52pounds. I have been doing seated overhead presses with up to 40pounds per hand. Not a ton of weight but as I said I am more concerned about not triggering these bulging discs because of how much they set me back both physically and mentally.
Regarding dumbbell curls I figured because I am not doing the heavy compound lifts that I used to it was worth the effort. When I was younger I never did them and finally the 23% body fat was a few years ago as an illustration of how much muscle I had at a much higher body weight than most people. I am FAT today at 279lbs down from a recent high of 292 and an all time high of 296. I should weigh ideally about 215-220 which should be about 15% body fat. So I need to lose at least 60 pounds while maintaining muscle.
My primary goal is to lose the weight and get stronger. I could care less about adding more muscle mass at this age. Longevity and feeling physically better is what I want.
