labs 2022

I like being transparent. 

I’m very proud of my progress. 

I like to be able to show

What a healthy (and sometimes sloppy)

Low Carb Lifestyle can look like. 

My Pernicious Anemia shows up

From time to time. 


The Money Shot. 

HA1C 5.5. 

My normal range is 5.2 to 5.6

With my highest reading 5.9

One time, since starting Atkins. 

CRP C Reactive Protein

Is 4.21. Down from 7.29. 

In the hospital, my CPR was 9.2. 

If I did have COVID…

 and a bad reaction to the vaccine…

Then it’s finally coming down. 

Screenshot for a HOMA -IR calculation. 

I’m often not showing up as

NON Insulin Resistance 

I get my labs done 2 times a year. 

I use “Own Your Labs” (link)

 because they’re a great company,

With great people. 

And the price is right. 

A CBC is like $7. 

No I don’t work for them. 

Not an affiliate. 

Just a fan. 

I felt tired - exhausted. 

I couldn’t get enough sleep. 

I couldn’t push the wheelchair 

At work. 

I’m starting to get to know

What feeling anemic is like.  

So I got some Iron and 

Multi Vitamin to take. 

These labs are done after a few 

days of feeling extremely low. 

My stats:

Age 61 

13 years LC

Abou 100 pounds weight lost

And kept off! 

No a fib, no missed beats.

Good BP, good labs.

My Average Heart Rate Variability 

Better every year 

The Apple Watch lets me take

An EKG. A little high T wave? 

Take less Potassium. 

Good breathing. 

Maybe some occasional sleep apnea 

But nothing out of the norm. 

I try to walk every day. 

It’s hard since I have been 

working so many hours. 

I blame (or credit) COVID. 

That’s changing soon!

I normally range from 155 to 160. 

Sometimes lower. Sometimes higher. 

Now, I’m 160 to 165 pounds. 

I try to keep it between the lines. 

Pull my sweet tooth and 

Keep my hand out of the 

Proverbial Cookie Jar. 

Over the past 13 years 

I’ve had a few small regains. 

But not more than 15 pounds. 

For just a few months. 

I think I need more Iron and less work. 

No more heartburn since I quit wine. 

No more ulcers. 

I’ve been making a slight effort 

To fast and firm up -

Just in time for KetoCon. 

It feels like a WW2 film. 

Lots of blood and guts…

Plots and sub pots…

With a strong finish

That happily and miraculously 

Ends up all good. 

cardio

"Cardio" is not just a term for weight-loss.....

For me - it is retraining my heart.

Before I started blogging, my heart rate was like 30 to 40 

Beats Per Minute...and not from being healthy. 

I had some kind of condition. Zombie-ism, perhaps.

I wonder if I had gone to the doctor, what they would have said!

My blood pressure was like 90/50 on a good day.

Even now, it's like 110/60...

With all the Monster, coffee, guarana and sudafed I could take

to raise it up. I was missing every 3rd beat or so....

I felt dizzy and sick and faint all the time.

Even climbing the stairs was hard for me.

I bought a bouncer (mini-trampoline) and at first, 

I could only SIT down on it to bounce.

The first full year of blogging - I only 

had 10 beats before a missed one.

Well, as I am getting healthier, so is my heart!

My labs are great. My diet is great.

And I am doing ok at the gym.
Slow and steady, eh?

But still, I feel a little puny.
The other day, I felt some PVC's.
And a little a-fib.
And I am still a little anemic!
Not only is oxygen carried by red blood cells,
But so is glucose! Like the H A1C.
Which can't accurately measure what is not there.
I'm so anemic I was even rejected from donating blood.


I've been taking a more scientific approach
to food... not just for weight loss.
And not just for taste or for fun.

Thanks to Paleo Track, (link)
I did the numbers on my vitamin supplement.
I took 5 minutes and input the numbers myself.
And there is no iron in it. NONE!
 I was in shock. (Alive brand)
Even with all the eggs and meat I eat,
I was still getting only 3 mg or less - of iron a day.
This (above) is 9 ounces of beef and 6 eggs. 
I - even I - do not eat that every day.
All that still is about 6 mg of iron.
So much for getting it all through diet!
The US RDA for a woman over 50 is 8 mg. (link)
And forget about spinach. From Wiki: (link)
"However, spinach contains iron absorption-inhibiting substances, 
including high levels of oxalate, which can bind to the iron to form ferrous oxalate 
and render much of the iron in spinach unusable by the body."
I was the Nurse who knew everything.
I was certain I was getting enough nutrients.
Maybe lack of Micro-Nutrients help us crave food.
That's not a good thing for healthy weight-loss.

SO..... back to the learning board!

And back to tracking everything.

supplemental info

My grandmother had Pernicious Anemia.

So did my mother.

And probably my sister -

[but she's so vexed - it's not clear with her...]

So I went (yes, I went)

and got some B12 of the Methylcobalamin type!

I have a theory about weight gain -

Lots of micro-nutrients were probably missed

from lack of intake and lack of absorption....

Jack In The Box - and a Gallon of Coke - 

is not known for being a Life Sustaining Menu!

My mother - on what she thought was her deathbed - 

asked for LIVER!

Now - who the heck asks for liver?

Wine? Ice cream? Chocolate covered cherries?

But liver? Looking back, I know now -

She thought she was sick from Pernicious Anemia!

And somehow, this would save her.

So I have really been paying extra notice to my

Supplements. Note the word "Supplements."

Not intended to carry the entire weight of the

diet.... they are just that  - a supplement

to a healthy meal plan and lifestyle.

I guess you could say I am passionate about it!

"Healthy" foods - like quality proteins,

Quality fats (essential amino and fatty acids)

And some veggies!

Nothing that makes a person 

"Insane in the membrane...."

(Of the gut!)

Yay for food!

Real food.