Results!!!

As many of you know, John has been on an uphill battle to lose weight and get healthier. When we first got married, I had NO idea what he was up against. I just figured all he needed to do was be more disciplined in his eating and exercising, and everything else would fall into place. Easy for me to say... Well, now that we've been married for 7 years and I've gotten to know John and his struggles much better, I have a much better appreciation for how hard it is to make such a drastic lifestyle change...for the long run. After the Zone diet, Atkin's, Weight Watchers, and countless books on health, fitness and weight loss, gym memberships, personal trainers, dietitians, food journaling, and many other methods, we have seen his weight go down, up, down, up, and basically hover around the same number. Every time he would go in for his yearly physical, his blood tests would reveal numbers that were either the same or a bit worse. For anyone who can relate to this struggle, these kind of results can be very discouraging.

However, John had his yearly physical last week and had very different results. For the past couple of months, John has been meeting with a nutritionist weekly who not only advises and keeps him accountable in the food/nutrition department, but also has him on a pretty rigorous exercise regimen. John has been relentless in journaling all of his food/calorie intake and more consistent than ever in his exercise. John told his doctor that he'd be curious to see if any of this might make a dent in his bloodwork numbers. His doctor said that so much of it is driven by genetics, so don't be surprised if the numbers come back the same.

Drum roll... Well, John's doctor called the next morning saying that whatever John has been doing is making a difference! So here are the numbers for you to see:
Total blood cholesterol should be under 200 mg/dl
last year = 203; this year = 183
HDL (good cholesterol) should be >40 mg/dl
last year = 37; this year = 44
LDL (bad cholesterol) should be <130 year =" 121;" style="font-weight: bold;">this year = 108
Triglycerides (fat in the blood) should be <150 year =" 225;" style="font-weight: bold;">this year = 154
Cholesterol ratio (total/HDL) should be <4.4 year =" 5.5;" style="font-weight: bold;">this year = 4.1!!!!

After years of not seeing his weight budge or any of his other numbers move (at least in the right direction), this was incredibly encouraging news! So for those of you who have been praying for John in this regard, we wanted to let you know that all of John's efforts and your prayers have not been in vain. We certainly covet your continued prayers as there is still a long road ahead, but do pause and give thanks for these first steps in the right direction!