High Cholesterol, overweight and depressed! Need help

[shotokansho]

Hello everyone.

I'm not sure if this is in the right place, but I put it here because my HA is not good right now.
from about 2 years ago I was really healthy. Training in karate twice a week, playing squash once a week and cycling when I could. I had a really high metabolism so everything I ate just came straight off and I always weighed a healthy 91/2 stone, for my 5ft height. I could eat whatever I liked without gaining weight and everyone was jelous of my sporty figure.
Then I kinda got stuck in a rut, I had to start taking anti-psychotics as well as my anti-depressents and I began to start craving food. I was very depressed at the time as well so I had no motivation. I stopped going to karate and my bike is gathering dust. The meds made me feel hungary all the time even though I wasn't, and I have just turned into a couch potato. I became more depressed, next to my kids karate is my only outlet, I have achieved so much with it and I am very good at it. I was missing training but just couldn't get that motivation to go and the pounds started piling on...I now weigh 12 1/2 stone!!! I am also a smoker, up to 20 a day, I also like the odd lager too.
So now I'm so out of breath, if I try riding my bike I have to get off and push after 10 mins, that's without a hill! It hurts my chest and I feel like I can't breath, I'm also fighting food cravings. It upsets me even more when I go into the wardrobe and nothing fits me anymore, and having to buy bigger jeans (gone up 2 jean sizes).
So the doctors called me in for an annual review, I had my urine tested which had slight protein in it, so I have to have that repeated. I had an ECG which was normal and routine bloods which came back with high cholesterol, I also have to have them repeated. I'm really worried now that I am going to develop heart disease and I'm trying really hard not to google it. I know the obvious things would be to stop smoking and drinking and get my butt back to karate but as I said it's the motivation and the embarrassment that my karate suit doesn't even fit me anymore which really annoys me because it cost me £90!
I can't afford the gym at the moment and I was wondering which kind of exercises I can do at home to make a start? What would people recommend? Plus can anyone advise me on what kind of foods to eat or avoid, to lower cholesterol and loose weight? I'm really feeling it buys, I am 35 but feel 55! It's depressing me and I am scared to death of having a heart attack!

Kez xx

[Anxious_gal]

Honestly diet is more important than working out.
If you can change your eating habits, maybe keep a food diary for a while n aim to eat a bit healthier.
I don't know about the meds, they can cause weight gain in some people, I guess you could always try different ones to see if they work better.

[emeraldgirl]

I have high cholesterol too as well as kidney disease and I'm in my mid fifties so well on the way to a heart attack. The doctor told me that you can only reduce your cholesterol by 5% by diet so if you do have high cholesterol and they are worried about it they will put you on statins and they do the trick quite effectively. Not that I'm saying eat whatever you like but exercise is more important. if you want to eat sensibly cut out saturated fats like crisps, chocolate, pastry, chips, fried food and everything else nice

[Mark_P]

If you can do it, try skipping? It's good for a cardio and it will get you sweating. Also, try looking up "home workout circuit training" and see what it says. There are lots of exercises you can do at home. I have dumbbells at home and I skip for 5-10 mins and then I use my weights and do circuit training with them. With the dumbbells, I do exercises such as lunges, squats, chest press, bicep curls, shoulder presses, that kind of thing. It all helps to tone your muscles, which in return, will help to keep your weight down.

Also, stick to a diet such as:

Natural peanut butter (you can get it from holland & barrett) on wholemeal toast with an apple and a glass of water.

Then you can snack on a small handful of unsalted nuts and raisins or even just a yogurt with some grapes or a banana.

Then at lunch you could have a wholemeal bagel with chicken and tomato, and even some lettuce with some low fat salad cream or mayo.

Dinner, you could have a salmon fillet with steamed brocolli and brown rice. Or you could swap the salmon for chicken breast if you don't like fish. Also, try buy some rapeseed oil and Extra virgin olive oil and drizzle a little bit over your vegetables/rice at dinner time as healthy fats which are good for you.

Hope this helps. Don't worry too much, just fix your diet up.

[shotokansho]

Thanks everyone, all the advice has been helpful. I don't like going out to exercise, like the gym and swimming because I have really bad scars on my arms.
I'm going to buy some dumb bells and a skipping rope for sure. I'm back at the doctors next month to have the tests repeated.

[Tessar]

Kez I feel for you. I can relate to having been sporty & then losing motivation. Until a couple of years go I used to cycle everywhere & go for long, long rides. Then I had to change jobs.i work too far away to cycle now and I miss it badly.
I got out of the habit & am struggling to get back on two wheels, it just seems like such an effort. The weather isnt helping either (says she, making excuses).. I even find going for walks is hard. It makes me feel sad as i used to love exercising.
Diet wise, I again relate. Where I work there is nearly always a supply of biscuits & I find it hard not to tuck in. The last year my diet has got steadily worse. I really need to address the situation but find it very hard as I am depressed as some crappy stuff happened in my life.
You probably know much of this but I have put my thinking cap on....This is some of what has helped me in the past:
Gradually reduce quantities, Sounds silly really but Use smaller plates so it looks like there is more food on them.
Learn to recognise signs of fullness & stop at that point. I,believe there is a time lag of something like 20mins between your stomach getting full & your brain actually recognising that fact.
To slow yourself down while eating, put your knife & fork down between bites. Don't load your fork again until your mouth is empty.
Chew your food thoroughly as well.
Plenty of fruit, salad or veg every day.
Make meals a balance of protein, vegetable matter and carbohydrates.
Make a habit of reading the fat content of foods you are buying. Avoid anything with a fat content of more than 4%, especially avoid foods laden with saturated fats (these are the ones that go solid at room temperature).
Don't deep fry anything. Use the grill instead or if you do fry, then use a spray to apply oil in the pan rather than pouring oil in.
Sometimes products labelled as healthy or diet versions can have nearly as much fat as the normal ones. Some so called diet foods are a bit of a rip off & you can't beat sensible eating really.
Try to avoid eating late in the evening.
Mixing moderate exercise -even if that's swift walking-with a better diet will reap dividends. Exercise comes in all shapes and forms. Vigorous housework for instance counts as exercise.
You could try stretching exercises, like warm ups. Even those burn off energy & are relaxing & can give you give you a sense of well-being.
Dumbbells sounds like a good idea. I believe that it's better to do more repetitions with smaller weights than a few with heavier weights as this tones you up rather than builds up bulk.
Also, build things up gradually. Don't try to suddenly cut your food intake back drastically. I find that makes me feel really hungry & then I end up giving in. So cut down gradually. Start replacing higher fat content things with foods that take longer to break down into energy and therefore keep you going longer.
I know some people find it helpful to have healthy snacks at the ready. even if its something like carrots already cut up, so if you are hungry, there is something to pick at. Avoid long gaps between meals as these make it harder not to give in. Smaller quantities more often are much better for your metabolism than than just a couple of big meals a day. Big meals can make you feel extremely sluggish.
With exercise again gradually build it up. Accept that sometimes you may not feel like doing much. But try to do at least a little. In my super fit running days I didn't want to go out sometimes but I'd go for a little bit of a run. I think usually I was glad I went even if it was a short one.
If things don't work out straight away try to keep at it. Dont be too critical of yourself if there are ups & downs. It's only natural that you will have a mixture of good & bad days.
Above all, remind yourself that to can still do it, get fit & feel well again but it will take time, application & patience.
Well, with all this useful stuff in my mind, you'd expect me to be a super fit picture of health. Well, erm nope. I know all this stuff, but do I do it..... Perhaps I shouldn't answer that. Anyway, I'm hoping my words will be helpful & who knows perhaps reminding myself of all this this will be good for me too.

[Eek]

I have high cholesterol too as well as kidney disease and I'm in my mid fifties so well on the way to a heart attack. The doctor told me that you can only reduce your cholesterol by 5% by diet so if you do have high cholesterol and they are worried about it they will put you on statins and they do the trick quite effectively. Not that I'm saying eat whatever you like but exercise is more important. if you want to eat sensibly cut out saturated fats like crisps, chocolate, pastry, chips, fried food and everything else nice

I went from a cholesterol of 7.4 to 5.7 with diet alone. You can get it down more than 5% by diet. It's still a bit high but I got it low enough that they didn't want to give me statins which they did at the 7.4 but I refused and said I wanted to try diet first. High cholesterol runs in my family so I continue to have it monitored and will probably end up on statins when I'm older.

The main thing I did was cut down drastically on saturated fats, they are your enemy as far as cholesterol is concerned, your body converts them to cholesterol. Also taking Fish oil or krill oil - a good source of omega 3 can help with both cholesterol and triglycerides.

[shotokansho]

Thanks again for the replies. I think my big problem is will power, I just don't have any. As well as being coupled with low motivation. I've been really hard on myself today, I weighed myself and I have gained again!! I'm starting to feel ugly. My OCD thoughts are kicking in and they are telling me to stop eating all together and starve myself, I have also been obsessing over making myself sick. I know this is wrong and I am fighting these thoughts. Today I have done nothing except play on my computer, watch DVDs, eat and smoke! I feel totally rubbish.
My sister just lives 4 doors up from me and she keeps offering me to use her cross trainer but I just can't be bothered...See I'm sat here complaining and there are things on offer for me and things I can do but I don't. This is where I get mad with myself and give myself a hard time, I hate myself for it.
Tomorrow I have some errands to run and I keep telling myself that I'm going to get my bike out and cycle to the places I need to go, it will be about 3 hours of cycling at a slow pace and the thought of it is just so daunting!