What happened to my cholesterol?
With all of these strategies put together, I not only cut my LDL cholesterol in half (yes, it’s 3.5 now), but I’m the leanest, fittest and healthiest I’ve ever been. What I learned along the way may have added years, if not decades, to my life. I’m not suggesting you have to go through all the tests and assessments I did. But what I discovered might help other guys do the same. Ten per cent body fat was never my goal and I wasn’t trying to get shredded. But as side effects go, they’re hard to beat. The icing on the cake: at my current chronological age, 47, my estimated biological age based on my blood tests is 37.
Most comeback stories wrap up here. But mine was just beginning. That’s because I injured my achilles tendon one month before my first appointment with RHO. It would’ve been acceptable to say, ‘I’m going to hold off until after my recovery,’ but I forged ahead.
‘Holy shit. That’s crazy.’ The text was from Sagar Desai, one of the world’s foremost orthopaedic surgeons. He was reacting to the video I’d just sent him: me, kite-foiling on Lake Ontario 99 days after he’d surgically repaired my ruptured achilles. (According to Dr Desai, it typically takes his patients five to six months to return to sports-related activities.)
It wasn’t easy: during my recovery, I gained 12lb (5.44kg) in eight weeks, thanks to lower activity levels. As a result, my LDL shot up. So, even though I was making extremely fast progress with my achilles, it felt like I was going backwards with my overall health. But if I’d waited until I was fully recovered? Those numbers would probably have been much worse. Plus, maybe I wouldn’t have healed so fast. And perhaps I’d even have become demoralised and given up altogether.
There was an important lesson here: progress isn’t always visible. One tiny action, no matter how imperceptible, can put you in a better place today than you were in yesterday. That’s how you gain momentum. And as your momentum builds, something magical happens: it becomes easier to make progress – and way harder to stop.