Man there is a ton of information out there and so much of it is conflicting. From what I'm getting I believe you can shrink and reduce it in time. That's what I hope to prove and IF I can I'll be able to share with everyone what I did and how I did it in hopes of helping others. With the progression of things as they are I'm sure I'd fall into the pattern of having a cardiac episode or stroke at a "young" age. My doctor and I believe we have caught it early enough (I just turned 42) and will forego the use of statins for the time being. So in a nutshell here is the plan and if you want me to be more specific on things I'm glad to share....I can just see this being a really long post if I get going
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The biggest thing is to stop the addition of more buildup. That means identifying what is the root cause(s) for what's happening and get it under control ASAP. I'm being super transparent here but this is about the bigger picture. Biggest factors: My dad died of a heart attack at 63. I'm heavy and have been 280-300lbs for years and years which means high blood pressure-sometimes controlled, sometimes I convinced myself it was fine. When I was younger I tried pretty beefy gear cycles but I'd say mostly I've been on the low end of gear usage. The point is I've used. Very sedentary lifestyle- IT/Office work for 20 years. Slack with cardio. Slack with preventive supplements. High stress. Basically all the factors that you read about leading to plaque buildup I pretty much fit the bill.
From the get go lifestyle changes. I've already transitioned out of the office work and am now running around all day. Blood pressure control is paramount and I check it several times a day. I'm taking a small dose of meds to help with that until I can get to where I need to be. Getting my weight down. I carry too much and I'm not talking all muscle. Reduce bodyfat. Daily cardio....I try to get in cardio every day. Mostly steady state but a time or two a week I do some HIIT style with sleds, farmers handles, yokes mostly because it's fun....also crosstraining style stuff to keep it interesting (side note I'm much harder since doing these things and have actually gotten stronger on my compound lifts). Cut back on the copious amounts of food so a more calorie balance based on my activities...introduced far more veggies and fruits and backed off starches even though A1C has never been high I still just backed off food overall. Added in more salmon. NO hydrogenated oils/trans fats. NO sugars. NO condiments, coffee creamers, spray butters, etc. And another one that I really believe is huge is focusing on mental health/stress reduction. I'm learning to meditate and de-clutter my brain and letting go of stuff so I don't hold on to so much. I believe the stress is a huge one that we just don't take into account. I didn't realize how bad off I was in that department.
I think that will help prevent more buildup and the cardio will help reduce the damage. I think the food will do more to prevent further damage rather than reverse what is there. Supplementation and other things I'll do: Bloodwork currently is every 2 months. Paying close attention to lipids and ensure the ldl is low and HDL is as high as we can get it. Using supplemental support for that and diet changes. Antioxidants and inflammation reduction.....diet changes and supplements to assist in that. Using fiber every single day. Follow
@DOGGCRAPP and CONSIDER things he says. There are others also but I mention him because he has been around saying this stuff for a long time...and I knew it but I chose to ignore it. I guess I have at least 15 things I am taking for the things I mentioned. Costing me a couple hundred a month to try to go backwards with the plaque. I've seen some studies on meds that might be beneficial like CETP inhibitors but seems like they are early in results. Obviously blasting right now is out of the question but I do utilize low dose testosterone weekly and 2 iu hgh daily. NO estrogen blockers or aromatase inhibitors and never really have outside of a prep. Never been a pre-workout guy and no stims other than coffee. Off the top of my head here are the supps I use: scripts- losartan 50mg, (will start vascepa soon), OTC- pure pommegranate juice, k2 with d3, citrus bergamont, tudca, nattokinase, pycnogenol, aged garlic, krill oil, coQ10/ubiquinol, astralagus, omega 3's, fiber, tumeric/curcumin.
The goal is now my contest prep and that's the way I'm approaching it. Also continue to read about it and incorporate discoveries as we go.
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