Numbers from My 30s Health Checkup: Is This Serious?
At this year's checkup, a few results came back as "caution" for the first time. Total cholesterol is 240, liver enzyme ALT is 55, and triglycerides are around 180. I usually drink twice a week and hardly exercise.
The hospital recommended a recheck in three months and said I don't need medication yet. If anyone here has lowered their numbers just by changing their lifestyle, I'd appreciate it if you could share—it would help.
9 answers
Agreed, I was exactly at this figure last year too.
An ALT of 55 isn't serious, but don't let your guard down. I cut my drinking from twice a week to once a week and just walked 30 minutes every day, and three months later it dropped to the 40s. Medication is truly the last resort, so making changes now is a win.
Got a source? With cholesterol at 240, every hospital tells you something different.
Well, that's a bit... Isn't judging based only on total cholesterol an outdated idea? I heard you need to look at LDL and HDL levels too, but that's missing from the post. There must be a reason the doctor recommended a retest.
If you barely work out but drink twice a week, your liver basically never gets a day off lol. I was like that too, and after 3 months of no drinking + cardio, my triglycerides dropped from 180 to 110. It really works.
Me too. When I start exercising, it does go down.
Recommending a 3-month follow-up check is a very normal prescription. Many hospitals just start you on medication right away, so he's being a gentleman. However, you shouldn't take 'you don't have to take medication' to mean 'you don't have to do anything,' and you should see these three months as the real test.
Honestly, if you plan to keep drinking twice a week, your numbers won't go down. The priority is cutting out alcohol before worrying about exercise. This isn't a rebuttal—it's just a fact.
Oh, I didn't know that. I'll make sure to check LDL as well at my next checkup.