It’s common to associate weight loss with an improvement in overall health, and for the most part, it’s generally true. However, it makes a big difference whether you take a “health first” approach or lead by focusing solely on body composition (such as gaining muscle, losing fat, or otherwise trying to change your appearance). This is important because some regimens targeted specifically at weight loss can actually have adverse effects on health, whereas improving one’s overall health is commonly accompanied by improvements in body composition.
We see this regularly when it comes to cardiovascular risk, most commonly indicated by lipid profiles. The pictures below show an example of a Stark student who came to us with a goal of losing body fat. After seeing our functional medicine team and running thorough bloodwork, their Stark doctors advised that heart health be prioritized above body composition changes. Through improving cholesterol markers as well as reducing cardiovascular risk, they were able to achieve substantial fat loss as well!
The two photos above were taken 3 months apart, during which the total fat amount lost was 8 lbs, or 4.6% of body fat. While that result is good, but it’s not an astonishing amount. What is quite impressive is in that same time period, they were able to bring Total Cholesterol and LDL values down from “high risk” to the “moderate risk” range, while also improving HDL and Triglycerides to the point that they are now within the reference ranges!
You can see these significant changes in the lab values below the respective photos, but what isn’t shown in these images are some improvements in other markers that are also significantly linked to CV Risk. There was a reduction in hs-CRP (a marker that indicates levels of inflammation) from “moderate risk” to within normal range. The same was true of homocysteine levels. And possibly most significant were the improvements we saw in Oxidized LDL (ox-LDL), which dropped from “high risk” to within normal range, and Small Dense LDL (sdLDL), which was extremely high but came down to the “moderate risk” range.
You might be thinking, “So… what was the secret? How do I reduce my cardiovascular risk while also getting leaner?”
As you might have guessed, it wasn’t just one thing, rather, it was a combination of lots of small things. But here are the highlights:
Strength training 3x/week
Omega-3 supplementation
A LOT of fiber
Cutting out beer
The benefit to this approach is that not only did this student make progress in their fat loss goals while also reducing the risk of a cardiovascular event, but now that their health has improved, continued progress in body composition will be much easier with their cardiovascular system working more efficiently!