I got my insurance rating down today. In order to qualify I had to drop 50 pounds and cut my lipid profile down. I used exercise only - no dieting, no cholesterol lowering drugs.

The odd thing is that the endurance training has raised my HDL cholesterol level so much that my overall cholesterol is not as low as it might otherwise be, but they take the ratio of HDL cholesterol into account, which is how I got the rating.

I'd just like to thank the John Stone Fitness community for the support, and John Stone his bad self for founding this place.

Good job! :tucool:

Very nice! Congratulations! :claphigh:
Mind sharing the numbers?

Congratulations! I always tell my clients who get rated on their policies due to health that they have the chance to improve their premium payments by improving their health. After 5 years in the financial planning industry I am still yet to see someone actually do this...congratulations for being un-ordinary!

Great job!! :tucool:

I remember how good I felt the first time I improved my cholesterol profile. The doctor was amazed!

Very nice! Congratulations! :claphigh:
Mind sharing the numbers?

Back when I was out of shape, overall cholesterol was around 250, triglycerides were moderately elevated.

The overall cholesterol this time was 211. The agent didn't give me the other numbers.

EDIT: I just got the numbers:

Overall: 211
LDL: 129
HDL: 67
Ratio: 3.1 (best so far)

Back in November, I had these numbers from my doctor:

Overall cholesterol: 201
LDL: 118
HDL: 60
Ratio: 3.4

Then Feb 14, I had these numbers:

Overall cholesterol: 220
LDL: 138
HDL: 65
Ratio: 3.4

That seems to have been due to low blood volume - on that day I was trying to make weight and was dehydrated - so the concentrations were up a little across the board and the ratio was the same.

This time, the overall is 211; I would guess the ratio is still 3.4.

Lots of insurance companies have a different overall cholesterol requirements for cholesterol ratios above and below 4. Here are some illustrations

http://www.life-insurance-underwriting.org/average_cholesterol.htm
http://www.life-insurance-underwriting.org/average_hdl.htm

My blood pressure is 110/70, which is slightly better since I started exercising than it was before (it used to be 120/80).

As you can see from the illustrations, going from standard (which is what I had) to preferred plus (which is what I have now) the cost of the insurance is cut in half. I'm carrying a good deal of life insurance, so this will end up saving thousands of dollars every year for the rest of my life.

Note: It's actually not an overall savings though unless I get killed unexpectedly. If I live longer, I pay the premiums for more years. Call me selfish, but I'd rather have the money while I'm alive.

Plus, the real reason I'm trying to improve my health is to improve my health. Going from pretty bad insurance rates to best possible is just a yardstick for the health improvement.

hey, I should look into that too... great idea! Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!