Hi,
first congrats to John for your amazing dedication. I bet you just got a surge in hits since yahoo listed you on their pics. Thats how I found you.
I have been lurking for about a week. My story is eerily similar to Johns. When I get up the nerve (and some after pics) ;) I will post my nasty gut pics.
I Quit smoking about a year ago and started working out. I felt great! I got fairly good results...I built muscle kinda quick, but the fat loss was not so quick. I was reading a lot of body building advice and had myself convinced that weight training alone would burn the fat. I have since learned otherwise.
So sometime last year I felt great and had been promising my wife I would get a physical... I had gotten one a year before but he said to quit smoking and loose some weight blah blah blah...I was cool with it. My cholesterol was high, but if I quit smoking and lost weight, I'd be ok.
so I go to this one feeling great! I felt better than I had in years. (Im 35) I said I feel awesome...The doc said "No you don't. Your triglyceride is 700! your bad CHO is 500 and we can't even measure your good CHO! YOU HAVE TO GO ON LIPITOR...
(I just realized that this is really longwinded so I will wrap it up)
The lipitor started digesting my muscles! the "rare" condition listed in the lit ain't so rare when it happens to you... :mad: I will elaborate further later if anyone is interested...needless to say I stopped taking the drug and went against my doc's advice and am now trying to do it with diet and exercise...
Just got back from the gym for my first max OT sesh. :claphigh:
I promise not to go on about the weather to much in the future ya'll seem like nice folks! glad to be here

jahozer, welcom aboard! You find a good group of folks here. Good job quitting the smokes! That's the best thing you can do. :tu:

Maybe you should get a second opinion.... You don't want to compromise your health for a little muscle. Are their other options besides Lipitor? You must of lost a ton of muscle to come up with the conclusion that it was Lipitor.

Good luck on your quest

Maybe you should get a second opinion.... You don't want to compromise your health for a little muscle. Are their other options besides Lipitor? You must of lost a ton of muscle to come up with the conclusion that it was Lipitor.

Good luck on your quest
Thanks for the support.
Well I don't mean that it digested them in a body building sense. Lipitor is in a class of drugs called statins. They act directly on the liver by inhibiting an enzyme that produces cholesterol. However in some cases it the enzymes react differently and digest muscle.
I had read up on it (lipitor) before I took it and was hesitant, but gave it a shot.
I certainly am not anti drug or anything, but I work in bio/pharma and I am no stranger to research.
It was not noticable visibly, but I could feel it. It felt like I was working out when I purposely had stopped. By the end of 6 weeks it felt like I was in slow motion. Or like I had MS. My creatine levels were through the roof... The thing is, is that your heart is a muscle. You start breaking that down and what is the point.
The cure was deadlier than the ailment.
Some people seem to do fine on statins. I certainly did not. I think this reaction is severly under reported, and if you don't know, you will just think you are getting tired. I would recomend that anyone think long and hard before taking a statin. Especially if your numbers are borderline (~200). Mine are obviously genetic (my dad has the same numbers and other factors) and my diet was not THAT bad to warrant such numbers.
The other options are diet and exercise. statins will reduce your levels about 30%. So will diet and exercise.
I love talking about nutrition and what not, so I welcome all comments on the subject.