I started slowly jogging about a 15 months ago, and my neighborhood has a bunch of killer hills, so lately (six months) I have been incorporating HIIT (hill sprints) into my run. These hills are so steep that I can always push myself to my limits, and so my runs have been very productive. My diet sucks unfortunately (lots of bacon and chicken-fried steaks and gravy), but I keep hydrated, and I have been able to cut refined sugar out. Well, imagine my surprise this weekend when I took a cholesterol and blood sugar test and found out that both numbers are in the normal range!! About fifteen months ago both those numbers were in the danger zone. I know that cholesterol total number has dropped from 250 to 187 in the past year.
Now I realize that a good diet is very important to overall health and well-being, but I am so pumped that I was able to reduce both those numbers by losing weight, drinking lots of water and running those hills.
I find eating the right foods is very expensive. I can hardly afford any fruits or nuts anymore, and I am surrounded by a bunch of "meat and potato" guys and gals, so vegetables are few and far between. If I had to guess, I bet that my "good" cholesterol is also low, so I definitely need more comprehensive bloodwork done.
Also, I remember reading about the "magic" 90 minute rule some time ago. The theory was that if I could exercise for at least 90 minutes a day, five times a week, that I would really start to see some improvement. I can now testify that between the 90 minutes, the water and the HIIT, I am within normal BMI measurements, I have boundless energy, I sleep like a baby, my mental state is serene most of the time, and now my bloodwork is normalizing.
WHO KNEW
Anyway, keep fit and you might not need statins or BP meds when you reach my age (55)

Chuck

Cholesterol is a result of three independent factors: genetics, exercise, and diet. Sounds like your genetics and exercise are able to overcome your poor diet. As you know, the total cholesterol number, while important, is not as important as the LDL (bad), HDL (good) and the HDL/total ratio.

Eat everything in moderation. I would disagree that fruit and veg are more expensive than your trans-fatty filled fried bacon, steaks and chicken. Read the nutrition stickies on healthy foods and healthy fats.

I agree that eating healthy isn't necessarily more expensive.

Regardless, I'm glad your health has improved

Not sure about the 90 minute rule, bud a good rule of thumb is 3000kcals a week.

Diet, exercise, and drugs such as statins will improve your chol. (not hydration )
Keep it up.

I think it should be worth it to you to buy fruits and veggies and nuts. Consider them an investment in your health. And if you can get healthy bean products (e.g., hummus, certain baked bean products), that would be a good way to get some healthy nutrients into you for a pretty low price.

One surefire way to get your cholesterol down even more is to avoid fried foods, especially anything cooked in trans-fat. Saturated fat is fine in moderation, but I avoid trans-fat like the plague.

Your exercise I'm sure helps your HDL (good cholesterol). To get it higher, try to get in healthy monounsaturated fats like extra virgin olive oil, nuts, and avocado.

Anyway, congrats on your improved body and lower cholesterol.