I'll be 54 this December. At 6'4" and 195lbs I've actually shrunk since I've been a teenager. My "exercise program" is essentially a maintenance regime. What I've found out these last four years is that if I can do a minimum of 1.5 hours of hard cardio at least five days a week, my cholesterol drops from 220 total to around 190 with an excellent hdl/ldl ratio. I tried diet and moderate exercise prior to this for around 5 months with minimal success. This enlightenment occurred after we picked up a german shorthair pointer pup (now almost 4). As it turned out, the key ingredient for that relationship to work was exercise (and training). So,the pup and I started putting on miles in the local open space park. For the last two years Tica and I put on 5 to 8 miles up and down local mountains at least 5 days a week come rain or shine. Luckily, it usually doesn't rain much in San Diego. Much of the time we start before the sun comes up. I carry 10 to 12 pounds in a light backpack when I go.

The other parts of the program include stretching and physical therapy for some problem body parts. But, probably the biggest change has been in my diet and the amount I eat. My goal is to get to 185 pounds...I can feel my weight in certain parts of my body and as I slowly loose weight these periods of pain have become less frequent. Having a regime you can stick to is the key, whatever it is and this seems to work for me. Surfing and swimming is something I've done since I was a kid but that is out now while I rehab my shoulder. Getting old sucks. Glad I can still get into the backcountry!

A PS is (reference to jimshaw) that I don't trust my doctors all that much. They seemed way to hot to get me on Lipitor (tm) rather than try anything else. This made me very determined to drop my cholesterol by any other reasonable means.