Down 28 lbs, but my LDL jumped — anyone else?

Same thing here. Down 31 lbs, LDL 104 to 149. My trigs dropped too. My doctor said losing fat releases stored cholesterol, but I never found a study.

Did you change your fat sources? I went from olive oil and avocado to more cheese and butter for protein, and mine spiked.

Not necessarily fat sources for everyone. I dropped 40 lbs on mostly low-fat and my LDL still climbed. What moved it back for me was time: about 8 weeks after I stopped being in a deficit, it fell from 151 to 121. Trigs stayed low.

I think active fat loss can mess with the numbers temporarily, but I wouldn’t ignore 142 either. Did your doctor run ApoB or just standard panel?

My LDL did the opposite. Lost 22 lbs, LDL 130 to 105. Only difference was I kept saturated fat under 10g most days.

I’d kill for those trigs and A1c numbers. My A1c never budges until I sleep better.

I’m a woman in my 40s and my lipids bounced all over during a 35 lb loss. LDL peaked around week 20, then settled by month 7. What helped me track it was getting the same lab every 3 months, fasting, same time of cycle. One high reading during a deficit isn’t a trend.

But if ApoB stays high after weight stabilizes, that’s a different conversation. What does your maintenance plan look like? I kept losing for 4 more months before I leveled off, and only then did the repeat panel look normal.

Same time of cycle matters a lot. Mine swings 20 points between follicular and luteal.

Did your protein go from low to 140g? That often means more dairy/meat, which can push LDL in some people.

Kept it mostly whey and chicken and the number still went up.

Did your thryoid labs change? Mine shifted around week 12 and my LDL moved with them.

I think the confusing part is that weight loss improves trigs and A1c fast, but LDL can lag or even rise while fat is mobilizing. I saw LDL go 96 to 135 during a 30 lb cut, then back to 108 at maintenance.

I wouldn’t change everything based on one panel. But I’d ask for ApoB and maybe a repeat in 8-12 weeks.

Are you still losing, or close to goal?

For me the peak came right when I was losing fastest, around 1.5 lbs a week. It was definately frustrating.

Down 21 lbs back in 2023 and my LDL did the same thing — 92 to 138 — while my trigs dropped about 40 points. Mine came back to 104 roughly 10 weeks after my loss slowed to under a pound a week, eating basically the same food.

The part that surprised me: my LDL tracked my rate of loss more than my diet. Weeks I dropped 2+ lbs it ran higher, plateau weeks it settled down. When you're burning fat that fast, stored cholesterol gets dumped into circulation and the number gets weird for a while.

Since both your trigs and A1c moved the right direction, the overall picture is improving. Did your doctor run ApoB or a particle count? That told me way more than plain LDL did, and it's a better thing to watch at your next draw than reacting to this one.

142 at 19 weeks in would've wrecked my mood too. The sneaky lever for me was where my protein came from — I hit 140g by leaning hard on cheese, whole Greek yogurt, eggs, and butter-cooked everything, and when I finally logged saturated fat I was sitting at 26-30g a day without realizing it.

I kept protein identical but shifted to chicken, tuna, cottage cheese, and whey, cooked with olive oil, got sat fat under 12g, and my LDL fell about 30 points over the next 12 weeks. Fiber type matters too — you're already at 30g total, but soluble specifically (oats, beans, psyllium) is the kind that binds bile acids.

Worth logging two weeks of saturated fat before assuming it's purely the weight loss.

Mine jumped 40 points mid-loss then dropped back under my starting number at month 8. Bodies are so weird.

One thing I never expected: two draws three weeks apart during a rough sleep stretch (5-6 hrs, new job) came back 19 points different on identical food.

Also worth checking you're genuinely fasted 12+ hours and well hydrated, since I was mildly dehydrated at one draw and everything lookd worse. I'd retest in 8 weeks instead of reacting to a single snapshot.

Mine tracked with my sleep, wirdly — bad weeks, LDL up. Any chance you're under-recovered?

Similar height and timeline here. For me it was the food swaps, not the loss — I traded my afternoon Greek yogurt for cheese and nuts to hit protein, and over 12 weeks LDL crept up 22 points while my waist dropped 2 inches.

Went back to yogurt plus oatmeal and an apple most days, and it slid back down by the next draw. Worth actually logging what lnds on your plate versus the macro totals.

Not labs, but my ring size dropped a full size before the scale moved much. Bodies are so weird.

LDL is such a diva. Mine spikes every time I add mileage, then settles once my body catches up.