Cholesterol Tracker

This chart can help you keep track of your progress. Keep it somewhere handy, like on your refrigerator, as a reminder to keep up the good work. Ask for your numbers every time you get your cholesterol checked and then write them down on the tracker.

To print these questions, you will need Adobe^® Reader^® software, which is available free at www.adobe.com.

If you have high cholesterol, some other health factors to discuss with your doctor include

• Family history of early heart disease
• Lack of exercise
• Diet high in saturated fat and cholesterol
• Being overweight
• Diabetes
• Smoking
• High blood pressure

Important healthy lifestyle changes include

• Eating a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol
• Exercising 30 minutes most days of the week. Check with your doctor before starting any exercise program
• Maintaining a normal weight. BMI, or body mass index, is an estimation of body fat based on height and weight. According to the National Institutes of Health, the normal BMI range is 18.5 to 24.9. A BMI of 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight, and a BMI of 30 or above is considered obese.

Current guidelines recommend that people older than 20 get their cholesterol levels checked at least every 5 years. People who have high cholesterol levels should be tested more often.

Track Your Progress

Your fasting lipid profile measures your LDL ("bad") cholesterol, HDL ("good") cholesterol, total cholesterol, and triglycerides. Graphing your progress will help you see where you are heading — and how well you're managing your cholesterol. After each checkup, write your cholesterol numbers down in the columns labeled "Start," "Visit 1," etc. Once you've plotted your numbers, draw a line connecting the numbers from your previous test to your current one.

You must fast (eat nothing and drink only water for 9-12 hours) prior to taking your fasting lipid profile in order for your results to be accurate. Make a note next to any numbers on your tracker that came from a test for which you did not fast.