One Year. Exercise. And Shakeology.

Zach is not someone who goes to the doctor willingly. But in order to maintain his Class-C driver's license for bus driving, he has to have an annual physical.

Last year he scheduled an appointment during Christmas break. He was told that a cholesterol test would be part of the physical, so he needed to fast the night before to get an accurate reading.

The appointment went well, and the doctor gave him a clean bill of health -- with one exception. His cholesterol level was 214 -- borderline high.

"What should I do?" he asked the doctor. "Well, I recommend diet and exercise," was the doctor's Captain Obvious response. "Um, doc? I already exercise five times a week," Zach said. "Hmm. Well, just do what you can and you'll probably just have to go on medication when you're older. Don't worry about it, a lot of it has to do with genetics," the doctor said.

But Zach did worry about it. Considering he's the valedictorian of pretty much anything he does, "failing" his cholesterol test was alarming. Here was a guy who had been doing P90X five days a week for more than a year, hardly ever ate at restaurants, didn't drink soda, and tried to eat his vegetables. How could it be that a fit, health-conscious 33-year-old already had cholesterol in the danger zone?

In the weeks after the doctor appointment, Zach was trying to get me to do a P90X workout in the morning and a slow 25- to 30-minute jog in the evenings. I was pooped, but did my best to be supportive. We'd load up Kate in the stroller, put Drew on his bike, and schlep around the neighborhood a couple times.

He started doing research about healthy fats (which you can get from avocados, olive oil, and nuts), and worked those into his diet. I stopped serving bread with dinner as I usually did, and instead added an extra vegetable. He doubled his dose of Omega-3 caplets each morning.

In September Zach started drinking Shakeology. He started with the Shakeology cleanse, and then started drinking a shake as his lunch every day. In three months he has maintained a 10-pound weight loss, 7 of which were lost during the cleanse.

On Monday Zach went back for his annual physical. Once again, he fasted the night before to get an accurate cholesterol test.

On Tuesday the doctor called. His results? Cholesterol went from 214 to 164 -- about a 25% drop. His LDL (bad cholesterol) also decreased from 125 to 93 -- about a 25% drop.

Oh, wait -- I just checked the spreadsheet...that's a 23.36% drop in cholesterol and a 25.60% drop in LDL. Valedictorians are nothing if not exact.

Workout of the Day:
P90X Core Synergistics