u/mrBKReddy

Let me take you back to 2021 December. A friend of mine called me casually and he asked where am I investing. I have no answer because frankly I never gave it a thought on investments or making money. But that day I gave it a thought. I started my career in 2014 in IT in typical service based firm then moved to consulting in 2018 and in 2019 I got married. Staying on a rent in whitefield at a prime location it is really difficult to save some money by end of the month. But I decided that day to give it a try and invest as much as possible because I know I cannot work in IT forever. Not because I am not interested in the job, when it comes to work I always give 150 percent, I work hard ( probably harder than anyone in the team) and ofcourse I was grown in my career due to my effort but the side affect is somewhere in this journey I felt I am tired. And I know I can push like this probably upto my 40. Anyways, this is how it all started in my investment journey.

2022-2023 (Roller Coaster Ride) Did my own research on stock market about equities, mutual funds and Trading. Like any other amateur investor Trading attracted me mainly because my first few trades gave me multifold return. For a while I thought “Why did I waste my 25 years in school, college and job, It is so easy to make money :)”
But life will always teach you lessons in a very hard way. One bad trade every thing gone. Forgot about capital the amount of stress I couldnt imagine. Luckily I was able to come out that trade with very minimal loss to the capital but my returns became zero. That day I decided I will never do trading. In this process I didnt loose money but I lost one year time. But trading is like addiction. Your mind keep pulling you to the trading, It is very difficult to come out of it. i tried very hard to shift the focus but it is very very difficult. That is when I decided only option to come out of this is to somehow make my available cash zero meaning if no money in hand then obviously I cannot do trading. How to make money unavailable, the only option that come to my mind is real estate.

2023 -2024 (Turning Point) : Bought a 50 lakh agricultural land with 25 lakhs savings and other 25 lakhs I took personal loan. Bought a plot in Devanahalli for 1.6 crores out of which 1.22cr is from plot loan. Because all big builders follow instalments for payments I took this risk even though I dont have remaining 40 lakhs in hand at that time.

2025-2026 (Difficult times) Managing two loans along with rent of 55k per month it is not easy. But I have seen the positive side. I came out of my addiction. Even with these 2 EMI’s I still able to save some money and cleared my personal loan. Luckily both the real estate properties appreciated. Agriculture land gave multifold return, I sold it this year and cleared my plot loan too. Done with the registration of the plot in June. Most importantly this 2 years taught me the importance of money, importance of savings. Do you know what is the first thing I did after my plot registration? I called my same friend and said thank you. Because the conversation with him is where it all started.

Now I dont have any loan. I again started seeing some savings in my bank account. But now I am matured. Even if god calls me and ask me to put money in trade I will not do. Started with the mutual funds from last month. Lets see how it goes. Plan is to build a 50 lakhs mf portfolio before next election.

Current Networth :

Real Estate : 2.2 Cr ( 2400 sqft plot in Devanahalli from Tier1 builder). Will hold this as I see it has more potential in future due to STRR and other developments happening in this area

PF : 4 lakhs (Withdrawn most of it last year to clear loan)

PPF : 5 lakhs

Mutual Funds : 50k (Started from last month in Invesco, Bandhan and Trust small cap funds. I know it is bit aggressive but thats okay now I have enough risk appetite)

Note: Parents bought me a 3bhk apartment in Gunjur which I am shifting next year. I am not considering this in my networth because your first home is always an emotion and definitely not an investment for me. Anyways will be saving my rent from next year.

I’m a 33-year-old male with a family history of heart disease. I decided to take my lipid profile seriously after my December blood work.

Progress

December 2025
ApoB: ~105 mg/dL
LDL: ~111 mg/dL
Triglycerides: ~209 mg/dL
HDL: ~39 mg/dL
Weight: 82.5 kg

July 2026
ApoB: 72.6 mg/dL
LDL: 67.4 mg/dL
Total Cholesterol: 136 mg/dL
Triglycerides: 153.7 mg/dL
HDL: 38 mg/dL
Weight: 75.2 kg

Changes I made

Lost about 7.3 kg (82.5 → 75.2 kg).
Walk 10–12 km almost every day (recently added some strength training).
Replaced my old breakfast with:50–100 g rolled oats, Two whole eggs + 1 egg white
Mixed soaked nuts and seeds (almonds, walnuts, pistachios, chia, flax, pumpkin, sunflower, watermelon seeds), 1 Brazil nut.

Reduced milk intake from 500 ml/day to only a few tablespoons.

Eat 200 g chicken or ~15 prawns for lunch on most days.

Dinner is usually 3 chapatis (whole wheat + sprouted ragi + jowar + amaranth flour mix) or ragi idlis.

Avoid sugary drinks and fruit juices.
Eat whole fruits instead of juice (currently enjoying too much of seasonal mangoes and lychees, hence you see triglycerides higher).
Vitamin D deficiency is being treated.

Questions

Which of these changes do you think contributed the most to the large ApoB reduction?
My LDL and ApoB are now in a range I’m happy with, but my HDL is still only 38 mg/dL. Is it worth trying to raise HDL, or should I mainly focus on maintaining my current ApoB/LDL?
Triglycerides are 154 mg/dL, slightly higher than my previous test. Could this simply be from increased seasonal fruit intake (Eating too many mangoes/lychees from last 2 months), or is there something else I should investigate?

I’d really appreciate thoughts from people who’ve achieved similar improvements or from anyone with a good understanding of lipid metabolism.

33M | A page from my investment journey

Lifestyle changes dropped my ApoB from ~105 to 72.6 mg/dL in ~7 months. Looking for thoughts on what made the biggest difference.

Need suggestions 33M