For the past two years I have been stuck at one weight. It would fluctuate within a 1 to 2 pound. Recently, however, I started to gain weight. I'm thinking Disney and their food plan didn't help. There was tons of food, plus you got a dessert with everything. I don't seek out desserts, but if someone is going to give me one, I won't say no.
Recently my doctor told me I needed to lose weight and that I should exercise more. Hmmm, exercise more? What more could I do? I reviewed my current regime and she agreed I had the exercise covered. It is was now time to address my nutrition. For the most part I eat a relatively balanced diet with very little junk food, except for one thing. I am addicted to Coca Cola and it isn't the diet version either.
I haven't been missing the Coke for the caffeine; I just miss the taste. However, I know if I have just one I'm back in the same place I was before. It is apparently my drug of choice. Wonder if they have a 12-step program for it? I need to avoid all sodas otherwise I go toppling off that wagon.
So having cut out the soda and watching my diet I am now back to my plateau weight. The question is can I get past it? Will I finally achieve the goal and break that so far unbreakable plateau? I guess only time will tell, but I'm really hoping I do. I am not looking to be a size 2, I want get my BP and cholesterol under control and if I look and feel better that will be a fabulous bonus. I know I'll never be the same as I was when I was 20 and to be honest I don't want to. I just want to feel and be healthy. Is that too much to ask?
I an now officially feeling old. I finally got to the point that the doctor had to put me on blood pressure medicine for the obvious reason. I’ve been borderline high blood pressure for a couple of years and it had started going up over the last 6 months. This week the increase wasn’t a little bit, as it shot up to 201/120. I took the 201/120 reading with a small electric BP monitor, so I wasn’t sure how accurate it was and although I didn’t feel great, I didn’t feel horrible.
The next day things seemed to get worse. While at work, I began to feel horrible. That was the best word to describe it as I felt as if I couldn’t keep my eyes open, my legs wouldn’t work or hold me up and finally my chest was aflutter. My partner-in-curricula had the foresight to contact one of the paramedics in our office. This time the reading was 190/120. (This is when it is good to work where there are health professionals.) I’m guessing my little BP monitor wasn’t all that inaccurate after all. He had me put up my feet and relax while I awaited a call from my doctor. Of course when I finally saw my doctor, my BP was much lower (still borderline) but thanks to the paramedic, the doc decided it was time for meds. Obviously, controlling with exercise was not doing the job.
Only two days on the new meds and I am already feeling better. I can only imagine how much better I’ll feel once my BP is stabilized. It is like night and day. I am looking forward to seeing how things may change including my running. It will take up to 3 weeks or more to stabilize my BP, but I think this is a good start.
Since I have just started the medicine I’m going to give it time to work. In that sense I’m going to take a few weeks off from racing. I had planned to run one on Valentine’s Day, but I think I’ll volunteer instead. I should be good to go for the Shamrock though. I am also taking it a little easy at my torture session. I think I gave the Sadist a little bit of a scare with the high numbers. He has shown concern and follows up on how things are. He keeps this up and I might begin to think he likes me. Who knew?
