I went to see the doctor this week, to check in on my blood pressure and get her advice about how to stay with my life change efforts. After a hiatus (planned) from tracking my food points and a hiatus (unplanned) from regular exercise, I need a little help getting my attitude back in order. I did return to tracking on January 1st, and whatever weight I gained while enjoying the Tastes of Christmas is off again, but my enthusiasm for focusing on this process seemed to be about equal to my excitement about exercising outdoors in sleet or rain. A very busy work schedule over the past ten days did not help, nor does my chronic Eustachian tube problem, which is worse in this kind of weather and particularly aggravated by spending time outdoors.
Happily, the visit to the doctor encouraged me in three ways.
First, she is delighted by my overall weight loss. It doesn’t matter to her that I merely maintained over Christmas, because being down 20 pounds since the end of September and 45 since the end of June is what matters. That served to remind me that while living a new way on a day to day basis matters, I need to remind myself of the long arc, too.
Second, my blood pressure looks great. (Or so they tell me. I would have liked to see a number lower than 130-something on top, but they were rhapsodic that it was over 70, instead of the 92 we saw in June and the 82 of September.)
Third, when I got on the old-fashioned scale, the nurse first put the bottom line weight at a number that was too low, and that reminded me that I look better than the numbers might suggest I should.
We talked about all that and more. I indicated that I knew I looked good in clothes but felt a heavy awareness of what lay beneath them.
She suggested it was time to join a gym and start doing some work with weights.
There is a special gym at the University of Southern Vacationland, about a four block walk from my house, that caters to the not young and glamorous among us. They do a fitness evaluation, teach you to use all the machines and basically set up a workout plan for you. I belonged to that gym for about six months when The Princess was a baby, and I remember people stopping me and saying, "You look great. Have you been working out?" It’s a little pricier than joining one of the chain gyms, but I’m going to try it for three months and try to get there three times a week. I’m waiting for a call back about the date for the evaluation, but it looks like it will be next Friday.
The doctor mentioned what weightlifting would do for my endorphins, and after my last post, I’m sure you would all agree that getting some action in that area would probably not be a bad idea.
Meanwhile, it’s cold and rainy out there, and I’m looking forward to the foot soak event in a few hours. It’s a good day for remembering the long arc.