I turned 58 this year and on my birthday month I decided to take back my health after a long break, I limited my wine intake and quit my wine club, cut out processed food, started walking every day, drank more water, ate more plant-based food, watched my portions, and drink more tea. I have not weighed in yet as I do not want to get discouraged while still getting into a routine. I splurged a little when I went to Las Vegas, but I got a lot of steps and exercise there so it evened out. I had a couple of cocktails here and there. I had a Bobby burger with onion rings. I had eggs benedicts for breakfast while I was there. Again, exercise balanced it out.
When I got home I celebrated my birthday with a friend at a vegetarian/vegan place and I had a birthday lunch with another friend where I had a salad and empanadas. Then I went to Sam's for another birthday and had fish tacos. It conforms to my 80/20 rule that for 80% of the time I am on a plant based diet and sometimes it is even 90/10. When I am not plant based diet with portion control, I am still lean toward plant based with plant forward meals. I changed my routine. If my husband asks to go for a walk, I have to say yes and do. My husband had to go somewhere for a meeting, so I had to take myself out for a walk and walked for an hour. What made that possible is playing music on my headphones. I can go farther and longer by myself with high energy music. I am just going to keep pushing to walk more this Summer. So, It has been a month and I do feel better even though I have a long way to go. I am hoping that I can get back to where I was a decade ago where I was able to hike up Big Rock and are able to be comfortable in coach on an airplane. My goal is to be in shape for traveling and get back into my old clothes. On very much on my way.
0 Comments
Little over ten years ago, I was able to lose A LOT of weight and was super active. I went to the gym every day and walked. I was 48 years old and I was in the best shape. Then, I lost my birth mother, my birth father, and adoptive father in one year. My adoptive mother had passed in 2002. I became deeply depressed at all these losses and was upset at the news in 2016.
I overcame that and was on my way to getting back in shape when COVID hit. It could have been an opportunity to get back on track, but all I wanted to do is be in my cave in troll mode. It has taken me a long time to want to get out into the world and to work on myself. The news of the world has been getting to me and there were times that I wondered why I would bother to try to have a long life. My husband and I will become empty nesters as our son is going off to college, So, we are forced to think about how we want to spend or final chapters. At the beginning of May, I felt off and miserable. My blood pressure was up. It wasn't too high but it was 135/83. I cut out the alcohol, white breads, sweets, and processed food for the rest of May. I started walking everyday and drink plenty of water and tea. My blood pressure went down to a point where it was a bit too low. I made adjustments to where it is in the low normal range. From now to my 60th Birthday I will be on a journey back. This time I will not be losing weight for vanity like I did when I was younger. I am doing it so I can comfortably travel, see museums, go see film festivals and be an artist and art historian. I want to feel better. So come journey with me. This is not about just weight loss, It is about being lighter in the world and more resilient and come up with a more sustainable lifestyle. My goal is to move away from social media which was getting me in very negative cycles that were damaging my health. If I want to share stories and communicate with the world why not do it on this blog. Maybe it is time to really touch grass and live life more fully offline than I have. I am a GenXer, we tend to reinvent ourselves many times throughout our lives. This isn't my first pivot and reset. |