May 16, 2011

McFatty Monday: What NOT to do.

So this is what my life has become...

Last Thursday I had an appointment with my doctor. It's been a year since I started Lexapro, and since I was only going to be on it for 12-18 months, it was time to go in and talk about discontinuing it. Thursday night I began tapering off my dose and by the beginning of next week I'll be completely off of it. The good news is that so far it has been pretty seemless. I was kind of out of it on Saturday morning but other than that, I've felt great.

On the other hand...when I went to see the doctor, my blood pressure was HIGH. After he noticed that, I was handed the chart you see in the picture above by my doctor and told to track my blood pressure at least twice a week, and if after a few weeks it was still trending over 140/90, to come back in and we'd start medication. So in my head, I thought, NO THANK YOU, I'll just work my tail off to get it under control. The number you see in the picture, 137/71, is much lower than it was on Thursday. I've been stressed out, but I can't blame it all on that. The fact is, I was eating way too much salt and getting far to little exercise. So all of those health-related improvements I saw about six months ago (more of them here, too)...well...I un-did at least one of them.

Let me be the example of what NOT to do on a journey to become healthy.

The doctor also asked what I've been doing for weight-loss and I kind of fumbled around for an answer. The truth is, I had a lot of great ideas but haven't been so good at implementing them. He suggested Weight Watchers. I kind of laughed since I am a Weight Watchers failure.

That night I set out to create my OWN plan, following the Fat 2 Fit Radio philosophies, and setting a target weight loss of two pounds per week. Slow and steady wins the race!

And how did it go? Well, I started last week at 258. This morning I was 256! That's a two pound weight loss! I did it! Yay! Go me!

Oh, and lest I forget: I upped the intensity on my 5k training this past week. I came to realize that since I did the C25k program last year, starting over from scratch was too easy for me. I had convinced myself that I needed to when I really didn't. It was a crutch. Last night, I set out to get a baseline completion time. I took my GPS outside with me and ran and walked (but mostly ran) until I hit 3.1 miles. And I did it in: 49:41! I was HOPING to get it done in 45:00 so I only went over by a couple of minutes...and I beat my last race time. In 2006 I "ran" a 5k in 1:07:43. (If you want to read about that debacle, including my pre-kid days of griping about waking up at 7am, click here.)

Next week I should see 254 on the scale. That's the plan. For now, it's off to work!

4 comments:

Ani said...

Good Job babe! Keep it up! F2F has the best info out there and I'm so glad you follow them! I know you can do this, mini goals! 2 pounds is the most you should lose and I am glad you've set that as your goal!

Reading your posts about your blood pressure really makes me realize how little I think about it. I eat too much salt but I'm normally at 110-115/60-65 -- I know I should watch my salt... but I guess until I get smacked in the face with a reason, I'll continue down this road...

Ehm Aye Why said...

OMG THAT'S AWESOME TIME!! Seriously i take an hour every time, even when i add running, b/c running winds me soooo much i go super slow and lose any time ground i made!! i'm sooo proud of you!!!! and jealous, cuz i'd love to shave 10 minutes off my 5k time heheheh :) keep up the amazing work!!!

Unknown said...

So proud of you! I wish I had your tenacity to get out and run! Maybe I need to be like you and just kick myself in the pants and do it!

Thanks for sharing this with me. It really was encouraging.

Anonymous said...

Losing weight is the most difficult thing in the world to do. I found your blog through HeirtoBlair's McFatty Monday. I started my own exercise weight loss journey a month ago and saw Blair doing a weekly update so I started too, every Sunday. I am hoping it makes me more accountable. Congrads on your weight loss... you are right slow and steady wins you can do it!