Category Archives: health & fitness

A narrative of my journeys with diet, exercise, and various healthcare professionals

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Fun New Glasses!

Took Friday afternoon off work for appointments: dentist, chiropractor, glasses, and picking up my son’s kindergarten registration packet. Fit in a solo lunch at my favorite Chinese-Korean joint (a special treat, since they’re closed on weekends and are nowhere near my work) and a brief camera walk at the Metropark near my house (until the camera battery balked at the cold temps).

I love it when the planets align and I can have a productive and enjoyable afternoon like that.

BTW, in case you can’t see in this pic, the new glasses are sort of a brown and aqua tortoiseshell with a couple bits of straight-up rainbow thrown in. Subtly fun, without being committed to a bright crazy pair of glasses for two years.

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Designer Sunglasses

Let me state for the record that I am never again going to schedule a morning optometrist appointment with the intention of working in the afternoon. She dilated my eyes as part of the standard exam; I hadn’t realized the dilation drops can take upwards of four hours to wear off. I had a headache all afternoon from trying to focus close enough for computer-screen work.

Apart from that, though — and the fact that their Optical provider doesn’t accept my vision insurance — I had a pretty uneventful visit, and am looking forward to getting my new frames in a couple of weeks!

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In a Cheesecake State of Mind

Cheesecake with Weightwatchers name tag in background

I snapped this photo because I absolutely loved the irony of the giant dessert juxtaposed with my Weight Watchers nametags.

Then I ate the whole piece of caramel apple cheesecake.

That’s kind of been my MO this week: self-medicating my fatigue with caffeine and carbs. That’s a spiral I don’t like to be in, so I’m hitting the hay just a smidge early tonight.

At work, I harp on leading indicators vs. lagging indicators — basically, reacting to the past instead of predicting and shaping the future. The caffeine and sugar binges are (partially) due to fatigue; my lateness to work is (partially) due to my multiple times hitting the snooze on my alarm — and it all traces back to sleep. Find the bedtime sweet spot, and things will start to work out better for me.

I hope. Sweet dreams, all.

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January Weigh-In: Back On Track

It’s going to take continued effort to get back to  pre-Thanksgiving levels of fitness and healthy-eating fortitude, but I’m at least headed in the right direction.

I know that my main weakness right now is evening snacking. It has been for some time. I get tired, my mouth gets “wanty” (as opposed to hungry — my Mom used to use that word on me when I was a kid). Some days, I have the staying power to keep myself busy and out of the cupboard; others (like tonight), it’s a struggle or a losing battle.

This week, I’m down about two pounds from last week… but I have a way to go yet. My low weight in August was still ten pounds above Goal.

Now, I know that my weight is just a number on a scale. I also know that I saw what my arms looked like at kickboxing last week; I could tell I’d lost some muscle definition, and I didn’t like it. I also know that my face is rounder than it was, and my midriff is back to being a jiggly spare tire instead of an extra curve.

I’ve gotten so close. I’m seriously curious about how fit I can get, and what I’ll look like when I get there.

It’s just a continual challenge to break old habits and form new ones. I’ve already broken so many over the years — Chinese buffet lunches, Mountain Dew addiction, eating dinner in front of the TV — so I know I can continue to change and improve.

It all happens moment by moment, decision by decision. I read about the idea of each decision you make as being a vote you cast for who you want to become. I like that idea. It helps eliminate the all-or-nothing mentality, and makes the “bad” decisions sting less but mean more.

I’m on the right track, moving in the right direction. Always moving.

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The Family That Shits Together…

Saturday’s regularly scheduled Date Night was cancelled on account of our son puking up blueberries at 6am, then again at 7:30am, then shitting his pants during a poorly-considered trip to Toys-R-Us at 10:30ish.

Of course, since our boy is freaking Wolverine or something, he was doing backward somersaults off the loveseat by the time Daddy woke up around noon-thirty. Still, since bodily fluids were involved, we cancelled the sitter and stayed in for the night. (Alas, we won’t get to see Rogue One in the theater, after all.)

This morning, I woke up feeling fine, but things went south as the morning progressed. By the time I got to my desk, I wanted to lay back down and take a nap. I took some ibuprofen with my morning coffee, and my stomach protested at having anything in it, food or otherwise.

Luckily, I didn’t hurl — although I seriously thought I was going to at one point. I ate a light sushi lunch, and opted for a very light dinner, as well.

(Seems Daddy got a touch of it, too, but a more southerly vector, so to speak.)

Right now, I’m curled up on the couch under an afghan, sipping a mug of peppermint tea and trying not to fall asleep. If I feel like this tomorrow, I’m dropping off my son at Pre-K and coming right back home to bed. I haven’t taken an honest-to-god Sick Day, outside of using half-days for doctor’s appointments, since October 2015.

Man, I feel like ass.