PadawanOfHappiness

November was a tough month for me the first two weeks were actually great but the last two weeks my schedule was shot to, well you know. :) Those two weeks my parents were staying with us and we celebrated my Mom's birthday, my birthday, my niece's birthday and Thanksgiving, then my cousin-in law's birthday.  While I was able to exercise a bit I was not on my game.  I also stopped tracking calories and tried to just look at portions and types of foods. The good news is that my weight at the end of those two weeks really didn't fluctuate wildly.  I did gain about 2 lbs but that is not bad and in fact, I believe that falls into the normal body fluctuation category.  So my big take away from this is that even with all those parties I was able to effectively sustain my weight simply by eyeballing my portions and making good choices.  This is a huge mental boost for me because at the end of this month I will be taking a family vacation and I know there will be...

The past few days have been a big struggle for me.  My scale was not going down, it had held steady and then started to creep up again.  Uggg.  I knew that it was bound to happen there are always plateaus and setbacks but it is still demoralizing.  I felt like this panda. ---> I did a lot of mental pep talks reminding myself that this is normal, that I have had a stressful 5 days and that will impact things, and I had been having problems with Noom and hadn't been able to log things well and I wasn't really sure how much I was eating calorie-wise, and of course with sinus congestion and pressure that makes it really hard to work out so that was lagging. For me, I know that I am emotional eater, specifically when I am stressed and beating up on myself will not limit my stress.  I crave crunchy things specifically cheeze-its, potato chips, nachos and sometimes I just let myself give in.  On good days I can make crunchy substitutes with baby carrots and...

I was cleaning out some notes on my phone and I found one that made me stop and realize how far my journey in 2019 has brought me.  I had just celebrated some achievements my son has mad and I need to celebrate mine too.  So here it is. In January 2019 my PCP had me see a cardiologist because my blood pressure (BP) was out of control.  He put me on a third medication and gave me a target range for my BP and said he would check in with me in 3 months.  I remember being fearful but determined.  The goal he gave me still seemed high but I wrote it down so I could remember it.  Here is what I wrote out. Seeing this note I realized two things: I need to take my BP more consistently.  I fell off the wagon At that 3 month check-in I was well below that. And I have continued to do amazing work.  I am not convinced it is all due to the medicine I think it was multiple things.  Since January I have worked to reduce my stress ...