And The Doctor Says...

Relaxation? I can dig it. Now I need to do it. Photo by Dedda71 via Wiki Commons. 

I had follow-up appointment with my GP today. It's been about a month since our initial meeting, and as you may recall, I had a full menu of blood work done to see where I stand health-wise. As I suspected, I do NOT have an expert eye at reading these reports, which I was able to do through my lab's website online a few days ago. Well, it turns out that everything is better than normal! Like, way better in many cases. The only thing that is slightly off is my estrogen levels, which is to be expected as someone with PCOS, like me. However, even that, the doc said, seemed to be on its way out the door. He feels that with more weight loss it may not be an issue for much longer. Same with the glucose measurement, which found me at just between normal and pre-diabetic... which I guess makes me PRE-pre diabetic. Again, this is something he is confident will go down to normal as I lose more weight. No medication needed.

He was very pleased, and I was super psyched and really proud of myself.

The only thing that was cause for concern was my blood pressure. I had hopes, but it just hasn't budged from 146/90 in a while, and that's not great. He wants me to go on a low-dose medication and see how that works, and go from there. He said he does feel that I will be able to go off medication if I continue taking good care of myself. This includes not only diet and exercise, but also stress management, good sleep habits... which leads me to the last piece: a sleep assessment. If I do have sleep apnea, getting treatment will help me get better rest, have more oxygen flowing through my system, and let me body do the things it needs to do while I'm sleeping. Doc said it can affect metabolism as well! So, I will have that test done and see what happens. Then, I'll have more blood tests done for another meeting in three months.

I must say, I am so excited about all this! I must confess that I was pretty worried about my overall health. This puts me at much greater ease and gives me a good boost of confidence as well. Not to mention, it's proof that yes, fatties CAN get good bills of health as much as the next person!

The biggest thing that is next on my list to address is my stress level and ability to truly relax. This has definitely been a challenge for me as I am so often busy and have stuff that must get done. It's hard for me on a day off to not feel like I should be doing something meaningful, you know what I mean? Establishing a meditation practice is something I have wanted to do for a long time now, and yoga has been on my mind... onward and upward. Focus.

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In other news, I've had not just one, but TWO hour and a half long workouts at the gym this week. Wow, I tell you what, it feels really good to accomplish that, but at the same time? I totally zonked out today after my doctor's appointment and napped for hours. My whole body is sore and tired. This weekend I have some activity planned for each day (probably walks around the neighborhood again, and maybe some more gardening and house work), but next week I'm sticking with the two hour-long workouts for now. I gotta build UP to it, man! It's just so hard to not be so enthusiastic when I can sense so many positive changes happening. I know it's just a drop in this big old bucket, but I can see little changes in my body already! It's amazing.

Oh, and by the way? I'm down just below 360 as of this morning. YES.

Hey, do me a favor and share with me your favorite ways to relax?