Rebuilding Momentum, and The Vegas Dress

I had a bit of a setback in my health and exercise routine last month. My MD had prescribed a medication to help me sleep at night, since my insomnia had reached the level of “persistent and acute.” She said it would take two or three weeks of continuous use before we would know whether it would work, starting out at a low dose and bumping it up until it was working consistently. While I had noticed a wee bit of a slow-down at the lowest dosage, and a little more drag at the medium dose, the higher dose pretty much laid me out. I was on the couch for the better part of a week with fatigue, muscle soreness, chills, and very low energy/motivation, before it occurred to me to ask the pharmacist if this could be a side effect of the medication. Yep, depression symptoms are not unusual when starting this med, and could continue for a few weeks. Not being will to waste a month or so of my life in the couch, I stopped taking it. It was another three days before I had a semi-normal day, though ten days after stopping the medication I am definitely not back to my pre-med peppy self. I feel like I’ve slid back to my pre-exercise days and am having to start over, which is kind of disheartening. Most annoying, my body has lost its craving for exercise, so I’m relying on motivation alone to get me moving. But, I’ve got a pretty strong physical base built up, and my last couple of workouts have been stronger than they were when I was medicated. I’m hoping after another week or so the meds will be flushed out of my system entirely, I can beat off the rest of the “blahs” with my big, fat walking stick, and get back to living fully again. So, there.

Despite this little setback, however, I can report that progress has definitely been made. When I began walking last November I consistently weighed 156-158; I’m now weighing 151-153. I’ve gone down two belt notches, no longer have a noticeable bulge over the top of my jeans, and even have the beginnings of a waist now. For the month of January, I ranked 104th in total FitPoints for my YMCA facility (52nd among female members, 16th among women in my age group), and should reach 10,000 lifetime FitPoints in the next week or so (and that's after an inconsistent January). I’m consistently pushing 15,000 lb on the weight machines each visit, and have managed to get to the Y three days a week most weeks. To get fully back into the swing of things, I need to do an hour of walking on my non-gym days, and do some Yoga a few days a week. That should just about do it.

So, I’ve got a few short-term goals in mind to help keep me motivated and moving in the right direction. I’d like to have enough energy and vitality to easily make it through a long day without pooping out before bedtime (the kids’ bedtime, not mine). I’d like to get down to 140 lb by summer, and feel comfortable wearing my bathing suit when I take the kids to the pool. I’d like to be comfortable wearing a workout-type spandex top and bottom when I work out, and not feel quite so much jiggling when I walk hard on the treadmill. And, I’d like to be perfectly comfortable wearing this dress in public on a date with my husband. I mean, without sucking in my gut the whole time.

The Vegas Dress

Hubby, being the darling, sweet, loving hubby that he is, bought this little number for me during his last business trip to Vegas. He was a bit optomistic about the fit, and I have yet to wear it. That will be remedied soon enough.

As Chris says, there are many things we just don’t have any control over as we age. But, then, there are plenty of things we do have quite a bit of control over. We may as well grab the reins, take charge of what we can, and determine our own quality of life to the greatest extent possible. So, giddyup, girls. Let's get on with it!