As you read on my blog from last week, I took time off work for a vacation. It was NICE - I got to sleep in, lounge around, get a massage, get a pedicure, hang out with Mar and Addie a bunch, get a Slurpee or two, and eat out. A LOT. I didn't have to, I just did. It was just easy to stop somewhere and pick something up. And I had a couple of follow-up appointments with doctors - more blood work, ick. Anyway, I LOVED my week off! But when my vacation was over...
Reality slap #1: Yesterday, the doctor's office called me and told me that my cholesterol was really high. I was surprised - I usually have no problems. Turns out the doc says that my cholesterol is high enough that the wants to put me on medication. Meds??!?! NO WAY!! I don't want to! I told the girl that I was on vacation last week, and ate like crap - that I ate out a bunch, and could that contribute?? "Maybe," she says, "but one week isn't usually enough to drive up your cholesterol like that." CRAP. "Well," I said, "Can't I just change my diet? I eat oatmeal almost every morning for breakfast! Shouldn't that help?" "Sure," she says. "Well, let me talk to the doctor and see what he says, and I'll call you back." So I fretted for a good five hours until they called back. "Okay, the doctor says we can go ahead and see if a change in your diet will help. He wants you to try it for a month, then at the end of July, we want to see you back for more tests. If you haven't improved as much as the doctor would like, he'll put you on medication." "Okay," I say. "Sounds good."
Then I got thinking: I haven't been feeling well the past couple of months. My knees are starting to hurt, I haven't exercised in almost 6 weeks, I haven't been watching my diet as closely as I should, and I learned that my weight is at an all-time high - I'm carrying more weight than my body-frame should carry. Age doesn't do much for me, either - I'm in my thirties now. What's next? High blood-pressure? Diabetes? Back pain? I'm headed down the WRONG road. Just when I thought I was doing okay... reality slaps me a good one. Time to make some drastic changes, and give up the sugar, the fatty foods that I love, and sleeping late. Time to get up early to exercise for at least 30-45 minutes, and eat more carrots, broccoli, oranges, and apples.
It's not just discipline pushing me to get healthy, now. I always cheated before. Now, it's my health, my well-being, my whole physical LIFE. (Sounds a bit dramatic, I know. But if it works, it works!)
Reality slap #2: I came back to work. I was nervous about what the Mail room guys and the IT guy might do to my stuff while I was gone, since (as you know) they love to pull pranks on me. But thankfully, NOTHING happened. My workload was average, and while I stayed busy all day long, it was a pretty okay first-day back. PHEW. I'm clear.
Or not.
I came to work today to find that my mouse for my computer didn't work. What the...? Immediately I became suspicious, and messed around with the cable to make sure it was plugged it. Yep, plugged in! Must be a fluke. So I called the Help Desk, and when I got voicemail, I started leaving a message, while I'm examining the mouse, to see if I can see something that might be wrong. "Hi, this is Melanie. Um, my mouse is not working..." Then I saw it. So obvious. There was a piece of tape over the sensor on the bottom of the mouse. My voice turned angry and bitter. "... and I THINK I just figured out why, because MATT..." Angry breathing over the phone. "Okay, NEVER MIND." Click. I didn't know which Matt to blame it on, Mail Room Matt or IT Matt, but I was pretty sure they were both in on it. Yes, they've done worse things to me, but what was the most embarrassing about THIS prank was that IT Matt turned my voicemail into a sound clip and e-mailed it to a few people in the office!!!
*SIGH* I'm officially back.
7 comments:
An email I got from HR yesterday had this counsel with regards to health and wellness:
"It’s important to focus on lifelong, healthy habits and not just numbers on a scale."
South Beach for me, more than anything, was about changing my habits and establishing healthier ones. I wonder how often anyone would have medical problems if they just took care of themselves and took preventative measures rather than reactive measures.
At least you're catching some of these things before they get too serious :) One of the best things I've done is to start shopping on weekends and buying groceries for the week (and they don't include candy or sweets these days, unless you're referring to yogurt and fruit, hehe). There's something about being intentional about what you eat, instead of just being "reactive" and eating whatever's convenient, as I've done so much in the past. Like, I just went to Walmart to get some milk to eat my multigrain cheerios with for lunch, and I was tempted to just grab some McNuggets and a burger from McD's. But whereas I'd enjoy those for a bit and feel like crap after eating them, I'm now enjoying my cheerios and feel good eating them ;)
I guess the first thing I would do is figure out what stuff you're eating that's high in cholesterol / fat and limit it, then start pounding the soluble fiber. As the Cheerio's website says... "Three grams of soluble fiber daily from whole grain oat foods, in a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, can help lower cholesterol, which can help reduce the risk of heart disease." woohoo!
Good luck, Mel. Healthy diet and exercise aren't so bad when you do them to be healthy rather than focusing on the scale or the mirror. Enjoy it! :) I know feel a lot better about myself based purely on my behavior, not on the end results (because those will be gradual).
What, no laughs about yet another prank being pulled on me? LOL!! :) (But I guess fitness is more on your mind these days, because you're focusing so well on it right now in your own life!) :)
Thanks for the wise words, bro. It definitely makes things a little easier to do when I'm changing my eating habits, knowing that it's for my well-being, and not because the scale says I'm overweight, or the mirror hates me.
And I'm not qute sure what it is that I've been eating that's so high in fat and cholesterol! I'm sure all the Haribo candy isn't helping - that sugar definitely turns to fat. HHMM. I'll have to figure out what it could be.
Seems like the office pranks would get old after a while... the whole taping the mouse thing is so old school. What you need to do is prank-proof yourself, hehe. Seems like someone said it to you recently, but if you didn't react like they want you to, they wouldn't have fun and thus wouldn't continue to tease ;)
Hey Mel!!!
I was glad to see yet agan that you hadn't dropped off the face of the earth. I do have to agree that time FLIES!!!!! I am a little uncomfortable that the only way we seem to be able to talk is through email and blogs. Didn't we used to call eachother like once a week. I,m just saying ;). So tell me what your schedule is like and we will totally get together. screw it I am just going to call. Cute Blog by the way!!!
Hi Melouise! I am shocked you have high cholesterol! You seem to eat healthy most of the time I'm with you...making wise choices when we eat out, etc. That's just crazy.
Oh, those boys and their pranks. They're flirtin', those boys... Stop being so dang hot!
Mel! Thanks for playing with me last week! And hey, it's time to run again. I have the major itch. I even ran for a few minutes this morning. Let's start training again! :)
I am so sorry about all the beating up on you reality has been doing lately! That is hardly fair. Especially, at work - stupid mailroom. But they do it out of love. And I think your high cholestrol is definitely something you can overcome. You've had alot of stress in your life lately and so your habits have changed, but I know you will change them back as soon as things settle down for you!
Post a Comment