At home, May 27, 2021
You can see from the photo above that I have regained since retirement and pandemic took their toll. This finish line photo from September 30, 2018 I was already heavier than my fastest running weight. But the lax attitude of "I'm not competing any more, what does it matter" has made a difference, and slowly, over the past 3 years, I have been re-gaining. I've made some efforts to control it, but those efforts seemed to only last a week to a month, before the "why try?" attitude reinserted itself.
Wineglass Half Marathon, 2018
Which brings us to NOW, with the demise of SparkPeople.com... and the recognition of what I need to do, what I need to value, to move into the future I want for myself.
Do I want to race again, someday? That's a maybe, maybe not. This sets up the "I'm going to stop myself from doing something that may harm me" subconscious drive to overeat and *anchor* myself in a heavier body!
Onward! I clearly have some things to work on, and it starts with attitude. Perhaps the goal is NOT to run again or do another triathlon, but it certainly has to be to live in a healthy body. Which brings us to something that has happened recently, with my somewhat sloppy approach to food. On June 2nd, I took my blood pressure, since I hadn't done so since March. I scared myself... it said "High Blood Pressure Stage 1". I had been enjoying normal, healthy blood pressure for several years, thanks to having improved my eating and exercise habits... but this slow slide down the path of "what does it matter" and "why try" was not taking me to a good place.
So I started cleaning up my eating habits, one day at a time for the next week (see, it's only been a week), and I started measuring every day. Measuring makes a difference. Knowing that I'll be measuring again tomorrow makes a difference. The next day it dropped to "elevated". Then it's been "normal" every day since.
You see, we don't always see the immediate results of our choices, especially with something like blood pressure or cholesterol. Having the cuff at home and taking those measurements is ONE means of motivating myself to "do better" with the food. As for what it means to "do better" it means more fresh fruits and veggies, less fat and sugar. I KNOW how to do this. My own hurdle is wanting to do it.
The silver lining of losing SparkPeople.com, if there is one, is that it has turned a process like behavior (check in, spin the wheel, etc.) into a project like one: "find a new venue and start fresh, build your support structure". And that is what I'll be doing here.
What's YOUR motivation to be healthier, day by day? I'm hoping that this one and only Tuesday, June 8, 2021 we'll ever get will be one of making choices that we either KNOW will help us be healthier and more at peace with ourselves, or choices that we want to try out. The experiment(s) of ONE continue! Let's keep in touch and stay strong!💗💗💪💪
Nicely done!!
ReplyDeleteThank you.
ReplyDeleteThank you, pioneer (project) woman, for leading the charge. I look forward to learning my new process to continue with the healthiest lifestyle I can manage. 🥰
ReplyDeleteSee comment below... I meant it as a reply to you!
DeleteWould you believe that I started "Print to PDF" saving some of my old featured blogs (starting with the first featured one, The Mud Run Story)? I'm up to September, 2015. Not saving every one, but reading as I go along and wondering "who IS this writer?" My gosh, sometimes you have to re-read yourself to see what the pen of fate wrote through your own hand... but you know, re-reading that YOU are not the source!
ReplyDeleteHi, I have followed you for about 5 years before you retired.I feel so bad about Sparkpeople but you have been a great influence on me, I want to keep following you. I cant find you on blogspot.com. When I put that in it says search and I put in onekidsmom, several blogs come up with some of these words but I cant find you. Can you tell me what Im doing wrong?
ReplyDeleteYou obviously *did* find me! There's a "subscribe to" link over on the right hand side which I just added this afternoon. I hope it works to send you email whenever I add to the blog. And I made my name on here OneKidsMomSpark, does it work if you search that on BlogSpot?
DeleteHi Barb, Roxanne again. I tried what you suggested on blogspot, it said no such name. Im sure Im the problem, I have a hard time navigating a new site. Ill keep trying. Are you going to sign up with SparkAmerica?
ReplyDeleteHmmm! I see you're logged on to Blogger, and have a profile there. My profile has display name "Barb", and there's a link to it on the top right (About me). Hmmm. Scratching my head on the various sites and how they work together. My Google account is as OneKidsMom, I named the blog OneKidsMomSpark. I don't "get" how to search for a profile, other than the link from the blog.
DeleteHi! 4A-HEALTHY-BMI here... So glad to have followed the breadcrumbs over here! Before I started blogging on SP, I used Wordpress. I'll have to figure out where I'm going to post things. But for now I'm just happy we're starting to figure out ways to stay connected and pick up where we left off...
ReplyDeletePS Your blog is now indexed in the [Maintaining weight] Google group team resource page :)
tinyurl.com/Maintain-weight-start-page
Thank you so much for helping everyone find a lifeboat, and pulling things together for the Maintaining Weight group! It's a sign of the proactive side of resilience!
DeleteSo happy to have found you here, Barb: and I think I'll join you to keep on blogging myself!! Love your leadership and that you're willing to let us continue reading over your shoulder!!
ReplyDeleteWriters gotta write, you know. You're showing up as "unknown" here, but I do hope when you start your blog you'll let me know where to find you!
DeleteWow, your blog could have been written by me. I'm ten pounds heavier than I'd like to be. I keep making excuses (perimenopause, don't feel like training for races, etc.) but I am tired of not fitting in my clothes. I'd like to believe I can fit in all of them again. I need to get serious.
ReplyDeleteI found you... for others, just click on the name that appears, and it takes you to the poster's Blogger profile, and from there you can access their blogs.
DeleteYou're such a great leader!! I am hoping you can help LEANJEAN find her way to also making a blogsot!
ReplyDeleteYou're going to get me doing that "look down at the shoes and say awww, shucks" thing. I'm hoping to get LEANJEAN6 up and running, too. Because we would all miss her WAY too much if she didn't make the transition!
ReplyDeleteAttagirl! You hear "Weight is only a number" or "Your HbA1c is only a number." Yah, well, my belief is - those numbers matter.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you re the silver lining about SP's demise. I have been sliding for a little over five years now (where did the time go?!?) and my body is paying a price. I don't, however, have to let that price get any higher.
Checking in with Spark had become a complacent habit for me, and that complacency turned into what you described as a lax attitude. "What difference does it make?" had become a mantra, with "Why bother?" my answer to self-control.
Okay, girlfriend, I'm with you: we can DO this! <3
There are echoes in your thoughts, Kasey! Complacency is toxic, right? We're heading out on the next adventure... NOW!
DeleteMy own hurdle is wanting to do it.
ReplyDeleteAs always ... you get right to my point of the day. Coming home from Texas gave me time ... 14 hours to be exact ... to think about where I've been and where I WANT to be.
Where you are and where you want to be sounds like excellent blog fodder... hint, hint. Starting one over here is relatively painless...
Delete