Pleasant Surprises

This week, God gave me some pleasant surprises.

Last week, I went in for my annual physical, and when they took my blood pressure and my weight, the numbers really hurt me.  The nurse who was updating my records told me to go home and call a doctor and schedule an appointment for high blood pressure.  It was 143/80.  I'll be honest, I didn't think it was too bad.  In fact, I can guarantee that my BP is almost always 5 points higher than it should be, simply because I'm in a doctor's office.  But this nurse (who wasn't very nice, anyway) was insistent that I was fat and had high blood pressure.  It got to me.  The number on the scale hit me harder.  It was 188.

That same day, I went home and gave real thought to those things.  What can I do to fix this?  I asked myself.  The answer was, of course, one that I didn't like.  I had to eat better and exercise.  That was really the only way to fix things.  So, I dived head first into a basic regimen that I set up for myself.  I went to the grocery store and bought whole grain cereal and spaghetti noodles.  I bought veggies that I liked, some apples, and half a cantaloupe.  I bought low-fat everything.  Anything that I already used that I could sub the low-fat version for, I did.  Ranch dressing, cream of mushroom soup, Progresso soup, and yogurt.  All in low-fat.  And, to my surprise, they all tasted really good!  I'm picky with Ranch, though, so it wasn't as good as I wanted it to be, but the soups and the yogurt really surprised me as to how good they were.  I drank water like I was a fish.  I got up early, walked Bonnie and jogged a little, came back inside, did a Netflix workout, showered, and then continued on with my day.  I packed a healthy lunch of Progresso soup, and either a yogurt or an apple.  I kept a bottle of water with me all day at work, and drank water throughout the day.  These are the things I did this past week.

So, due to lady issues, I couldn't complete my physical all in one day and had to come back yesterday.  They took my BP and weight again, and both were significantly lower.  My weight now read 177, and my BP was now 133/80.  I was happy!  Now, I can write the weight debacle up to many things.  I was on my period, they didn't have me take my jacket or my shoes off, blah blah blah.  The fact is, the number was lower, and that makes me happy.  Now that I know the fat-free stuff tastes just as good as the regular stuff, I don't have to skimp on food I cook or like.  And that makes me even happier. :)