Reality strikes!

But Am I Really Healthy?


Change is a good thing, particularly when it’s a change in taking care of your body. In recent weeks, I’ve been vigilant; eating well, exercising regularly, very regularly. And I did realize I was feeling – for lack of a better word – peppier. I was sleeping better; I was waking up with energy. And I didn’t notice it until this week, but other things were changing for the better.

Which makes me realize, thing were not that good. Look at my first blog. I talk about being fit but fat; being able to play tennis and ski and do all I want. But as I’ve transitioned to good eating and more exercise, I noticed I was playing better, running better feeling better. Still, I thought it was just from good to better.

Then I fell off the wagon. I knew it was going to happen. After all, this is my pattern: I get all charged up, change my ways to the point of over-perfection for a few weeks and then, bang, it’s over. Only this time, I had not just changed my eating, I had changed my life.

So last Monday, I headed out to play tennis without working out beforehand for the first time in weeks. Since my beginning of change, I’ve been doing a half hour of cardio (the treadmill at 4.0 speed, 5.0 slope for a half hour; just enough to raise the heart rate and sweat a little) followed by a half hour of weights just before taking the court. I’d eat a banana, jump on the court and play. So Monday, I was crazy busy, Deadlines, life, you know the deal. I thought, “I’ll skip today,” and I just showed up at tennis time. Man, was I creaky. I mean, I could really feel a difference. It took me a while to move; my bones and joints weren’t ready to play. Which made me wonder: did I always feel this way before my workout change? Was this creaky play my old “normal,” the normal I thought was okay?

Wednesday I did not repeat that mistake. I got my work out in and then played a match. My partner and I crushed our competition, and the women, who have played me before said, “Wow! What came over you?” It’s a life change, I thought. Even my pro was awestruck.

Then Weds afternoon I went to a holiday party and ate the wrong thing. I mean, really wrong. Guess, what, that night I was smacked down with a horrific migraine. I realized, laying in the dark and suffering, I had not had ONE of these migraines that had started haunting me about a year ago since I’d changed my eating habits. Go off the norm this day and, bang! Migraine.

So today, for me, is about a reality check. I was NOT the healthy but overweight person I thought I was. I really needed change. And that has pulled me back on track. For now.