The Good, the Bad, & the Scary

Now, if you've met me, you know I'm a plus-size gal. I've been like this for a long time. I try to eat healthy when I can and I try to exercise when I can. But honestly, I never really cared too much about my weight. I was always under the assumption that I was somehow immune to the risks that come along with being overweight. It was never going to happen to me because I was the exception to the rule.

Boy, I'm pretty stupid, huh?

My weight problems have caught up to me. For the past month, my left knee has just been hurting. I'm pretty sure that it's from the years of weight that my poor legs had to bear. Although I'm pretty active for someone my size, I'm not active enough.

Last week, two different doctors told me I have high blood pressure. In my entire life, I've never been told that. My blood pressure has been normal. The first doctor told me that my blood pressure was high and yet again, I ignored her. I thought it was nothing and it was because I was stressed out from school. I still thought I was immune to anything. The next day with a different doctor, she once again said my blood pressure was high. Two days in a row of high blood pressure is not good.

It was then that I began to worry, I began to actually care about my poor body and the damage I have done to it. Within a few days of the high blood pressure readings, my right arm started to hurt. It's just painful, almost like a numbing feeling. That worried me more than anything. I may not be a nurse yet, but I know that high blood pressure and arm pain are not good! This could be an indication of a heart attack or stroke. This of course caused me to stress and worry even more. I seriously became scared for my life. You may think I'm too young to have a heart attack or stroke. But age has nothing to do with anything.

I made an appointment to see my primary care doctor yesterday. She said once again my blood pressure was high, although it had gone down a little since the readings previously. She was concerned because of my weight and the readings of my blood pressure. I explained to her about my arm and she said that she didn't think my arm had to do with my high blood pressure. She said it was good that I came in to have everything looked at.

The good news is my arm pain is NOT due to my blood pressure. The doctor said it's Medial Epicondylitis. Haha, when she said what was wrong with my arm, I immediately knew what it was and what is wrong. :) FYI, generally arm pain for a heart attack or stroke would be in the left arm, duh!

The bad news is that I have been put on blood pressure medication until further notice. I have a follow up in a month. But, that's okay.

She stated even losing weight (even as little as 5lbs) could bring down my blood pressure.
Operation Brandy NEEDS to lose weight is on. I have to commit to this, I have to. I don't want health problems. I want my knee to stop hurting. I don't want to take medication to control my blood pressure. I'm not going to become a maniac and diet excessively. I need to take it slow, putting too much pressure on my body right away, could still give me health problems.

I wonder why I'm more committed to walking in the dead of the summer than I am in the winter? I need to change that, even walking will help me. I need to make healthier choices in my eating habits. I am taking a nutrition class right now, I'm really learning a lot!

Okay, peeps, hold me accountable. I need all the accountability I can get!

Actual update

*Gasp* What is this? Is this an actual update? I haven't wrote a "happenings in my life" post in a long time. I decided today to do my bullet points to update.

• I am in the process of moving all my blogs from Xanga to Blogger. It's taking me forever. I try to do a little every day. There are a lot of posts, that is for sure. It's literally moving four years of my life here. I just don't want to keep Xanga anymore, but I can't just delete the account. I have to move the posts first. But closing Xanga will be one less thing I have to check. It seems as though lately I have been all about simplifying my life. Closing two email accounts, starting fresh with just one. It's nice only checking one email. I deleted my Myspace account, I really wasn't using it. I have not missed it at all.
• I am in a Bible study right now with 10 wonderful women. We are studying Captivating. We just started, but I can see that we are going to be bonding and the questions are really making me think. I am enjoying it.
• I have been diligent about walking lately. I do 4 miles about three times week. Which equals 12 miles a week. The little things matter, like parking farther away than normal at a store, choosing the stairs instead of the elevator. My roomie finally bought the Wii. It's just so expensive, but it's definitely been a good investment. Everyday, I just hit 120 baseballs. I'm getting better, but it kicks my butt all over the place when I play. I get quite the workout just from swinging at the balls. I noticed yesterday that my stomach was getting smaller. Hello weight loss! So between the Wii, walking and the little things, my clothes are starting to get big on me. That makes me crazy excited.
• Although my apartment is very clean, I have officially ghetto-fied it. In the living room, we have thermal curtains. They are meant to keep the heat out. They do help, but we have a big patio door (our apartment faces the west) where a lot of heat comes in. I am in the process of putting a blanket up covering the patio door. I already put one up in my room and will work on putting the other one today or tomorrow. I don't care what it looks like, it will help to keep it cool in the apartment. It gets really hot in our living/dining room.
• I am going to take a second stab at Anatomy & Physiology in the fall semester. I need to take it again, and I need to pass the class. My friend, Philip, said he would help me get through A&P this coming semester. That's a good thing, I need all the help I can get. :)

That's all I have for today. Have a great weekend! Happy Mother's Day!

Quote of the day: "How is the life you're living NOW impacting others?" From my Captivating study guide