Milestones

This weekend, my youngest daughter celebrated her 21st birthday at Meow Wolf in Denver, Colorado, USA. We had a lot of fun taking in the quantum sights. Below are a few photos.

Goals

75 Day Hard

In preparation for trying 75 Day Hard again next week, I took a 45-minute walk and covered about three miles yesterday. Today, I will be washing my car at my oldest daughter’s house; she will be washing her car too. Both are very dusty and haven’t been cleaned in a long time. I hope to get in another walk today, but if I don’t, I’ll do some weights.

Weight Loss

I haven’t lost any weight this week, but I have maintained recent weight loss so I’ll take that as a win. Especially since eating a Chantilly birthday cake was involved!

Book

I haven’t worked on my book in about 4 days so I need to get back on track. I’m thinking to review my 40 plus pages of notes on sources so that tomorrow I’ll be better able to find any sources needed to cover areas that haven’t been researched enough. I’m still working on chapter one of the book but hope to get that chapter researched and written by this Sunday; I’m delayed by one week.

Health Choices

Pelvic Floor

Earlier this year, I had some problems with my pelvic floor, which is common at my age. In addition to losing weight, I started oestrogen cream and that combination seems to be helping. Also, I’m not coughing hard all day like I was during January when I was sick. I was coughing so much that things just weren’t going well. Thankfully, things are much improved. Instead of trying a pill for my bladder issues, I hope to try electroacupuncture. It is even effective for men, which is something I did not know.

I already take a lot of medications, and I would rather not take another medication. I also don’t want to have surgery unless it is absolutely necessary or would greatly improve my quality of life. I don’t think either of those conditions have been met so I’m fine with the more conservative approach.

I might post about the electroacupuncture experience in case it can benefit anyone who happens upon my blog.

Making good health choices, for me, means to take some time and really think about what I can live with and what I think I can improve with less invasive means, or with less medication. Losing weight is not just helpful to reducing my cholesterol and blood pressure, but it also helps reduce pressure on the pelvic floor.

Metabolic Syndrome

Metabolic syndrome is a side effect of the antipsychotic medication I take. Shortly after starting medication, I rapidly gained weight. Then, I became depressed about how quickly my body changed.

For years, I’ve felt like losing weight on antipsychotic medication is like pushing a boulder up a hill, which is why I studied personal training and nutrition. I don’t have the inclination to coach clients but I do want to use what I’ve learned to live a healthier life. Originally, I was going to blog about my life here and write researched articles on Substack, but I started researching for my book on maternal psychosis and pretty much put the Substack articles to the side for now.

Now that I’m almost 48, I want to take better care of myself. I can give up and keep gaining weight and losing muscle due aging, or I can push myself to be more disciplined. When not taking antipsychotic medication, I have a strong drive to exercise and to be active. But on medication, I’m like the mouse in the experiment model. I stop running on the wheel of life and sit in the corner and eat.

I know I will feel better after exercising, but I don’t get the motivation to exercise anymore. So that means I feel like I have to work really hard to feel good and I’m not always excited about that.

Lately, I worry about getting older and weaker, both mentally and physically, so I am trying to make sure I am active and learning new things and getting some exercise.

Losing weight will reverse the metabolic syndrome and I won’t need cholesterol or blood pressure medication. I don’t take them now, but I want to avoid taking more medication if possible.

Conclusion

A lot has been happening this week. I am starting to feel really good and happy about everything which is really nice. Yesterday, I was pretty chatty and drove my daughter a little crazy. It is nice to feel good and hopeful and to work toward goals that are meaningful to me.

Thanks for reading my thoughts for the day. I hope you have moments of happiness and optimism.