Beauty, Mind & Fitness

7 Days and Counting

Happy one-week anniversary to me!  Seven days of no alcohol.  I’m so proud.  Some people may be thinking ‘big whoop’ but my habit of weekend drinking is years old.  Not buying any wine, with my weekly grocery, felt alien.  Not having a glass of wine, on a Friday night, after a long week was just odd.

I miss it.  I don’t miss the next morning’s foggy feeling though.  Will push on…

One bottle of wine, is 10 units of alcohol; I usually have two bottles over a weekend so I regularly consume, over the advised, 14 units per week limit.

That point came up in my health check.  Alongside, my rather generous BMI and my shockingly elevated cholesterol.  What have I been doing??

I left with a print out, detailing the benefits of a low fat diet and walked, with shame, to my car.  The nurse was very happy, that she didn’t have to nag me about smoking as I quit that five years ago.  Small steps of progress.

My BMI is at the top of the healthy range.  3.5 kilos is the amount they advise I shed.  My cholesterol is 5.9.  It should be below 5.  Not classed as high but I’m not heading in a great direction either.

I am taking action.  No more chocolate, cheese or wine.  Have purchased more fruit, both fresh and dried, plus mixed nuts to replace all of my snacks.  I WILL NO LONGER EAT MY DAUGHTERS LEFTOVERS!

Unlike previous resolutions, made with the best intentions, this feels different.  Nothing like a health warning, to give you a kick up the ass.  I look back and laugh at most of my previous ‘New Year, New Me’ promises:

  • Join a gym – I just about make it through January before quitting
  • Go Running – Hate it.  It’s cheap. It’s trendy but I just can’t hack the boredom of it.
  • Stop Smoking – I stopped smoking on a random day in November 2013.  No pressure.  No big announcement.  It was my time to quit so I did
  • Do one thing every day that scares you – Even as I write that pretentious tripe, I want to tell myself to piss off!
  • Find my passion – Seriously…I think, write and say this shit.  Still searching…

Being a parent to a young child, also makes me want to take this health check seriously.  I want to be a healthy mum.  I can and do keep up with my manic toddler.  I want to keep doing that and more.  I read an article about Parenting in Your 40s.  Many comments were so negative.  Stating that they didn’t have the energy anymore and couldn’t think of anything worse, than having young kids at this age.  It was time to chill out, enjoy some alone time, peace and quiet etc.

That scares me.  I want to and have the energy.  If I didn’t have my daughter, I would still want and have the energy.  Chilling out is great but not 7 days a week.  Time to be alone and have peace is awesome but give me laughter and chaos any day.

I am surrounded by friends stressed to their eyeballs at work.   Deadlines, reports, spreadsheets, company restructures, stock market fluctuations.  Then there is the politics, the office hero, the department bully, the lazy colleague, the stirrer and the constant reminders of KPI’s, agendas and how many seconds a call needs to be answered in.  Good God.  I have more energy now than ever before but I don’t have the heart for any of that!

I took my girl to the park today.  We enjoyed a walk in the winter sunshine. We played with kinetic sand.  Danced around wildly to loud music and laughed.

I miss chocolate, cheese and wine but I want to keep being a healthy mum.   I want to stay well for me so I can stay well for her.  I can’t predict the future but I can control certain things about my health; it’s a start.

7 days in and all is well.

 

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