I never look back, darling, it distracts from the now...

So I realize that this blog has been dead for almost a year now.

I was really distracted by shiny objects.

Yup...that's about right.

I'll be honest. Part of me had given up when I saw I wasn't making a whole lot of progress. My weight and measurements kept fluctuating like crazy. Even when I was doing 'good', I wasn't seeing a whole lot of change.

To add to it, life for the past year has been: 

Stupid psycho life-mermaid...

The MIT program ended up not working out, and I had to drop it before I did a lot of damage to my GPA. So the past year has been spent working whatever job I could find while trying to figure out a new career path. I don't want to be stuck working retail the rest of my life. 

However, my current job and recent events renewed my want to get 'Disney Princess' Fit.

Like "Training to beat the Huns" fit, not "Oh dear god where is my waist" fit. 

My current job is in a cafeteria. Which means early hours, heavy lifting, and a LOT of running around.

Okay...maybe a biiiiit faster than that. When I first started this blog, I was averaging about 3000 steps per day. The ideal is about 10,000. At my new job, I generally do 3000 steps just getting everything ready in the FIRST HOUR of work. By the end of the day, I'm usually sitting around 9-10k. 

Today marks the beginning of my fourth week there, and already I've lost nearly 10 lbs. I'm down to 300.3 as of this afternoon. 

And I really do need to get back on track with weight loss. On Thursday I had a little bit of a health scare. My blood pressure had spiked dangerously high. When I checked it at home, it was 165/108 When I went to Urgent Care (for those unfamiliar with it, its not the ER. It's more like a walk-in health clinic. Great for things that either can't wait to be seen by your regular doctor that aren't an emergency, or if you're like me and don't have insurance), my blood pressure was 140/95. Apparently that was the LOWEST reading they'd ever had from me in the almost 3 years I've been going to them.

So we're gonna pause here for a quick lesson on blood pressure. Especially since a lot of people I know have no idea how to read it or what it means.

Blood pressure is always read "some number OVER some number". The top number represents your SYSTOLIC blood pressure: how much pressure your heart puts on your artery walls every time it beats. The bottom number is your DIASTOLIC blood pressure:  how much pressure there is BETWEEN beats.

A healthy blood pressure reading is between 90-120 for Systolic, and 60-80 for the Diastolic. Anything below the lower end of those numbers is considered LOW blood pressure: which isn't a good thing. Anything higher than the higher end can be classed as pre-hypertension, hypertension, or hypertensive crisis, depending on the severity.

It only takes ONE of those two values being consistently too high to be diagnosed with high blood pressure. And constant high blood pressure can cause damage to your heart and organs. The scariest part is, there really aren't any noticeable symptoms of high blood pressure until you're in the danger zone. It's called a 'silent killer' because most people don't realize they HAVE high blood pressure.

Most symptoms don't show up until you're in hypertensive crisis or close to it:

• headaches
• fatigue
• vision problems
• chest pain
• difficulty breathing
• irregular heartbeat
• pounding in chest, neck or ears

I didn't start realizing something was wrong until someone pointed out that my face was REALLY red, and that I was feeling very tired and disoriented. That was probably when it was at its highest. 

Blood pressure CAN be managed with diet and exercise. Limiting your intake of sodium and caffeine helps. And its not like you have to give up everything you love to do it. Limit the processed crap, look for low sodium/no salt added products, and have foods handy that can help bring it down (bananas, dark chocolate {in moderation, and I mean DARK...like 60% or higher. Ghiradelli makes really good dark chocolate}, spinach, blueberries, etc). Medication can sometimes be prescribed to help regulate it (like in my case). But I'm hoping getting into shape will also help me reach a point where I don't NEED meds anymore.

So next time you see one of those blood pressure cuffs in your local grocery store? Maybe take a minute to give it a whirl. It could save your life.

Blood pressure information courtesy of: American Heart Association