The Journey Ahead: Focusing On Health

Happy 2019! I hope you’re having a great start to this new year. And my, oh my, how quickly this first month of the year is already going. In my last post, I talked about some of the changes I’m going through. I have started my journey to a better self and better health and have met some challenges along the way. I was at my heaviest weight around October of last year. Since then, some things have come to my attention that I believe are related to that.

In November, I got a sinus infection that started as a cold. It was difficult to deal with, but something happened to me that I never experienced before. One night, as I started falling asleep, I stopped breathing. It woke me up immediately. I thought maybe it was some bizarre one-time thing, but it kept happening for a good two hours. I have asthma, so I used my inhaler, hoping that it would help.

This happened for three nights, and finally, I had enough.

I went to urgent care.

I was exhausted from not sleeping well, and this symptom was worrisome. They attributed it to asthma, and I thought it would be the end of it once my infection cleared up. It didn’t happen again after I went to urgent care and got some more asthma help along with medicine for my infection.

Fast forward to the beginning of January. I got a cold, and it happened again. This time I didn’t wait, and I went to urgent care again. However, following up with my doctor this week, she thinks it could be sleep apnea.

I’ve never heard of this type of thing with asthma, but the doctor thinks it could be that the illness exasperated the condition and made it more apparent to me. I’m waiting to hear from a pulmonologist to set up a sleep study. Honestly, I’m not looking forward to it. It isn’t the first time I’ve done one, but I am nervous to find out if it could be apnea. I hope that losing weight will help with this problem!

That being said, I met the goal I was hoping to reach as of the new year. Fifteen pounds are gone!

I’m close to reaching the next goal of 20 pounds, and hopefully, by the time this blog is published, I’ll be there. I’ve noticed these last few weeks that my weight loss is slowing down a bit. But, it’s my own fault. I didn’t keep track of what I was eating too well, and I’d eat too much. After one week of this behavior and seeing I didn’t lose much weight, I knew I had to get back on track.

Honestly, this change has been hard to deal with, but it’s because I find myself trying to revert back to behaviors that got me to this place to begin with.

Let’s be real. I like sugary foods.

I like cookies and ice cream.

It’s been hard to give up eating as much of them as I want to, but it’s important to be accountable to myself. No one can change my weight and situation but me. That’s sometimes the best and most difficult thing about it all.

Wish me luck as I continue on.

What are some challenges you have found if you are in the process of losing weight? How did you overcome them? Sound off in the comments below!