As you have all read - I have been thinking a lot about changes lately. AS I went for my lunch time walk, it occured to me how many non-physical changes have come along with my shrinking (fat) and building (muscle) body.
The first I was contemplating was my overall health. A month before my surgery (May, 2008) I went with my (then) little one and my mother out to Seattle to visit my amazing brother, his awesome wife and their gorgeous incredibly smart (second only to my children) son, Jack. Now, when little kids get together, of course, they are going to get sick. And they did. They both got colds, and slowly but surely, each adult came down with it too. When I got it, however, I REALLY got it... I mean, down-for-the-count, sleeping all day, hard time breathing, everything hurt kinda sick. All the other adults got sick, and they were done in a day... me, ugh... At that time, I knew I was the sickest person because I was 365 lbs and my body was work hard just to survive.
Recently, both of my kids came down with a wicked chest cold. My mother in law had an upper respiratory infection, the hubs was hacking up a lung.
I never got sick (of course, now that I am talking about it, I will! LOL)
Now, perhaps these two examples don't have any coorelations. Perhaps I was very unlucky that summer in 2008, and very lucky just recently. I don't know. But I truly feel as though my health and strength have a lot to do with being able to avoid illness.
Another thing I am so impressed with is my resting heart rate. To check your reasting heart rate, find your pulse after you've been relaxing for at least 5-10 minutes, or first thing in the morning. Watch a stop-watch or a clock and count the beat of your pulse for 30 seconds. Multiple that number by 2 and that is your resting heart rate. Then, check out a site like this to find where yours falls.
My resting heart rate is consistantly in the low 50's. By the chart, it's listed at "athletic"... lol, now, I don't think of myself as an athlete, but I am very proud of this! I have no comparison, because I have no idea what my resting heart rate was when I was morbidly obese... but I am SURE it wasn't anywhere NEAR athletic!
These are the things I need to remind myself when I step on the scale and it doesn't say what I want it to, or when I look in the mirror and only see my IFG (Inner Fat Girl)... things have changed in many, many ways....
That's great to hear! And definitely need to try out that resting heart rate site...we had to learn how to use Peak Flow Meters a few months ago (asthmatics use them to track their progress, measures lung output), and mine was off the chart - great to see that hauling all my mass out on evening runs was having a positive effect, other than sore knees!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post. I love hearing about non weight-related goals. Dr. Oz has a 30 spot on talk radio every morning and just yesterday he was discussing heart rate and how important it is to our overall well-being. He said that one should aim for a resting heart rate of 90 or under. You should be very proud that yours is in the 50's - that is amazing!
ReplyDeletebtw, this photo of you all dressed up on the right side of your blog? You look drop-dead gorgeous!