Week 26 of Healthier Living in 2015

7/15/2015
For week 26: 7/8 - 7/15/2015
Weigh in Weight: 161.2 lbs
Previous weigh in weight for 7/8: 161.2 lbs gain of 0 lbs

Well it looks like I made it half way through my year long journey of healthier living in 2015.  It has not been easy.  I have prayed many times about why I even started this whole thing in the first place.  This journey has been a blessing and a curse.

The blessings of this journey are:
1) feelings of accomplishment when I complete a goal I set for myself
2) being healthier physically, emotionally and mentally or working on ways to be healthier in these areas
3) persistence and resilience through tough weeks when I have wanted to quit
4) prayer and deepening my understanding of my faith.  This kind of year long journey is not for the weak and I pray often to God to keep me going on this path to living a healthier and more meaningful lifestyle.

The curses of this journey are:
1) remembering and making the time to blog weekly about how I'm doing with my goals and in general during the previous week
2) sometimes it feels like just one more thing I have to do each week.  There are some weeks that I barely have time to think about myself because my husband has a lot going on and I have to take care of my extremely active toddler son.
3) to expand on #2, I get overwhelmed by the whole thing and sometimes I just don't feel like blogging one week.  I am getting better about it though, especially since we aren't travelling as much right now.

Looking now and the blessings and curses of this process, I see that there are far more blessings and benefits, which propel me to continue on this crazy year long journey I set for myself back in January.

On Friday, July 10th, I took the 1 hour glucose test to determine if I have gestational diabetes again.  I failed that one and went in again on Monday, July 13th to take the 3 hour test.  And since I am not posting this blog like I should have on Wednesday, I can write here that yesterday, Thursday, July 16th, I got a call that I was being referred to a diabetes specialist because I have gestational diabetes.

I am upset of course; not so much about the diet and exercise part.  I will have to write down everything I eat thereby counting my carbs.  It's a pain in the ass, but nothing compared to having to check my blood and possibly have to do insulin with it again.  That was the worst part, the shots several times a day.

And so, I now wait to find out when my appointment with the specialist will and figure out the best course of action to get me and baby through the rest of this pregnancy in a healthy way physically, emotionally and mentally.

As for my goals for week 26, I accomplished all of them to the best of my ability.  I worked on and completed all of my concrete goals for writing in my journal at least twice during the week, I filled half my plate at meals with fruits and/or vegetables and I started planning and working on some side projects that will hopefully bring in some extra money to our household.  I need to work on eating healthier snacks mid-morning and in the afternoon, but now that I will be put on a special diet, I won't have any other option.  One good thing about gestational diabetes is the specific diet that baby and I are going to be on.  It helps us maintain healthy weights as well as forces us to have only healthy food and watch portion sizes.

I really want to get back into speed walking on the treadmill while watching episodes of General Hospital again.  It has been months since I have been able to do it, either because I wasn't feeling well earlier in my pregnancy or because we have been so busy.  I do have the option of getting up really early in the morning and working out then, or waiting until later at night after my son goes to bed to work out, but I value my sleep too much to give it up.  One of these days I am going to kick my husband and son out of the house by 10am and do my speed walking.  I need to start getting some really good sweat exercising in, especially now with my gestational diabetes.  Again, it sucks having it, but in a way it is also a blessing because it is going to force my family and I to make exercising and diet a priority again.  For almost 2 months it has gone by the wayside because of many different reasons, all excuses and poor at that for the most part.  So now we have to change our way of thinking again and make it a priority for all of us.  In the end, it will be a very good thing.

Life is certainly one crazy journey and I have added to it with my healthier living year long journey in 2015.  I will continue on this journey with the blessings and the curses.  Until next time, Keep on keeping on!

Goals for week 27:  7/15 - 7/22/2015
1) Write in my journal at least once a week
2) Speed walking on the treadmill at least once during the week
3) Make sure to drink at least 80 oz of water a day
4) Meet with a diabetes specialist and come up with a reasonable plan for the rest of my pregnancy that will be healthy for baby and I physically, emotionally and mentally