I’ve become a little obsessed with taking my blood pressure. My little Omron machine has been attached at my hip for the past 8 days. I have to take the machine into my doctor next week who is looking to see how my pressure is doing. As I told my husband, that little machine is stressing me out — so much that it’s elevating my blood pressure even more. I take my blood pressure during the night. I sneak into the bathroom and chant  ”stay under 85, stay under 85″ and 93 shows up. ARGH!

For the first time in a month, I felt normal after a hard workout (heart rate didn’t go over 128. Normally it’s up to 170). And for the first time in two weeks, I forgot to take my machine to the gym with me. Oops!

Today I went to the store. I was tasked to get foods that fit the food pyramid. You see, if you follow the food pyramid, you’ll lower your blood pressure and maybe lose weight. Who knew? (I’m kidding here).  So I shopped the outer perimeter of the grocery store. I stayed away from the donuts. In my basket were bananas, cuties, carrots, sugar snap peas, whole wheat bread, mini bagels and orange juice with pulp. BORING.  This week features meals involving less salt and more fresh foods. Yay, I’m so excited. NOT.

My friend Jen is an inspiration. She’s recently has lost 30 lbs in the past year just running. I know if she can do it, I can. It wasn’t that hard – she got me running. I just have to run more. The hard part is finding the time and creating a routine. So, I’m going to hit the running hard once I am cleared to do so.

The other thing is I want the medication to be temporary. My mother and grandmother both suffer(ed) from high blood pressure. I didn’t know my grandma had this problem until I told her I had high blood pressure. She won’t watch her diet because she’s 86 (nice excuse) so she doesn’t mind taking medication but I do. I don’t want to be popping pills for something I can prevent. I owe that to my son and husband.

Of course, my husband and son are going to suffer. South Beach Diet cookbook, here I come.

Tags | marylu project, nablopomo