If I had written this post a couple of hours ago, it would have been much different.
I don't know what the deal was with my mood yesterday, but my anxiety went sky-high on Monday night and remained that way all day yesterday. I can feel it starting to come back down now, but dealing with anxiety like that for such a long time period is mentally exhausting.
This week only showed me that in order for me to thrive at all, I need routine. (This is nothing new.) Having a routine helps me tremendously when it comes to diet and exercise, but also to most other parts of my life. I've always wanted to be a "go with the flow" person (like Jerry) but I am the opposite--I like to know all the details about everything. And of course, I have to overthink it all!
Just about every week, I mention that I need to get back in the habit of breakfast, lunch, dinner, and possible evening snack every day; right now, I've been terrible about eating whatever, whenever, wherever. I won't get into that yet again, because I have said it a million times and I just haven't *done it already* ("it" being eating on a schedule).
I ate terribly this week. Poor choices, too much food, snacking, etc. I thought for sure I'd gained 10 pounds, but thankfully, I was only up one pound on the scale:
I realized today that I only have a couple of months until my annual physical with my primary care doctor. I can't believe it's been almost a year! I had been really excited to see my lipid profile (since I'd been eating vegan for about seven months at that point) to compare to the previous profile. I also wanted to get my ferritin checked (and I'm so glad I did!). Now, I'm excited for those things again.
There is something really motivating to me about going to get a physical. I want my health numbers to be as good as possible, especially since becoming vegan. Since I've strayed away from some of the habits that were super helpful to me last year, I'm going to try to get back to them--the biggest one being eating a lot of fiber. I put a lot of focus on fiber and I was eating healthier than ever. I also want to get back to a routine with my meals (and cook new recipes).
Finally, last week I said that my only goal for the week was to go for a single run. That's it! Well, as of noon today, do you think I went for a run yet? I was already writing this post in my head, about how I'd failed that one simple task.
Then I thought about how it wasn't too late--I could go run and then I'd be able to say on my post that I DID IT. Also, I am starting the Jeff Galloway method of running (run/walk). I set my Garmin for run/walk intervals (90 seconds running, 30 seconds walking). I felt guilty not taking Joey with me, so I grabbed his leash and we headed out.
I may save my running recaps for a weekly post (it just depends on if I actually stick with it!) so I won't get too detailed here. But we ran 30 minutes (15 repeats)--a total of 2.3 miles. I like the run/walking, but I felt like the time went by much more slowly that way! It's definitely less intimidating than choosing to go for a run, though.
As far as a goal for next week, I think I'm just going to really focus on eating regular meals--the routine will help my anxiety for sure.
Whew! So glad your anxiety is reducing. That's so painful and yes, exhausting. Also, congrats on going for a run. Run/walk/run has been so helpful to me. I hope you can embrace it. I find it fun to play with intervals to see which one works when and I love having both an interval timer on my Garmin watch and a GymBoss timer so I can use one or the other. I mostly rely on my Garmin now that I've figured out it can change intervals mid-run, but the GymBoss was great way to begin. Big hugs always.
ReplyDeleteI think I'll probably play with my intervals, too, so that it doesn't feel so long to me. I only ran for 30 minutes, but it felt so much longer than when I straight-run the whole thing instead of run/walk/run. I'm very curious how you can change intervals mid-run on your Garmin, though!
DeleteI got this book out of the library the other day: Better Than Vegan by Del Sroufe. Have you heard of him? He wrote the Forks Over Knives Cookbook and I'm finding this book really interesting. Apparently on a vegan diet he got up to his highest weight, and realized he had to change some things, that just being vegan does not equal healthy. I can definitely relate, as I got up to my highest weight while on a vegan diet, and while I managed to lose most of the weight, I'm looking to optimize my way of eating.
ReplyDeleteI can absolutely see how it would be easy to gain weight as a vegan! There are so many vegan junk foods and convenience foods that you can eat just as poorly on a vegan diet as you can on an omni diet. I try my best to eat as healthy as I can, and it's certainly better than ever before. But still, I have days (or even weeks) where I know I need to make some changes. I'm curious about the book!
DeleteI'm not sure about the recipes; I've seen better ones on other websites, especially Krocks in the Kitchen, but the intro is well worth a read!
DeleteHas your psychiatrist given you anything to take as needed for anxiety? I have GAD and other things and I take an antidepressant and buspirone daily. But I also have something to take for episodes of acute anxiety. It really helps when I feel like I'm about to spiral out. In fact, I took one yesterday when work was getting crazy and I couldn't focus due to anxiety. Then I went to Costco last night and I was like wow, it's awesome to shop on Wednesday night! Relaxing even! And then I remembered I took my anti-anxiety pill, LOL.
ReplyDeleteI do have anxiety medication, thankfully, but meds don't seem to help me (even when taking a dose intended for panic attacks). When my psychiatrist and I talked about changing it up, he suggested the the book, "When Panic Attacks"--it's about using cognitive behavioral therapy to "cure" anxiety, since medication only works in part of the population. It gave me a lot of hope! I just have to do the exercises, which cause a ton of anxiety themselves, hahaha.
DeleteHave you tried writing your schedule out in a planner as a way of staying on a schedule? Sort of like to dos, but just check boxes of stuff that happens at certain times. Schedule lunch and schedule a run. That can help to put a stopping point on a project if you have something on the schedule. I set my Alexa for notifications for my schedule throughout the day, but you can use a phone too.
ReplyDeleteIt's such an obvious answer, but I actually have never stayed on top of doing it! Since I *love* lists, you'd think I'd have been all over that by now. Maybe I'll buy a cute planner to help motivate me ;)
DeleteI feel like my Alexa motivates me because it's like having a boss tell me what to do. Lol!
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