I have been in size denial for quite some time trying to put my 155-pound body into some 125-pound jeans. Yes, size denial! I have been talking about my Size 3 clothes-wearing days as if I just put on weight in the last few months. The lies. But, the one thing I can’t do is lie and deny to myself.
In actuality, I had started putting on these pounds about ten years ago, right into my 40th decade. I was holding fast to my youth mentality and entered a mode that I didn’t realize would be hard to reverse. Metabolism fast changing, I was drinking wine daily, eating junk with no regard, and barely ever exercising. Those habits reshaped me, literally and figuratively, into a physical appearance that I never imagined and made me uncomfortable in my own skin.
Although I am not a big eater, that did not halt the fat impact. Baby, I can throw back a good bottle of wine; add good people, great conversation, and some music, hell, I could sip through two bottles with ease.
Throughout the last decade, life has happened, as it has for a lot of us, in ways I have never imagined: good, bad, and indifferent. I have fought the battle and by God’s grace survived cancer among numerous other living events. Of course, during chemotherapy, I lost quite a bit of weight. But, as proven true, old habits die hard. I packed on more weight than ever. For my small stature, 155 pounds, my current weight, is too much to bear. Along with that, being overweight increases the chances of a multitude of health risks: diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and a host of other ailments and diseases. I was diagnosed with high blood pressure in 2013 and have been on medication since that time. Yet and still, I took my medication but kept wining, if you will.
I am guilty of incorporating drinking into any social plan for hanging out with friends. We’re always, “Girl, we have to have a drink to talk about this,” or “Girl, I’m going to need a drink after that.” I have, in the past, mentioned getting together with girlfriends to walk, but never followed through with it. When it comes to meeting for drinks, though, I have, more times than none, followed through.
The only time that I have followed through on doing something in the realm of GOOD health, as of late, is when my sister-in-law coerced me to join her at The Stairs at Swallow Cliff Forest Preserve in Palos Hills, Illinois to walk the trail and climb the 125 uneven stairs. I haven’t kept a promise to join her again, but the times we did, the challenge was no joke, the struggle was real, and all said and done, I felt accomplished and inspired.
My sister-in-law, unlike me, incorporates exercise into gathering with friends and family. She even started a Facebook group to help others benefit getting fit. Now, that’s love and unselfishness.
I’m sure after reading all of that, you’re trying to figure out why I’m writing about this now. Are you?
I titled this, “How you doin’, Suga?” because I want to know, How is your sugar, Suga?
After receiving the results from my recent complete-blood workup, I was informed to watch my sweets. I’m like, “Yeah, yeah; but I don’t have diabetes,” smart-ass thought.
Genetically, I am extremely high risk for diabetes. It runs rampant maternally, paternally, and in the middle. Yesterday, while drinking a pop and downing a pizza, I was watching an old stand-up special of Tracy Morgan, 2010. Something he said, repeatedly, resonated with me, “Don’t get diabetes.” It stuck with me throughout the night.
Today, July 1, 2019, I made a conscious decision to not get diabetes. I got up this morning and simply, while watching television, walked back and forth, from wall to wall, for 30 minutes in my small office. I also repeated my new exercise mantra, “I will fight Diabetes!” This is necessary and doable. I am encouraging you to join the fight.
An older, fit lady told me last week, “Just keep moving!” That means, whatever you can do, even for 15 to 30 minutes in your day to get your heart rate up and your body doing something, Do it! It can be that simple. Turn on your favorite upbeat song or two and dance to and through it. Walk in place while watching TV taking breaks during commercials. Do leg and arm raises while sitting; add weights. Push a box with books in it across the room, to and fro. If you have exercise equipment, get on it and peruse social media or play your favorite game. “Just keep moving!”
My sister-in-law brings her friends and family together to walk, talk, and exercise. Be like my sister-in-law! Always be in the fight of prevention. “Just keep moving.”