Well, darn.

Went to the doc today. Got my insurance all settled and looked over test results from last exam. Everything's good, except that I'm overweight (knew that one) and my blood pressure's high. The latter is what really concerns me -- and I should have picked up on it, as I've been having more headaches again recently, but I didn't. My dad seems to have dodged this bullet (although the tons of various medications he's been on, including blood thinners, etc, could have something to do with it). His mom and dad both had heart problems, though, and Grandmother (and I guess finally Granddad too, come to think of it) died of strokes. I'm scheduled to go in next week and get bloodwork and an EKG done just to make sure there's nothing else going on we need to worry about.

I'm just sort of annoyed, because for all that I adored Grandmother (I used to spend a week with her every summer, and we'd do art projects and whatnot... it was the highlight of my year) I did NOT want to inherit her body and health. I seem to have wound up with it all the same, though. She also struggled with her weight for years, definitely all the time I knew her, though she wore it well. It's occurred to me in the past few years that I look more like her than I had previously considered. Evidently, I might not be wrong, at least on the inside.

In the meantime, though, the following rules are being applied. Some of them I'd already started on. Some of them are new. Some of them I've done before but fallen away from the golden path, and thus must haul my ass back onto it ASAP.

• No more caffiene. I already know it drives up my BP, but I've been blithely ignoring that and having it anyway. This is my first day without. Abandon hope, all ye who enter my office.


• Getting back to the gym. I'd already started on this, and it's already helping my back. My next training appt. is Tuesday morning at "haul-your-ass-out-of-bed"-thirty before work. I've been in to do cardio twice since my last one, and I may go tonight since the kiddos are evidently going to a friend's house and I don't have to pick them up.


• Fix the diet. Again, I'd already started somewhat. Back on Weight Watchers online stuff, and was promptly horrified by how much I was eating. No wonder I inched back up again. I'm endeavoring to fix this, though. Back on the whole grains, proteins, veggies train again. Going to have to start cooking again as well. Bah. Must get more pans, and possibly a food processor (hummus, man. And pita bread. All about the hummus, tomatoes, and pita bread. Damn.).

I hate that I have to work this hard to make my body do what others seem to do naturally. Then again, maybe that's just perception because I don't see what everybody else goes through. (I take that back. I've seen my mom. Why couldn't I have gotten that body instead? It's so unfair.) Ah well. Such is life. Maybe by my birthday I'll have a new size or two down to celebrate and a distinct lack of high blood pressure. It could happen.