health

I have navigated the roads of a healthy lifestyle for over 20 years. It has been filled with its ups and downs.

Remember the days when you could eat anything, not exercise and not gain a pound? The joys of being a teenager with a fast metabolism. Then you get older, metabolism slows, you start packing on the pounds and next thing you know you are over 150lbs at only 5ft 2.5inches.

When I looked at myself in the mirror during those times, I hated what I saw. I tried everything I could, from diet fads, exercise programs guaranteed to get results and diet pills, before there was Ozempic. My brain could not seem to comprehend that I hadn’t packed on this weight in a day, therefore it wasn’t going to come off in one.

I developed an unhealthy obsession with the scale. Every time I stepped on it and didn’t see the results I wanted, I spiraled into self-sabotage mode. Stopping all exercise and going back to old eating habits.

I needed to retrain my brain…to not compare my journey to someone else’s. I also needed to stop listening to all that fitness noise that was out there. It can be deafening, with their never miss a Monday and treating fitness as a one size all mentality.

It’s not a one size all, what works for someone else, doesn’t mean it is going to work for me.

When we change the way, we look at things, it has a way of clicking into place. I ditched the scale fully, a few years ago. I don’t deny my body of cravings I might have. I also don’t work out 7 days a week for hours on end. There is no judgement if that is your thing, it’s just not me. And most importantly I stopped beating myself up for every time I missed a workout or gave into a craving.

I focus on healthy habits…I am not looking to meet quotas, just to be the healthiest version of myself.

You know the moment you feel like you’re going crazy?? That is what it is like once you enter perimenopause.

In the beginning my symptoms were subtle…like a slight decline in my period. And then over time they become more and more prenounced.

I started forgetting words that a toddler could remember or why I walked into a room in the first place. Hot flashes….more like cold flashes. I for the life of me at most moments am always cold. Like bone chilling cold. It was worse in the winter, to the point I would be wrapped in 3 blankets, have a heating pad on and still be cold. Honestly, there probably could have been a warm body laying on top of me and I still would have not been able to shake the chill. Anger…irritation, used to sit at like a solid 10, now I multiple that by like a 1000. If you think your chewing annoyed me before, imagine what it is like now. Hell, if you breath wrong, I’m secretly plotting your murder in my head and how I am going to get away with it.

Don’t even get me started on sleep. You either have moments where you can’t fall asleep or you fall asleep and are up at what I call the witching hour between 1am and 4am. And it doesn’t know what day it is, like if it’s a weekend and you could sleep in, nor does it care because it is not a care bear. I used to go to bed at 10pm, I now go to bed at 7pm, to offset the lack of sleep I am going to get, like today when I have been up since 1am and will most likely need toothpicks to keep my eyelids open at work.

Now you think…. I can just go to my doctor, and they will tell you….no you’re not crazy, it absolutely is perimenopause….WRONG!! What you are going to get is that yes, that possibly could be a sign of perimenopause. Along with probably 100 other things it could be. They offered medication, if it was to a point where I felt like I just could not deal, I declined.

I have no judgment towards those that need the medication, especially if it allows you to function, but for the most part I am still a semi-functioning adult.

If you have just entered perimenopause, know that you are not alone or crazy. Welcome to the club, grab a broom, we ride at 1am!!!