This year has been really bad for consistency, huh? I really wanted to post one to two things a week on here, but it’s been over a month since my last one. Part of it has been the fact that it’s a pandemic and every day almost feels the same. The other part of it is health stuff. Let’s catch up and get personal.
First off, Happy NaNoWriMo. I barely have 3,000 words written, but I have plenty of time to get 47,000 more by November 30, right? Eh, either way I’m glad to be writing again, even if it is just a little bit.
In the beginning of October I went to the doctor for a physical for the first time since college. We talked about my weight (totally expected as I have been in the same BMI range for the past couple years) and other normal doctor things. Then, they gave me a questionnaire that I have never seen before. It asked about my sleep and productivity and general mental health things. As it happens, my score on that was pretty high which meant I have anxiety and depression. It’s not severe, but it was enough to make me disengaged from work and other things.
Disclaimer: the only person I have talked to other than my doctor about how I had been feeling was Taylor. He was the one who pushed me to make an appointment. I am not currently going to therapy as I feel like the doctor’s course of action is currently working.
I kind of always felt like I had anxiety, but it was manageable and I did not want to self diagnose myself. The pandemic and working from home exasperated the symptoms. Depression was a surprise. Yes, I have low days, but I never thought it was anything more than that until now. The doctor put me on setraline, and it has made things better overall.
A month after starting the medication, I had a follow up to go over results of blood work and to see how the low dose was working. Good news: all my tests were normal. I was kind of worried about the pre-diabetic one because of my obese BMI, but everything is fine. My hopes of my lack of weight loss despite going to Orange Theory and watching what I eat being health related was dashed though. My body just likes holding on to all the bad stuff.
And here is where the total 100% transparency starts. Some of you may follow my weight loss journey Instagram @mariebee_getshealthy. If you do, you have seen endless posts of OTF results and my monthly fitness pages from my planner. You know that all, if any, of my progress has been at a snail’s pace. November’s going to look a lot different.
The doctor and I talked about future plans and how I was concerned my weight would negatively affect those plans. As a jump start, she prescribed me phentermine. It is a drug that is supposed to help you burn fat while giving you energy and suppressing your appetite. I am on day 9 of taking half a pill – I go up to a full pill next week – and I am averaging weight loss of 1/2 pound a day. So, if it looks like November is a lie, I can promise you it’s not. I’m just “cheating” (I say this because I sometimes feel weird about using a medication for weight loss. It’s not the average avenue).
Now, this is a controlled substance. I had to get a EKG done before the doctor could prescribe it, and I have to do follow up appointments every month. There is a limit of three months that I can be on this medication. My goal while on it is to learn better eating habits. While I was watching what I was eating before, I was not accurately keeping track of my calorie intake vs outtake. Now, I am not craving snacks throughout the day and it is easier to portion control as I am not as hungry. If I can keep that up after all this is done, then I will be happy. This is just a push in the right direction.
Also, my water in take has tripled. The medications dry me out so bad that one day I thought I was getting a sinus infection. Turned out I was just dehydrated. Yay!
So, that’s what you missed in the past month. I can make no promises that I will get better at posting consistently. I will try. I hope you all are having a good NaNoWriMo!
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