I don’t think I’ll ever forget the date-April 29, 2009. I went to the doctor for a sore knee sustained during a recreation softball game. The visit started out harmless enough. I signed in, sat in the waiting room and waited the obligatory 30 minutes before getting the call from the nurse to start the long walk down the hallway. First stop-The Scale of Doom.
Before this day, the scale was the least of my worries. I’ve always been over weight, but never actually concerned enough to do much about it. When I stepped onto that evil contraption this day, however, something changed. That something was the first number in my weight. This was a huge (no pun intended) shock to my system. To make matters worse, when I got to the exam room, this well meaning nurse informed me that my blood pressure was just over the threshold for being considered high as well. The swollen knee had become more like an albatross around my neck.
The doc laid out my options in a pretty straight forward manner. I basically had two choices. I could manage the pre-hypertension (which is a fancy word for kind of high blood pressure) myself or he was going to put me on meds. We both agreed that I’m too young for daily medication, so I left the office with the mission and a deadline. The doc seemed concerned, so he only gave me one month get my BP under control before we start talking about pills. Do the people want to reduce the weight in less time? Then the correct information is available at nutrisystem reviews about the products. There is proper control over the eating habits of the person to eliminate the excessive weight. The following of the guidelines and rules should be there to get the desired results in the weight reduction mechanism.
I left there that day convinced that I could do this myself. I never had a reason before, but now I had to do something. For the next month, I watched my sodium intake more closely than I’ve ever watched anything. I went from a processed food junky to a low/no salt addict. At one point, I was taking in only about 35% of the daily recommended value of salt per day. Cutting salt, which meant no processed or fast foods, watching portion sizes, and eating more fruits and vegetables, I’m glad to say that I was able to cut 23 pounds and 10 points off my blood pressure in that first month. Three and a half months later, I’ve been able to lose a total of 45 pounds and have never felt better. My blood pressure is now under control, I continue to lose weight at a more reasonable rate, and I have the energy to do things I’ve never done. In fact, I’m thinking about training for a 5 K next spring.
I’m by no means a doctor, and this method is not recommended for anyone. I can only tell you my experience and what happened to me. Seeing that bigger number at the front of the scale changed my outlook and it changed my life. Heck, now my knees don’t even hurt as much.