I just got my bloodwork done as part of my yearly physical and it has completely jumpstarted my motivation!

I've put on a lot of weight over the past year and only just recently (like 2 weeks ago) started keeping track of calories and exercising. I had been dreading this physical for months after a very stressful and unhealthy winter/spring packing on about 20 extra pounds when I was already overweight. I was assuming all my cholesterol levels would have climbed and I was even panicking about the potential of prediabetes. I was super close to rescheduling just so I could put off facing the realities of my health for a few more months. But I'm so glad I didn't!

I was SHOCKED to see that most of my levels had either stayed the same or dropped very slightly. I feel extremely lucky for that but more importantly I feel like a fire has been lit under my feet to really get my health in order. Actually staring my blood pressure, cholesterol, a1c, etc. in the face and reading about what they mean felt extremely helpful.

Rather than panicking and stressing out about how bad my health is, now I actually know where I'm at and have something to measure up against in a year to see myself improve. And researching how important all these numbers are has given me a completely fresh motivation! Before, I just wanted to lose weight to look better, feel stronger, and because I knew I should "be healthier". But now I feel laser focused on my health because I want my heart to function properly! I want to live a long time and not worry about heart attacks or my body's ability to produce insulin! Somehow that clicked in my brain in a way manufacturing weight loss motivation never has for me in the past. Sure I knew that a better diet and exercise would help those things, but seeing concrete evidence of where I'm at versus where I should be has made all the difference in my mind.

tl;dr: After stressing about seeing my cholesterol, glucose, a1c, etc. levels at my annual physical, it actually gave me fresh motivation to lose weight, beyond just looking better. I thought I would share in case anyone else struggled with motivation or had fears of getting bad news at a physical, to encourage you to go ahead and schedule one. It might just make all the difference, and will at least give you another way to track long term progress that isn't just the scale!

submitted by /u/cyclops55
[link] [comments]

from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/2REWwbe