Unexpected Side Effects

I set my alarm last night for 4:20 AM. I didn’t actually plan to get up that early, but it takes me at least three hits of the snooze button before I can drag my butt out of bed. Since I need at least 15 to 20 minutes to get ready to run in the morning, and I have to get the kids out of bed by 6am to get them on the bus at 6:30 (yes, I know that’s cruel), if I want to run four or 5 miles, I have to be out of bed by 4:45 AM.

Based on all this, you can imagine how thrilled I was when the wind woke me up… at 5:20am. 😛 Turns out, I set my alarm for p.m. instead of a.m. When I rolled over and looked at the clock, I was really disheartened. There was no way I was going be able get in five, and probably not even four miles, so the idea of running at all that morning just started to lose its appeal.  And my bed was sooooo warm. So, I reset the alarm for 5:40 and rolled back over.

But then, my brain took over, and I couldn’t go back to sleep. I hated the idea that I was going to miss my Thursday run. As stupid as it sounds, I’ve really come to enjoy the 5am Thursday runs. Mostly, I just love that feeling of sitting at my desk at 8am and knowing that I’ve already run 4 or  even 5 miles that day.

Eventually, my desire to run overcame my desire to sleep, and after a few minutes, I got up, got dressed as quick as I could, and went out to the barn to run.

 

 

I was only able to get in 3.5 miles, but it was still good to run, regardless of how far.  I was pretty damn proud of myself for not giving in to the temptation of my bed!  Looking back on my old life, the one before running and being healthy, I can definitely say that I never thought that I would actually want to get up at 5 o’clock in the morning …to do anything!

In other news, I had my annual doctor’s appointment today. Yeah, that one. 😉  My doc is a female, because I won’t ever have a male OB, and she delivered both my babies.  I love her and she’s awesome. 🙂   I go faithfully every year for my check up, but this year I was actually quite a bit behind.  About six months behind actually (whoops). That meant that she hadn’t seen me in about 18 months, and when she walked into the room, the first thing she said was, “Wow, are you getting skinny!” Which she immediately followed with, “You look great!”*

I’d forgotten that it been so long since she’d see me, and I’ve probably lost another 10 pounds or so since then. Of course, then I had to tell her that I’d also run three half marathons this year. 😀  She was thrilled and congratulated me! Then she pointed out that she could tell that I’ve been working out as well…I was wearing a tank top, and she noticed the size of my biceps. I was kind of surprised at first, because it I’ve been doing strength training for so long (eight months), and no one has said anything, so I assumed it wasn’t noticeable. But of course, she’s a doctor, and I think doctors probably notice things like that more than normal people. To hear her actually comment on it, though, made me feel pretty awesome.  🙂

Then we talked about running some more, and I found out that my OB is actually a triathlete…sweet! She asked me about my eating habits, and she made sure to tell me that I needed to eat a healthy variety of foods, although she added that it looked like I was doing just fine.

She then made a comment about how she wished she could convince many of her other patients to follow the path that I had gone down. She said that it can be frustrating for her as a physician, but that she just tries to keep supporting them and giving them the encouragement they need to lead a healthier lifestyle, in hopes that one day it will sink in. She finished by telling me that I was a great example of how to do it the right way.

By the time I was done with the appointment, I was feeling pretty damn great. 😀 I had kind of forgotten that a byproduct of having a healthier lifestyle is that the doctor’s appointments are actually pretty enjoyable!

And yet, I very distinctly remember a few of the most unpleasant doctor’s appointments I’ve had in the past. One time, in my early 20s, I was meeting with a doctor for the first time after moving into a new area. The doctor was recording all of his notes on a little handheld tape recorder while I was sitting right there. He dictated all kinds of notes about me, about my overall health,  making me sound pretty good (I have been pretty healthy most of my life, except for the weight issue). And then, just when I thought I was doing pretty well, he ended it with, “She could stand to lose a little weight, however.” Right there in front of me! And that wasn’t even when I was at my heaviest. 🙁

The most unpleasant doctor’s appointment I’ve ever had was when I was at my heaviest.  It was, ironically, another OB appointment for an annual checkup. When the exam was done, the doctor handed me a prescription.  When I asked her what it was for, she said she wanted me to have an ultrasound.  I really wasn’t sure why, because she said that I seemed healthy, but she said she just wanted to do an ultrasound of my uterus to be sure.

I took the little prescription paper home to my husband (a paramedic) and handed it to him.

“What does this mean?” I asked. “What is ‘Unable to palpate uterus’?”

My husband looked at the sheet, and then looked up at me matter-of-factly. “It means you have too much girth for her to find your uterus.”

Because I’m both stupid and a glutton for punishment, I prodded on. “But what does that mean? Is something wrong with me?!”

My husband finally just threw up his hands and said, “It means you’re too fat for her to feel your uterus!”

Wow. Talk about an eye-opener.  That doctor’s appointment was one of the first deciding factors in my journey to lose weight for good.

I haven’t really thought about that particular doctor’s appointment in a long time, but I have to say, after leaving the doctor’s office today, I am feeling a heck of a lot better about going to my annual doctor’s appointment than I did back then. I guess that’s just another unforeseen positive side effect of losing weight and being healthy: Not dreading a visit to the doctor’s office. Who knew?! 🙂

If you’re like me, and you’ve had doctor’s appointments like the ones I’ve had in the past, I hope that maybe this post helps you see that there is a real positive benefit to losing weight that has nothing to do with the scale.  I also hope that maybe it helps you find some motivation to have your own surprisingly pleasant doctor’s appointment in the future! 😀

This post is ridiculously devoid of pictures, and because that bothers me immensely ;), I’ll leave you with two pictures I took earlier in the week of my cousin’s cats (to be used as part of her family Christmas card).

 

 

 

Awwwwww…how can you not smile at the Christmas kitty love? 😉

Thanks for reading!!

 

*(Side note: I was so glad she followed it with the positive reinforcement. Because I’m not actually very fond of being called “skinny”. It has a lot of negative connotations, even though I know when people say it, they usually mean well. Now that I’ve been on the receiving end of it enough, I tend to avoid the usage of the word skinny whenever possible.)