I’m on a new leg of my health journey. I haven’t talked about this much online up until now, but I’ve lost 26 pounds over the last three months.
I’d been steadily gaining a bunch of weight throughout perimenopause, though I hadn’t really changed my diet much. My amazing doctor retired a couple of years ago, and I hadn’t found a new one yet, plus I felt fine and wasn’t sick, so I didn’t address it for a while.
In November I found a wonderful new doctor, and when my cholesterol numbers came up high, she offered to help me lower them, and lose the pounds I’d wanted to lose. I’ve been using the Noom app, which I find super helpful, and my son and his fiancée got me a FitBit for Christmas, so I’ve been tracking my steps and exercise. I’m also doing intermittent fasting.
I have 40 pounds left to lose to reach my target weight.
It’s actually been quite easy so far, and feels great. I think I was ready. I finally entered full menopause (thank Goddess!), and I’ve been doing daily yoga for over a year now. I’ve been experimenting with the intermittent fasting for a while, too (if you’re in a female body, I highly recommend reading Fast Like a Girl by Dr. Mindy Pelz). I’ve also been doing lots of Shadow Work and spiritual exploration that supports the mindset part of this process.
If you’re curious, I’m tracking calories and I’m eating a mostly vegetarian (and much of it vegan) diet. I do eat fish and seafood, once a week or so, mainly for the Omega-3s. I’m already quite low-dairy due to lactose intolerance, and I probably eat eggs once per week or so as well. I’ve been eating mostly vegetarian for decades now, which I prefer, but recently I’ve also eliminated fried foods like French fries and chips, and have cut back on bread and sugary treats significantly.
I’m sharing this in case it will inspire anyone who’s ready to make a change. If this is you, feel free to reach out. Being the confirmed bookwyrm I am, I have some other books to recommend for you if menopause and/or weight loss are things you want to learn more about. If not, read on and as usual in these Starcat’s Favorites posts, I’ll share my recent finds on the web.
Oh, and I’m not going to share a photo of the lighter me yet – only because I don’t have a good one – but here are pictures of the meals I’ve been creating and prepping today:
- vegan and gluten-free lasagna (the noodles are thinly sliced zucchini).
- Atlantic Salmon with dill and cilantro, brown rice, and peas & carrots (I had kimchi with mine)
- vegetarian enchiladas (some are light on the cheese)
- salsa and guacamole
Now, as promised, the links:
Looking for some ideas on how to work with astrology and your chart? I love this article from Chani’s website about how to engage with it on a daily basis. I have her app and it’s great.
Lately I’ve been using this page of journaling prompts centering on abundance.
Another valuable abundance-related post is this one on creating multiple streams of revenue.
I have the book The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese on my shelf and plan to read it soon, so I’m saving this discussion guide. Have you heard of this book? Have you read it yet? I’ve heard good things about it.
This article, Ten Tips on Writing Race in Novels, is coming in handy for the contemporary fantasy series I’m working on currently.
What are you up to lately?
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