Choosing health

 Assalamu aleikum wa rahmatullah all :) how are u today?

I've been fine and happy (oh my days please say ma sha Allah :D), alhamdulillah. I feel better and healthy again. Today we did a home workout with hubby, then he left to do his things and I stayed home cooking, and relaxing too. Our turtle was on a little walk too. He has been kinda sleepy, all he does is eat and sleep under the warming lamp. Maybe his timing for the brumation wasn't optimal, he went to sleep so early and woke up already in January, so it wasn't Spring yet. But just a few weeks in sha Allah, we will be in a new place with new places to explore. Generally I think Suttis is more of an enduring spirit, he can handle changes pretty well, especially if it's leveling up. He doesn't care about loud noises or cold corners where he likes to sleep.. He settled down here so well, so in sha Allah he will be ok in the new apartment too. :)

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I wanted to chat a bit about my weight loss journey. Yes, it might sound cringe but it's a journey and that's it. A journey with different paths, uphill and downhill, rocks on the road and sunshine too. So anyways, I've been on a diet for a while now, and have been working out more. I don't take my diet nor the workout so strictly, because I don't want either to be a stressful thing, I just want to feel better and healthier.

I have high cholesterol levels, nothing drastic but it can develop to be more harmful. Partly it's the medication I use, partly my previous sugary treaty diet, partly it's in my DNA. I tend to gain weight on my waist, which is usually the most harmful place in your body to have extra fat. It will also store around your intestines, not a good thing too. The medicine I use for my psychiatric illness has played a big part in this weight gain process I have had, also quitting nicotine sparked up more of snacking habits. I also used to be really skinny in my youth, so I kinda had a time when it was good to gain some weight.. but then when I hit my 30's, the weight really started to show.

The most I have weight was just below 90kg. From there I have been come down to just below 80kg, and I still want to lose 10kg, that would be ideal in sha Allah. I haven't been morbidly obese, but the liver situation and cholesterol levels will be a problem if I don't do something. So I've been changing my diet and taking exercise to a regular part of my day. I have also studied a bit about insulin resistance and PCOS, not that I'm diagnosed but I want to gain more knowledge of how one's body will react to the extra weight.

Now I must say that I don't have problem with anybody else's body. So I hope this talk is not triggering you, dear reader. I just want to share my thoughts and struggles to once again, give peer support. If you are bigger or smaller or shorter or taller, it doesn't make you look bad in my eyes, never. It's just that I personally wasn't feeling happy and comfortable in my own body anymore.

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So what is actually the diet I am doing? And what about the exercise? 

I kinda just decided to make better choices. 

1. Refined sugar vs. fruit sugars (vs. artificial sweeteners)

Sugar has been the worst for me. Cookies, cakes, candy.. I used to eat some of that every day. Every single day. And if I bought a pack of cookies, I ate them all at the same day. So yeah.. Now I do eat something sugary every now and then, mostly weekends. But I've traded my cake cravings to eating fruits. And fruits are so versatile. You can make delicious smoothies, or just store them in fridge and eat them cold and juicy and fresh! Nice. Frozen mango cubes became me and my friend's legendary summertime dessert. Also if you really need to eat something very sweet, you can try dates and raisins. I have allowed myself to have dark chocolate at the weekends. It's healthy and you feel fine after few bites, don't need to eat the whole thing at once. 

Then the artificial sweeteners.. I drink juice concentrate which is artificially sweetened, just because I don't want to drink extra sugar. Also I do have a small vice of eating mints, those are artificially sweetened too because I don't want the extra sugar. I know the sweeteners are not the best choice, but this is still work in progress.

2. Coffee with oat milk vs. green/herbal teas with honey

I'm sensitive to caffeine. I can drink one cup of coffee, but if I drink more I will be very restless. And another thing is that if I drink one cup, I want more. Not good for an easily addicted type of person, let it be just caffeine. Just before this year's Ramadan I decided to leave the whole thing. If I'm honest, coffee has always that stale taste, the idea of it is so much more better than the actual drink. Of course this is just my opinion.. I did drink black tea with oat milk for some time, but now I dropped that too. So it's just green or herbal tea, with or without honey. Alhamdulillah. I was thinking that oat milk also will bring extra calories, which I don't really need. Oat milk is good option for cow milk but it does contain oil. 

3. Procrastination vs. any exercise

I am somewhat a lazy person. Or maybe not lazy, but I need a reason to start something. Few months ago I just started doing. No excuses, no laziness. If I feel like hey, now I would have time for a walk, I will go. Before I used to talk myself out of these things by thinking too much and sabotaging myself. It's too cold, it's rainy, and so on. I just go. And more I do, more I also feel like doing. This is a challenge I'm working on now more, because I stopped going to the gym for a while and am now doing workouts at home. I need to make sure I go out and spend time in the sun. So yes for mental health walks and any type of exercise.

4. Forcing vs. doing gently

I'm a person who hates rules and regulations, authorities and limits. I decided that I will do things which feel good. I know that sometimes we need to push ourselves to gain results, and that's ok. But doing something while having your teeth in a grin, as we say in Finland, meaning forcing yourself hard to do something you dislike, well, it doesn't make sense. 

In the physiotherapy groups the supervisors always cheer for doing things gently and comfortably. I think in that kind of atmosphere/mindset it's actually easier and safer to push a bit more. So what comes to my diet and exercise, I keep in mind that making better choices daily is the goal. :)

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Thank you for reading this far. I will enjoy now some me-time as my boys are sleeping, other on a rock under a lamp and other on the comfy bed. You can again guess which is which (I'm sorry of this auntie joke it just kills me every time hh). I know people's cats like to go sleep under the turtle's lighting though. But yes, I hope we will make good choices together and until next time,

Aisha