My Journey With Health And Fitness – On The Home Stretch

It was a fun walk this morning. When I had left for bootcamp it was pouring rain but by time I returned home it had definitely cleared up. Of course there was a reason for that, it was really windy. Still I went out for my first walk and headed down to the beach. Not my brightest idea since down there it was even windier. Seriously, walking along the pier I actually felt like I was stumbling because of the force of the wind. Fortunately by time I did my 2nd walk the wind had died down considerably so it was a much better walk.

My husband, sister and I have been doing an adjusted Sober October. Adjusted of course because we didn’t get back from Mexico until October 15th thus we started Sober October on the 16th. I am proud to say that in the last 23 days 22 of them have been without any alcohol (the one day was to celebrate my Mom). A week tomorrow and we will once again finish this great journey and to be honest it hasn’t been all that bad.

Now my sister and I usually do Sober October each year along with Dry February. Both we do as a fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society in memory of Mom. I have to say when more than one person in the household agrees to give up booze for the month it is much easier than doing it on your own. We have also learned that there are now some awesome non-alcoholic beers that are usually pretty low sugar and calories but gives you the flavour of beer. Even those I don’t have every day, just occasionally.

But I have seen some improvements to my health with forgoing alcohol for a while. Firstly, my blood pressure is amazing. It is usually in the normal zone but now it is at the lower end. Even my husband’s blood pressure has been pretty good compared to normal (he has hypertension for which he takes medication). I have also found that I have had more energy to get through 5 hours of exercise most days. I’ve even decided once this is over that I am going to limit alcohol consumption to only 1 day a week until I hit my goal weight (or arrive in Mexico, whichever is sooner).

I am glad we all decided to do this together. I think it just gives your mind and body a bit of a break and I know it has helped me along my health and fitness journey.