Hello, old friends! Hope a few of you might remember me. I was active on SparkPeople for about 4-5 months after joining, but eventually life struck and I fell off the wagon. Sadly, looking back at my weight, I only lost about 3.5 pounds in the almost-year that I was gone. So 15 pounds the first 4-5 months, then 3 pounds the whole next year. Granted, I'd also just had a baby, so the weight was coming off easily at that time, but, yeah, I definitely got lazy and just quit focusing on it.

On the plus side, I've mostly got my blood pressure issues under control by now. I never had a problem until after I had my third baby (now 16 months), but it got really bad after her birth. While I mostly fell off the wagon with my exercise, I've still been trying to eat relatively healthily, and I've been doing a lot of reiki self-healing and meditation, and it seems like my blood pressure is now staying at a more normal level. Without meds! Yay! Still higher than it was, but no longer danger zone.

The weather is surprisingly pleasant for February in SE MO these days, so I've been doing a lot more farm/yard work this month. Especially since my husband is dealing with a pretty bad back injury, so I've picked up a lot more of the heavier lifting stuff that he usually does. While I love my farm work, I also want to start working in more purposeful exercise activities, and I'd particularly like to start walking our three-legged hound dog regularly and going on hikes with my kids. I enjoy walking best, but I will ease back into more work-out-type exercise.

I'm tracking my food again, and I plan to resume meal planning. That should help. Let me know any of your favorite healthy recipes! I guess I should also go through my spark groups and decide which to leave and which to devote good energy toward. With spring on the way and a lot to get done on the house, I've had to pare down some of my online activities. I was spread too thin. Health is a priority though, so I picked SP back up. Just need to find some good, active groups where I can get motivated, work on all of my goals, and hopefully make some good friends.

That's where it's at right now. Hopefully I can stick with it a bit longer this time.