For most of the time that I have been on my psychotropic medications, I have experienced weight gain. Having an increased appetite is a side effect of most of them and it can be a struggle. For the past six years, I have had a estranged relationship with my medication because of this, but through advice I have realized that I have to try to lose weight before actually tackling the issue deeper with additional help.

Last week, I had spoke to my family doctor about the need to go to a dietitian. They had said that I have been through so many changes both in myself and in my family in the past year that I can make simple changes at first and see how that goes. They also ordered labs that I am having completed this week to make sure that everything is working with my body and I am able to lose weight.

Since that visit, it had me thinking about some of the changes that I have made over the past year. Many of those changes have been my beverage choices. The first time was last April when I had a bad meltdown and realized that the culprit was sweet tea. The second was almost a year ago when I had a relapse and accepted the need to work to eliminate my caffeine intake. That has helped me so much both in my behavior and my body and seeing myself make those changes has allowed me to begin to work towards other changes too.

So, what’s to say that I can’t make the right decisions towards my food choices. There is a part of me that knows that I can because I have done the things that I have needed to do such as eliminate sugar-loaded and caffeinated beverages and within that there has been significant changes on top of understanding my relationship with my medications and other things too.

There are times when we as humans want to have an easy fix to our problems and find the easiest way to get something done, but it that the right thing to do is find the quick fix that won’t prove well in the end? That has been my story for over the past year and I need to work at rewriting the story for the better by making the decisions that I know that I can do and make and eliminate the issues that can be challenging for me.

I know that I can do anything that I set my mind to. It is just in fighting the temptation and doing what I need to do that is the right thing to do. I am a very intelligent person and know right from wrong as has been proven with the other things in my life. Just having that small talk and the inspiration that I need to have to keep going in life is what is going to make me want to make the changes to better my overall wellness and be the person that I want to be, one small change at a time. I just need to be patient with myself and allow myself to learn and grow with the challenges as they come by not being critical on the hard days and learning to pick myself back up and do what is right because progress will appear if I give myself a chance to grow more from my mistakes. Things will improve within time