I love starting over.

The wheels kind of came off this little project by accident. The last week just turned out to be more trouble than I expected. A lot of worries arrived as they do, but the worst of it was the six-month check-up with my doctor. That ended with a brand-new prescription for blood pressure medication and a soft command to lose about 30 pounds –that’s if I wanted to get off the drugs again.

“But we’ve got to get you on this medicine now,” the doc said. “I don’t need you stroking out now.”

My blood pressure was 160/100.

I agreed to the pills without an argument and swore that I’d get my weight down again.

I’d earned the pounds over the past year. I’d wobbled through recovering from a couple of illnesses and had been less active overall.

It’s not as bad as it sounds.

I’m about 10 pounds heavier than I was a year ago, which was about 10 pounds heavier than I was three years ago.

Weight tends to creep up on you, though I am still 70 pounds lighter than I was at my heaviest.

I kind of let pressure get to me, which I dealt with old tried and true bad habits –extra food and extra beer.

I still had the food diary on my phone, but I guestimated and apologized my way through the app. When I looked at the scale, I told myself it was water weight. I also didn’t pay attention to my prickly moods or my ever-sore joints, which were tell-tale signs that I was not doing so well.

It was all just stress.

Maybe so, but where I could ignore the dithering of the bathroom scale, I could not ignore the blood pressure numbers. I knew they were bad and so, I had to take stock.

This is not far from where I was before, which means the path forward is already well-defined. I walked out of this once. I can walk out of it again.

So, I’m back on the meds, but still going to CrossFit. I’m signed up for the Spartan Trifecta and I’m paying real attention to what I eat.

I can fix this.

I kind of have to.