gilliansings's Journal

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28 February 2014

Doesn't it just crack you up when you enter your lunch first, then as you're adding your breakfast, you accidentally look at the day's OVERALL calories instead of JUST breakfast and you FREAK OUT!!! I was like, "no way is that breakfast 494 calories!"

Anyway, having a good but busy week overall. I'm a little disappointed because yesterday was to be my "birthday" massage (given to me by my daughter). The last time I had a massage, the massage therapist didn't really listen to what I wanted and just went on a rant about what would help my longstanding back problems. I didn't end up happy with that massage.

This time, the same thing happened, although I liked this massage therapist a lot better. He stated that he was one of the top 10 "Myopathic" therapists in the United States. He stated a goal of helping break up the lesions that were causing my back/leg pain. I took this with a huge grain of salt, since my problem stems from scar tissue and nerve impingement that is longstanding. Anyway, I stressed that if he wanted to try a little of that while massaging my low back, that was fine, but I just didn't want to have to bail on my much-anticipated Swedish massage. I told him a massage isn't complete in my opinion if your feet are not concentrated on.

So, we get towards the end of the massage and he announces, "Well, sorry I wasn't able to give you your Swedish massage today." I told him that NO WAY was he skipping my feet after all that!! I got a quickie 5 minute foot massage. It felt good, but it wasn't quite what I had in mind.

For about 10 minutes though, I really was feeling better. I had gone in there with my left leg and foot throbbing and that seemed to be gone. Unfortunately, within 15 minutes it was back with a vengeance. The therapist wanted me to check back in with him, so he could convince me that this process takes 4-5 additional sessions to really work. It is possible that it would improve my symptoms, but I have always known that if I could afford it, getting any kind of relaxing therapy was a good short-term fix, but required repeated treatments. There is no magic bullet when it comes to my back issues. I should know, I've tried EVERYTHING in the 10 years since the injury.

Aside from the massage issues, I survived being on-call, my annual review, my first eye exam in 6 years (yay for new glasses!)and my discussion group meeting. I managed to walk or do my work out every day but Monday. Sometimes I was really hurting, but I stuck it out. Today I feel pretty good. It's a walking day for me.

Looking forward to Sunday's weigh in. I've eaten about like last week (only one day even close to my RDI). I deserve another small victory :-)

(6 comments)

23 February 2014

Yay!!!! I have been so nervous this week that last week's good weight loss number was a fluke. I believe the strength training I'm doing, that is unfortunately causing my back huge problems, is the reason this weight loss momentum is gaining steam. My body is obviously happy to put on some muscle and expend extra energy to maintain it. I am very happy.

I would say that I'll try to take care of myself better by skipping the part of the work-out that most likely exacerbates my back problems, but darn it, your quads and gluts are the biggest muscles in your body! I can't leave them out! I know they get a bit of a work out when I walk for exercise, but I'm not quite ready to make the move to ease off on the strength training.

Happy Sunday, everyone! Yesterday was a beautiful day in the NW and I took advantage by doing yard work and taking my dogs for a walk in the park. I have friends that hit the beach yesterday and posted pictures of what a beautiful day it was, so I was all geared up to drive out there today (a 2 hour drive). Unfortunately, I looked at the weather forecast for the coast and it was an almost certainty that they would have rain and heavy cloud cover. What a bummer. Ah well. At least there aren't any clouds in my outlook today!

Weight:	Lost so far:	Still to go:	Diet followed:
84.8 kg	1.4 kg	12.2 kg	100%

(14 comments) Losing 0.7 kg a Week

21 February 2014

I am facing up to my old nemesis, my spinal issues. I cycle through these phases where I start moving a lot more, feeling better all around, for a while. I get excited about how much easier my weight-loss journey is going to be adding exercise. And then...the pain starts. I'm three weeks into this most current attempt at weight loss and in that time I have been walking 2-3 times a week and doing calisthenics or an exercise video (strength training) 2-3 times a week as well. I am taking it slow and not overdoing it, but despite that, I hit a wall yesterday. I woke up with my left leg and foot throbbing. I headed off to work and tried to take it easy. I came home and felt good enough to attempt my strength training. It went alright, but I felt these annoying cold sensations running down my left leg, like someone was filling it with ice cold water. I had plans with a friend to go to "American Hustle" at our town's vintage theatre. She wanted to take a pit-stop at our local brewery/pub, who host "Purls and Pints" the 3rd Thursday of every month.

I was proud of myself for eating at home and bringing a healthy snack for at the movies. I sat calmly as other people ordered delicious food and beverages and I just drank my water. But, that amount of sitting, followed by the movie, was just not good for me.

It has been over a year since I have had an experience like last night. The movie was great, but all I could think about the entire time was, "Ow-ow-ow-ow, I want to go home and sit Indian-style, or do back stretches, or just GO TO BED!!!" When the movie was finally over and I made it home, I ate a late-night sensible snack, did a few stretches, started some laundry (work uniforms), and hit my bed and the heating pad.

Today I feel a little better, but since I have to work a 4-hour shift, come home and neaten the house for a showing tomorrow, and be on-call tomorrow, I'm a bit worried. I guess I'll plan on taking it easy come Sunday.

So, bottom line, I will try to at least keep moving to some degree, but if this pain continues to crop up, I may have to change my routine a bit. I am just tired of this being an issue. It's clear that putting on the 40 lbs. I have over the last 10 years since my injury is not that surprising, in view of this stupid battle.

(7 comments)

19 February 2014

It's been a good week. I did my strength training dvd yesterday and took a brisk walk in the rain today. After 3 days of being well under on calories, today was my quote "cheat day." I have a favorite little bakery/restaurant in my town that does "authentic" Mexican food and pastries.

I made it a little less hard on my calorie count by only eating one of the two tortillas that my tacos came in. They don't use any cheese, which is a good thing. They are tasty without it.

I know that my Achilles heel is sweets, so making sure to only eat delicious, real, quality sweets helps with that. I chose the above cheat meal over a burger and fries. I think I came out about equal and it tasted MUCH better. I didn't feel sick afterwards.

I am taking deep breaths to not get stressed out about next week. I already had a busy week, with work (as usual) and two appts. later in the week. Then, today I got called by two different people from my work. The first call resulted in my agreeing to have my performance review after work on Monday. The second call resulted in my agreeing to be on call on Saturday.

Then, I checked my messages and found that our realtor wants to show the house on Saturday. Sigh...I know if we want to sell the house, we need to continue to show it. If we didn't have dogs, it would just be an issue of leaving the house in nice order and letting them show it with us gone. Unfortunately, our dogs are indoor dogs and we can't just leave them outside. So, we have to schedule times when we can take the dogs somewhere like the park, weather permitting.

I will get through next week, I know. I just wanted to vent a bit. This journal is good for that!

(2 comments)

16 February 2014

Finally! Success! After a week of 5 excellent days, followed by 2 days that held more challenges (Valentine's dinner out and a potluck), I am pleased that the scale finally gave me a reward (it only took 15 days, guys!)

In the 15 days, I took 4 brisk walks, did home calisthenics 3 times, and started back on a "Move Free" strength training dvd yesterday. This may not seem like a ton of exercise for those that are able to do Zumba classes and go running, but with my long history of back problems (and spinal impingement, leading to numbness and burning in my leg), this is a WIN!!!

OK, back to your regularly scheduled program :-)

Weight:	Lost so far:	Still to go:	Diet followed:
85.5 kg	0.7 kg	12.9 kg	Reasonably Well

(4 comments) Losing 0.7 kg a Week

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