Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Back from the orthopedist

I had an MRI on my back on Friday--the pain had become intense at times and my foot was regularly loosing sensation or just getting tingly, like it was asleep.

The MRI showed that I am extraordinarily short waisted. Well, that's not what the doctor said precisely, but that's what he meant. He pointed to my spine and said that spines aren't really supposed to curve out so dramatically at their base. Then he pointed to the sacroiliac joint (where the spine and pelvis meet) and said that one of my bones there isn't fused properly, which could be a congenital thing or could be the result of injury, which was most likely a repetitive stress injury. He said you see this a lot in people who play a lot of tennis, volleyball, and swimming (see, I KNEW swimming was a horrible sport!) but then said that the small amount of swimming I did to train for the triathlon wouldn't have done it. He said sports where there's a lot of forward-and-back movement from the waist can cause this sort of injury. He was more interested in what I had done much earlier in life, something I may have participated in long-term. I told him I hadn't participated in any sorts of sports like that, but then on my way back from the doctor I remembered, duh, rowing. Three years of five days a week in the fall and spring, all bending back and forth at my waist. A quick Google search tells me that 66% of sweep rowers on the senior national team have SI joint dysfunction.

So whatever the cause (as he said, could be congenital because of the weird shape of my spine. Thanks Mom and Dad!) the treatment at this point is anti-inflamatory drugs and physical therapy. If that doesn't work, we move on to injections, and if THAT doesn't work, then we move to surgery. I hope it doesn't come to that.

I'm kicking myself for not spending more time focusing on core conditioning this past year. I was so focused on doing what I had to do to make it through the triathlon that I ignored conditioning like that.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

10 days left...

I weighed in today at 153, which is the lowest I've seen since Tromsø. Of course, I've blown it all by the way I've eaten this evening -- we went out to dinner and to a bar afterwards, so I've had a ton of empty calories. I missed two days of exercise over the weekend, which gives me only a day's leeway between now and Christmas, but I have all five weekdays booked for the gym this week, so there's hope that I won't cut too many corners in the next ten days. Today I did a 5k on the treadmill and it felt much better than it has before, and I got my max set in my pushups to 61, so I'm seeing evidence of improved fitness in several different ways. Oh, and my "fat" jeans were slipping down a bit this afternoon -- another good sign. But I'm still not willing to give up their comfort for the smaller size, even if they fit better -- loose jeans are just so nice!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

12 Days of Fitness time!

It's time for the 12 days of fitness! We have 15 days until Christmas. You only get (at most) THREE breaks from exercise in that time (so don't blow them all in one weekend). Try to get in SOME kind of exercise every day, and try to keep some variety in the mix to keep yourself interested. If it's 10 minutes to midnight and you haven't exercised, run up and down the stairs. Or turn on Christmas music and dance like a fool (the kids think this is hysterical when I choose this form of exercise). Or start those hundred pushups you've been meaning to do. There's a lot of exercise that only takes a few minutes when you're desperate, and it's great for a pick-me-up when you're dragging. I don't care what it is you do, just do it!


Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Back to Basics

I am starting to really scare myself. This morning I hopped on the scale (actually, more like forced myself - resisting - onto the scale) and was once again FAT. Actually, I thought I was up today, but it just occurred to me that I was actually about 1.6 pounds down from last week. Regardless, my weight is considerably higher than I want it to be.

I ate like crap this weekend - pizza, burger, astronomical - waffle, popcorn, gingerbread, road food (girl scout cookies and pretzels in this case), etc. OTOH, I did a lot more walking than I normally do. My feet were killing me, but I did notice on Sunday that my butt muscles were acting less flabby. My feet are still killing me. I feel like I have spikes poking up into the arch of my right foot and the ball of my left foot.

So I woke up this morning deciding that I really need to get back to the basics of dieting. Eating lesst (and right) and exercising. I have already decided that I am going to dramatically reduce my sugar intake once the holidays pass. That is going to be no refined sugars or alcohol. Things made with agave or sweetened with fruits are fine. I am considering going back to reduced gluten, but I think I want to attack just one thing at a time. In the meantime I want to get my regular eating under control. I am going to set my Daily Plate goal to 1800 calories (the recommended calculation it gives me is 2046 to lose 1.5 pounds per week - I think that is too high). I am going to pay attention that I am hitting that goal each day (not too high, not too low...). And I am going to start doing SOME sort of daily exercise. I don't know how much I can do or how often, but I want to really really get rid of the extra 20 pounds that I added on since last year. I hate that the amount I have to lose keeps building. At this point I would be SO happy to be able to just maintain for a while!

Sunday, December 06, 2009

18 days of Christmas -- feelin' good

One week down about three to go ... it's amazing what a week can do. I exercised each day and even got out for a nice, though wet, walk on Saturday during the crazy snowstorm to take photos.

So I've been doing about eight exercises a day -- 3x10 -- with either 10 or 15lb weights. Sometimes I do them all at once, sometimes I divide them up. I've done a bunch of lunges, dead lifts and squats and haven't had any issues with my knees. Whew. I highly recommend dead lifts. If done right you will feel it. I tell you though, Mike Heatlie is right, those exercises -- lunges, squats, dead lifts -- work many many parts and I can feel the difference in only seven days.

Today I did walking lunges and actually really liked them even though they kicked my butt. I can say right now that my butt is a burnin'. Feels good.

I've also done some good biking on the trainer -- mostly interval -- one minute fast -- two off and so on. When I take the metro into DC I walk all the escalators etc.

The biggest positives -- I'm not stiff in the morning -- this is after one week -- and my right shoulder that has been killing me for months (I couldn't lift a cup of coffee into the microwave over my stove) is actually feeling pretty good. I can't quite do a full pushup with my body weight but I can hold my weight with my arms outstretched. Planks weren't ever a problem. I can't even tell you all how happy I am that my shoulder is improving. I'm getting a massage tomorrow and I'm hoping that some of the general tightness I'm experiencing will be fully released. :-)

In addition, my food was pretty good. I made every meal and focused on good veggies and proteins and I mixed it up a bit so I wouldn't get bored. But I kept it simple. Oatmeal with fruit, yogurt with fruit and I tried a new baked egg recipe that was delish. Also no alcohol at all last week. I'm trying to reserve that for any party-going.

So into week two I go.

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

25 Days of Christmas

So I saw Emily's challenge for the 12 days of Christmas but I decided over the Thanksgiving break that the situation is more desperate. I really need a routine and figured I could use a month before the holiday so it's the 25 days of pain before Christmas. I'd really like to take advantage of my semi-unemployment.

Here's my goal -- to do some exercise every day and keep my diet in check. But with a different outlook.

I went through my old routines, read up on some new stuff (Mike Heatlie) that suggests focusing on weight training instead of cardio and put together a new schedule.

I have about 30 different exercises, nearly all working several different parts of the body at once with weights.

My plan is to spend between 20-30 minutes a couple of times a day on the exercises and throw some cardio in for good measure. I pick out say 4-8 exercises at a time and I can do them in my livingroom. That's the key. No gym.

I went grocery shopping and am set on food. Today went well.

At least that's a start.

Slow progress, but progress nonetheless

Despite Thanksgiving, I did manage to drop a pound from a week ago. I am still using Daily Plate, mostly honestly -- though it fell apart over the last couple of days of our trip. And I went running twice and walking once and did some walking by accident one other day (we were looking for a lost rocket -- never did find it, but I picked up a lot of steps in the process) so my exercise wasn't too bad. This week I have four appointments at the gym, though our weekend trip will be another challenge.

My push-ups are back to improving. I got stuck at 40 as my max for a while; it doesn't help that I'm only managing about two days a week instead of three on the program. But I just finished up week 5, and in that week you switch from 4 long sets and a max set to 7 shorter sets and a max set, and for some reason that's the boost I needed, because yesterday I did 50. Ish. It was really 49 with sort of a caving-in, last one tagged on to reach that magic number. I have an exhaustion test coming up on Wednesday, where you just try to do as many push-ups as you can without stopping, so we'll see how I do. Last time I did one of these I didn't get any further than my previous day's max! I am amazed that I could even make it to the vicinity of 50; at my peak in past years, I could only do 20 in a set, and 50 TOTAL on the day. Yesterday my total was 200! The only thing really holding me back at this point is my ability to keep my core muscles engaged (to use the buzz-words from the exercise videos these days) -- in short, I have to keep my ab muscles tight to keep my back from aching, but if I do that, after a while I forget to breathe.

We're into December now -- on the 10th let's start 12 Days of Fitness, where we get 12 days of exercise in before Christmas, preferably 12 different activities -- different machines, different environment (treadmill and road walking/running are different) to shake us out of any rut we may be in.

Back on track

Unfortunately, it is the track I don't WANT to be on. I am now 40 - FORTY - as in FOUR OH! pounds up from when we started this diet four years ago - which means I am back on track for gaining an average of 10 pounds per year in the last 10 years. What worries me is 20 of these pounds have happened in the last 8 months. That is a pretty fast gain by anyone's standards. Also, I can honestly say that you can't really see gain or loss of about 10 or so pounds on me - but this is VERY noticeable. Expecially since I am not getting any taller. In fact, I think I am getting shorter.

So, Katie and I were trying to figure out today what we are doing differently. Exercise, clearly, has always been a problem for me. I can't say it is much less than it was LAST year. I mean I was only doing my Wednesday yoga (which I still am) and walking to church. I have cut out the walking to church bit. I was doing water aerobics somewhat regularly - but still only one day a week at best, and that was only for about three months. I think when I DO (periodically) get into the habit of going to the gym, it usually lasts about a month or so and then I stop. I haven't had one of these month long gigs since Sarah's birthday party. I go periodically, but not regularly. Next, I think I need to stop eating sugar. I HAVE been eating Girl Scout cookies. Not daily - but frequently. I also have been having a drink or two after work. Again, not daily - but more often than I used to. Everytime I DO have a drink I think that it isn't the alcohol I want, but the sugar it contains. I know this! Finally, I need to stop getting older. I am sure that some of the changes I am seeing are based in the fact that I am getting older - but I wouldn't think it would be THAT much that fast!

Anyway - I am going to see my doctor in two weeks, I will discuss all of this with her. In the meantime, I need to do something. The planned meals have helped to a degree, but I need to tighten them up - more fruits and veggies, less bread and rice. I also have to start going to the gym again. I want to shoot for after dinner. Katie can't stand waiting for me to come home from work to eat (which is usually around 8pm as it is) so I just need to not sit down when I do come home, but get in my exercise clothes as soon as I walk in the door, and the get to the gym by 9pm!