Progress

UGH, I am fed up with sitting around.

My back still hurts a LOT. I went to a physical therapy appointment yesterday, though, where I got some exercises I can try to lessen the pain. I need to make sure to find enough time to do those exercises before my next appointment on Tuesday.

I was pretty disappointed with my appointment yesterday. I won't go into detail about it, because I have already talked to like everyone about it...but, basically, I didn't even see the doctor. I saw an intern, who was overseen by a nurse. The intern went ahead and gave me exercises to do without doing an MRI or anything to determine that what I believe is my problem is ACTUALLY my problem. I will do the exercises, and evaluate afterwards...but right now, I am less than happy about the whole thing. I have called my regular doctor to get some advice on it.

I do have some good things to report about my weight. Inexplicably, last week, it went down as low as 172. I am now at 173.5, while on my period, which is a vast improvement. I don't really know what happened...I didn't change anything. Maybe it was just the residual weight loss from when I was actually working out. Whatever it is, I'm pretty happy about it.

My plan as of right now is to start working out again on this coming Monday. Nothing too too difficult...just some Wii Fit and maybe some SI6 (Level 1) or walking. My back still hurts...but I think I can still manage some exercise without injuring myself further. I need to get back into it...this back thing is a chronic condition, and I absolutely refuse to spend the rest of my life sitting on my ass because of it.

Bonus: the back thing gets me out of doing farm work at my grandmother's this weekend. Hey, there's an upside to everything. : )

Ok, off to work. Later.

Breakdown

I am having a really rough time right now.

My back has not stopped hurting since last week. I now have not worked out in over a week, because of the pain. I went to see the doctor on Thursday, when the first series of pain meds they gave me didn't work, and they gave me Toradol and a muscle relaxer. They also gave me a referral to a physical therapist, who apparently specializes in backs. My first appointment with him is Wednesday, 4/20.

I am freaking out a little about my weight. I was already freaking out before my back started really hurting, and now I'm not even working out at all. My weight has continued to go up...I was at 176 this morning!

My doctor did say last week that it was a very good thing that I did not continue to work out after my back got bad. Which, I still feel like I was being totally lazy by sitting on my fat ass...but whatever, it's doctor-sanctioned. Sigh.

I want to get a plan together for starting to work out again, but I don't know if I should do this until after I see the physical therapist. Maybe just some light stuff on the Wii Fit...I can't imagine that doing Yoga on the Wii Fit would be a problem. I also might see if I can borrow my step-father's inversion table...I've heard that just 5-10 minutes per day on that can make a difference.

I need to lose some damn weight, and it is BEYOND frustrating to me to have yet another roadblock. I am just absolutely twitching in my skin wanting to actually move, and I can't. GRRRRR.

Ok, I've taken too long to write this entry, and I'm just running around in one frustrated circle. Later.

Debbie Sieber: Fuck that Bitch

Sooo, I tried the second level of the SI6 yesterday afternoon. I swear to God, Debbie Sieber is trying to kill me. The first level of SI6 is a slow and easy stroll around the block compared to this. It takes the same exercises from the first level, adds a few new exercises, and then makes you do the old ones plus the new ones in rapid succession for 48 minutes of complete and total hell...with one 12 second break. That being said, I will be continuing to do this second level. I am not able to do the whole thing from start to finish yet. There will still probably be days when I do the first level instead, and do the Wii at the same time. But, overall, this level is much more whole-body oriented (instead of just legs), and it's the appropriate length for the workout that I should be doing every day. I was not very good about dinner last night...Jacob and I had an unexpected trip to Olive Garden, where I indulged in some portobello ravioli. I actually forgot to keep chewing in the middle of my first bite, because of how utterly and completely divine this stuff was. Now, I didn't finish it, I had water with lemon for my drink, and I had salad along with it...but still, I was really bad. It was totally worth it, though. : ) On track to walk 4+ miles tonight. Really super tired today, which is not going to make that easy...I stayed up way too late last night watching that new Borgias show on Showtime. Which: snore. But yes, I will be walking tonight, come hell or high water. Onward!

This Week

Feeling a little better this morning...except in my back.

I'm wondering if I've actually messed up my back this time. I know that I have a bulging disc, that I've had for years...it's in my lower back, and all blood flow had pretty much ceased to that disc as of like 5 years ago. I can only imagine what it looks like now. As of this minute, it feels like there is a live coal camping out in my lower spine.

I'm going to call my doctor in the morning about it. It may not be something that I can help...I know there are exercises for strengthening the muscles in the back that are supposed to help with this. But, it might be too late for those to do any good. My hope is that I can still strengthen the muscles around the disc so as to support it better...but, in the meantime, I need to figure out how to get it to not hurt so much. One thing I'm going to discuss with my doctor is some sort of pain medication to help until I can possibly fix it another way...Advil is definitely not helping. We'll see.

I forgot to mention last night my discovery that Saturday evenings are beyond perfect for walking my full 4-5 miles. The major road that I walk, Hermitage, usually has a whole lot of people walking on it, which is very disruptive to my dog. But I guess that most people are otherwise occupied on Saturday evenings, because there was almost NOBODY on that road last night. I think that Saturdays are about to become my long-walk days.

Ok, so, schedule for the next week. Today: trying the second level of the SI6. If I can't make it all the way through that, then I will do as much of that as I can, and then do some more on the Wii. Tomorrow, walking at least 4 miles. Dialing the walking back a little bit so as to make a slightly more gradual progression. Tuesday, SI6 (probably second level) and maybe a little Wii...it's supposed to rain like crazy on Tuesday, so that's good. Wednesday, walking at least 4 miles. Friday...don't know yet. It's my anniversary, so I'm sure we're going to have some sort of plans...but that might not be until later, so I'll have time to work out. If I do, then I'll do the SI6 and maybe the Wii. Saturday, walking the long walk. Sunday, SI6.

This seems like it's going to be my basic workout for the next few weeks. I like walking on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday...and I like doing the SI6 on Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday. Next week is going to be a less-than-usual week...Jacob and I are going to Arkansas to dig for diamonds between April 14 and 17. I figure I'll get a pretty good workout nonetheless, though...digging for diamonds can't exactly be easy. That week, I'll work out every day leading up to the trip, and then I'll start back up with walking on the Monday after we return.

Ok, there we go. Now, onward! : )

My Torture Regimen

Uuuuuuggggghhhhh.

I hurt. A lot.

I shouldn't hurt this much. I didn't even work out Thursday (as per usual), and then I didn't work out yesterday because I was absolutely exhausted after a really terrible day, and I just took a long nap instead. So, today was my first day back to it.

To be fair, I walked almost 5 miles today. I have not really worked up to this, either...I went from 3.3 miles one week, to 4 miles the next week, to probably around 4.8 miles today. I maybe should have taken it a little more slowly...but now that I'm here, I want to keep going. If I can continue doing between 4 and 4.5 miles for the next 2 weeks, then maybe I can finally, actually, get up to 5 miles. 5 miles per day means roughly 500 CALORIES burned per day...and that's the recipe for losing a pound a week. Apparently, the second level of the SI6...which I've now decided to start tomorrow, btw...burns about 400 calories. Sooo...hopefully, that will do something?

I've continued to feel discouraged since my last entry. I'm still up around 175.5. I have been working out as much as I am able...in the last 4 weeks or so, I haven't taken more than 2 days off at a time, and I've been working out for between 4 and 6 days per week. I have increased my vegetable intake, I have decreased my sugar intake. I have been alternating my workouts, between walking, SI6, and the Wii, in order to get a healthy mix of strength training and aerobics. I KNOW that I am stronger...I can feel it, and I'm doing better on the balance portion of the Wii.

So...what the hell?

I know that it hasn't been that long. I know. It just feels like an eternity. I ache all over...my feet hurt, my shins hurt, my back is in absolute agony. It feels like I should weigh SO much less...but I don't. Even more cruelly, I weigh MORE. I keep wondering if I'm not doing enough...but how in the WORLD could I not be doing enough?! I am absolutely busting my ass.

My only solution right now is to give it more time. I think that, when I was exercising last year, it was 8 weeks before I really saw some results. So, I'm going to just keep at it. The end of April is roughly 8 weeks since I started up again. Hopefully I will have lost SOMETHING by that time.

By the end of this month, I'd like to be walking 5 miles at least 3 days per week. I'd also like to be doing the second level of the SI6 at least 2 days per week. At some point in there, I'd really love to start getting up earlier and doing some yoga before work. I don't know if that will work out...I like getting to work around 8, but then when I leave work so early I have a TON of time before I can walk on the days that I do that. But, yoga before work might make work easier to deal with...so I need to look into that.

Ok, there's a plan. It's late, I'm tired. Tomorrow I'll figure out a schedule for this next week. G'night.