Slow and steady

I’ve gone walking every day this week so far. I didn’t do any tracking or anything on Monday (and I didn’t walk very much…that was the day I timed going very poorly lol). Yesterday was the easiest since I was on the phone with one of my best friends the whole time. I ended up doing a mile and a half. I want to try to pick up my speed, but it’s harder to do that when I have inclines (it’s pretty hilly in downtown KCK). It will all come with time, though!

I had my third physical therapy session yesterday as well. She redid my knee measurements to check my progress and while it’s not a lot, there is still progress! I told her that I have stopped taking stairs (stairs are a killer on my knees right now) and she said that’s probably a good idea for right now while we work on strengthening my hip bones to help take the pressure off my knees. Obviously, I’d prefer to be healthy enough to take the stairs, but for right now, the elevator will have to do.

All in all, just going slow and steady while I build up my strength.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I can do this.

All right, so I didn’t start on Saturday like I planned. I didn’t go nuts, either…so I guess it works out okay. I have my fitbit charged up and I’m wearing it for the first time in at least six months (but probably more).

I checked into MyFitnessPal and my last weigh in was on July 5th. When I was at the doctor just recently, I was 222. In eight months, I managed to gain about 34 pounds.

RC and I are going on our first vacation ever (and my first vacation since 2003) in six weeks. I really want to be able to walk around and enjoy Seattle without feeling like my body is going to give out on me. To accomplish that, I am going to walk during my lunch hour. Ideally, I’d like to walk every day at lunch…but I know that most likely won’t happen. If I can manage at least three days, I’ll be happy. Considering that I used to go to a TOUGH 30 minute boot camp four days a week, I think I can manage to simply walk for 45 minutes to an hour.

Next step is to get an evening meal plan started…and get back to making non-processed dinners at home. They TASTE better, so why is the motivation so hard?

I can do this.

No more being angry at myself for falling off the wagon, the only thing I can do is just get back on.

Mission: Possible | Take #548973

Once again, I find myself frustrated that I have to start over again after falling off the stupid wagon.  With an injury, moving, and just all the changes, I didn’t stay focused enough.  This time around, I have a wellness coach that I’m hoping can help keep me motivated.

At this point, I think I may be heavier than I have ever been. Or pretty gosh darn close.

Over the last two weeks, I have been fairly sick and in quite a bit of pain.  I’ve decided it’s because all this extra weight is…weighing me down (pun intended).  I started out with what was thought to be pneumonia or a kidney infection, then a gallbladder infection.  Two xrays, a CT, and an ultrasound later, and still nothing.

I am just SO TIRED all of the time.  I don’t mean “Gosh, I could sure use a nap” tired.  I mean, “My body feels like it wants to collapse and never move again” tired.

So, enough is enough!  I am going to get my Fitbit charged up, put fresh batteries in the scale, and start using MyFitnessPal again.  Because I am so weak and having trouble just sweeping the floor, I am going to start slow and just walk every day (hoping I can get RC to walk with me!).

Almost a year ago, I had a pretty bad injury due to my massive klutziness.  I managed to fall out of a Bronco (don’t worry, it wasn’t moving!) and landed right on my knee.  I ended up putting a lot of stress on my other knee to pick up the slack.  After seeing an orthopedist, I learned that I have arthritis in both of my knees that was exacerbated by the additional stress from the injury.  A month ago I started physical therapy to strengthen my knees.

I’d love to start going to the gym again, but until I have a lot more use of my knee again, I know it will be a waste.  Thankfully, summer is right around the corner, and I have easy (free!) access to a pool so that I can also get exercise in a safe-on-my-knees environment.

As far as nutritional goals, I plan on going back to doing juices and smoothies again.  Smoothies for breakfast and juices for supplements (so I can get some good nutrients in me!).

I’ll do measurements and my first weigh in this weekend.  Woohoo!

Measurement joy!

I took my measurements a few days ago and was pretty pleased. Since my last measurement (a month ago), I’ve lost:

2 inches in my waist
4 inches in my hips
1.8 inches in each thigh
1.75 inches in each upper arm (my least favorite body part after my stomach)

My weight is still right around 188, but at least I’m staying steady and not gaining – and I’m still losing fat as my measurements show (hooray!).

Once the kids go back to Tennessee for the summer, dinners will be a lot easier – right now I’m cooking for five and while I’d like to have a juice for dinner a few nights a week, it’s pretty tough to make dinner for everyone and then be all, “Enjoy that, Imma have a juice.” I’m still sticking to fresh ingredients and dinners made from scratch, though…so that helps!

I’m not sure what happened, but my knee (my injured one) has been really hurting the last few days. It used to only hurt when I tweaked it; it wasn’t a constant pain. Two nights ago it hurt so much that I actually kept waking up. Unfortunately, it seems that anything a normal person would take is on the no-no list for those of us with IIH. I’ve had to depend on ice pack treatments (which do help, but not as much as I’d like).

As a side note, I’ve gone to the gym every day except Friday for the last two weeks. This will be my third – making habits here!

Stalled…very uncool

I originally hit 189 on June 6th (my first goal). I’ve been hovering around there since then. That’s also around the same time all the rain started so nighttime zombie runs became a thing of the past. The rain is finally gone so it’s definitely time to get back into gear!! I don’t know if they have anything in common, but if my stall stops after I start back again, I’ll be happy.

I went to Freight House four days last week – I was going just two or three days a week. I plan on continuing that trend (I don’t go on Fridays because it’s more of a game day and I don’t to feel like I’m holding a partner/team back with my bad knee and weak arm). I had originally planned on four to five days a week, but since I injured myself during my first week (falling out of a bronco, not in the class), I haven’t been able to…I’m comfortable enough to modify exercises that I can no longer do until my knee is completely healed.

As a side note, I get frustrated at the weakness of my arm during workouts, but I really have to focus on reminding myself during those times that a few months ago, I couldn’t even use weights and my arm got tired MUCH sooner than it does now. I just wish it was back to normal. I wish *I* was back to normal. IIH sucks.

I said hey, what’s going on

This is my first entry in four years…I have some catching up to do!

As I’ve mentioned, I have a rare neurological disorder known as intracranial hypertension. One of the many side effects that I’ve had to suffer was that I was slowly losing the use of my right arm. I was oftentimes unable to do simple tasks like brush my own hair, pour milk, even hold my purse or fairly light objects in my right hand. The strength in my hand would just give out and I would have to drop things I was holding. My arm was just too weak.

Being on large amounts of various medications also doesn’t help – I had had high blood pressure prior to my diagnosis, but the medications that I ended up on actually raised my blood pressure even more (typical blood pressure for me was well over 200) and I was prescribed a triad of high blood pressure meds that worked together to control it. On average, I was taking nearly 15-20 pills per day.

I knew that I had to do something about my health – I wasn’t gaining anymore, but I was holding steady right around 200 pounds and it wasn’t going anywhere. I had trouble getting from point A to point B because I was always so tired.

Ironically, what’s been my biggest motivator has been my workmates. I started a new job in March of this year. About a month later (right at two months ago!), everyone got into a health kick and they brought in trainers Sean and Kendra from Freight House Fitness to talk to us.

In a word, Sean and Kendra are awesome. I felt immediately relaxed and comfortable with them. They invited us to come and try their gym. Several of us did and still, two months later, an average group of about four to five of us still go every day. This kind of accountability is incredibly motivating and makes me want to go each day. I get in about two to three days each week.

Since starting my Freight House membership, I’ve lost over 16 pounds and have completely overhauled the way I look at food and my diet in general (sugar is almost cut out of my life now). That’s a whole separate post.

My arm feels almost normal (it’s not 100%, but pretty close). I’m down to three pills a day and my blood pressure has stayed in check. I did end up busting my knee falling out of a Bronco after my first week and that’s held me back a little bit, but it’s almost healed (man, knee injuries are the worst!)…but I’ve also started the Zombies Run 5K program with my daughter (which has been a blast!).

So, that’s my “in a nutshell” update – more to come!