I finally ran
23 Feb 2011 Leave a Comment
in Movies & TV, Music, running
it wasn’t much but I decided that after taking off a week I had to get back out there and get a run in. My original plan was to do a loop around our condo complex but then I forgot I was supposed to pick up some chicken from my mom and the idea struck me…why not run to my mom’s house. The tricky part was that I knew I would never get back in time for dinner so I had to take a chance my mom would not drive over herself and secondly she would have to take me back home and of course she drove me home. Mind you also…it’s only less than 2 miles away and the first part, about a 1/2 mile is all down hill. I tell you though it was a really good run. I am not sure if it was because I was starting the run going downhill or if it was the new tunes from Lady Gaga and Katy Perry blasting in my ear. It all seemed to flow just right.
It also might have had something to do with watching a NOVA special about taking people off the street and training them for a marathon. It’s called Nova: A Marathon Challenge. It’s on Hulu I think or PBS. It made me think if they can take people with no previous athletic skills or routine exercise and train them for a full marathon I should be able to train for a half as overwhelming as that seems at time. At any rate I feel like I’m going to be heading in a better direction this week and that makes me happy. Happy running!!
Come Rain or Come Shine
18 Feb 2011 Leave a Comment
I have to go for a run. I might have to hit up the dreaded treadmill at the gym but it must happen. I have been procrastinating all week for one reason or another and mostly none of them are good enough. It’s just easier not to and today of all days it seems there is going to be a big rain storm…well anytime it sprinkles in LA it’s a big deal but this one just might be a good storm. I have to get going on my 1/2 marathon training or I will never make it. So run it is! Maybe a run in the rain?? On a side note I must say I did not meet my water consumption goal for yesterday! I made it to 5 glasses only. So today I am going for the goal again. I am also having yummy soup for lunch and will need the extra water. So let’s see what happens!!
A simple goal
17 Feb 2011 1 Comment
to drink more water! That’s my little goal for the day. It’s a struggle to drink water but I figure it’s good for me. I’m always a little thristy. I think because I probably consume just a little too much sodium and simply don’t drink enough water. I’ve also been on a soup kick for the past week and they are full of salt! But they just seem to hit the spot and keep me full for the afternoon. I’ve also been weening myself off Diet Coke even the caffeine free one. I don’t mind water so much and I find it better than most of the “flavored-water” drinks that are out there. Either they are full of artificial sweeteners or sugar (yes evaporated cane juice /sugar…is sugar” so water it is going to be. I’ll be having soup today but I’m hoping between the extra water drinking and the low-sodium (if you can call it that) soup I should be good. I am also hoping it will help with the weight loss as well. Ok back to work and Cheers to water!!
It only got worse
03 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
even after the Halloween candy was gone. The temptation to overeat was something I could not manage to resist and it has come back to bite me a big 10lbs. 
Yikes! What the hell happened? I know what happened. It was overeating, lack of exercise, and quite frankly I just didn’t feel like doing much of anything. I always seem to have this problem during the months of November and December. I give in to it all and say what the heck indulge in that 50th workplace potluck, bake a pie and make some cookies. All the rationalizations coming in the form of just waiting to make yet another New Year’s resolution to get back to the basics. I did manage to get a little motivation in the form of a note on the Hollie Self, BL4 Facebook page. She has intiated a challenge to run a 5k in the month of March, specifically the weekend of 12-13th, her birthday weekend. I already signed up for a 5k in Malibu and might even get a friend to join me and even hubby maybe?? We will have to see on both counts. Even though I have done several 5k’ s and even a handful of 10k’s I feel it is the perfect way to get back to exercising. I am still not quite in the mood to exercise. It’s been cold and the idea of a treadmill bores me, something I will have to work on. Really they are just excuses and not really good ones at that. I just have all these things I want to get done around the house and generally organizing my life. Exercise is taking a back burner even in this new year already. I have in the meantime cut back on my eating and am working on getting some healthy lunches going. I am realizing that it can’t be a diet it has to be a lifestyle. So small steps! I think I need to get some goals, something I think and talk about but I end up getting overambitious and then just give in when I don’t follow through. I am my own worst enemy. Boo! I have to stop that. More to come. Time to leave work almost! I’m not a fan of Mondays but they actually are the quickest day of the week usually. I saw the cartoon below after publishing and had to add it.
The Halloween candy is gone
10 Nov 2010 Leave a Comment
finally. I could not bring myself to throw it out or give it away. So slowly I ate it all. Sometimes too much at a time. It was ugly. It is emotional eating at it’s worse. I was feeling anxious about a lot of things going on lately. Work, money, my back, lack of exercise, etc. A lot of things. I feel like I can move on now. I just have to know that it is best if I never buy tempting foods in the first place. That’s it for today. A lot going on.
I let myself go
25 Oct 2010 Leave a Comment
in Back, Physical Therapy
I seem to be letting myself go. I don’t care what I eat or how much. I have let myself go. I have plain and simple. I have no excuses at all. All I can say is that I am still feeling defeated about my back issue. On Friday I found out I have only one physical therapy appointment left which is today. So I will if I need more from the PT guys and then a check-in with my doctor on Thursday. Perhaps I will get more PT and then hopefully an answer to when I can start really exercising. I just want to feel better without taking an anti-inflammatory all the time.
I want to do the exercise I dread to start but once I get going makes you sweat and in the end makes you feel like a million bucks good. I want that again.
So I decided to start anew today. I did still have some chocolate today which is my weakness for sure. However I did not over indulge like I had a couple of times these past couple of weeks. I really did have a mini binge I think…no it was a binge. I ate way too much candy. I did.
So now it’s time to stop this pity party and make some changes. I have a goal pending approval from the PT guys and my doc and that is to run a 5k Turkey Trot. I have a little over 4 weeks and I think it’s manageable. Well time to go to PT! More news to follow.
A good night’s sleep
06 Oct 2010 Leave a Comment
in Back, Medications
I went to pick up my second prescription for my back last night. It’s a muscle relaxer called Soma for short. I don’t recall the pharmacological name nor do I care all that much…because shortly after I swallowed the pill I was ready for bed. I wanted to stay up and finish the Biggest Loser but no go. I thought oh I can get up and watch a little in the morning….well that didn’t happen either. I slept a good long and hard sleep waking only to the sound of the alarm. I didn’t even hear the steady flow of rain on the roof trickling down the gutter. Still dark all I wanted to do was cozy up to Matilda and call out for the day. The idea of lounging around all day in pajamas drinking hot chocolate and watching TV sounded so appealing. Still does as I sit hear at work, but I thought I want to bank some hours and if I use leave it will be harder to do that. Plus I thought a few more days and then another 3-day weekend with Columbus Day off and a short week after. I can make it. Time to get to work and make this do go by so I can get home to my wonderful hubby! I saw this pic and thought it was beautiful and kind of depicted the day here at the beach but not as pretty 
Spondylolisthesis
05 Oct 2010 Leave a Comment
is what I found out I have and it explains why I am in some pain. I found this definition while doing research for this condition on the internet: Spondylolisthesis is when one vertebra slips forward over the vertebra below it. I don’t know how or when I got this and I likely could have been born with it and was just asymptomatic until I aggravated the condition which caused the back pain. It could also have happened while young from a fall or some trauma as well as when an adult from a car accident or other trauma as well. My doctor pointed out that at this point it doesn’t really matter how I have it but rather to focus our attention to the best course of treatment. An x-ray determined my condition and I managed to find an image on the internet that best matches my actual x-ray. The doctor says it is a Grade II, so somewhere between 25-49% “slippage”. 
So the next step it looks like is a Physical Therapist. I am hopeful that my condition can improve enough for me to get back to exercising and I think it will. I think the PT will want me to exercise maybe not the kind I want but still it is some good news. The bad news is the cost. Unfortuately I have a $750 deductible for “other services”, so I will be footing the bill for the first part of this. I have to be optimistic that if I do what they recommend that I will get better soon and will not need as many sessions. I do feel relieved that I now know why I’ve had back pain, all be it minor till now, for a number of years. I’m looking forward to the PT and time will tell. All I know is that I DO NOT want back surgery so I’m going to work it hard!
I’m sitting here at work…
04 Oct 2010 Leave a Comment
in Health
in pain. My aching back is giving me grief again and it’s quite literally a pain in the bum. I’m so looking forward to getting out of here and heading to the dr’s. I managed to get an appointment today. I’ll probably end up waiting an hour to see her but I finally have to address this back problem. I would take some medicine but I don’t want it to mask any pain…so I can tell her exactly where it hurts. I have been icing it pretty religiously at least 3 -4 times a day and that helps, but I’d like a permanent fix if that’s possible. I did first try the chiropractic route but just felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere with that. I would feel relaxed and good while on the table and then when I stood up it was just as bad as before I got there. His approach is one of a gentle nature, which I can appreciate, but at the same time it just sometimes feels like all I need is a nice “cracking” and all will get better. Well I did take his advice and began to ice my back and take some ibuprofen, but I decided no more visits for now. I just feel like it’s a bigger problem that what a chiropractor can help with. The advice of ice and ibuprofen worked relatively well but I still have pain while sleeping and again when I would wake up in the morning. So now we will see what happens with the doc and what she recommends. Perhaps a physical therapist will be another option to look into. First things first.
Happy New Year…
01 Oct 2010 Leave a Comment
…well sort of. I just finished year-end where I work. So I was thinking October 1st might be a good time to start fresh…well start again…towards improving my fitness and eating habits. I’ve been struggling with severe back pain for close to a month and have just started to feel better this past week….but during the past month I was feeling sorry for myself and would say to myself what the heck you can’t exercise….what’s the use…just have that extra serving or go ahead and eat that doughnut. I know it was really bad thinking but I was making so much progress in feeling stronger and having more endurance. I just felt so defeated in how my body let me down. I know it makes no sense to push yourself further down that hole but I did! Well now it’s time to make a change and for the better.
On a little bit of a side note but relating to my “justification” for eating poorly…I was listening to an episode of a really cool podcast called Two Fit Chicks and a Microphone. One of the questions the fit chicks answered was a question about self-sabotage. I think I suffer from that. Carla talks about how some fear success so they do anything to make them not succeed and others fear failure so they do things to ensure they fail and then they know! I think for me it’s more about a fear of succeeding. I have never been one to take praise very well so if I would succeed there would be all this attention that I just can’t deal with. I need to work on this.
So now I am hoping to accomplish a few things starting this “new year”. I would like to continue to lose some weight. Specifically I want to get down to 130 for this first goal…so that’s about 10lbs give or take at this point. I’m not sure my exact weight. I will track it tomorrow. I think realistically this might take me about 2 months. I want to have a positive take on this but my back comes and goes. So exercise could be limited but I am learning that I might have to take preventive measures to ensure my back stays strong…like lots of stretching, especially the hamstrings all the time now and I’m prepared to do that. I also don’t want to risk further injury. So I think a pound a week is a good start.
Next I hope to keep this blog more updated at least for my own accountability. Then I hope to start back at exercising. I hope to actually try that tomorrow. I will take my bike out for a ride along the lake. I usually do lots of hills for the cardio but it does put a strain on my back. So I have to take another cue from the Two Fit Chicks and START, specifically the S which stands for “S”etting yourself up for success. If I push myself and fail then its no good for me and it’s too easy to go down that self-destructive path and that’s not the path I want! So against my fear of success I will take it slowly and feel good about it. Finally I want to keep to eating more healthfully. More posts to come later on all of this, hopefully tomorrow.
