Month eleven in the life of the future pin-up girl
The last piece of the puzzle .. is exercise. And I'm struggling with it. I got totally psyched to start swimming with the Manatees and then two things happened. One - I found that my neck/shoulder injury was worse than I thought. Swimming was causing me so much pain that I could barely type at work. When I originally injured myself, I was off of work for 6 months. Can't have that again. Two - we got some bad news financially. For the last year, Chris and I have been working as the managers of our apartment complex... showing units for rent, dealing with noise complaints, that sort of thing. In exchange, we were paying $400 a month for rent. Unheard of in the Bay Area. It was really helping out while Chris is in school and only working part time. Well - the owners of our building (who we really love) decided to sell the building and the new owner will not require our services. So we're back to $900 a month for rent and struggling. So.. that means that the monthly fees for swimming are no longer in the budget. All of this brought me really down. I was feeling like a failure.. feeling a lot like I have in past when I've announced my intent to start a new diet.. and then failing with it.I've spent time thinking about it.. working through the suckiness of the whole situation.. and now I need a solution. I do still have my Curves membership. I'm paying for it, forchristsake, might as well use the damn thing. But I know that I will need something more. I NEED to strengthen my core. The weight that I have left to lose is all around my middle (mid-tummy and back), with a little on my upper thighs. I'm still having back pain. I still slouch.. not from lack of self-esteem or anything, but from pain. Straightening my back out HURTS. I'm still taking Valium on occasion for the muscle spasms in my back. As lovely as the occasional Valium chill-out can be, I'd really like to not need them anymore.
And - in addition to all of this, my energy level still has peaks and valleys. I thought that this would have evened out by the time I was nearly a year out. I'm taking B-12 every day now. Maybe I'll need B-12 shots..?? My one year check-up is on September 18 (has it really gone by that fast?!), so Dr. U will be able to look at my bloodwork and see what the story is.
Some good news - my friend Michael's niece Josie had her WLS earlier than I had thought - she's about 2 weeks out now and doing well. Get those liquids in girlie! And - my cousin Stephanie only has 15 lbs left to lose and she'll get her approval from Kaiser - I'm so very excited for her!
If anyone has any advice about the exercise stuff, let me know. I need a serious kick in the ass.
posted by Danyele @ 7:33 AM
6 Comments:
It's such a damn cliche, but girl, get out there and walk. Not just a 30 minute stroll either, get on Gmaps pedometer and clock yourself out a nice 3 mile course. Or heck, a 5 mile one. Seriously, my long training walks are the best things for my upper thighs. And butt.
And maybe (if you can; do they lock you into a contract?)cancel the Curves membership in favor of paying for some yoga or pilates classes? Both of those are killer core workouts AND have the added bonus of strengthening back/shoulder problems. (Anecdote: I have a friend who hurt her shoulder/back swimming and yoga was the only thing that helped it. And now she's a yoga teacher.)
Hi Melinda,
Yep, it's a cliche but I know that I could do more walking. I do quite a bit on the weekend but not as much during the week. Guess I should do more of that while there's still daylight when I get off work. Unfortunately I'm committed to Curves for a year. I'd like to do yoga but haven't found an affordable studio in my area. It's trendy, and therefore, expensive, around here.
melinda is right. walking and yoga/pilates are the best. the great thing about walking is it's free, but the down side is that if your back problems are really bad, you might need to work on your core before you map out that 5 mile walk. i can't do more than a mile right now without my lower back hurting, so i feel your pain. here is a website with exercises similar to those my physical therapist gave me: http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/fact/thr_report.cfm?Thread_ID=17 once your core is strong, then you can start walking and even go on short day hikes. the bay area has hundreds of gorgeous hikes that you can do in an afternoon! and don't forget to stretch--my favorite thing to do.
I'm sorry that life is throwing you some frustrating curves at the moment. Hang in there. This too shall pass. What about taking fitness classes at the community college? I don't know your education background, but if you don't have a degree, it's super duper cheap. From what I remember, isn't it still like $20 a credit there? I'm doing strength training alternating with cardio every other day. The training might help with the neck, back, shoulder issues. I would just speak with the instructor. Besides, if it's a "class" then you gotta go, right?
That said, I'm about right where you are. I want to want to exercise and so far that just hasn't kicked in for me. The less I do, the less I want to so it becomes a vicious cycle. Wish you lived closer, we could work out together!! Otherwise, I have some awesome workout videos that I could burn and send you or upload somewhere for you. Just let me know.
xoxo
For the core, I really recommend one of those huge ass balls. Even just sitting on it helps you with balance and posture. But I love doing crunches on it. There are a bunch of websites with free tutorials. But I also just picked up a great illustratd book at Barnes & Noble on clearance...Using Your Exercise Ball for Weight-Loss. A lot of great stuff in it. The balls canb e pretty cheap. I found the best deals on them at either a Marshalls or TJ Maxx. Target has some on clearance now, too.
Walking is free. That's my form of exercise, (if I do any) because it's free! Did I mention it's free? I hear you on that money thing - I just took a minimum wage-like position to get some pocket change.
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