Yes, I cheated yesterday & I’m back up to 168lbs. Yes, I am not making
progress yet, but I’ll get to that in a moment. So, I’m all excited about the running and then, wait. not so fast…
Here’s the deal with the Dr. Seems I didn’t mess up my back last month – my back’s been messed up since birth. Pars defect of spondylolisthesis. This seems pretty crazy given the fact that my back has always been so strong. But He’s got the fancy doctor’s office with the PA, nurse, waiting room & all, so I’ll have to acquiesce.
A genetic defect in my spine that I’ve had forever. This was good & bad news, but mostly good. Good – no spine fracture. Bad – vertebrae slippage. Good – treatment only requires at-home PT. Bad – no more running.
“No Running For You!” From the exercise nazi. ( a Seinfeld reference, yeah.) Remembering I am in a positive place now, no hard feelings. Deep relaxing breath. I am so glad I didn’t blow that $165 on those running shoes. Moving on from here I just need to figure out where to go instead. I was excited about the running because it was making an impact on the weight loss. But I think the impact on my spine in future years will be too high a price to pay. Hmmm, what to do instead.
High repetition weight training. Core work outs. Notice how we intuitively gravitate towards what is
best for us? My favorite form of exercise has always been weight-training. Seems with the situation with my spine, this was probably the best, aside from maybe swimming. (I hate swimming in chlorine) Now, back to the problem I was having a few months ago – why has it become so hard to go upstairs to the gym in my house and weight train?
Well, it seems for now, I have the PT exercising to do as I prepare for my long rides starting next week. (OMG, so soon?) That will keep me busy to begin. Then I’ll just have to resort to forcing myself through the first few days. Maybe I can do it like the cycling & give a beginner weight-training class. Seems like when I have people show up for something, I seem to get the work done.
Maybe I’ll get back to serious practice with the fire-spinning & belly-dancing. (yes, that’s me in the picture!!) I guess I just worry that the calorie burn won’t be high enough. To off-set it, I’ll have to dramatically increase my lean muscle mass. I gotta tell you, it is hard to ‘feel-the-burn’ when doing hip-shimmy’s & belly-rolls. Sorry this is such a whiny, boring post today. Get this off my chest & tomorrow head in a new direction.
Bummer to hear about the back pain and no running! I think a beginner weight-class offering of your own would be very interesting and a good way to get mentally back into the core training.
As to calorie burn on shimmies I can totally offer a few ways to work to very energetic and muscle-toning ideas! There are videos on youtube on how to combine moves with shimmies (such as Mayas, figure 8s, etc); all layered on top of a shimmy which starts slow and then moves to basically a vibrato! Trust me; you’ll feel the burn!
I’m still working on getting the shimmy/hip slide layered and it is tough and fun and feels great!
Oh and that fire spinning looks amazing!
April – Good info!! I’m working on Sensual Belly Dancing dvd right now, and yes – belly dancing is a tough workout, but it takes ALOT longer to burn that same 2000 calories that I can do in 1.5 hrs of riding. And then, you can’t laugh for 3 days because it hurts so much! ; )
I’m almost there with the shimmy/ hip slide transition – need more time – to – practice…
Yeah, god, the fire is fun…
Give the swimming a try. I hadn’t done serious swimming since I was 19. I signed up for a beginner class so I could finish a triathlon. I forgot how relaxing it can be. Once I got the breathing under control I can now work on increasing my endurance.
What about yoga? Yoginnis (sp) are thin. The dietitian teaching our nutrition class swears by it.
Ah, Patty – I am going to consider some swimming. But remember back a few yrs ago, when we were swimming? I hated it. The chlorine made my hair & skin super dry. And I never really enjoyed it.
Now you bring up an excellent point with the yoga – they are all thin, & seem to have lots of energy. Definately going to try this…
PS: Come ride, we miss you!!!
Well, that had to be kind of a shock, although being able to deal with it through home PT alone is great. But no more running? It sounds like you’re adapting just fine, but sorry to hear you have to give that up.
What’s holding you back with weight training? Have you had much luck breaking through yet?
By the way, kudos for posting regardless of whether you have something to brag about or not. If I were a betting man, I’d put my money on you getting to where you want to go one way or another.
Luc
Luc – that’s a good way to describe it, a shock. There is speculation that the impact of the running was causing additional slipping of the vertabrae. This is the 2nd time I had problems trying to run.
Thanks for the kudos. I must say though, information like what is on your site makes it so helpful to find behavior changes that work. In general, I don’t believe we put enough energy into holding ourselves accountable for the circumstances in our lives.
We determine the level of happiness & satisfaction we experience every day. I guess that’s what bothered me with the fat acceptance blogs I found – they place themselves in a permanent victim status & don’t truly hold themselves accountable for achieving their goals. They sell themselves short, IMHO.
Your site helped me look at the behavior that wasn’t working in a positive way. From that I am able to make changes that will bring the desired results, without having to beat myself up.
Yeah, you’ll win your bet, it’s just gonna take longer thn I expected. Thanks for the vote of confidence…
I’d say do it all (except running). I do strength training, yoga, step, kickboxing, bike riding (the urban kind), hiking, walking, zumba, swimming (the 2x/year that I go somewhere warm enough). I don’t know how many calories anything burns, but I enjoy myself. I came here from WATRD, and I mostly agree with you, but if someone decides that they’re happy being fat, it’s no skin off my ass. I do get irritated by hearing that nobody loses and keeps it off unless they starve themselves and exercise 12 hours/daily, I think that’s justification. I don’t spend too much time on FA sites.
I mean, I think it’s bs, and some people use it for justification for not trying.
Hey there! I love running too, but my knees don’t. Not after 10 years of full contact martial arts! I ride my bike now A LOT. It takes longer to burn the same calories, but you get to go farther and see more. I ride my bike to work, yoga, to the store, as many places as I can to add in more calories burned daily. Keep it up girl! You rock! <3
Veronica, thanks a lot for the encouragement on the site. It’s pretty wonderful for me whenever I’m able to dig up something that makes a difference for someone.
Rose, what kind(s) of martial arts do you do? I get a great workout from about 4 Taekwondo classes a week, but I can’t recommend it to everyone because Taekwondo training differs so much from one school to the next and because I’m not sure whether everyone enjoys the kind of sport where you yell and kick things. (It’s a great de-stresser, though.)
Luc
Hey Luc,
Kenpo and Aikido. Two very different arts, but together they balance each other out quite nicely. It is a lot of fun and great exercise. The full contact fighting was hard on the body, knees in particular. Now I do a lot of outdoor sports to stay busy, happy & healthy. Backpacking and hiking have become things I really enjoy, as well as rock climbing.
=) I find that it’s always good to mix things up a bit and give my body new challenges!
Have a great day all!
Psst, Veronica: when’s the next post?
Luc
We are right in the middle of back-to-back-to-back metric century rides for 6 weeks. This back problem coupled with numerous, distracting doctor visits is eating up a lot of my focus. And to make matters worse, suddenly, all my clients want my attention today, today, today. (here all this time I thought I was unemployed, silly me…)
I did write a post, but it was so negative & whiney, I couldn’t bring myself to publish it. I’m taking a blog-day on Thursday, (God willing) so it will probably be then.
Thanks for asking though. OMG, I just looked at your site and you have so many posts I want to read & digest. I’m really behind now. I must compliment you, you’ve been writing some excellent posts. I’m especially excited about this one: http://www.willpowerengine.com/?p=671
I will read it tomorrow & give you some feed-back. I thought about writing one on that in the past. Excellent info, yet again….
Sorry to hear about the Spondy, I have one of those.
The good news is (as your physio probably told you) that, unless you have a particularly bad one, it should be completely controllable just by strengthening the supporting muscles. If I do my exercises I can basically forget I have the problem.
Running is just an awful exercise, Spondy or no. Even thin, fit, healthy runners often injure themselves, and the risks are greatly magnified if you’re overweight. Cycling is a much safer choice.
Mixing in some weight training with your Cardio is a GREAT idea. They complement each other brilliantly.
Best of luck.
Like you I’ve not much good to say. What with health care, the economy, endless war, homelessness, no jobs, pay cuts, end of middle class, 22 billion in executive bonuses, bla bla bla… But there is the bike. Carefree easy ride, wind at your back, all down hill, fresh air (cough, cough).;) Like Einstein said, it’s all relative.
Sansom – good to hear from you!! If all that stuff you mention wasn’t bad enough, this is what I’ve been busy dealing with:
http://saridelikeagirl.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/rest-in-peace-alex-greg-bruehler/#comment-207
Hit a little close to home. With work & stuff like this, I’ve been stress-eating like mad. Hopefully I’ll have energy for a post here soon…