Hiatus.. I’m not dead, I just went crazy!

Once again I disappeared. Sorry guys. There has been too much going on lately and I haven’t made the time to keep up here or an any of the social networks. Sometimes life gets crazy and you just have to take a step back from other things and focus on getting back to normal. I had a minor medical issue after returning from vacation, wrecked me knee after that then had a Bridal shower and wedding invitations to make for a wedding I am MOH in this September on top of dealing with my family being a bunch of crazies and a bush catching on fire that was right against my house as I was leaving for vacay. Busy, Busy. Fun. Fun.

I am ashamed to say that my diet has been sub par but no so bad it is out of control, I have gotten workouts in a few times a week but I am just walking or peddling on the recumbent bike, my knee swells at the thought of anything more. The swelling has gone more but now that the swelling has lessened it hurts like crazy. I am hoping that in a week I can be back to normal. But, if the pain doesn’t die down by Monday I will be into the doctor and getting to the bottom of this. I have no idea what happened. I hadn’t worked out the day it started and there were no falls, twists or bumps to it. Maybe it is just my Fybromyalgia? Who knows.

Saying all of this my recent 90 Day Challenge will be started over and I promise myself and all of you that I will get back on track and come back better than ever!

This Sunday is The Color Run in Ann Arbor. Unfortunately i was ready to run it but now do not want to change further injury on my knee. I am still going to do it but at a much slower pace (speed walking more than likely)

Also, I will get the vacay pics loaded and post those soon. I hope all of my fellow WPers (thanks for checking on me Kurt) are doing well as well as everyone else.

Stretching to Relieve Back Pain

I threw my back out last night doing pretty much nothing. Oh the joys of Fybromyalgia! So today I am going to talk about stretching to relieve back pain. Even with a chronic pain disease I have found that stretching can make quite a  difference in pain levels. Plus stretching daily can help lengthen and strengthen your back muscles, improve posture and make it less likely to injure yourself in the first place.

I know what you are thinking, my back hurts no way do I want to exercise, stretch or even move. Everyone knows that exercise is important for our overall health but people sometimes forget the importance of stretching. The back and spine are made up of muscles, bones, tendons, and ligaments, it is made to bend, twist, and carry quite a bit of our body weight. Stretching on a regular basis helps reduce stress on joints, improves blood flow and adds flexibility. Also, stretching before exercise helps prep your muscles for activity and reduces the risk of injury.

Not everyone hurts their back during exercise or vigorous activity. I know this and I have hurt mine doing what? I have no idea, I was standing in the Little League Concession Stand volunteering, at that time I was bagging popcorn. Popcorn is not heavy, neither are teenie popcorn bags or the scoop I was using. It just happened. Maybe there was a moment where I twisted strange or maybe it is because I am a cripple. Either way, it hurts and it is improving because of stretching it out.

Here are a few things to keep in mind while you are stretching:

• Start at the top, if you stretch  your neck then work your way down you use already stretched muscles in the rest of your stretching routine.
• Don’t stretch until you are in pain, go slow and only until you feel a bit on tension.
• Be sure to stand steady, no bouncing around. Think strength in stillness.
• Hold in your stretch for 10 to 20 seconds and do not forget to breathe! Be sure to inhale before the stretch and exhale during.
• Small sets of 3 is enough, do not over do it! You can always add more as you are more flexible.

Personally I stretch daily, more than once in the instance that I am stiff or sore. Today there will be a few sessions of stretches going on to get this pain worked out of my back. You do not have to do it daily but I really would recommend doing it a few times a week (personal opinion, I am not a doctor.)

Here is the routine I use. I do believe that I first found it on http://www.webmd.com. I do not have a link to their direct article, but the routine is now in my memory.

Neck Stretch

• Stand with your feet flat , knees bent just a little bit.
• Tilt your head slowly forward, bringing your chin toward your chest.
• Turn your head to the left until your chin is lined up with your shoulder.
• Do this again on your right side
• Tilt your head to the left so your ear is to your left shoulder.
• Do this again but on your right side.

Shoulder Rolls 

• Stand with your feet flat on the floor, knees bent a little bit.
• Roll your shoulders forward 10 times starting with small circles.
• Roll your shoulders 10 more times in large circles.
• Roll your shoulders backwards 10 times starting with small circles.
• Roll your shoulders backwards 10 times using large circles.

Hamstring Stretch

• Lie down and bend your knees.
• Grab one leg around the thigh and slowly bring it toward your chest.
• Pull until you fee a light stretch.
• Hold for 10 to 20 seconds.
• Repeat with you other leg.

Hamstring Stretches 2

• Stand with one leg out in front of you, straightened and put your leg on a table or chair, I use the stairs.
• Bend the leg you are standing on until you feel a little stretch under the thigh of the raised leg. Hold for 10 to 20 seconds.
• Repeat with your other leg.

I also like to do Sun Salutations for a sore back. Here is a video for you to check out that will show you how to do a Yoga Sun Salutation:

On today’s workout menu I have Les Mills Pump Step as well as getting back on the horse with my running. I know I may not have the best run (I usually kind of stink at it anyhow) but I am going to get out there and do what I can. Hope you all have a fit and healthy day! Time for me to go stretch out this sore back and work on getting my workouts in.

Why I Choose Active Recovery

It is commonly thought that complete rest after a workout is the best way to recover. Taking a day off and letting the muscles rest and repair does work for some people. I have found that with Fibromyalgia the soreness after a workout is far worse than when I used to be healthy, even the workouts themselves are harder to do. Taking a full on rest and recover day is not best for me.

Staying active with Fybro is hard work, the workouts are always more challenging, the aches are worse and some things you have to modify the heck out of just to accomplish in your own way. If I take a day off after I feel terrible. In my case I have found that a ten minute walk then a five-minute warm up really helps with my flexibility and my ability to keep proper form and follow through to the end. The bit of flexibility and looseness that is gained from that fifteen minute warm up is a game changer. After my workouts I make sure that I do a five-minute cool down as well as five minutes of stretching after.

Doing Les Mills Pump there are schedules rest days. Rarely will I attempt a full rest day. When I do I get stiff and sore, and jumping back on the Pump bandwagon the next day is extremely hard. This is where active recovery comes in. Besides my warm up and cool down I stretch, constantly. Anytime i start to feel stiff or the pain level starts creeping up I stretch. On my days off I may just jog, do some yoga or low impact aerobics. If I am really sore I do yoga. What I am saying here is something is done to keep myself moving. With fybro it is very easy to sit down and not move. Your body doesn’t like moving, but doing it is best.

It has been documented over and over the importance of exercise and stretching for fybro patients. I can say personally that it is making a huge difference in how i feel physically. I certainly am not in as much of the fybro pain, yes, there is pain and exercise is not a miracle cure, I am not making any claims that it is. What I am saying is that activity helps. You may have to struggle in the beginning, but gaining that strength and flexibility makes life so much easier. You have to be willing to power through for it to help. People with Fybromyalgia are more likely to have inflamed and tight muscles, poor circulation, poor posture and more toxins in the body. Regular stretching and exercise can help relieve those symptoms. Start out slow, don’t stretch too hard or hold poses too long. Keep it static.

After almost 90 days of exercise my symptoms are lessened, I have learned my limits and what I can do to feel better. I have learned that I have to work twice as hard to get a work out in as a healthy person does. I have also learned that I am worth that hard work and that I can do it. I have also learned that active recovery works best for me.

Today is a scheduled rest day with Pump so I am going to warm up with a walk and spend the day weeding my garden area (It looks terrible!) so I can get my veggies planted.

 

Time to get back on it..

Yesterday I ended up taking the day off of my workouts, I do not feel guilty about it either. There was just too much to fit into one day and my body could barely handle was already on my plate. And sometimes things are just more important than my workouts. I have two hours before I have two hours before I have to head Bridgeport for the funeral of a wonderful man and my friend’s Father. I have to stop on the way and buy something to wear. I shopped for yesterday’s showings but didn’t think to get something for the actual funeral. I have slacks but no funeral appropriate tops, I wore my only nicely fitting appropriate top yesterday. I am loving getting smaller but today I am annoyed that I have 2 closets and a walk in with clothes in them and nothing to wear that is dressy. Usually I love shopping but I don’t like rushing. also, it is time to take some more of my clothes to the consignment shop.

This puts it in perspective for you guys. Except your games still work and my clothes don't

I am going to squeeze in a workout this morning. I don’t want to take too much time off. But today’s workout that was scheduled wasn’t a hard-core one so I should be good. I need to keep moving and just adapt my exercise until this flare up passes. Even my doctor says to workout just take it easy because it is actually good for the fybro. Well I better quit wasting time and get moving, lots to do today. We have field clean up and practice for the kid tonight after school too. Busy, busy day. Time to go see what Les Mills has in store for me today.

Tuesday Weigh in Week 9 *sigh*

It is that time again. I’ve got my scale and tape measure handy and I am ready to go. I am not sure how accurate anything will be this week. I have some MAJOR bloating issues and still have a pot belly going on, swollen from my stomach to thighs (I can feel the fluid, yuck). My Fibromyalgia is flared up pretty badly. I feel foggy and things that should be easy are getting more and more confusing. I went to Zumba last night and wow, did I have a really hard time catching on. I did 100 times better last time, and that was my first go at it. Oh well, I did my best and worked up a really good sweat. That is all that matters. Right now I am hoping this fog, the bloat and the elevated pain passes quick. I am definitely going to have to tone down the weights for now. I really hope it doesn’t set me back to far. Ah, the life of a cripple.

I had to go pant shopping yesterday, needed some dress slacks for a Showing this afternoon. I hate shopping when bloated, makes finding things harder. I was still able to buy a size 12 though. So I was happy.

Let me hop on the scale and get this done and over with:

• Chest: 36 inches  (- 0 inches)
• R Arm: 12 inches  (- 0 inches)
• L  Arm: 12 inches (- 0 inches)
• Waist: 32 inches (- 0 inches)
• Hips: 41 inches (- 0 inches)
• R Thigh: 24.5 inches (- 0 inches)
• L Thigh: 24.5 inches (- 0 inches)
• Weight: 171 pounds (-0 pounds)
• Pant Size: 12
• BMI: 29.9

Well, that wasn’t as bad as I though it would be, all the bloat sits above and below where I measure. How convenient! So no change this week. Not exactly pleased but I will accept it and move on. I think I need to step up the cardio or go a little stricter with the diet so I can get some sure changes for next week. Hoping it will clear out this water weight I am carrying around right now. I really dislike weeks with no change they feel like set backs and are disappointing. It is the beginning of a new fitness week for me so time to change that!

Have a great Tuesday everyone.

 

No doughnuts but…..

Happy Friday everyone!

Just so you know. I did not have a doughnut last night! Go me! I did melt some cheese with sriracha sauce on    some whole grain baked tortilla chips. A whopping 310 calories worth. So I feel guilty this morning and am fighting the urge to step on the scale. Must.not.give.in! i haven’t been eating enough over the past week so I am sure my indulgence will not hurt me. On the other hand the not eating enough calories for the week may. I have had a small appetite all week. Still eating all my meals, just not much of them. Getting lots of my veggies in at least. I am sure that will bounce back after I get sleeping  again and this Fybro flare passes. After this and Emma gets on the bus I am going back to bed for an hour and hoping it refreshes me a little. I am sleeping in until 9 tomorrow, I’ll just have to threaten some lives before I go to bed, both human and pet.

I wanted to start Couch to 5K  yesterday. But I did not. Too tired. I sis get my scheduled workout in though. Pump and Shred, I killed it.   I may give it a try tonight if not for sure tomorrow.

I found another 5k that I really want to do. My friends and I dress up and go out for Halloween for mine and one other friends birthday every year. But I am thinking it is time to change it up a bit. There is a zombie 5k The Zombie Dash this April but now they are going to plan a Halloween Weekend one! It is a 5k plus Zombie Apocalypse. And if you know me you know I love me some zombies. You start at a cabin in the woods and have to make it to safety without being caught by zombies, So in a way capture the flag/race/awesomeness.  If no one else wants to do it I may just have to ditch everyone for the Halloween Birthday Extravaganza Weekend that I plan every year.

And to round off this post here is a picture of what I made for dinner last night. Udon Noodle Soup with Shrimp, Crab and lots of veggies. with a spinach salad. Have a nice day Time for my nap then onto hours upon hours of neglected housework to catch up on.

B**** I’m 36 months pregnant. Really?

Who pissed in my Cheerios today? So far it seems the entire world….

So I woke up today cranky as all get up. I have never been one to be a morning person so a slight amount of temporary crankiness is not all that unusual. But today, watch out. I feel like ripping the first person who looks at me sideways’ head off. I am so tired. I think I may die. Seriously! I have on average getting three and a half hours of sleep a night for a while now, so I am always tired. I am constantly sore and feel like my body does not recover from my workouts and I think this could be lack of sleep. So I am moody from the constant aches on top of my Fibromyalgia being flared up right now. I hate waking up on the wrong side of the bed. why the heck do they call it that anyhow? Wrong side? Do I have another option? Should I try to climb over the dog then over  my husband and see if that puts me in a better mood because getting to the other side of the bed is like going through an obstacle course. I don’t see that starting my day in a sunny disposition. You try it and let me know how that works out for you. Anyhow here is my morning. Woke up tired and sore, Emma was hard to get up and a pain in the butt (this is rare), the bus came early so I sent her running like a mad child to the bus stop with book bag and coat in hand. I may of just won the mom of the year award for that one. Note the sarcasm. Then I decided to try to take a nap for an hour, didn’t work two of the three cats needed cat food or they were going to die at that moment apparently. UGH.

Then I once again for the billionth time get asked if I am pregnant. No bitch I am just fat. Really?? I do not look pregnant. I may not be the size zero/one I was 15 years ago but damn. I hate this question, it started happening on a regular basis about the time of my high school reunion. My being a size 6 at the time apparently meant I was knocked up or popped out a billion babies because compared to when I was 17  I was fat. Piss off  people really. It just got worse as I got bigger. Then people would say after told I was not with child and had one x amount of time ago.. Oh you had a baby it isn’t your fault you got fat, I started modeling again weeks after giving birth. It was not that and even then I was a size 6. Whoop tee friggin do. So I was a stick figure as a child and teen. Doesn’t mean that I would of always been one. And I can tell you now. I am working my butt off to get into shape. But no way will I push myself to be a certain size or weight. Granted I have goals set, but I didn’t put them in stone.  Oh and the amount of work I have put in over the course of a year to go from a 20 to a 12 you basically mock when you ask stupid ass questions like that. The follow up question usually is after all that and I rudely tell someone I am pregnant with a hundred babies or years along in my pregnancy is how did you get so fat? None of your business, but if you must know, illness, bed rest, broken bones, surgeries, steroids, lyrica, all the fun stuff that just happens. I’m over it so why don’t you leave me alone to go sulk now that you think I am fat enough to be knocked up. Walk away before I knock you out.

Whew, I feel much better now.

Now that that is all cleared out on to something I am happy about. Nothing big I was just excited to log on last night and see that my little blog here has had over 1,000 hits. Yay!  It is not a huge deal I know but I thought it was pretty awesome.

This week I did Pump Extreme for the first time. Extreme is friggin’ right. It was one heck of a work out; 55 minutes, over 800 reps, great music, more clean and press (my favorite move), and quite a challenge. I am still feeling the burn, but in a good way. I loved the “team” effort on each track, it changed things up a bit. The only thing that was missing was Asa (she’s my favorite). The banter between Dan and Rachel cracked me up. It’s weird how personalities on a workout DVD can actually not annoy me. Most workout videos I feel the need to poke fun of the trainers or am really annoyed with the high pitched hey look I’m cheery voices or the super scary and creepy perma smiles they have. None of this with the Les Mills Pump workouts. Thank goodness!

Well, onto the rest of my day and I am not cranky anymore after my venting it out on here. I have errands to run, food to eat and workouts to do.

Did you take your vitamins?

Do we really need to take vitamins and supplements? For the most part no, if you are healthy and have a well-rounded diet you should not have vitamin deficiencies.

Men and women did live for thousands of years without vitamin pills. So I am sure that in this day and time the human race can handle not having supplements. We don’t need artificial forms of a vitamin anyhow. If it isn’t really found in nature why do we need it in our bodies? We just plain don’t. I choose to take vitamins for my own reasons but I always do my research to be sure what I am buying is a real from nature derived supplement (or as close to it as I can) Minus the Vitamin B shots I get from my Neurologist. I just trust the fact that she is a health professional and I just get the darn shots without asking where the vitamins in them came from or what the delivery system is.

I doubt he is dragging her to the local health food store.

No matter have many vegetables and fruits I eat, no matter how clean I eat and how rounded my diet is I always have low vitamin levels. My body doesn’t have the ability to absorb vitamins especially B and D vitamins. I have Hypochlorhydria, it is basically a lack of stomach acid. It took years to figure it out.  After extreme low levels of b and d vitamins in my body for so long I suffered damage to my nervous system, cellular damage to the pancreas and thyroid as well as loss of vision in one eye. So under a doctor’s supervision I take massive amounts of B3, B12, B6 and D3. If people see me take my vitamins they find it odd that I take enough to make a man twice my size sick and then I am stuck explaining that it is for a reason and it is supervised and no it is not hurting me.

Then there are all the vitamins I feel I need, a daily multivitamin, Glucosamine and Chondroitin, White Willow Bark, MSM, Vitamin C chews and a fiber supplement. I am thinking of adding fish or krill oil to the mix too.  I take the multivitamin just to be sure I get my daily allowances because I never know how much my body absorbed. I take the Glucosamine, Chondroitin and White Willow Bark, MSM and the Vitamin C to help with my joint pain. I have a very high rheumatoid factor so it won’t be long before full on arthritis sets in (I am not getting any younger) I already deal with aches and pains in my joints, I figure I may as well take care of my joints now because it isn’t going to get better. And the Fibromyalgia pain really is enough to cope with. And I get a bonus immune booster with the Vitamin C.  I have read that omega-3 Fatty Acids are a good anti-inflammatory and it also comes with a side of healthy heart function. Now to decide if I want fish or krill based.

So you know if I do not take vitamins I will not die or anything so it is not something I have to do. But vision in my left eye and functioning of some organs is nice to have. I know how jealous people get when I am rocking my sexy eye  patch though. No one in this town can pull of the pirate look quite like I can. ARGH!

Ay you scurvy dog you know you want a piece o' this sexy eyepatch

Changes in my diet as well as taking my vitamins have helped me tremendously. I am off most of my medication for my fibromyalgia. I still am always in pain and always feel fatigued, but not as bad as before. I have regained my vision in my left eye and it has not “went out” on me in a long time. Even my reoccurring Bells Palsy has not flared up in quite some time so I get to stay off the steroids.

Now I eat well, take my vitamins and am working at shedding all the fat I gained while dealing with the horrible medications that blew me up like a whale, while having low thyroid and pancreatic function. I feel more “normal” and finally able to work at shedding off all these extra pounds and moving on with a better quality of life.

Do you take vitamins? What types do you recommend? Fish Oil or Krill Oil, how do you get your Omegas? Let me know in the comments!

Now it is time for some Les Mills Pump Hard Core Abs and 45 minutes of cardio. I am still sore from Pump Revolution yesterday. Oh yeah! Feel the burn.

I Don’t Wanna Do It… Ugh

I am so very tired today. Pushing myself through all these workouts with both my fibromyalgia and Reynaud’s Syndrome along with lack of sleep is really dragging me down. The weather constantly changing is not good for me. I can’t wait for true spring so my pain will be less intense and often. I usually enjoy the workouts, but adding the soreness that I get from working out to the pain from the fybro and RS is borderline unbearable. I should be working out right now. But I am here typing a rant about why I don’t want to. I really wish today was a rest day. Granted I have only taken one rest day since I started this program and skipped many, but taking the rest days leaves me with a sense of guilt. But if today was one, I sure as hell would be taking it!

I WILL do today’s workout, I think today’s schedule is an hour… An hour too freaking long for me today. I need some motivation.

How do you cope with chronic pain and pushing through a workout??