Category Archives: health

April 24, 2013 · 8:17 am

Injuries, setbacks and frustration

I am often a patient person. I’m not one to lash out or have road rage or get worked up because I’m waiting in line or something like that. I have my moments, of course, where patience is harder to come by. In general, though, I think I’m pretty laid back.

But right now I am impatient. Frustrated, even.

My entire fitness regimen was completely derailed that day I was hit by a car. Of course, walking away with minimal injuries is a blessing, and I am incredibly thankful it wasn’t any worse. A month later and my back is still recovering. I shouldn’t expect anything different–I’m still getting chiropractic care, and serious sprains are no joke. The back muscles also support practically your entire body. Injuring those muscles, in a word, sucks. And you certainly can’t expect them to heal quickly.

So here I am. One month later, and finally back to the gym. Except… it’s like I had to start all over. Like I’ve never jogged in my life.

Aerobically, I don’t get winded very quickly, so I guess I retained some level of fitness. This is good. My legs, however, are like jelly. I can’t figure out why they’re taking this so hard. My back feels some strain, which I expect, and isn’t bad enough to make me feel like I’m pushing myself too hard. I have to assume that the general level of soreness is just made worse because my back hurts. Or something.

Well, at least I’m trying, right? I had to get back on the horse–er, treadmill–eventually. I just feel like it will be so far before I can reach any goals I had previously set. It frustrates me so much. I had high hopes of running a couple five-milers early this summer, but that doesn’t seem likely now. If I can run 3 by the time I had hoped to run 5, I’ll consider that a success.

And that ab workout I was doing? Try doing that with a sprained back. No chance. I’m afraid to touch weights, because any upper body workout I would attempt would be supported by my back as well. So, walking and jogging is about all I can manage–and it’s a slow walk and jog at that.

It’s disappointing, to say the least. And I wish I didn’t have to be patient about it.

Slow and steady wins the race?

Or something.

Oh well. Here’s to another C25K workout completed today. And even if I’m struggling, I’m still doing better than I was when I was laying in pain on the couch. So, progress.

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April 22, 2013 · 6:58 pm

S#!& on my mind

These are a few scattered thoughts that have been on my mind lately. Enjoy. Or not. Whatever. They are in no particular order, and dedicated to my friend Damien who told me I should blog more.*

–I wish I had thought of Shit My Dad Says first. The things that come out of my father’s mouth are simply amazing. I am rather positive that I could make entire stand-up routines based solely on what my dad says to me. Example: After dental surgery on Monday, these delightful passages were among some of the first he uttered through his swollen cheeks:

  • “I sound like an 80-year-old homo with a lisp.”
  • “Wait. No. You know who I sound like? THAT GAY SLOTH FROM ICE AGE!”
  • “I started watching The L-Word on Netflix for the tits. I was like, ‘Yeah! Tits!’ Now the tits don’t even arouse me and I care about the story. What? Am I turning into a chick?”

For the record: My father is not nearly as homophobic as those quotes might suggest. In fact, he once told me he LOVES gay guys because they leave more women for him, except for the lesbians. BUT, he loves lesbians, too, because they’re “way hot.”

–Last week’s constant stream of major news made me simultaneously glad and disappointed I no longer work in the news media. On the glad side, the news was so distressing that it would be pretty upsetting to have to cover in any way. On the disappointed side, I miss being in an environment where it is encouraged and necessary to absorb as many facts about breaking news as possible. I couldn’t turn away from the coverage, as tragic as it all was.

–I once told my boyfriend not to send me flowers at work, because being the center of attention would be embarrassing. Then he did it. I was mildly embarrassed for like a minute, but now I have really pretty flowers to look at so it’s OK now.** He also left a really funny card that I will probably keep forever.

Danielle,

Just figured I’d drop these off for you. It’s my way of showing I can occasionally be a decent boyfriend.

-Tony

–Speaking of my relationship, I must not be a horrible girlfriend. This thought actually came from my grandmother, as we were discussing Tony’s weekend work schedule; he works as a DJ every Friday and Saturday night. My grandmother said she thought most girls would get mad, and nag their boyfriends about how bored they are every weekend. I don’t do this. Partly because I really, truly do not mind being home alone on a weekend night. I’d rather have my boyfriend around, of course, but the alone time can be relaxing for me. I can be a homebody, so what? This Saturday I sat on the couch, read two books, and cuddled with my cat. It was cozy and relaxing and I loved it. Don’t judge me.

Anyway, I don’t like the idea of girls getting mad at their boyfriend because they’re bored when they’re not with him. Get a hobby. Make other friends. Whatever. In this day and age, there is no reason to be bored when you don’t have somebody else there to entertain you.

–What scares me most about Boston is that I imagine these scenarios before they happen more and more these days. Tony and I recently took a weekend trip to Buffalo and Niagara Falls. We went to a Sabres game in Buffalo, and there was quite a bit of construction happening around the arena when we were there. As we were leaving, the very large crowd was funneling through a pretty tight space between construction work, and there was a bit of backup and waiting as the crowd tried to squeeze through. The sad thing is, one of the first thoughts I had was, “Gee, this would be an opportune time for someone to bomb us or start shooting into the crowd.”

Depressing thought? Absolutely. But is the thought itself depressing, or the fact that there have been so many instances of people attacking crowds that I can picture something like that happening so easily?

This is a thought I had just days before the bombing at the Boston Marathon. So clearly I am not alone in picturing these scenarios–the difference being, of course, that I would never consider engaging in such horror. But if someone like me sees these situations and thinks it, obviously the enemy does, too.

The world is getting so much scarier.

–I wish I could escape the feeling that I’m a prisoner in my own body.  Call it “unlucky.” Call it “accident prone.” Whatever it is, I’m always hurting. Of course, I got hit by a car walking across the street (I had a walk, she drove away, I’m fine and seeing a chiropractor), so back pain is certainly expected. It still stinks when you’re getting into a good exercise groove and it is all derailed. Insert whining here.

*I have a feeling that Damien won’t even see this. Prove me wrong, Damien. I dare you.
**Wordpress wasn’t letting me add the photo, so I had to link to it. Dumb.

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March 15, 2013 · 10:03 am

Short Post: Pushups are hard

I’m about halfway through the March workout I mentioned once before, and I know my strength and stamina is improving a little. The workout is still a challenge, though. ESPECIALLY the pushups. Today I was supposed to do 20, and I had to take a 30-45 second break after 10 before pushing through the rest. I suppose taking that short rest is better than nothing.

Also, planking is rather difficult when your cat decides she should jump on your back while you’re on the ground. Especially when you’re planking for over a minute. Planking is no joke.

 

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March 6, 2013 · 9:43 am

Short post: Wednesday Rest Day

In my plans (re: my last blog) to continue to improve my fitness, I came up with a day-by-day schedule for the gym. Each day of the week, I know if I’m doing my #C25K app, a full-body weight routine, or resting. Wednesday and Sunday are my rest days.

One of the other things I’ve done is check around the Internet for exercises or routines I could add into my schedule to supplement this month’s goals to tackle C25K. I found this gem on Pinterest that I decided to do.

If you don’t feel like clicking the link, it’s a day-by-day calendar of March (actually set for 2012, but who cares?) with how many sit-ups and push-ups to do, and an amount of time to plank. Each day these numbers gradually increase, so by the end of March you’re doing 100 sit-ups, 35 push-ups and planking for 2.5 minutes. YIKES.

So far I’ve followed it to a T. Granted, that means I’m only 6 days in, and today’s workout was only 20 crunches, 10 push-ups and a 30 second plank. I’m excited to see if I’m conditioned well enough to tackle that 2.5 minute plank at the end of the month. So far the plank has been the most difficult part, though I’m still able to finish each day’s requirements easily.

That’s all. Off to spend the rest of my day resting working.

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March 1, 2013 · 10:30 pm

Get fit, round 2

Some of you who could stumble upon this rarely updated blog (trying to change that!) might be familiar with my journey with fitness over the past few years. You might have heard about my injury, physical therapy, and then successful effort at a 20 pound weight loss. If not, well, here’s the summary:

Rewind to the first week of April 2010. I went for a jog on the first nice day in a long time. The next day I was very sore. “Oh well, walk through it,” I thought. The next two days, I went for walks. The soreness in my left quad slowly dissipated. The soreness in my right quad got severely worse. That weekend I attended a wedding and wore some pretty killer high heels. When I woke up the next day, I couldn’t put weight on my right leg.

I eventually made my way to the ER where the doctor thought it would be a stress fracture… until the x-ray showed a huge lump in the middle of my quad. Fearing the worst, I was given a script for vicodin and a referral to a specialist, and told to stay on crutches until further notice. After more x-rays and the longest MRI in the history of MRIs (4.5 hours spent in the machine, and I almost peed my pants), I was given a diagnosis of Myositis Ossificans.

Basically, the jog probably tore a bit of muscle deep in my quad, near the bone. Because it was so close to the bone, my body didn’t know how to heal it and started healing the muscle like it was bone. A chunk of my quad calcified and I essentially grew a bone in the middle of my leg. I spent 3 months on crutches in the worst pain of my life, taking the max amount of vicodin I was probably legally allowed. Once it was clear that my pain was subsiding and the calcification had stopped increasing, I was in physical therapy. I had to learn how to walk up stairs again.

Needless to say, all the inactivity and vicodin was not good for my waistline. I topped out at 150 pounds. Now, I’m about 5’5″, and have a relatively tiny frame. I’m pretty sure my wrists are about 5 inches around.

I looked, and felt, horrible.

August 2010--At 150 pounds.

August 2010–At 150 pounds.

By the start of 2011, I was finally ready–and physically able–to start shedding the excess weight. And I was dedicated. I was at the gym 5 days a week, walking and biking. I kept myself on a strict, well-balanced diet. By May, I was down to 128, and I felt GOOD.

En route from 150 to 128.

En route from 150 to 128.

May 2011. 128 pounds. Running almost every day. Healthy.

May 2011. 128 pounds. Running almost every day. Healthy.

Fast forward to today. I certainly have failed at keeping the weight off. Since I began dating Tony, I’d gained 10ish pounds (although today I weighed in at 136.8). Certainly not as bad as I was, but I’m ready to readjust my lifestyle and get it all off for GOOD.

So, here I am. I’m setting some monthly goals for myself, primarily based on fitness and not weight loss. I miss the way I felt when I was at 128–not just because of how I looked, but because I was active and eating well all the time.

Some of my goals:
1. Finish the C25K program.
2. Go from running 5k to 5 miles.
3. Finish the 100 push-ups and 200 sit-ups challenges.
4. To have people associate me with the word “active.”

Yeah, I gained weight. But what’s worse is what I lost: My level of fitness. My active lifestyle. That’s what I want to find again.

Granted, I haven’t completely lost it, but I wasn’t good at maintaining. This is changing. I’ve been at the gym every day but Tuesday this week, in fact. I’m not a lost cause. I just am not at my peak level of fitness anymore, and I haven’t felt as good in my own skin.

So I’m starting over. Reset. I will get back to that level of fitness. In fact, I’ll surpass it.

I took measurements of myself yesterday, as well as “before” photos. Assuming all goes as planned, by my birthday (July 7) I’ll have a very good set of afters–and I’ll be off to run 5 miles.

WISH ME LUCK!

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April 12, 2012 · 2:52 pm

I need cookbook recommendations!

I’m a busy person. And by busy I mean “rarely home.” I work long hours, have a moderately time-consuming commute, and can’t spend nearly as much time grocery shopping or preparing food as I’d like (let alone pursuing a hobby or having anything resembling a social life).

I’ve been thinking a lot about what I’d like in an ideal cookbook, and I think I have some very lofty suggestions. But if something like this exists, and you’ve heard of it, tell me. Now!

  1. Must have a bevvy of meatless options that still pack a protein punch.
  2. Would be organized in a way that would allow for easy grocery list planning, or weekly meal planning. To clarify: I like when recipes suggest ways to use leftover ingredients in other recipes. Like obviously you can’t buy just one tiny serving of beans–you have to buy a whole can or bag or whatever. So what do you do with the rest? If the book could index or reference other recipes with some of the same ingredients so that I could plan to make certain dishes in the same week, I’d never look back.
  3. Easy-to-make/not time-consuming dishes. Seriously, I get home around 8 p.m. every day and need to go to sleep between 10-11  if I am getting up at 6 a.m. the next morning to hit the gym. I am also *really* hungry by the time I get home, and rarely have the patience or time to spend concocting elaborate dinners. And lunch? I rely on frozen options more than I’d like to admit just to save time from having to pack a lot. So dishes that are good the next day for lunch would be a huge deal, too.
  4. While I like when recipes produce leftovers, I’d like smaller portion sizes. I’m cooking for one, folks. I don’t need to make 8-serving dishes that don’t translate well into leftovers.

So that’s about it. Any recommendations? Hit me up!

And while I also frequent recipe blogs, I’m really, really invested in the idea of list item number 2. But if you know of good blogs that incorporate back links instead of page references to other recipes with similar ingredients (you know, because I’m lazy), that would be great, too! :)

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April 2, 2012 · 8:47 pm

Fruit flush recap

I survived all three days of the fruit flush. Here are my parting thoughts:

1. Drastic calorie restriction is incredibly uncomfortable. Even though I was eating regularly, I felt the result of consuming a little over half the calories I usually consume. I was hungry a lot, I was lethargic, and it took more willpower than I should probably admit.

2. Fruit is delicious. Eating so much of it made me want to continue eating healthy, as well.

3. I didn’t weigh myself, but I don’t think I lost any weight. Not that I was doing this flush to lose weight, but it made me wonder if the huge calorie restriction put me into starvation mode and my body started conserving every calorie I ate. Not that it’s a huge concern, but I thought about it.

4. My severely uncomfortable digestive symptoms definitely decreased. It was an immediate marked difference. I am not feeling perfect, and probably never will, but the difference is worth noting for sure.

5. Overall, I consider this a success. Maybe it wouldn’t be as hard the next time around, should I choose to repeat this.

This month I’m going to be completely vegetarian every day, instead of only on weekdays, as an experiment on how my stomach feels. I also am training for a 5k, so we’ll see how well I make the adjustment. I need to be better at getting up early to hit the gym before work. Wish me luck!

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March 31, 2012 · 11:20 am

Frust Flush Day 2

Day 1 is in the books, and I’m on to day 2 of this fruit freakout. I’m not comfortable yet. My headache is not as bad, but my hunger seems to be worse. At least I get to eat all day!

I made a large fruit salad with apples, strawberries grapes and pears. It’s going to be my primary sustenance for the next two days.

I’ll keep you posted.

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March 30, 2012 · 1:41 pm

Live blog: Fruit Flush Day 1

A fellow from Twitter, upon hearing about my recent digestive distress, suggested doing this fruit flush to help kickstart a dietary overhaul. I’ve been flirting with the ideal of eliminating foods from my diet and reintroducing them gradually, so I figured I might as well try this. Couldn’t necessarily hurt, aside from the hunger.

Here’s my thoughts on day 1.

8:30: HUNGRY. I’m sure I’m only this hungry because I know I’m restricting myself today.

8:32: Nope. Actually hungry.

9:01: Making this protein shake is messier than thought.

9:03: Much messier.

9:06: SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE, SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE, SHAKE MY PROTEIN.

Continue reading →

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March 13, 2012 · 8:51 pm

Would you want to know?

If you had a genetic mutation that drastically increased your chances of developing cancer, would you want to know?

My 32-year-old sister has colon cancer. It was discovered at a very late stage, and the cancer had spread throughout her body. It hit her ovaries, her liver, and was in her blood. It wasn’t discovered until the main tumor, the largest one in her colon, had caused her colon to rupture.

This was in late September or early October. I can’t pinpoint it exactly in my memory, but she had surgery on my second day at PR Newswire. That I remember most. I held my cellphone all day waiting for a phone call, and it came after I had gotten home. I’m pretty sure my battery was drained just because I kept looking at the darn thing all day.

Fastforward to March. My sister is responding well to treatment–better than I think anybody expected. Some of her remaining tumors have shrunk by half, and bloodwork showed no signs of cancer in her blood. It’s a miracle. Or, at the very least, just something to be thankful for.

Meanwhile, that phone call in October delivered some different news for me. My sister’s doctor told me that her cancer can be genetic. I need to get tested.

The obvious test, to be candid, is a colonoscopy. This I know, and am ready to do. But the doctor told me that my brother and I should get a genetic test to find out if we have the possibility of getting the same kind of cancer.

(Humorous side note: Please watch this awesome video. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-colon-cancer-screening-day-targets-first-time-patients-141094453.html)

So. Do I do it? If I’m likely to get cancer, is it better to know?

Of course it’s better to know. If I’m likely to get cancer, I can have regularly screenings to make sure any cancer is detected at the earliest moment.

But would you want to know?

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