Samba in water.... Yikes!

Aqua Zumba / Calorie Bank

Aqua Zumba. I did this today to help with my Fibro Flare (see previous post) here are my thoughts about the class aside from the Fibro. 

OMG... Never in my life have I been so rhythmically challenged!!! Do you know how hard it is to Samba in water!!! I couldn't keep the beat for the life of me. Now part of that MAY have been due to me taking it easy tonight but that's like 2% if it. Lol. 

It was quite difficult to go quickly and keep my rhythm. If you have been to a Zumba class you know the movements are quick. Aqua Zumba shows just how strong the water's resistance is.  It was actually quite humorous when I think about it. How silly must I have appeared if someone was watching. 

I plan to continue with Aqua Zumba! I really liked it. If nothing else I get to listen to fun music for an hour. The instructor was new tonight an she was so sweet. She talked with me for some time after class and I think she really has a passion for helping people. 

My nutrition has been as follows. 

Saturday 2007/1252 (over by 755)
     Sad day. I planned ahead alright until I got to Solo & Ensemble and ate a donut and then went out with friends for Samari (a habachi grill... You know the grills with the SLABS of BUTTER) 
     We did go bowling afterward so I got to "exercise" a little ;)

Sunday  1715/ 1252 (over by 463)
      I thought. "Today is the day". Then we went out for lunch. So I still thought "today us the day". I ordered an under 550 meal from O Charleys. Good right?? WRONG if you realize that for 530 calories all I got was a chicken breast (breschetta) and steamed (probably buttered because I forgot to request it without) broccoli. Then you add the salad and roll and before you know it the only thing the "under 550" menus did was hold my total meal right at 1000 calories!!! So my day was beyond shot by the end of lunch.

Monday 1168/ 1252 (under by 85)
"Today is the Day" that my calorie bank did NOT explode. 
I was home with my Fibro so I had NO meals out. My day looked like this. 
Breakfast - whole wheat biscuit
Lunch - turkey sandwich and yogurt
Dinner - Hawaiian BBQ chicken and rice (posting that recipe this week, it's a crock pot recipe... Get excited!) 
Dessert - 2 no preservative cookies I baked. 
So what was the key? Eating home prepared meals. Today taught me a lot! I still need to get in my fruits and veggies better. 

So will Tuesday be another good day? 
Let's see!

Fibro Flare!!!

If you have been reading since the beginning,or you know me really well, you know I have Fibromyalgia. I have learned really well how to manage my Fibro but once in a while I have what's called a Fibro Flare. When my Fibro "flares up". Typically it has a very fast onset. Like I go to bed fine and wake up feeling like I've been beat up and run through the wringer (spelling?). Often time sudden weather changes involving cold air set me off. Well, today was a Fibro Flare. I woke up and couldn't stand to walk. My fibro flares effect my legs and hips a great deal. It basically makes them ache and have severe pain, feel bruised to the touch, and I become severely fatigued all over.   I thought a warm shower would help so I began getting ready for work and it only got worse. So I had to call in to work for a sub. Not one of my favorite things to do , especially with Festival fast approaching. 

So I stayed in and sat in a warm bath, slept for a few hours, and stretched as often as I could stand. I was scheduled for Physical Therapy today so I kept that appointment. They pulled back on a few of my exercises there and I made it through therapy successfully. I then stayed to get in the water for a while which was encouraged by my physical therapist. Exercise is good for flares but quite miserable. Often times I can take slow walks but it was too cold and Im restricted from the treadmill.  So I decide to give the water a whirl and see if I could get the exercise my flare up needed without the miserable pain. It worked really quite well. It, by no means fixed everything but I was able to be mobile and with the support of the water had little to no weight on my legs an hips. I wasn't pushing hard in a cardio manner. My goal was to be mobile for a hour.  I had a lot less fatigue when I got out of the water than when I got in. I actually made it out of therapy in time to go into a class, Aqua Zumba. I would NEVER be able to stand a regular Zumba class during a flare. It was all about the water for me. I am feeling a bit better tonight and expect that the flare will be gone by morning. 

If I were a fish I just might be Fibro free!

I'm posting a separate post about my Aqua Zumba experience (aside from how it did with my Fibro) and my recent nutrition failures and successes. 

Wings and Fries and Cake OH MY... Pass the celery and strawberries!

My nutrition is suffering! I do good at lunch usually because there isn't much damage that can happen in a 23 minute lunch! But I haven't been properly snacking and that makes me crave sweets really bad! 

I'm currently at Buffalo Wild Wings where I ate wings fries and chocolate cake! OMG!!!

I get 1252 calories a day. It's tough and I've been missing my mark. I told my trainer today that it was hard. He said simply this ... "DO IT" lol. I said that I feel like all I can eat is celery. Lol. I'm glad to have a trainer be so point blank with me!

  Actually... I think my food choice  problem is that I'm not eating enough fruits and veggies which would help fill me up but not fill up my calorie bank. So next I'm focusing on fruits and veggies! I have strawberries in the fridge. They are my favorite with splenda! I need to buy more fruits though. 

So let's see what tomorrow brings. 
I did not keep up with my calories today and basically ate as I wish. So I entered my whole day into my Lose It app and today totaled....... Drum roll *taps hands on table* ..... 2350 calories!!!! Almost twice my slotted amount. 

This MUST change. I have to plan ahead for the whole day. I think if I do that then I'm not making spontaneous food choices that can destroy my calorie bank. 

So logging food as I eat it and planning a day of meals and snack ahead is my plan. 

I'm gonna make it happen!

Water!!!!!!

Have you ever tried "doggie paddling" the length of an Olympic sized pool?
ME EITHER... until yesterday. When Chad said "ok you are going to doggie paddle to the other end I know my face had to be priceless. He said "do you know how to doggie paddle?" I replied "I may have forgotten when I learned how to swim" I just couldn't imagine what it could possibly do to help! I'll tell ya what it can do. It can kill your arms, abs, back, and legs!
I also did lunges across the length, squats, some type of butterfly arm move with resistance weights (made of foam) under water, jogged two laps, walked like 10 laps, jumping jacks, and used a paddle board held arms length away and had to kick only for the full length.  
I was huffing and puffing! If the water was any warmer I could have sweat! 
I was so excited. I had no idea I could get such a workout in water and had ZERO issues with my pinched nerve because I had zero impact. 

My trainer has recently been the trainer for the guys team in the Train to Lose competition at the gym. He did his first two weeks with the team in the water and he had double digit weight losses from a few of the guys! I was encouraged when he told me that!

So water exercise really works. After I'm released to do weight training and regular cardio I fully intend to continue water training on my own. 

I will train in the water again next week and I can't wait! I'm a little sore today and it feels GREAT to be that way again! Finally!!!!

Stretching in the water after the workout was amazing too. The water increased my balance and I was able to stretch out really really well. Overall I just love the water!

If you are a person who works out and haven't tried the water. It's not just "for old ladies on Monday morning"! You should give it a shot! Start out with water walking and jogging. Get some other ideas from a trainer or google or go to a class. We have Aqua Zumba at my gym. I plan to try to make it to that class next week. I'm sure it's a blast!

Til next time!!!

Celebrations!

Celebrate Good Times!!!!!

I have a LOT to celebrate today.  (actually yesterday... I wrote this last night)

My physical therapy is working and I'm finding relief. There is no longer any pain in my back only the numbness, tingling and burning. That too is getting better. 

So since I'm finding relief and my trainer and I finally got our crazy schedules together I had my first training session today since I fell on Jan 24th!!! So excited! I went to physical therapy first (same place) and was feeling great when I got finished. I had a 30 minute rest time before my training. I weighed in today before training. On the gym scales fully clothed I was 191.2. So not too much different from the last weigh in at the gym which is good considering my 5 weeks of no training. My trainer was very positive about that. I will now be doing weekly weigh ins with my trainer. I'm excited about that too. 

Nutrition: Chad (my trainer) wanted to see my Lose It (free app) food journal today and I was like "can I show you the one from the first two weeks I was hurt?" His reply.... "no..."
My food journaling really got lost in my injury. The first two weeks of my injury I was a nutrition perfectionist. I was that way since I couldn't work out. Then after two weeks I lost my motivation. I find motivation to stay on top of my nutrition from working out. Eat right = workouts feel good, eat wrong = workouts feel bad. So when I didn't have workouts I lost that motivation. 
So, today we didn't look at my journal. I started journaling again today and we will get into my nutrition more next week. 
However, I got my booty kicked back into shape today! In the POOL!!!
I will do a separate post about the water workouts. This one is already long. 

My biggest celebration of the day.... A good report from my doctor. It has nothing to do with my back, workouts, or nutrition.... It has EVERYTHING to do with my health as a woman. 

I kept this very quiet during the process but now that I got results and they were good results I'm ready to be honest and share to help someone else (I hope). I'll make this short and sweet. 
I found a lump on my breast about two weeks ago. Scary right?! Yeah I mean I'm 26!!! So I visited my doctor Monday, had a mammogram and ultrasound Tuesday, and received results today that the lump was "neither cancer or suspicious"!!!!! Wooohoo!!!!
The last few days have been very hard emotionally and mentally. I trusted God and leaned on him like crazy. I was constantly in prayer as were several family members and a few friends. 

So why would I be so open about this????

Because there is a great deal of awareness about breast cancer but I'm not sure that there is enough said to make girls my age realize that it means us too. We tend to thing it doesn't apply until we reach a certain age. Thats how i felt until recently. IT TOTALLY means us! Girls, self exams start early. If you are unsure how to self exam or what to look for ask your doctor, google it, or ask your mom. I did all three. It's not easy at first. As a matter of fact I think it is confusing, scary, and easy to NOT do. 

So educate yourself, exam yourself, and protect yourself. I did and I'm glad I did! I never thought I would find something at my age! Don't be scared. At our age there are lots of changes that can occur that are totally ok. Just communicate with your doctor. 
It's our health ladies! Nothing to be embarrassed about :)

I will be posting frequently now that I'm back in the groove. I will post tonight about my water training.

Here is a verse that I have been keeping near. 

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:6 

Happy Thursday!

Weigh in. Not so good :(

This will be a short post because I need sleep.

I weight today at 188.4. I gained a pound. This whole not working out thing isn't working. I have yet to start water workouts. I HAVE to get started. I'm calling my trainer tomorrow. I have to! I think I'm just afraid of doing something totally different.

I start physical therapy at MY GYM on Thursday morning. I'm excited about that. I see a light at the end of the pinched nerve tunnel.

I will update more later but I had to post my weigh in.

This "bump" in the road seems to be more of a mountain !!!

Well. I went to the doctor today for a second opinion about my back. Last week at my follow up with the first doctor they had swapped physicians and I was informed that my back pain wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have a lack of exercise and wasn't overweight. After refraining from smacking the doctor I just left and shed a few tears and got approval for a second opinion. So I visited a new doctor (that was recommended to me by the physical therapist at the gym) today. He was so nice and I finally had some x-rays taken and he listened to me instead of interupting me. The x-rays ruled out anything bone wise being wrong which was great! So the doctor decided that I have either a pinched nerve or a herniated disk. He said herniated disks are rare in the midback so it is likely the pinch nerve. Anyhow instead of going through an MRI to decide which it is he is going to send me to physical therapy where either one would be treated. After a few weeks I will go back for a follow up and if symptoms haven't drastically improved I'll have the MRI. He thinks therapy will fix it successfully either way. So now I wait on the referral to be approved and hopefully start next week. The good news is that he is sending me to physical therapy right there at my gym. So that's cool! I wa also told to continue with restricted exercise and do a lot of water exercise. Then as therapy works I can gradually increase back to my regular routine.

Water exercise? Yikes. My trainer mentioned water walking to me but I haven't the slightest what to do. So I plan to schedule back to training on Monday and see if I can just train in the pool. I think my trainer will go for it. He trains the Train to Lose contestants in the pool all the time. We also have Aqua Zumba at our gym, so I can give it a try. I figure working out in my swim suit will be quite the motivation!!! I was hoping to lose some weight before swimsuit season.

Focusing on nutrition has proved to be really hard without workouts. Because nutrition is so directly beneficial when you hit the gym. Good fuel in produces a great workout, bad fuel in makes me feel like I'm gonna die. So I enjoy eating healthy when I see the results in my workouts but when I'm not working out it's tough to do. So hopefully I can get going on water workouts and keep focused on my nutrition and get back into my grove and routine.

My weigh in.

Well I weighed in this morning and since last Monday I gained exactly 2 pounds. So Im at 187.8 It really stinks, but I lost 3.8 last week and I havent been able to work out in two weeks so I'm looking forward and keeping my chin up.

This bump in the road seems like a mountain, but I can climb it (if it's in water... Lol)
Matthew 21:21
  And Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it will happen.

I appreciate all of the comments and followers
During this bump
In the road