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Nov 2, 2010

November Is For New Starts

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So…Halloween.

Yeah.

Have I mentioned I have a weakness for candy?

As I write this, a small stash of Halloween candy is calling to me from a desk drawer. It’s next to impossible for me to resist this stuff. And so I often take the attitude of “eat it all quickly so it’ll be gone,” which sometimes has the added benefit of making me so ill from eating so much candy that I don’t want to look at anything with sugar in it for a month.

Still, not a healthy relationship with food.

So it’s now a new month, and I’m trying to climb back out of the hole I dug for myself during the past month and a half. Stress and long hours at work meant that I didn’t get in any exercise during that time, and my nutrition was mostly of the fast food variety, aside from the Healthy Choice meals I ate at work. Thankfully, I didn’t gain any weight, but if I keep this pattern up much longer the weight will creep back on.

Turns out, a month and a half of no exercise can really kill your endurance. Yesterday I made the decision to get back into working out by doing a 30 minute session on the Wii game My Fitness Coach. I generally consider it an easy workout, for those days when I want to do something but not submit myself to the torture of Jillian.

This computer-generated video game trainer kicked my ass. I’m not kidding, I had a hard time keeping up, I occasionally had to stop for a breath, and I found myself struggling through some of the strength training exercises. Some of my best swear words – normally reserved for Jillian – were unleashed on this virtual trainer. Today I’m completely stiff and sore from the punishment.

How did I go from running a 5K to being a puddle of goo after a 30 minute Wii exercise game?

So this month, I’m back in the game and ready to make it hurt. I can’t guarantee that the candy will sit untouched, but you can bet I’m ready to work hard to counter the effects of that demonic sugary treat. My plan is to find some cold weather gear so I can keep running outdoors, do workout videos on other days, and try to watch my intake of junk food while drinking more water.

What about you? What are your goals/plans for November?

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Sep 24, 2010

Proven Ways To Lose Weight That I Wouldn’t Recommend

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Stomach virus.

Enough said.

I’m now seeing my weight in the 170’s, but I don’t feel like celebrating at the moment.

Ugh, slinking off to rest some more. As you can imagine, any working out has been completely derailed this week. But I also haven’t eaten anything more than stale saltines for the past 30 hours.

I do not endorse this method of losing weight.

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Aug 30, 2010

Ow Ow Ow

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So last week I was completely thrilled to be able to run again, along with the cool weather that made running enjoyable.

And then I screwed up my back and all of that came to a grinding halt.

I wish I knew what I did. I remember leaning over to dry my hair after my last run, and feeling my back ache a little. Not a big deal, and it didn’t really bother me that much.

Then the next night, as my back was feeling better, I reached over to turn on the water in my bathtub, and suddenly white hot pain shot through my back. This wasn’t even a long, unusual stretch – I was barely bending over, and barely reaching for the handle.

That night my back was very sore, and the night after that I was in agony. I couldn’t twist, and I could only bend at the hip and knee – my back had to remain in one position. I was in far too much pain to even contemplate going to work, so I took the night off and focused on taking care of myself with medication and ice. Overnight, I woke up and had somehow irritated my back enough that I wanted to scream, but couldn’t because it hurt too much to even take a deep breath.

On Friday I went to visit a friend who is a massage therapist with the hope that he could work some magic and get my spine to lay off the pain. An hour and a half later, every muscle was happily relaxed, but the pain was still there in that one spot. Which means it’s a nerve pain, not a muscle pain.

I tried to take it easy over the weekend, and my back is starting to feel a little better. But I think at this point I might need to look into visiting a chiropractor to get my spine to shape up, or at least hold the proper shape.

What’s really frustrating is that I missed some ideal running time last week when the weather was beautiful and cool. This week, the forecast is in the 90’s every single day, and beyond that I’m not even sure I’m in any shape to attempt running right now.

I’m planning to be extra careful with my calories this week since I may not be exercising. And as soon as my back feels better, I think I’ll start incorporating some yoga into my workout routine to help strengthen my core and hopefully prevent these kinds of random injuries again.

Any recommendations for a good gentle yoga video for beginners?

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