recommit redux

It's Spring and I'm back!

My fall and winter were filled with steps forward, steps back in my health and fitness journey. I had worked my way up to a decent exercise regime of 4 days a week (weights and elliptical on MW, 5-6 mile jog-walks - with stroller - up to Mount Tabor on TuFri). I was getting my eating under control (but not completely).

Then, in early Nov (the day before J's birthday, I threw my back out something fierce and couldn't stand up straight for two solid weeks (despite three visits to the chiro and a serious massage). Needless to say, exercise went out the window since I was unable to walk a block, much less a mile. I finally asked Dr. Google what to do and started a stretching program (psoas, hamstring, piriformis). The stretches worked and I'm able to keep the lower back issues at bay.

I got back on the wagon and had a couple of good weeks until an intestinal virus hit our household. J's childcare provider came down with the barfy-poopy flu, then J, then my husband, and finally me. (The upside? I did lose several pounds. The downside? They were mainly water and came right back once I started eating again.)

The holiday season was upon us. I kept up the exercise, but my eating went to shit. Once the holidays were over, I got back up on that wagon until heel pain hit. I ignored the pain for three or four weeks until one day I woke up with a swollen and painful Achilles tendon which sent me screaming to the podiatrist.

Diagnosis: Achilles tendinitis. Prognosis: physical therapy. My chronic post-partum hip pain appears to be related. Now I'm doing PT two days a week and exercising every day to strengthen lower back, hips, core.

In mid-February, we went on a cruise and bellied up to the dessert buffet all week long. No exercise to speak of (except silly PT exercises in the hallway while the boy was asleep) and a little walking (managed to avoid the elevators for the most part). Came home to a two-pound gain (over the approximately 12 pounds I packed on since giving birth - I'm one of the few who dropped all the baby weight in a month (thanks to post-partum depression) and then gained a bunch back the first year).

The weather here has been gorgeously springy, so we got back on our bicycles (with the boy in the chariot) about a month ago. Ever since, I've been riding to work on MW. Last week, we figured out how to get the boy to daycare a bicyclette, so Thursday morning, I rode up Mount Tabor to J's childcare, then downtown to work. The whole trip took 1:00 door-to-door (and burned 465 calories according to my HRM). In the evening, I rode all the way back up, picked up the boy and chariot, then over Mount Tabor and home. Homeward took 1:10 and burned 520 calories. The ride was hard (oh my god, at times my HRM had me about 30 beats above my target), but I felt a great sense of accomplishment.


A couple of weeks ago, it occurred to me that the PT exercises were so very similar to Pilates that maybe I should just ... uh... go back to Pilates (after a 2-year hiatus). So, I signed up for the beginning class with my former instructor which started Wednesday. So nice to be back in the Studio, breathing and pulling up the transverse abs and pulling down the shoulder blades. I forgot how hard it is to keep all that in my head and then do the exercise.

So, my current plan of action is:

Eating

• Body for Life (whole foods, good protein, not too much M-Sat, Cadbury mini eggs on Sundays only)

Activity

• M, W bike to work, weights, PT exercises, 30 minutes adaptive motion trainer, 10-15 minutes Cardio Wave, walk at lunch
• W Pilates
• Tu, F Physical Therapy, 4-6 miles walk-jog (hill training)
• Th Bike-commute with trailer (10 miles)
• Sa Swim lessons with the boy :-), easy rides to park, shopping
  

I feel pretty committed. In the last two weeks, I've dropped about 4 pounds and all my last-ditch pants (which were starting to feel tight) are loosening up. I still have a closet full of small 14s and 12s that don't fit, so that's my goal. 15 pounds or nicely fitting wardrobe, whichever comes first.

Happy daylight savings time!

weights (both kinds)

Let's see. I'm down to 4 lbs below pre-pregnancy and I'm almost certain it's due to loss of muscle mass. That in mind, I've started a little weight program, with my small collection at home:

• Squats
• Bicep curls
• Tricep extensions
• Shoulder db work (lateral, front, shrug)
• Overhead shoulder
• Lunges

I started Friday and suffered excruciating butt (glute, hammie, quad) pain all weekend. Skipped yesterday for the holiday and just finished two sets of the above. Looking forward to more excruciating pain tomorrow. Weirdly, no pain in upper body - probably all those baby boy curls I've been doing.

3 weeks, 2 pounds

(this is a fitness blog, right?)

I weighed myself yesterday. I'm exactly 2lbs over what I was when this whole pregnancy adventure began. I can't believe it, given how much ice cream I've been eating (although, this will be cut way back now that the acupuncturist has advised me to avoid cold foods - for increased milk production). Probably muscle loss accounts for some of that loss. The scale at home consistently read higher than the one at the gym (where the start weight comes from). The scale at the doctor's (middle of the day, fully clothed) consistently read way higher than the one at the gym (morning, nekkid). The difference between the last reading from the doc's and today's home reading? 35lbs. Yowza! (I successfully avoided breaking my pre-BFL high weight during pregnancy - my goal met!)

No fitness news. I get up. I feed the boy. If I'm lucky, I get a shower before noon. I feed the boy. If I'm lucky, he naps rather than fusses. I feed the boy again. I pump. I do another load of laundry. If I'm lucky, I leave the boy with the man for 1/2 hour and walk down the boulevard, doing errands.

It sounds worse than it is. The boy is beautiful (at least I think so) and usually only fusses when he needs something (food, clean diaper, to be held, to be burped, to jostle the gas). When I look at him, my heart feels like it can't fit inside my chest.

A while back, we bought a weight set from a friend ($60 including a rather fragile-looking bench). I didn't think I'd be using it (given that I have two, no, three gym memberships - the work-sponsored one downtown, the $10/month addition to the Mr's at B@lly's, the punch card at the local grunt-gym, L0prinzi's), but now I'm thinking we should set it up so I can get a few curls and bench presses and squats in, in between feedings.

That's the news at 3 weeks, 3 days. Hope you are enjoying the winter weather (it's gorgeous here - my favorite winter weather: cold, clear, and sunny. Really, I should live in Colorado rather than the Pacific Northwet, huh?)