* A Strong New Me! *

You may be 5 pounds from your goal weight.  You may be 155 pounds away.  You might have a few weeks left in this journey, or a year or more. One thing I have come to understand, through this yo-yo circus of weight gain, loss, gain, and losing again, is that the process is as important as the end result, and that it is never too late to take care of yourself, to start over, or to begin for the first time.

Not surprisingly, I gained a few pounds back this past week.  With my back barely letting me inhale or exhale without pain, exercise was almost entirely out of the question.  Still, I realize that I could have minimized the damage by not feeling sorry for myself or copping the “May as well blow it” attitude and overeating since I couldn’t exercise.  Having to rest my back was mostly out of my control; how I was eating was completely in my control.

I won’t make the same mistake this week.  My back is still sore, but moderate exercise actually helps by warming up the muscles and letting me give it a good stretch afterward.  Gary and I went for a walk this morning, and I’ll try out some light weights this evening.  But the bottom line is, my goal is weight loss, and I won’t gain another pound by moping and fussing about my back!

The Thanksgiving Countdown Challenge started today, so I am re-committing so I can rack up points for the challenge

As promised, I started a new challenge over on the forum.  This one is to help us stay focused on weight loss as the holidays approach: 

Thanksgiving Countdown Challenge! 

It’s a points-based challenge, pretty simple, nothing terribly fancy, just a way to stay on track through Thanksgiving.  (There will probably be a sequel for Christmas.) 

We have about 6 participants so far and could always use a few more!  Go check it out and sign up :) 

That whole revvin’ to go, wound up, ready to tear back into my routine thing I mentioned yesterday?

Yeah.  Not so swift.  I got up this morning determined to leap back into my workouts, but after a warm-up and just a few minutes of one of my favorite cardio workouts, it was very obvious that my back was not on board with this routine yet.  I had the sense to call it quits, grab the ice pack, and give it a rest.

I am so frustrated!  I have come so far, but I still have a ways to go.  I don’t want to be sidelined right now.  I want to be moving, burning calories, losing more weight.  Not mincing around, one hand to my back, or sprawled out with ice on my back.  Why does it seem like every time I get going full-steam ahead, I get derailed? 

I only have about 9 more weigh-ins before my trip to see my mother and brothers.  I don’t have time for an injury!

*stomps foot, pouting*

I know it makes no difference if I feel like I have time for this or not.  The fact is, my back needs some care and rest, and it would be wildly stupid not to honor that.  Still…I don’t have to like it.

I will see if my back can handle a walk this evening, then some serious stretching after my muscles are warmed up.  In the meantime, with less activity, I will cut back calories to be more in line with less exercise. 

And I’ll try not to pout too much about not being to go running, do kickboxing, or work out the way I want to!  Grrrrrrr.

After 3 days of taking it easy to let my back heal, I finally feel mostly healed up, and I did a weight training workout this evening.  I had some running around to do after work, so I didn’t get to work out as long as I’d have liked.

Tonight I will lay down with an ice pack against my back, get up early, and get back to it!  I’m raring to go and get back to business.  I will be careful and watch my back, but I’m itching to get back to my workouts.

This is the 6th and final week of the 6 week boot camp challenge I started, and I’ve had requests for another one.  I’m scratching out ideas for a Thanksgiving challenge, and I’ll probably be ready to post that tomorrow.  I’ll post here on my blog once the new challenge is on the forum.

Yesterday morning, I was cleaning up after breakfast, leaned over to wipe down one of the benches at our dining room table, and WHAM, I felt a spasm race up my back.  It hurt so bad I had to drop a hand to the bench and catch myself from falling to the floor.Gary immediately helped me to the couch and set me up with an ice pack against my back, and I had strict orders not to get up, move, clean, or do anything else.  I hurt my back pretty bad about 2 years ago, so we don’t mess around or take it lightly when my back hurts.

Help!  I have a question for those of you out there with long hair.  I love how long my hair has gotten, except after a workout, when I have to work out all those tangles and knots!  Running and kickboxing make the worst mess out of my hair.  I have fine hair that tangles very easily, and it ends up wadded up in a gigantic mess of tangles after a strenuous workout.

Any ideas on how to wear long hair during a workout to prevent some of that tangling?  A regular ponytail doesn’t help.  My hair knots up the entire length of the ponytail, especially if I get really sweaty.

I thought of maybe putting some leave-in conditioner or detangling spray in my hair before I work out, but I was worried that would just cause the conditioner to mix with sweat and run into my eyes and burn. 

Any ideas?!