Upper Yosemite Falls Trail Hike

Me and Kristi at the bottom of Yosemite Falls. We climbed the whole way up!

So, as I said last post, I did it. I climbed up to the very top of Yosemite Falls and it was really no small feat: 7.6 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 2500 ft (that’s twice the height of the Empire State Building for those keeping track at home). And let me tell you...I don’t think I’ve had a more physically demanding experience in my life, or a physical demand with such a huge emotional high at the end. Let me chronicle the journey for you.

I got up at 3 AM Friday so I could shower and catch my 6 AM flight. I flew to Reno, where I rented a car. Google maps told me I had a 4.5 hour trip to Yosemite ahead of me. What it didn’t know about this trip is that it would actually be 10 hours due to navigational errors and seasonal road closures I wasn’t aware of, and that I’d get the first speeding ticket since I was 18 (I guess we'll be glad for the 13 year streak…). Sigh. I finally made it to Yosemite Friday at 10 PM, and was frustrated, disgruntled and tired. That all went away, though, when I saw my friend Kristi who I hadn’t seen since our November trip to Disney. It is always so very very great to see her, and was even greater when I learned some exciting personal updates about her life! She and I stayed up until 1 AM chatting and catching up – and yes, for those of you keeping track of the time difference, that is a full 24 hours of being awake for me. That’s really not the way I roll (I get 7 hrs of sleep/night like clockwork). It was a small price to pay to see Kristi and to have arrived in such a beautiful place (even though I could not tell it was beautiful under cover of darkness!).

The next morning I woke up at 7:30 AM. The good thing about being so tired was that I acclimated to Pacific time from central with no problem! Kristi and I got a slow start – eating a big breakfast, making sure to pack a healthy lunch and a lot of snacks for our hike, checking out the visitor’s center, seeing Yosemite Falls from the ground – before we finally started up the trail around 12:30. The hike was supposed to take 6-8 hours, so we all figured we’d be fine and back on the ground by sunset around 8 PM. And I would be remiss if I did not mention that the weather was perfect -- very slightly overcast with a high of around 60-65. PERFECT weather to be outside.

An overview of the trail. 135+ switchbacks. 7.6 miles roundtrip. ~2600 ft elevation gain.

When the hike started, I had serious serious stomach issues. I was not feeling well AT ALL and was not even sure the hike was a good idea because I felt so badly. I knew deep down that I would regret it if I did not at least TRY the hike so I decided to go despite stabbing stomach pains. About ¼ - ½ mile into the hike let’s just say the spirit moved in a major way (TMI) and I was feeling a whole lot better. I was glad that I had decided to press on and was now sure that I would make it up the mountain. A little bit later we stopped for lunch. I had the first PBJ I’d had in probably 3-4 years and wow it was great! I also had some fruit and a string cheese, and then we soldiered on up the mountain. The first 1-2 miles were not that bad. Some switchbacks, yes, but the rocks weren't slippery or unstable feeling, and I was grateful for whoever had constructed such a cool trail to the top. We made it to an overlook and I was feeling pretty good. I definitely wasn’t fast, but I thought “I’ve so got this.”

Us at the first big outlook. It is after the first set of switchbacks. A lot of people quit the trail here, but not us!! Great view of Half Dome in the background.

We then hit an odd part of the trail that took us downhill for like ¼ mile. For anyone trying to reach the top of anything (mountain, waterfall, whatever), you know that extended stretches of downhill are not good when your goal is to go uphill. Finally, though, we started to go uphill again. This is where things got bad.

The last part of Upper Yosemite Falls trail is steep, long, and has lots of slippery, unstable rocks. My psoas was spasming with nearly every step I took. It hurt so so badly.

…and this stretch of the trail was where I learned I was not in as good a shape as I thought I was and that my friend Kristi may truly be the most patient person on the planet. I googled it and found that there are more than 135 switchbacks to the top of the falls. I started off able to do 2-3 switchbacks before needing a break. It got to the point where I would need to rest once or twice EACH switchback. Kristi never got annoyed or impatient, and was incredibly encouraging. It was incredible. Although I seriously (and I mean it literally and not for dramatic effect) considered turning back twice, I didn't. And it was due in no small part to Kristi's encouragement. She is such a great friend and was so kind to be so helpful and patient.

This might give you an idea how steep and rocky the trail was. But probably not -- I think you have to see it to believe it.

Finally we made it to the top. And would you believe I did not get a single picture? I am virtually certain we had some taken, but I think the camera was switched to the wrong setting because I'll be darned if I didn't get to the bottom and learn that we had no pictures. So so sad.

But I will never forget it at the top. To actually get to the overlook you had to go over these extremely scary stairs (with no guard rail) cut out of the side of a rock face. Despite my exhaustion and fear of heights, I DID IT and Kristi and I enjoyed a beautiful dinner at the top around 5:30. We enjoyed it and I almost cried because I was so proud of myself. It was a full circle moment to have made it to the top of the falls; the fact that I used to not be able to climb a single flight of stairs without getting winded certainly wasn't lost on me.

Scary scary stairs to get to the overlook -- yes, you had to go downhill after climbing and climbing uphill. Crazy. But serious gratitude and props to those who made this trail and these stairs!!!

The way back down? I thought it would be a lot easier than it was. And I definitely thought it would be a lot faster than the way up. I will say this: it killed my knees and we didn't make it to the bottom until 9:30. Fortunately I had bought a headlamp and I had it with me because, even with the headlamp, it was one of the scariest things I'd done in my life. However, we made it unscathed and I was so so proud.

View from the top of the Falls. Yes, I stole this picture from someone online (as I did with the pictures of the trail and the stairs).

And more than being proud I was sore. My psoas was killing me (the uphills). My hamstrings killed me (the uphills). My quads killed me (the downhills). My knees killed me (the downhills). My back was killing me (the stress and exhaustion and the fact that I just have back problems). It. was. rough.

I thought I would be ravenous but honestly I just wanted to go to stretch and go to bed. I did have some pizza, but only two or three pieces -- my body just was not up for more, despite the fact that I'd done 9 hours of hiking. I thought I'd go to bed and sleep for 12 hours; however, I just slept for 7. I guess that's all my body wanted/needed. Strange.

I will say that this is the toughest thing I think I've ever done physically. I felt pushed to and past my limits. Though I wanted to die at times, I made it. And it was sooo worth it. I won't forget it. It makes me want to get in shape and be able to breeze up the falls next time -- and I will be SURE to get a picture before I leave :)

Good Riddance Snow!

(L) My car buried in about 2.5 ft of snow after a historic snowfall. The snow was almost up to the top of the doors of my Honda Civic.

(R) After 1 hr, I freed my car with the help of 2 guys, 2 girls, 1 cookie sheet, 2 brooms, windwhield de-icer, a snow shovel, a Nissan XTerra, a tow strap, and a Chevy Silverado. Success!

I am over this snow. It was nice to have a bit of a break from school (we have had 6 or 7 days of school cancelled which is insane a) for Arkansas b) for a university), but I am so over this. SO. OVER. IT!

Today it was 70 so I was able to go for a bit of a bike ride. It was so nice, and for an Ohio girl quite odd to have a day of biking just a couple days after having 24" of snow dumped on us this week. Arkansas is just not equipped to handle this kind of weather and neither am I after having lived here for a few years. But I digress...the biking weather this weekend was lovely.

Having missed so much school and being stuck in my house for days on end has severely messed with my routine. That is, there hasn't been one. I also noticed today that it has messed with my body too. Because I have not been able to go to the gym that much and have not been disciplined about doing exercise at home, I think I have lost a slight bit of definition in my arms. I also realized today that I don't do much explicitly to workout my lower body these days -- I think the closest thing is the spin class I do on Tuesdays (when I'm not stuck in my house due to snow...). I really need to pick up my strength training/toning game because it helps me to feel better about myself and stronger. Also I am sure there is some truth to the metabolic benefits of being more muscly than fatty.

This week as I re-establish some sort of routine (no chance of snow this week -- thank goodness), I am going to be intentional about getting a well-rounded workout schedule. I want to incorporate a couple days of cardio, some good strength training/toning, and it is critical for my back that I am intentional about stretching and yoga.

What do you guys do to workout? (i.e., how much strength training vs. cardio? what types of exercise do you do) Any suggestions for me? I'm willing to spend an hour a day, 6x/week and I want to make sure I get a total body workout over the course of a week.

My facebook status

I thought I would document it here, since yesterday was a hard day and to show you how I am really starting to feel like myself again.

What a great day - brother's birthday, great progress at Prabuddha's research meeting, Hector passed his qualifying exam, Zumba, 15 miles of biking, Blue Man group, amazing weather, and now a three day weekend!! Every Friday should be like this!

Zumba

The majority of the searches that I get on my page are about Zumba -- what is it? Why do my feet hurt when I do it? How many Weight Watchers points is it? and so on...

I would like to attempt to give an overview of what Zumba is, interjected with a few of my own opinions and experiences and anecdotes. Per the Zumba website, Zumba is a dance-type class that "fuses hypnotic Latin rhythms and easy-to-follow moves to create a one-of-a-kind fitness program that will blow you away." When I first started Zumba, I would not agree with the assessment that the moves were easy to follow. They weren't rocket science, but it wasn't something I picked up right away either. The good news is that -- although the songs in a class will change periodically -- there is usually some consistency from week to week, and the choreography for a song is always the same (often even from teacher to teacher). This allows you to improve over time, and to get the hang of what is actually going on. With time, new routines are easier to learn too (the basic steps or building blocks are the same, although they are combined in different ways in each song).

Here is a video of folks Zumba-ing. I like this one because it shows that there are people of all levels who Zumba. In the classes I've been to, this has definitely been the case. I started out like the person in the green who could barely keep up, but now I'm more like the one in the black who can do the moves, but doesn't exactly look natural doing them.

Depending on the teacher you have, there may be more or less of an emphasis on the Latin music. For example, I go to a class that has all Latin songs and moves and one that has a mix of Latin and more hip-hoppy songs. Find one that you like and works for you, and give it a shot.

A lot of the Google searches I get are about people's feet hurting. This happened to me and was initially enough to make me give up on Zumba. As I lost more weight, the pain dissipated and was less severe (I first Zumba-ed at probably around 270; now I am about 240 and have changed my body composition significantly so that I am now a lot of muscle). The key, though, I didn't discover until a few weeks ago.

I had very nice sneakers that were designed to be supportive. I got them specially fit at Fleet Feet to help with my overpronation and I have expensive arches to support my flat feet. However, I still had days wearing these sneakers when the work in Zumba made me want to keel over and die from the pain in my feet -- NO LONGER!!! Here is the secret (at least for me - and I was so skeptical): do Zumba barefoot.

The reason why is because your feet need to bend in the middle, similar to the way they would to point your toes. They can't do this when they are confined to a sneaker, and your arch will fight you and hurt like a mother to be able to do so. Have you ever seen dancing shoes? They basically have a sole only on the ball and heel of the foot, but in between (like on the arch) is leather so you can bend your feet. To Zumba I would suggest either getting a pair of dance shoes or just going barefoot.

Since I have gone barefoot (about 2 weeks ago), my feet do not hurt anymore during Zumba -- I think because they allow my feet to bend. The only problem with going shoe-less is that you lose a little support on songs where you have to jump -- but overall I highly recommend shoeless Zumba. Also, depending on the cleanliness of the gym or dance studio where you Zumba, your feet may get dirty. I don't consider it a big deal, but you might.

I have a BodyBugg that counts the number of calories I burn. As I said, I weigh 240ish so with that factored in I typically burn between 600 and 750 calories during an hour Zumba class. Not too shabby, eh? For Weight Watchers, I definitely consider this vigorous exercise and I factor it into the activity tracker accordingly.

Overall, my appraisal of Zumba is high. I first tried it last summer, and have been doing it on and off again since January. I really enjoy it, and I love that it is fun, goes quickly (more quickly for me than, say, working on a treadmill), and is helping me to move better. (I'm not ready for So You Think You Can Dance or anything, but I do feel more confident shakin' what my momma gave me now.) I recommend giving Zumba a shot. Please feel free to ask me any questions about Zumba in the comments -- I will answer them the best I can, or ask a friend who is a Zumba instructor.

The good and the bad...

Good: I have ridden more than 30 miles since I got an odometer on my bike Friday afternoon (after 10 miles earlier in the day -- so really, I've ridden 40 miles since Friday. On a cruiser. In a hilly city.)

Bad: My eating today has been -- um, less than stellar. 2 bags of Doritos and a cinnamon bun in addition to normal, healthy-ish food.

Good: It's supposed to be 80 here tomorrow.

Bad: There are supposed to be wind gusts up to 44 MPH. Maybe not so good for commuting on a bike.

Good: I have ridden my bike to work three times since getting my bike.

Bad: There is no bad to accompany this one. I love commuting using it, and I appreciate my drive even more when I do it (it is so warm in my car and I marvel both at how short it is to drive and how it really doesn't take THAT much more time to ride my bike. The time difference is about 20 minutes).

Good: I am going to see South Pacific at the WAC tonight! I won the blogging contest!

Bad: I can't go to the gym tonight because I get to go to a meet and greet with the cast as part of the blogging contest. That's ok -- the good outweighs the bad totally!

Good: Now that it's not spring break, it is easier to get back into my routine of drinking more water.

Bad: Since spring break I have not gotten back into the routine of packing lunches.

Good: Tomorrow is Weight Watchers. Yet another chance for a fresh start (although, let's be real -- every. single. moment. is a chance for a fresh start).

Bad: Tomorrow is Weight Watchers. A moment of truth. Visit from flo. FML.

My life is good. The goods are great and the bads -- for the most part -- are things I can control. The wind, though, is out of my sphere of influence. Can anyone help a sister out?

Mixed News Wednesday

I have some meh news and some good news to share. Let's start with the meh news first. I initially wrote "bad" news, but really this news is not bad per se. It's not stellar, but it is by no means bad. I only lost 0.5 pounds this week. WHAT?! I did have some not great food at a Superbowl party that I did not track, but I had plenty of activity points to covered them so I thought I would be golden for a loss. Oh well. Things don't always work out like you want or plan.

I think there are a couple of things that explain this tiny loss. First of all, I ate my lunch before the meeting. (My meeting is at 12 and I usually eat it at the meeting and after my weigh in). I also try not to drink water for an hour or so before the meeting and make sure to use the restroom before I weigh in. I did none of that today. Apparently that stuff all works :) My scale at home does show that I am down about 3 lbs from last week so hopefully next week will be a big number but not big enough that the WW people freak out.

Let me underscore that my meeting leader is hugely encouraging about this kind of stuff. She always says "there is no 'only'" (as in I 'only' lost ___ lbs) -- a loss is a loss, so take it! She also compares everything to sticks of butter. ("You lost 1/2 lb -- that is 2 sticks of butter!"). I really like her. Props to Jai, the leader of the Fayetteville Weight Watchers noontime meeting on Wednesday!

Now let me counterbalance that news with some great news that I have not yet shared.

I work out at the gym at school. I really enjoy it and the prices are so so reasonable. You can rent towels for an entire semester for $12 and not have to worry about taking a towel with you, making sure to launder it and bring it back, etc. This is truly a great service at an excellent price (at other gyms I know it is free -- but I pay $12 a month for the gym at school so an extra $3 a month for towels is totally worth it!!).

Anyway, these towels are great in theory, right?! The problem came when I tried to wear them. More specifically, they didn't fit. It was quite the sight to behold, I am sure (and not in a good way, in a blinding way). I always just prayed I didn't run into any of my students in one of these towels and, mercifully, I don't think I ever did. It most certainly cannot be pretty.

So what's the good news in all of this, you ask? The good news is that I have a huge non-scale victory to share in all this -- I CAN NOW COMPLETELY FIT IN ONE OF THESE TOWELS AND NOT BE ASHAMED!! It covers me up and life is so good in one of them :) I am so excited I had to share.

So, overall, the news here is good. I really overdid it on the workouts today, doing a spin class in the AM, BodyPump and circuit training in the evening. Three hours of working out -- yes I want results, and yes, I want them quickly, but I am beat (left the house at 6:05 and didn't get home until 8:30) and this is just not sustainable for me. I will lose the weight when I lose the weight -- and I will do it the healthy and balanced way. Not sure I can make a compelling argument it's healthy to work out for three hours.

This post has been a mishmash of everything, but that's what's up here! Hope everyone is having a good week -- it's more than half over! REJOICE!

The Cleveland Press

I find this story hilarious. I'm not sure if it's because the story *is* hilarious or if it's just that I'm tired or if my humor is a little off. Could be any of these possibilities. In case the story actually is funny, I will share it.

Today I was doing BodyPump. This is one of my favorite classes, and will be directly beneficial to trying to meet that gun show goal. One of the exercises we do is this one. I always thought it was the called the Cleveland press -- I always thought that is what the teachers were telling us to do (bear in mind, I have thought this the entire time I've taken this class -- since way back in July). Today I learned that it is, in fact, not called the Cleveland press at all but the "clean and press". Oh, I guess that makes more sense. I'm chalking it up to the fact that I'm originally an Ohio girl. It will always be the Cleveland press to me, even though I know the official name now :)

Swim Class

One of the things that I love about the gym at school -- and this is certainly only one thing I love...I should do a post on why I love that facility so much sometime -- is that they have TONS of programs for students, staff, and faculty, and they are reasonably priced. I try to take advantage of many of the programs. This semester I am taking part in (at least) two: one called Commit to Fit, and a lap swim class that is offered which is the purpose of this post.

I swam in high school as I have written about before, but my career was not noteworthy. In fact, I really sucked. I enjoyed it, though, and was in the best shape I had ever been in in my life up until that point (I think I might be in better overall shape now). Since my time on the team, I have always loved swimming and wished I was much better at it. I figured this lap swim class is my opportunity. And for 10 weeks of instruction, 2/week for $35? Sign me up!! The ONLY bad news about this class is that it is during the only water aerobics classes I can take which makes me sad. However, it is probably a more comprehensive workout (although less ab work) so I think I will probably come out ahead -- I will just have to abuse my abs another way :) and I will return to WA this summer.

The first class, I was very nervous and not quite sure what to expect. There were about 15 people in our class, and they asked us to split into a fast and slow lanes. They said they would observe us swimming, and then move us around. I chose the slow lane (duh, did I really think I would be in the fast lane?!), but no one wanted to lead it so I volunteered. After I swam the lap, I felt pretty good -- not tired or anything, and it always feels great to be in the water. When everyone completed their laps, the teachers wanted me to move into the fast lane. I was thinking "OMG ARE YOU SERIOUS!?!?" but I tried to supress this on my face. They then had us start swimming laps. I kept passing all these people?! It was so bizzarre and it ended up that I was the third fastest person in the fast lane -- that is the third fastest person in the entire class! I was about to cry tears of joy on the inside. I mean, remember -- this is at a university, so these are mostly 20 year old students we're talking about not 30+ year old people! And I was the third fastest one!!! I think part of it is that the other students just aren't in shape yet -- but whatever the reason I will take it.

The class was good. They went over drills and I can tell they will help to improve my stroke. I hope that the practice, repetition, and improved technique will also help me to get faster. Maybe I will become a good swimmer after all. Apparently I am already not as bad as I think I am!

Physical Therapy Update

My mom asked me yesterday for an update about physical therapy. I figured the rest of you might be interested too (if not - skip it and I won't be upset...)

I would say my results and satisfaction level with the PT are mixed. First of all, the good. I rarely feel pain in my hip anymore. Since identifying the problem as one with the sacroiliatic joint, they were able to tell me which activities to avoid and some exercises to do when it hurt. I follow the guidelines and am pretty much better.

Now onto the negative side. I feel like I was pretty much better by the time I finished my run with prednisone. I am not sure how much of the "better" I am feeling I can attribute solely to the physical therapy, how much is due to just giving it time to work itself out, and how much is due to the prednisone. Additionally, I get frustrated with the people at the office sometimes as well. First of all, the people who generally work with me are techs (not PTs), and some of them are incredibly arrogant and/or just not personable. Yuck. More annoying is the fact that I don't think they actually think I am in good shape, and I feel as though they try to dumb down the exercises for me (them: "No, don't lift your neck, it's easier if you don't", me: "But is this supposed to work my abs?", them "Yes", me: ???). The good news is that I believe they're starting to come around. Two quick stories on that. One of the exercises they had me do was as I was laying flat on my back with my leg lifted but bent so my calf was parallel to the floor. The tech applied pressure to the bottom of my foot and I was supposed to push against him so that my leg stayed still. He had been giving me all kinds of lip (not sure if he meant that as flirting or if he was just generally incredibly obnoxious), so at one point I told him -- honestly -- that if he did not shut up I would roundhouse kick him! I had a window of opportunity, it was not like I just said that out of the blue -- but as I am typing that I realize that might have been a little too much. Anyway I was doing this exercise to apply resistance and I ended up pushing so hard that I moved my 260 lb self and the bed I was sitting on back about 2". He was like "Oh, I guess you are strong." I was thinking "DUH I WAS NOT LYING! PLEASE LISTEN TO ME, YOU JERK!!!" I think they have a hard time believing someone as overweight as I am could be strong. The joke is on them, since I have been working out religiously since April and weight training since last summer. Another story like this is that they were massaging my quads at one point and the therapist was asking "Does that hurt?". I told her it didn't. She worked on the area a little while longer and asked "Are you sure that's not tight?" and I told her it wasn't. She said "Oh, I guess that is a muscle!"

Today they gave me harder exercises. The d-bag who I threatened to kick last time was my tech again today. Apparently I scared him because he would barely talk to me. Anyway, he watched me pretty closely and I think he thought I would not be able to do their exercises. I was able to do them all and I started sweating. You could tell he was impressed. I love love love proving people who think I can't do something wrong!!! Also it was nice to actually feel like I am working out, and to have these exercises help me -- if I'm going to invest 1.5 twice a week into something, I might as well burn some calories!

I asked about the prognosis and how long this would continue, because it is actually pretty time consuming to go to therapy twice a week. The therapist said she would re-evaluate me sometime next week to see how much I have improved. I would love it if she gave me a clean bill of health and told me I did not come back.

I am so glad I feel better and that most things do not hurt to do anymore. I will give the PT at least part of the credit for that. I am so happy I can exercise again; I can't imagine doing this journey without exercise.

MLK's Legacy Goes Beyond what you think

Today Martin Luther King III came to Fayetteville. I was really excited to hear him speak, as I think his father's legacy and the role he played in helping African Americans to gain rights in our country is absolutely amazing. I find it even more amazing the way in which he was able to accomplish the the things he did non-violently.

Sadly, I was very underwhelmed with his son's speaking abilities. He is incredibly (and sadly) very inarticulate, telling us about his work with the "Croatians, Serbians, and the Bosniks" and encouraging us to go see the movie "Inviticus". He created more words that George W. Bush did, seriously -- and he was all over the place. Anyway, that is neither here nor there.

I did stay for the Q and A after MLK III (mercifully) stopped yammering, and I asked a question of my own. I asked Dr. King, "What is your favorite memory of your father?" His answer kind of surprised me and (I promise) is actually very pertinent to my blog (this is the reason I went there).

MLK III shared a few different memories. One was about how his Dad loved to take he and his four sisters to the local YMCA. They would all exercise together. He also taught them to swim when he was there, and all four of the King children became good swimmers just like their Dad.

WOW!!! I thought that was such an amazing memory! It was so noteworthy to me that it became one of MLK III's favorite memories -- being active and having fun with his Dad. If I ever have kids (no promises), I want to be active with them. I want to enjoy moving and having fun with them. I want to set a healthy example for them. I am amazed and so impressed that this incredibly busy man who made such a difference in the history of our nation spent time moving and exercising with his kids. I am quite devoted to exercise, but this is one more reason to call BS on the excuse of being too busy to work out. If MLK found time to exercise and move with his kids, I can do this for myself -- even though I am really busy.

Life here today

Today I really knocked it out of the park with respect to my exercise. It's not sustainable and it is unlikely to happen again anytime soon, but I met one of my Perfect 10 goals for the week already! Today I went to a spin class in the morning, and Body Sculpt and PiYo this afternoon. This meets one of my Perfect 10 goals which is to go to at least three different classes a week -- and it's only Monday!!!

I have to keep it real ya'll (yes, I am becoming southern) -- I am really not feeling PiYo or yoga at all. It can be so boring! Especially plain vanilla yoga. I'm not a fan and for some reason I absolutely despise sun salutations.

Today the gym was packed. I have to say that I really wish everyone luck on their new years resolutions but I do selfishly miss the days when the gym was less crowded. I guess that makes me selfish.

Getting my Fitness On

I have something that I am really proud of that happened yesterday. For various reasons (mostly schedule related), I have had a hard time being able to schedule my twice weekly training appointments with my personal trainer. I believe that weight training for toning is important, so I decided yesterday I would just go it alone.

This is signifiant for two reasons. First of all, the fact that I know what to do enough to actually figure stuff for myself out is amazing. I used to be so intimidated by those machines!! No longer. I can totally rock them now. The second reason it is amazing is because a friend was with me and I could show her what to do too! I was like "WOW!!" At one point for our third set of reps I told her "Last one, make it count!" I realized afterwards what I had said, and thought "OMG we have our own blossoming Jillian Michaels right here!" I'm just kidding about that -- I do have a long way to go before I would ever feel comfortable trying to stand on someone when they are doing wall sits. I would crush them (and not in a good way...)! And, I would like to think I would never endorse a diet pill as the right way to lose weight. Shame on you, Jillian. That still annoys me.

Physical Therapy

This week I have begun physical therapy. The therapist believes that I have problems with my sacroiliac joint -- where the pelvis meets the back. The symptoms are often mistaken for sciatica. Yup, sounds like she's got my number!

The good news is that there are very few restrictions on what I can do, and that she anticipates that I should be good to go in three or four weeks! YES! Yesterday, she gave me exercises I can do at home. There are only 5 that I need to do, and 10 reps of each once a day. Simple. I'll take it.

Incidentally, yesterday was my last day on prednisone. I ended up taking the whole course of treatment. Recall that these drugs helped with the symptoms of my pain (in addition to dealing with that horrific mango allergy), so who knows what today will be like painwise. I am hopeful it won't be too bad and, even if it is bad, it will be nothing like it was back in November or December when I could barely sit up some days. I am so grateful for my health, and to be back on the mend!

I have also read that prednisone is horrible for water retention and weight gain, so I am hopeful that I might be able to shed a few pounds now that I'm finished with the meds. We will see! I'll keep you posted.

Zumba

I tried Zumba again today. I tried it a couple times this summer and it hurt my feet and knees like none other, so I decided no Zumba for awhile. However, I tried again today and I will say...I hated it less. Actually I didn't hate it at all. I think to say that I "liked" it would be a bit of a stretch, but it wasn't bad. My arches hurt a couple times, but I pushed through and the pain went away. It's probably the shoes that I got at Fleet Feet that were a huge help. I almost rolled my ankle twice, but I caught myself both times. I am not sure if it's that my reaction time is better or that my joints (ligaments?) are stronger or what, but I am delighted that I did not get hurt and that I even kind of enjoyed myself. I love the music, I love the energy, and I love knowing that there is pressure not to quit. I am a lot less likely to walk out of a class halfway through if I'm not feeling it than I would be to get off a treadmill. I also love knowing that doing an hour of Zumba burns 600-800 calories.

Overall: I give my experience with Zumba a B. I will be back. Maybe someday I will even love it.

Good news

I have gone to water aerobics twice this week. There are certain things I can't do or that hurt too badly to do, but overall I would say I am thrilled to be able to work out and get moving again. Also, this morning I was 258.2, which is moving closer to my control limits. Now to get firmly inside them again, and hopefully on the low side. I think I can do it before Christmas if I get and keep my act together.

Where I have been...

First of all, I appologize for the lack of posting lately. Things have been busy and, well, I have fallen off the wagon somewhat and that is exactly when I should be posting. I have also been really discouraged.

As to the "Yay I can exercise!" and "Wow, I am so going to own this Thanksgiving!" posts? Yeah, not going so well. I woke up several times through the night on Sunday with excruciating hip pain that has lasted all week. It totally sucks. My eating this week has been good sometimes, but mediocre to poor most of the time.

Things really took a downward turn when I went to Sam's Club Friday night. I happened on an event called "Taste of Sam's" (a complete coincidence) which was a sample day on steroids -- they had SO much good stuff to try! My favorite thing they had was smoked cheddar cheese. Man it was delicious. I made a mistake and I bought some: 1.16 lbs of cheese. I ate it in two days. Man.

The next day was Saturday and, like I posted, I had to work. It was catered with Panera and I did ok, but the food was not healthy and there were no fruits or veggies. Diet for the day: Panera, lots of milk, cheese, crackers, and hummus. Not stellar, and sorely sorely lacking in fruits and veggies.

The next day I finished off the cheese and ate dinner with friends. Great to catch up with them, and we made delicious (and relatively healthy) gyros. Go us. Eating grade for that day was a solid B.

Monday I have no idea what happened but I was so munchy. Perhaps I was genuinely hungry, I don't know. Either way, the bottom line is I ate 4 cookies and 1 brownie over the course of the day (in addition to regular food). By the way, we're not talking about normally-sized cookies either, but rather the "we're catering and giving you a cookie that is the size of 2.5 cookies" variety. Not stellar. Lunch was catered for a faculty meeting, and in the evening I went out to eat and overdid it. A tiny victory there is that I did take about half of the dinner home because it was too big for me to eat at once.

Yesterday I did ok not great on the food horizon.

I have really hit a rough patch with the exercise. My doctor says I can and should exercise, but since the hip issues have resurfaced with a vengeance, I sometimes really cannot exercise. I took Saturday and Sunday off, partially because of laziness, partially because of legitimate busy-ness, and I do honestly think it is ok and that I don't need to exercise 7 days a week. That is a slippery slope to start down, though.

Monday I went to aqua abs and tried to go to a PiYo class (pilates/yoga fusion). The water stuff felt ok to good, especially the stretching parts. I only did half of the PiYo class. I did not do anything with intense twisting or anything that caused me extreme discomfort. I ultimately got frustrated and was hurting too badly so I quit halfway into the class. Yesterday, I did the elliptical machine for about 25 minutes and did about half of a cycling class before I quit. It hurt too bad (even though cycling is supposed to be good for my hips and back) so I left. I then was in bed for the rest of the day, laying down. Crap.

When I went to the doctor last week, she gave me a prescription for 15 mg Meloxicam. This is an anti-inflammatory drug and is supposed to help with the arthritis and back stuff. She suggested I take it on an as needed basis. As I have mentioned, I really despise taking medicine. I would much rather go the all-natural way and/or tough it out when possible. However, that is clearly not working in the case of my hip/back issues and so I have buckled and started taking the Meloxicam once a day for now. The first day it really helped, but yesterday it did not do much (or, if it did, I think I would have passed out without it...)

I am really frustrated with all of this. I think I am going to start physical therapy at the first of the year. I am nowhere near my insurance deductible for the year, and everything is out of pocket up until I meet the deductible -- so waiting it is. I have ordered a yoga video that is to stretch, align, and strengthen the hips. I am hopeful that will help in the meantime. If anyone else has other suggestions, please offer them. I will try most anything at this point.

Great News - I can exercise again!

So the good news -- in case you're not friends with me on Facebook -- is that I can exercise. WOW! Who would have thought that that would be something to make me ecstatic. Back in the day I would DREAD the thought of exercising. Celebration would have been the last reaction I would have had to the ability to exercise. But now? I AM SO PUMPED!

I went to my new doctor and I really liked her. She seems to think that the degeneration in my back is not nearly as bad as the chiropractor thought, and that I should absolutely exercise to help get over this. She said that I would probably have back problems for the rest of my life (sorry folks, I'm not allowed to lift heavy boxes or help with moving), but that I could expect to have about 20 or so years relatively pain free other than the occasional flare up.

Last night I went to the aqua abs class I usually go to and it wasn't bad. It was the easier of the two teachers which probably worked out better for me in that I could ease into it. I also decided to get my elliptical on and did about 35 minutes there. The intensity varied from high hills with a lot of resistance to not much resistance at all. I really wanted to quit a couple times, but I soldiered on and it ended up feeling great. This time I will try to remember my headphones though, to make things more enjoyable :) Tonight I am going to try to do both the abs class and the aqua aerobics class...and maybe even some elliptical if I am feeling ambitious. If anything starts to hurt, though, I am going to take it easy. Don't want to aggravate things.

Back update

I reported last week that I totally messed up my back. I ended up visiting the chiropractor 4 times last week, using lots of Bengay and IcyHot patches (which I totally recommend), and still not feeling like I was fixed. It is kind of ironic because the only other time I was in San Diego I had tons of back problems as well. Anyway....I am happy to report that my back feels much better now. I would stop short of calling it fixed because I still think that things are out of alignment, but they are much better than before. I will visit the chiropractor when I get back and will take it easy for awhile (nothing that is high impact, for example) but will make a conscious effort to exercise and strengthen my lower back muscles. I had gotten lax on doing the Supermans and will get back to them when I can so I can (hopefully) prevent such injuries from reoccurring.

Rant

Flying from the central time zone to the western time zone is always pretty stellar. You can feel as though you sleep in and you still get end up getting up at a reasonable or early time. For example, this morning I woke up at 5:30 (felt like 7:30 to me) and felt great. When I woke up I organized my stuff (had not had a chance to unpack the night before, really) and did the right thing and tried to go to the gym in the hotel. Hold tight for the rant...

IT COST $15 TO USE THE GYM!!! ARE YOU SERIOUS?! I was already paying $209+tax for the room. It already cost an extra $15 a day for the internet (are you serious?!). Then, for the privilege to use the gym, it was an extra $15. That is so beyond absurd. Ludicrous, really.

I could not stomach paying that much to go to the gym. I would have felt ripped off if it were $5 since I think it should be free, but I probably would have complained about it and moved on. It's really not worth it to me to pay that much to use the gym. I am walking around a lot more here at the conference than I would in my everyday life, but probably not enough to technically call it a workout. Here's my backup plan: use of the pool is free, so I think I will try to walk laps in the pool for awhile tonight to get my exercise on in a low impact, safe way. It will be boring and pretty easy (unless I get ambitious and try to "run"), but it will be good for me and I should do it.

I have to admit I am nervous about seeing colleagues there (who really wants to rock out in a bathing suit in front of people you don't know like that at 255 lbs? Not this girl...), but my health is more important than my pride so I will suck it up and do it....and hope that they are sleeping or out drinking or otherwise occupied when I walk around in my suit :)

Victory and Defeat

First of all, my new fancy scale tells me I am continuing to gain muscle and lose fat, even though I have not exercised since Saturday (more on that in a second). Also I got 2 pairs of new pants, both at a size 20. They fit nicely, loose through the waist (but not too loose), and it's great -- especially considering I started this off at size 26, three sizes bigger. I look really skinny in them actually. So those are the victories I'm dealing with around here. Nice to experience victories, that's for sure.

These haven't been without defeat. The root of all of this is that I really messed up my back somehow. I'm not sure how -- I can't point to a moment where I was like "I bent down to pick something up and then I heard this awful crack and fell to the ground in pain." Over the course of Monday it started to hurt more and more and then by Tuesday I could barely sit up. They were so bad I almost cancelled my class, but in the end I toughed it out and made it through class. If I had to guess, my injury is the result of not stretching after surfing. My hamstrings got really tight and maybe they eventually caused lower back spasms.

I noticed yesterday morning while getting ready that I was tilted about 10 degrees to the left -- my right shoulder was 1-2" higher than my left shoulder. It was the weirdest thing. I ended up going to the chiropractor twice yesterday to have this looked at and cracked into place. She helped me quite a bit but I am still not fixed (slight tilt remains) or out of pain, although I am in much less pain than before (and less crooked as well).

Suffice it to say, I've been laying down on my back or side a lot this week. I've been taking muscle relaxers when the pain is really bad and at one point even considered taking some Vicodin. This is significant because I have had this prescription for over 2 years and have never taken it even when in intense pain because I am afraid I will like it a little too much. This time I hurt so bad I didn't even care. I toughed it out, though, so no Vicodin for me.

I haven't been eating that stellar-ly. I ordered pizza and had that, for example. I just don't have many good groceries around (I've been out of town so much!), and I hurt too much to do a major shopping trip and to cook. I also haven't been exercising. I miss it. I just wish I felt better. I hope to be back to at least 95% by the time I leave for my next trip Saturday morning at 6 AM. We'll see.