Greeky's Big Steps

[greekblondechic]

Jilly it was greek milk chocolate w almonds in it yummy! I only ate one square

Tio, you are such a sweetie, I used to eat when I'm stressed, now I eat when I'm hungry. I find it a hell of a lot easier to stay happy when I don't stress about how I look. My eating feels balanced now. The only thing is I've had little pieces of junk food several days already because weekends = cheats, and then my dad came home.. etc and today is thanksgiving. Last year's thanksgiving was embarrassing. I binged on sweets so badly and in front of a lot of family. This year, I think I'll have a little pie but it definately wont be like last year. My only upsetting factor is how much less I weighed last thanksgiving.

Dalila, I think it's an orthopedic surgeon I need to go to (so Ive been told) I actually went to the gym the other day, chest and tri's and some ball crunches, and my back hurt more the next day, not sure if it was from that or not. What kind of injury did you have, how did you treat it, and when could you work out again? I am so sick of putting working out on hold and so anxious to get back in the gym. It felt so good to lift but at the same time I feel like I am aggravating it.

Andrea, I don't know. He would flat out yell at me. It's slowly improving, and I don't think I will be going on accutane after all. I might check out the Smoothbeam or other lasers tho to speed up the process and also fix some scarring.

I know I haven't been updating regularly. My meals have been good, except for small pieces junk food here and there, but nothing drastic. My new man, well things are going well, I feel like we instantly became bf/gf, and I'm not sure how comfortable I feel with that. I like him, but I don't want him to get attached too soon. If he is being honest with me, then he's a sweet guy and treats me well so far.

Last but not least....

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Jill]

Ive missed you! I am really happy to hear you are eating when hungry-those are some big changes girlie RIGHT ON!

You seem a little sad-you dad also just came home. Those 2 together...Is is just me or is ther some kind of connection?

Have a great thanksgiving. I am happy that you already decided you are NOT going to binge. I am not eating any bad food today I want turkey

 

[greekblondechic]

Jilly, I just feel more normal now, I can decide to eat something bad, and I can eat a little bit and then stop and I am satisfied, a whole new concept for me

Yes Jilly, my dad coming home stressed me out because he yells at me a lot for stupid stuff and makes me upset. I am trying to be strong and deal with it, but it's hard. He hurts me more than my mom lately

 

[dalila]

Hi darling, great job with stopping the binge - also with not paying TOO much attention to how you look in the mirrorow every 5 min!

You should see an orthopedic surgon to establish the level of injury, then ( if you can afford it) you should go to a sports physician with your diagnosis, cuz he could help you devise a workout plan suitable for your injury.

OK this is gonna be a long one ( still it will save you reading my entire old journal .

I had 2 bulging disks in the lower back area and badly strained erector spinae ( sp?) muscle on one side of my back. I hurt my back in the gym doing heavy bent over rows with a bad posture ( cuz it was heavy.. .long story WHY it was heavy).

I did hot and cold presses the first 3-4 days as often as I could (in the first week I coudl hardly walk). I avoided ANY activity for 2 weeks , just lied down on the floor - it has to be a hard surface, with my legs elevated at 90 degrees on a chair.

After the first two weeks it was still hurting but less, so I started a bit of walking ( against the advice of the surgeon and on the advice of my sports physician, who told me I was gonna heal faster with some light exercises), and was doing the back rehab exercises: the lying side twist ( spinal stretch), cat and camel, Mackanzie push up - like the cobra posture in yoga.

In my 4-5 week I added other milder spinal yoga stretches, always making sure my back is naturally arched a little - like how you would keep it when you do bent-over rows. Then I added the lower back extensions (the ones you do on the roman chair)

After 2 months I was back in the gym, doing all the lifts except deadlifts, squats, bent over rows, and olympic lifts BUT at 50% reduced weight, and NO cardio of any kind excpet cycling Even then, I'd sometimes feel a slight discomfort after my workout, but it wasn' painful and I continued.

I slooooowly increased the weights to where I had left off.

I think that after 4 months the pain completely disappeared.

After 5 months I started doing squatting and bent over rows, with no pain at all.

I hope to add deadlifts next months too.

Also from the day one till now I've been on glucosamine sulphate - Artril, 6 caps a day. I think ithelped a lot, cuz it repairs/feeds the carthiledge and that's what the disks in yoru back are.

I think your injury is probably even milder than mine, not even sure if it's disk or a muscle so you need to check on that, but till you get your diagnosis, I think you should drop the weight quite a bit on all your lifts, cuz even seated chest exercises and standing tri exercises have a great impact on your lower spine, and especially lifts where you lift the weights above your head like in shoulder presses, military press, etc....

And pls pls pls do those lower back rehab exercises I mentioned, they really work.

Hope that helps hun.

 

[greekblondechic]

Dalila thank you soooooooo much. I should've went to the doc from day one, I didn't expect this to last so long, but oh well. The fact that you've healed is very encouraging

 

[Jill]

Did you have turkey din din today?

 

[greekblondechic]

I wonder where I can find demo's of those, I doubt exrx would have them Gonna have to search gooooogle!

 

[greekblondechic]

Yes Jilly I had turkey, candied yams, salad, cranberry sauce, a little wine, sugar free pumpkin pie, fruit, a bit of pecan pie w whipped cream

 

[Jill]

Do you buy sf pumpkin pie or make it yourself?

 

[greekblondechic]

My cousin's husband made it cuz he's diabetic, I liked it better than regular pumpkin pie cuz it was lighter

 

[Rocco32]

Hey Greeky, long time no talk. How are you doing? I was reading my whore thread from the beginning the other day and realised how much I miss you

 

[dalila]

greeky you are most welcome. I was very frustrated intially too, but then I read abt some guys who had more than one RUPTURED disk, had to go thru numerous surgeries and still lift today!! I found that inspiring and I think positive mind -set really helps.

If you mean you need to look for those rehab exercises I can look them up for you and send you?

 

[Velvet]

Good morning Greeky That's quite the feast you had I bet you enjoyed every bite!!
TGIF!!

 

[greekblondechic]

Awww rock that was so sweet I am well, how about you and wifey?

Dalila I dont want to put you through the trouble, I am just not sure where to look. Thanks for the help and moreso for the positive encouragement

Velvet it was yummy, and a LOT better than last year's binge!!!

 

[Rocco32]

We are doing well, a little rough still but she's so awesome

 

[greekblondechic]

I'm glad to hear that hon

 

[Jenny]

Hey greekster, where are ya??

 

[greekblondechic]

Hey Jenny I'm here, I'm here!

Sorry all, I've just been kinda busy lately. Diet is back to normal (clean but not superstrict). I went to the gym yesterday and did back and bi's and 20mins cardio and I am happy to report NO back pain today so far

I dont know if my back hurt last time due to chest, tri's or due to the ball crunches I did. Will have to figure that out. Still haven't done back or legs, scared to

 

[PreMier]

Hi Viv!!! Your so pretty

 

[dalila]

Hey Jenny I'm here, I'm here!

I went to the gym yesterday and did back and bi's and 20mins cardio and I am happy to report NO back pain today so far

Still haven't done back or legs, scared to

Errrr greeky, did you or did you not do back this wek?

Hi hun, glad to hear your back is better. When you do ball crunches make sure the whole of your lower back is firmly pressed agaisnt the ball, and you kinda move forward with your torso, not up. That will leave your lower back alone. It was prolly the abs that brought back the back pain.

 

[greekblondechic]

Oops! I meant I did shoulders!!!! Not back! It did hurt a bit later in the day, sucky. Overall, not too too bad.


Thanks Premi

 

[greekblondechic]

Today I danced for 30mins! No noteable back pain today!

Clean diet:

1/2c oats, ew
lc protein bar
chicken soup no rice
lc protein bar
chix salad, coffee w milk

 

[greekblondechic]

Heavy on the protein bars cuz I didn't have anything else to eat on the run. My car needs to get checked, the check engine light is on and it's making noises.

 

[PreMier]

If you take it to Autozone, they will pull your codes for free. That will tell you whats wrong, so you can do it yourself(or have your guy do it )

 

[greekblondechic]

Yep, I have to take it to Autozone except today was bad weather.. maybe tomorrow. The guy I'm kinda seeing (if that goes anywhere) prob doesn't know how to fix it, not sure.

 

[david]

hey baby-doll!

 

[sara]

How is your car doing?

 

[greekblondechic]

Hello david!

Hello sara! My car is still making noises, I still need to go see what's up, but my check engine light hasn't come back on after they turned it off at autozone.

 

[greekblondechic]

I decided to get on the scale as a reality check. After thanksgiving week, and this weekend I had some cake too, and so on, and plus I have my visitor, my weight is still down 1-2. Amazing lol

 

[Jenny]

Congrats on the weightloss! Just don't let that be an excuse to eat more sweets and get "I can get away with it" feelings

Have a great weekend