Hobble Holly - Part II

Gimp report: things are improving. Lots of physical therapy and good improvement. I'm sick of being broken though and would like to be able to return to my "nomal" activities with ease.

This is the knee squish. There's a pillow under my knee and I have to squish it with force 20 times.

I'm going to attempt to minimize the whining, because, of course, it could be worse and some people don't have the luxury of being able to go to PT. I still reserve the right to hate it though.

Pain meds. Hoping to make these a thing of the past soon.

In more joyful news, this hummus is pretty rad. I have a confession, I'm an addict. I eat three or four containers of hummus every week. I love it. Anyhoots,this can of stuff isn't bad in a pinch, at all. It's got a really nice creamy texture, perfect for dipping veggies.

I've been pretty good about counting calories lately and logging them on MyFitnessPal. Only a couple days have been over the maximum allotment of calories, so not too bad after all! YAY! I'm down a couple more pounds and wearing my "skinny" pants and not dying. 

Tomorrow is my gradubirfday party. I turned 40 on the 10th and we're celebrating my recent graduation from grad school and my 40th. It's a bit of a big deal birhtday. I'm excited! More later, taters.

Let's Get Physical (Therapy)

I started Physical Therapy and it's kicking my ass. I can't believe a few tiny exercises are so exhausting! Even though the doc says I can do the elliptical, my physical therapist says only for five minutes and suggested waiting anyway. Based on how hard it's been, I'm going to heed her advice. My physical therapist's name is Allison and she's a cute little thing and has already warned me that she's a bit of a task master in a nice way. Bring it on, kid!

The last exercise is my favorite. It is a really great hamstring stretch and I can actually walk less like the Hunchback of Notre Dame for a few minutes after I do it!

In other news, eating has been going well this week. I feel like I've really gotten into the groove of things. I'm just doing old fashioned calorie counting with MyFitnessPal (southcitystudio if you want to be my pal!) and I can already tell a difference in how I feel and I'm less bloaty for sure. One thing I am doing differently though is changing my breakfast. The last couple days I have been eating a whole wheat muffin with turkey sausage and egg. It's been a much more filling choice than my usual Greek yogurt and almonds and is a fewer calories. Egg sandwich = 300 calories, Greek yogurt/almonds = 380.

Lastly, the new foster babies are being adorable like usual and I feel it's important to share their cuteness with the universe. Meet baby Ellie (8 weeks) and Reilly (10 weeks). Two little adorable fluffy princesses. Ellie is the sweetest little snuggle bug and Reilly is too, but ornery like her big sister Fifi. She's been running laps around the house day and night. Both are available for adoption through Tenth Life Cats www.tenthlifecats.org.

Ellie, she was telling me a really juicy story.

Reilly is a funny and sweet brown tabby with white socks.

Hobble Holly

I don't seem to be very good at not getting injured. As soon as I got some steam going for getting in shape again, I blew out my knee. :(

It started with a fitness test with the trainer I hired. My doc suspected I tore my meniscus doing a wall squat. (not her fault, just crummy luck) That's the squishy stuff that sits between your knee joint. I felt something burn, but I figured I was just being a wuss and I probably needed to walk it off or stretch more, or something. So, that weekend I still felt hurty, but I had hiking trip at Taum Sauk mountain planned with my friend and I didn't want to miss it being a sissy. Let's just say by the end of the hike (4,000 ft down, then back up 4,000 ft) I pretty much wanted to die. Again, I figured I was just being overweight and out of shape and told myself to buck up.

By the following Monday, Memorial Day, I couldn't walk at all and spent the afternoon in the ER. If I can't get from my bed to the potty to pee, I will finally surrender.

The Devil a.k.a the leg immobilizer. Don't let all that velcro fool you, that
sumbitch won't stay up where it should more than ten minutes at a time.

This saga ends with me having surgery to remove a cyst, torn meniscus, spurs, and arthritis in my right knee.

This sexy outfit was free of charge at the surgical center.
My photos aren't cooperating today, but trust me, it doesn't improve if you flip it right side up. 

Surgery was last Wednesday and I'm coming along pretty well. There was a full 7 days of captivity on my couch/bed. I'm back to work today and finally off the heavy-duty pain meds. I can put together coherent thoughts again.  I am on crutches, but only one most of the time. The past 36 hours have seen great improvement. YAY!

My follow up with the doctor is next Monday and I'll find out how soon I can start going to the gym again and if I'm going to need physical therapy and whatnot. The anticipated healing time is 6-8 weeks and I'm hoping I can shave a couple weeks off that. A girl has things she wants to do! :)

Later taters.

Hello, again. Looking Ahead.

I won't waste time with excuses for why I've been absent, that just frustrates me, frankly I'm sick of listening to myself make excuses, and besides is probably nothing you haven't heard before -- busy, work, school, blah, blah. Well, my school excuse has officially run out, I graduate on Friday! *happy dance*

Tonight was day #1 back at the gym and it felt good. I spent 30 minutes on the elliptical and burned about 475 calories. Which makes up for the crummy snacks I had earlier in the day, or mostly anyway. The gym felt like a big victory in a lot of ways, it's been that thing I'm not doing that I know I need to do sort of looming in the background. I'll admit peer pressure is playing a role in my motivation, I seem to be surrounded by health nuts at the moment. However, I must say, it's definitely a positive and encouraging vibe. On Thursday I meet with a trainer and will put together an plan for gym time. I am thinking also that I'll rotate in some belly dancing classes again and yoga. I know I like both of those things and hopefully that will help battle the boredom.

I'm formulating an action plan. That's right where I'm at. Also, it's good to be back. :)

Curry in a Hurry

Yesterday, Parker and I had a healthy cooking day and whipped up a few things to start stocking out freezers with healthy quick foods. We pinned recipes all week, then picked out three to make. We settled on three hearty vegetable crammed recipes: turkey chili, sweet potato and turnip curry stew, and cabbage and chicken sausage stew. Once we decided what we wanted we made a list and headed to the Farmer's Market for supplies, then hit Aldi for the remaining items. We spent a total of $30 and ended up making about 36 cups worth of lunch stew and chili plus a nice vinegar slaw to use for a side dish. Nice! Less than $1/serving for preservative and chemical free delicious noms. We ended up adding brown rice to both stews and some cream cheese to the curry to thicken it and ease the heat (I may have been overly generous with the curry paste, oops!). Our little cooking adventure was really motivating and I'm excited to have some fast food that's good for me and my wallet! I'm also eating curry for lunch today and I might actually be breaking a sweat...that's good for my metabolism, right?

Hey, It's Thursday!

Honestly, there's nothing special about Thursday in particular, I'm just glad after 10 days of vacation to have a short work week. If today is Thursday, that means tomorrow is Friday and I'm closer to another two days off work. WAHOO! I get excited about being the mistress of my time. If only I could find a way to get paid to pursue my hobbies. Le sigh.

The past couple days have been pretty good. Last night, a couple hours after dinner, I was getting sort of hungry for nothing in particular (read: bored) so I went and burrowed under my covers with a circus of animals and went to bed. It was kind of nice actually, especially since I'm always freezing (thank you crappy thyroid) and I suppose it's no surprise that I'm pretty well-rested today. I'm not sure sleeping is a good long-term plan for dealing with boredom hunger, but it got me over the hump. Besides, those kitties needed some attention!

This kitty needed a scritch right under the cheek. See!

Today has been good so far. I had blueberry Greek yogurt, cashews, and coffee for breakfast. String cheese for a snack. Lunch was a burrito bowl (seasoned chicken, pinto beans, grilled veg, sriacha sauce, tomatoes, etc.) , an apple, and then some dried apples because they tasted so good. My big challenge for the week is to drink a bottle (25 ounces) every 2 hours. I read somewhere that you should drink about half your weight in ounces (if you weigh 100 lbs, then 50 oz). I never drink enough water. It's going fine, but I'm not loving having to pee all the time. Oh well, small price to pay for good health. 

Tonight I'll have something quick and easy (I still have 800+ calories left) and then I'm off to do some homeless outreach. It's going to be 18 degrees by morning. BRRR! 

Have a lovely day!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everybody!

I am planning for the New Year to be one of success and achieving goals. My thinking got a little screwy for a while and I was able to mostly maintain without any big gains, but it's time to unkink my kinks and get back on the wagon for good. There's no time like the present and I'm going to focus on moving forward instead of punishing myself for every time I swore off unhealthy eating and fell short of my goals. It's a process and I feel ready again.

I've got a buddy system set up with my pal, Parker who is going to lose 50 with me. I'm excited to have someone to support me and someone to support in this crazy process. Yesterday we took "before" pics so that we have something to compare to. Accountability is so, so, good. I think that's what was lacking before and how I got off track. Part of the reason, anyway.

My current short-term goal is to lose 5 by Feb and focus on crowding out the "bad" with "good". First step, eliminate the white stuff. Heavily processed sugary treats, potatoes, and bread. I've been letting those creep, then flood my diet and I can feel the icky bloat that is the result. I'm going to focus on making better, lower-carb and lower-sugar choices because it feels good to be good.

Return the Fraggle Rock's Red crazy cheering in my head for each teeny victory. Didn't eat the crap in the break room - Yayayayayayya! Dancing Fraggle explosion! Ate fruit instead of cookies - YAYAYY!!!

Over my vacation I watched Hungry for Change. In that film they talked about the importance of visualization. I need to dig up a photo of me from when I felt confident and happy with my body to post in my room as a reminder that I was there before and I can be again.

I'm excited to have a partner on the journey to being fit. It really boosts my motivation to know I'm not alone. I've also got a couple friends who are running Facebook groups for fitness and diet that are a nice addition to the support network.

On a totally unrelated topic... I've gotten involved in a group here locally that does homeless outreach in the winter (days where the temp is expected to dip below 20 degress) and it's been such a gratifying process to get to know these folks who are on the streets and being able to be a part of something that provides a little assistance and a little comfort to the suffering. It's made me really grateful to have a home to go to at the end of the day and especially grateful for the support of friends and family. It's a wonderful, humbling, experience to do outreach. If you are looking for volunteer opportunities, I can't recommend something like this enough. It's good for the soul!

In more unrelated news, I've decided to adopt my foster kitten, Fiona. This little stinker was in bad shape when I got her at four weeks old, nearly died, and spent a couple days in the hospital. She's 100% better and has totally stolen my heart. So cute and so much fun.

What's new in your neck of the woods?