A GOOD YEAR: Celebrating victories great and small

Here we are!  Month four has come and gone.  Beth was right when she said I was a little nervous about writing this progress post. 

That said, how did I do?  Really well!  Since we published my first blog on July 2, 2013 I have lost 11 pounds and dropped:

• 2 inches in my bust 
• 1 inch in my hips
• 1 inch in my waist
• 1 inch in my thighs
• .25 inches in my arms

I doubt I really lost much weight until I started watching my food intake at the beginning of August, but since then I've seen an average loss of about a pound a week.  I'm limiting myself to about 1500 calories per day because that is reasonable and I don't feel deprived or "on a diet" which would be contrary to the lifestyle overhaul I am seeking.  I still have my Saturday outings with my friends where I don't really worry to much about what I eat, which also helps this not feel overly confining.

What's also cool is that by adding the weight routine in, even just two days a week, I dropped four pounds in just two weeks!  I had read that lifting weights and gaining muscle could have a greater impact on weight loss than pure cardio but was shocked to experience the difference myself!  I also learned that telling Beth something is so easy (like leg lifts) means she will find a way to make it infinitely more difficult the next time - just try last months resistance program and then try this months resistance program to see for yourself.

In addition to these measurement based victories I've seen what I learned are called non-scale victories (NSVs).  Some of mine include:

• Walking up the stairs without getting winded
• Keeping up when I go on a hike, even on steep hills
• Fitting into a pair of jeans that I haven't been able to wear in years
• Being able to go to kickboxing and keep up

My identity is still so closely aligned with the scale that I can feel pretty down if I'm not happy with the number I see.  But so much has happened emotionally during these last four months that really aren't reflected by pounds or calories or inches.  And what I've ultimately found is that I am doing something just for me every time I workout.  Whether that's hitting a bag until I can't feel feelings, accomplishing something I never thought I'd be able to do again because of my weight (kickboxing, hikes up crazy hills) or just enjoying the beauty of the neighborhood I grew up in - all of it is just for me.  And that has meant so much more than I can measure.

 

Me and Olive (who has also lost weight) on October 12, 2013

"If things start happening, don’t worry, don’t stew, just go right along and you’ll start happening too." - Dr. Seuss

A GOOD YEAR: Live through this and you won't look back

Greetings from Kalamazoo!  I've been away from my blog posts for a few weeks and have SO MUCH TO SAY!

When Beth and I thought through how I would share my adventure we decided a weekly post would be frequent enough to capture the various emotions - good and bad - that I experienced while implementing a fitness plan.  I always knew that this blog would acknowledge that where I was starting on my fitness regimen was largely based in having recently undergone a personal upheaval with the divorce.  However, somehow I saw myself as being able to put a wall between the two - my divorce and the feelings about how that has impacted my life on one side and my health and the feelings that go along with working toward living a whole, healthy life especially after a traumatic event, on the other.

Well it's not that simple.  There is no wall.  The two are so inextricably linked that I can't deal with the feelings behind one without also dealing with the feelings about the other.  So in my last post, two-and-a-half weeks ago, I mentioned that I was dealing with some emotional challenges and went on to describe the role that the physical pain played in that.  Since that post I haven't been able to write anything without feeling like it would be too personal, too painful emotionally, and too intrusive to have just anyone reading this blog know about. 

Grief is a winding road with a number of twists and turns. Eight months after pushing the eject button on my life in Atlanta, I still feel like my feet get swept out from under me by emotions that seem to bubble up out of nowhere.  Or I'll find that I have very powerful reactions to things that, at this point, have no bearing on my life. 

My intention with this is not to be all vague and cryptic to leave people who know me guessing what may or may not be going on.  My intent is to let you know that sometimes I don't make my self-imposed weekly deadline because I cannot write without a massive over-share that ultimately would leave me feeling too exposed.  At the same time, I really can't talk about the experience of Rolfing without talking about feelings so this is actually a (long) good tie in to that adventure.

This is Little Guy, my cat.  This is also a metaphor for what I've been doing the last two weeks.

I talked about the pain that really had me reeling physically and emotionally a few weeks back. Beth  told me from the beginning that I was likely going to need to financially invest in my health as part of this experience but I assumed she meant a gym membership or signing up for classes.  It never occurred to me that I would NEED a deep tissue massage or NEED someone to help loosen me up to move forward without pain.  So to maximize my return on investment in treatment, Beth (being a physical therapist) really spent a lot of time thinking about the best path for my specific needs. While the pain was presenting itself in my feet, she was confident that the issue could be traced all the way up to my hips and muscle tightness and fascia issues were the cause, so we went with Rolfing.

To backtrack a little, I have had foot problems since high school soccer.  I have also had stress management/anxiety problems since high school soccer (actually long before that). About two years ago, when I was living in Chicago, the emotional stress (that I was oblivious to at the time) began to express itself again but this time in my right leg.  I was knitting in front of the TV and realized that I was clenching that leg at the hip. Clench, release. Clench, release.  It was pretty much constant and I couldn't make myself stop.  I still catch myself doing it when I'm worrying about something or feeling anxious.

So years later that brings us to Rolfing.  I didn't really understand what rolfing was, even after I looked it up on Wikipedia, until I went.  What I see now is that rolfers look at your body holistically and recognize imbalances that can create problems further down the line and work to address them by rebuilding fascia.  Fascia is kind of like the white stuff that you see when you are preparing chicken - it's a membrane that holds things together.  Kim Tillman, the great physical therapist and rolfer that Beth sent me to says more about it on her website.

The rolfing process is split into a 10 session series, with each session working specific areas.  There is no requirement for how frequently you go (I'll be going every three to four weeks) but after the 10 sessions, they recommend strongly you wait 6 months to a year before you begin another rolfing series.  After that point you can do a three-session maintenance series to keep from regressing.

When I got to Kim's office we sat down and discussed my issues - physical and emotional.  She immediately thought she could see some imbalance based on how I was sitting but needed to look more carefully.  Really, the experience felt like a lighter deep tissue massage. The first session targeted my arms, chest, hamstrings, and back.  She focused on loosening up the fascia in those areas which can tear and regrow in ways that limit your flexibility.  By massaging it out, fascia re-forms and lengthens to allow you to move more freely and achieve better balance in your shoulders, hips, etc.

Working through each of the areas she immediately saw posture issues at the shoulders and pointed to how my shoulders and neck were aligned forward from sitting at a computer all day.  She also found a lot of tension in my hips, hamstrings, and back.  Working that out hurt.  Like the massage I had at the Turkish bath in Istanbul - that kind of awesome hurt.  But I felt better afterwards and while my foot still bothered me the next day I think that this will definitely help in the long run.

So this is where the feelings part comes in.  One of the things we talked about is muscle memory.  The concept that muscles can hold pent up feelings that emerge when the muscle is released.  Kim said that she never believed that until she started to notice that she felt irritable after she would get a massage or do yoga.  It finally dawned on her that she bottles up a lot of anger and that by releasing those muscles she was releasing that pent up anger as well.  She went on to say that it's a lot like dusting your house - you can't dust without stirring stuff up.  My doctor-therapist rolled her eyes when I told her that and said she saw it more as a result of synapses being connected to muscles and information being stored there.  Regardless of how it happens, both saw validity in the concept and so do I.

I have experienced a lot of feelings this past week mostly centered on anger. The anger kicked in the day after my rolfing session when I was leaving one yoga class and then again during a second yoga class.  There were also some other things throughout the week that really kicked that anger up a notch.

I don't deal with anger well.  I bottle it up until it physically hurts in my chest or I'll get so mad that I cry.  I have traditionally had no clue how to let it out. 

This is where emotional intertwines with fitness.  Exercise has been an enormous outlet for anger.  Monday night I went to kickboxing and punched and kicked and punched and kicked until I couldn't punch or kick anymore.  I came home exhausted but calm.  Tuesday the anger was back and I was supposed to do a 25 minute walk but it felt so good to go out and stomp around the neighborhood that I was gone for an hour.  Wednesday I did my hill walk and again stomped out the anger.  Every time I worked out and really pushed myself, I was physically exhausted but felt so much better. 

Today I feel much more at peace.  I'm calm and have perspective and feel good.  This emotional wave appears to have passed.  But I know there will be another one.  As I said, grief is not a straight line.  It will probably catch me off guard the next time as well.  But each time I fall, I seem to overcome the emotional strain more quickly and exercise gives me an outlet that helps things not feel as painful as they would have otherwise.

Lyrics from a song I love "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead" by Stars

A GOOD YEAR: A third of the year completed!

This month Cathy embarks on month 4.5.  She has been at it for a quarter year!

This post is a whole lot of my voice, later this week Cathy is posting her measurements, and weight loss.  She is a little nervous.  I assure her there will be changes!

Weight is one way to monitor, but Cathy also has measured body parts, and is going to tell us about any  wardrobe changes!

For this month, I kept MOST of Cathy's program the same for a couple reasons.  I look at the whole week for each and every one of my clients.  How many effort sessions?  How much weight lifting?  How is her body responding to what we are already doing?  

Cardiovascular Exercise and Effort Sessions:

Cathy does a few high intensity sessions a week.  They include: kickboxing, and two interval walking sessions.  The other two cardio sessions are relatively a recovery session, definitely not easy but not as hard as the other three.  I do this because it allows for variety of effort.  Cathy is so strong, but if every session pushes her to a max effort, she risks injury.  Also I try to provide a lot of variety! Every week is slightly different, and the first week of the month, is just a bit of a recovery, with minutes scaled back a bit. There are two purposes for this.  The body adapts to exercise pretty quickly, so varying the physiologic demand keeps it guessing.  And mentally I want to keep Cathy stimulated, and also a scaled back week allows overall recovery.  Cathy enjoys walking and kickboxing, if she did not we'd be doing something different!

Cathy is getting is a variety of moderate to high intensity exercise and exceeding the 150 minutes recommended for decreasing heart disease, the diabetes, cancer, and all that!

Resistance sessions:

Keeping it at two a week because Cathy gets some of that in kickboxing and yoga as well.  In yoga, holding a position is an isometric muscle contraction, not as exact as what we are doing in our planned resistance sessions, but I am sure downward dog is getting easier to hold!  In her kickboxing class, Cathy does some conditioning.  I did take and shift her moves to more advanced things!  Almost every move is a two-fer, working multiple muscle groups.  I am very careful to keep her in safe supportive positions until her back and feet are feeling better.

This is Cathy's other arm of fitness, resistance training protects against obesity, type 2 diabetes, and osteoporosis.

Today we ran through this program on PowHow, this is a link to my profile on PowHow if you are interested in getting into an exercise program or advancing or mixing up your current program.

http://www.powhow.com/classes/go-training

Cathy has a bit-o-ongoing-foot-and-low-back-pain, not incapacitating but present. And she has voiced foot issues for a long time.  Since her pain is stable, not really worsening and managed by ice and other anti-inflammatory measures, I am not making too many changes to her plan.  SO this pain, is not necessarily brand new, and is also always kinda present, and that is so not cool!  

I think a lot of us on this earth cope with minor to moderate ouchies, thinking they are ours for the duration.  Cathy has also expressed a desire to maybe return to running.  And we need to get the feet right to do that!

This is the point where we have to explore other measures to control and solve these issues.  The first line of treatment we are pursuing is rolfing.  Cathy has tried physical therapy, and orthotics.  Time for a new approach!  Why rolfing?  Rolfing established by Ida Rolf in 1971 is like taking your fascia to a restoration expert.  All the tiny and big physical assaults that accumulate over a lifetime heal.  But sometimes that healing results in scar tissue, malalignment, and restriction.

I have tried rolfing with amazing results!  I have walked out feeling, with better alignment every session.  I only stopped as we moved out to Oregon and am now working through a recent rear-ending.  I will definitely include this is my recovery plan, right now I am employing my PT knowledge, the skills of chiropractic (a very gentle soul!), acupuncture, and a massage therapist who specializes in injury recovery.

Cathy is going to a rolfer is Milford, Michigan who is a rolfer AND a physical therapist!  She-bang! Two-fer! 

Here is a great starting point to research rolfing on your own!

http://www.rolf.org/

OKAY, month 4.5 in all it's glory!  When Cathy finishes this month, she will be 1.5 months from halfway through the GOOD YEAR.

Here are the details for Cathy's next month!

Plus, some options for free online you tube videos for when she is traveling and unable to do her usual at-home walking routes.

Oh, and if I have not posted it elsewhere...

Last months resistance program!

Squats - 12 total

Side squats - 12 each side

All fours hip extension, so sticking leg straight out - 12 each leg

Upper body extension, superman upper body only - 12 reps

you can even assist with your hands

Roll to side, side leg lift, one side only -12 reps

Roll to back , crunches 12

Bridge - 12

Roll too other side leg lift - 12 reps

5 pound bicep curl 12 reps

5 pound bent over row 12 reps

Repeat one time.

NEW!!!!! This months Resistance Program

Squats plie styles, with overhead push R times one to L time one - 12 each side (total of 24 squats)

Squats with bicep curl - 12 each side

All fours hip extension pose, with arm extension a 10 seconds, followed by ten leg lifts 

Superman upper and lower body - 12 reps

you can even assist with your hands  LEGS TOO

Roll to side, Leg circles forward and back, lifts and pulse - 8 reps each exercise

Roll to back , crunches with both legs lifted to 90 degrees

Stay on back, Bridge with chest press - 12

Roll to side, Leg circles forward and back, lifts and pulse - 8 reps each exercise

Repeat one time

HOW TO DO YOUR INTERVALS

• 20 minute interval walk:

5 minute warm up and cool down, 1 min on, 1 min off X 5

• 25 minute interval:

5 minute warm up and cool down, 4 min on, 1 min off X 3

• 30 minute interval walk:

5 minute warm up and cool down, 3 min on, 2 min off X 4

Weather Substitution!

IF weather hems you in for your 20 or 25 minute walk, 

do this program.

DIsclamier: Leslie is such a good lady, but it has a cheesiness component for sure!  Just see as 

a training course to sharpen your midwestern dialect!

Leslie Sansone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df2gn6-w0dE&list=PLQZnPB5LOhqxsr99fSIY4n_oaT2Z2dKFQ

IF weather hems you in for your 30 or 35 minute walk, 

do this program.

Leslie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cE1jxDS3HY&list=PLQZnPB5LOhqxsr99fSIY4n_oaT2Z2dKFQ

If weather hems you in for a 40 to 60 minute walk,

do this program.

Leslie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoN_rvyeG0Y

Chris Freytag

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm0C8awjNIQ&list=PLmYXtysa4h2_2ljEjXyjUy7pezTXbGrQE