A GOOD YEAR: Keep on truckin'

This is one of Cathy's last blog posts for her GOOD YEAR experiment of finding health that is sustainable.  SO I am proposing a new challenge to her, but also looking for a new candidate for a year long health overhaul.  Are you or someone you know ready to make small changes over a long period of time?

Email me at beth@gotrainingwithbeth.com if you or someone you know is all in!

This is Cathy's May/June summary.  We did make a monthly plan that included travel plans and ideas, and how many days are fair to expect to workout out while away from home.May was a huge traveling month for Cathy, and June was a journey to take some next steps for her low back, read on!

In May, I traveled for almost three weeks. The trip took me from Kalamazoo, MI to Charlotte, NC to Atlanta, GA. I would apologize when I show up at a friend's house to stay because my suitcase was huge and ridiculous. Moving it was serious strength training in and of itself.

I planned super carefully before the trip to keep up with my fitness routine and even joined Anytime Fitness so I had access to a gym everywhere I went. Ironically, the locations in Charlotte and Atlanta that were most convenient were also closed for renovations. No matter! I still got outside and got outside to walk a lot.

The entire trip was fantastic but the Atlanta leg was big for me. I went down to visit my friends and test out how it felt to be back in a city that was home for a long time. I moved down right after graduating from Michigan State for a job at an aeronautics manufacturing company. The intent at that time was to stay long enough to get some good work experience and then move back to the Detroit area. Thirteen amazing years later I finally found myself leaving a city I love, not because I wanted to relocate, but because I needed a lot of propping up from my family (biological family and friends-forever family).

I came back down twice in 2013. The first time to pack up my apartment and move everything into storage and the second time to visit with friends. Across both visits I was incredibly tense and anxious and found myself reliving a lot of the darker moments in recent history in my head.

This visit, however, was 100% enjoyable - I saw friends, stuck to my healthy routine, and even got a lot of walks in!  My friends were amazing - they went out of their way to go on walks with me, plan hiking adventures, and make sure I had food that fit my plan. The trip helped me realize that how truly fortunate I am to have such wonderful people in my life across the country.

Sweetwater Creek State Park - Great hiking trails with a great family! (I didn't take this picture but it was totally that pretty!)

When I got back from my trip i had another gnarly back flare up in May... then three weeks later in June. By that point, I was pretty fed up. So I finally went to a orthapedic surgeon and now have two weeks of physical therapy under my belt. It's been three weeks since my last flare up - a new record!

I also reworked my work station to put myself in a better ergonomic situation after some confessions to Beth about working from the recliner. Working at home has a lot of benefits, access to casual seating, it turns out, is not one of them.

Feeling better physically has made a huge difference in my perspective. I've talked about the power of pain before. When my back is out, it is crippling physically and emotionally. I still managed to stick pretty closely to my sugar free/no processed food lifestyle but did have a few days where the need for ice cream was stronger than my will power. Fortunately, with this lifestyle makeover I no longer give up completely when I experience minor setbacks and yeah, so a Dairy Queen cone and sprinkles found there way into my belly (read = processed and high in sugar) - I'm back on my game and on track.

My weight has remained flat - both a surprise and relief - and my enjoyment of exercise remains. I'm doing cardio four days a week and strength training twice a week at physical therapy. I'm focused mostly on upper body but it's a start and that feels good.

In addition, I'm back to yoga again and even got through my first vinyasa class the other day! Vinyasa is a more vigorous form of yoga that left me sweating at the end of class with sore muscles the next day. I have really come a long way with yoga this year. When I began this adventure, I found it so difficult to quiet my mind for any length of time and could not mentally let go in order to enjoy the class. But when I went this past Sunday I noticed I didn't have racing thoughts while I was there. I am able to listen to my breath, hear the instructor's voice, and relax. If the occasional stray thought does appear, I simply acknowledge it and let it go.

My next goal is to start meditating briefly throughout the day. I'm still guilty of clenching up pretty much constantly and while yoga gives me a break, there are still 23 more hours in the day. I've found that when I do meditate, even briefly, I can let that go and in those quiet and still moments, find real relaxation.

With all of this, I've felt so good and feeling good translates to steps forward! With that, my latest milestone has arrived.. I've found a fabulous pet friendly apartment that is walkable to a really nice litte downtown area here in Michigan. I move in August and can't wait for this next step. I was really, really torn between staying in Michigan and going back to Atlanta. This was especially tough after my trip in May because it really felt like home to be there. Having said that, Michigan is where I want that to be for the next step and I'll see what comes after that.

So where does that leave me? Careening toward then end of my GOOD YEAR! I began this adventure back in July of 2013 and I can't wait to reflect on all that can happen in 365 days!