Body Matters | Weighty Matters

A Beautiful Day

by Mary Stella

I didn’t let any grass grow under my feet — or under my knee. Having made the decision to get my knee medically evaluated, I went into action. Specifically, I wanted someone who would not make surgery the first or only option — unless it really was the only option. Friends recommended a couple of orthopedic/sports medicine specialists. I checked each of them out online. One in particular jumped out at me as meeting my criteria. As an extra bonus, he trained with the specialists who treat the Philadelphia Eagles — my favorite football team.

It was meant to be. I was fortunate enough to get an appointment today. After some football chat, the physical exam and three x-ray views, I got the low-down. In summary, there’s significant erosion on the medial side of my knee because of osteoarthritis. It’s created something called a kissing lesion. The doctor still wants me to have an MRI to check for any meniscus involvement, but he strongly believes we can take a non-surgical approach to reducing the pain I experience. Honestly, the condition of my knee doesn’t physically prevent me from being active. It’s the pain that interferes. Being active is the best thing that I can do for my joints so reduction of pain and discomfort will further aid that effort.

Today he injected my knee with a novocaine-steroid mixture to reduce the chronic inflammation in the knee joint. Tomorrow I start a six day course of oral steroid medication in diminishing doses. In a few weeks, I’ll go for three injections of a hyaluronic acid (HA) product over three weeks. HA is found naturally in the body and serves to lubricate, cushion and protect the joints, but it thins out in older patients with osteoarthritis.

I’m familiar with HA products for a lot of uses. I already use a serum morning and night as a facial hydrater. It’s great stuff. Now it will help my knee. No surgery at this point. Projected reduction in pain and increase in function. I’m feeling pretty terrific all around.

This leads me to the topic most on my mind for tonight’s blog post. Recently, I learned from a friend that her husband’s cancer, which he has bravely fought for a long time, is, indeed terminal. They have a good amount of time left, but they’ve had to face reality. Right now, she’s angry, frightened, and incredibly sad — all to be expected. They need to find out how they’re going to go on from here as a family. I truly hope that they are able to find a way to not let the news steal their remaining joy. I hope they’ll live to the fullest and not get overwhelmed by the thought that he’s dying.

We didn’t have that chance with my mom. Once she got diagnosed, things went downhill and got super complicated really fast. We were fighting, fighting, fighting the cancer and her other conditions and it never feels like we got a break where we could live and find some joy, or at least enjoy a few days here and there. It just sucked.

The other day, someone on Facebook shared a meme that was connected to appreciating each day and feeling gratitude. It so resonated with me for a number of reasons, including my friend’s news. To paraphrase, the meme suggested that if we can, we should begin each day with the thought that this will be a beautiful day. Then, at some point we should take time to think and say, “This is a beautiful day.” Before we go to sleep at night, we remind ourselves that it was, indeed, a beautiful day, one to be grateful for.

If we do this regularly, we will compile many, many beautiful days, and at the end, we’ll be able to look back and know that we enjoyed a beautiful life.

It’s almost the end of my day. While I type, my leg is propped up with an ice pack on the knee, as per the doctor’s orders post-injection.

It wasn’t a perfect day by any means, but it was, definitely a beautiful one.

Body Matters General Musings

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About My Knee

by Mary Stella

I haven’t exercised much this week. Starting Monday, every morning when I woke up, my right knee – the problem one – really ached and was particularly stiff. In Tai Chi class on Wednesday night and yesterday morning as well as whenever I practiced, that knee clicked and felt much weaker than I’m used to, which hampered my ability to balance on it one-legged for some of the moves. I had to use a “prop” foot much more often.

A couple of days, the pain was enough that I took some o-t-c relief. I also massaged in arnica gel a couple of times each day.

I thought about it long and logically and decided that my knee was telling me to give it some time off for good behavior. As much as doing so kicks me into the mental stew of, “You’re being lazy. Don’t fall out of the exercise habit. This is wrongwrongwrong.” I focused on the wiser, less judgmental voice that said, “You’ve done a lot over the last few weeks. If you keep pushing you could really injure yourself and that will suck even more.”

So, except for shorter walks with the dogs a couple of times a day and the Tai Chi, I took it easy. (Sadly, it’s been too windy to go for long bike rides.) I didn’t hit the cardio work with the squats, jogging in place and other impact moves. Today, Sunday, is the best that my knee has felt all week. This indicates that I made the right decision.

The fact that I experienced this week at all really made me think about the knee overall. I’ve come to believe that it’s time for me to have it professionally evaluated by a doctor. My boss/friend suggested I consult the town acupuncturist, which could be a treatment option. I’m open to alternative therapies. However, I think I really ought to have it examined by a medical expert first. I honestly don’t know if the problem is from arthritis, lack of cartilage, a combination of problems, or something else all together.

I don’t think the problem is serious enough to warrant surgery, but that’s my uninformed, not-grounded-in-medical-knowledge guess. I honestly don’t know. Maybe the answer is as simple as some physical therapy, or a brace for added support. Maybe the problem is something more serious. The maybes are endless. The only thing for sure is that I won’t know until it’s checked.

I discussed this with my sister-in-law who is a nurse practitioner. She agrees that it’s time to get it looked at.

In the meantime, I don’t believe that I need to give up exercise, but I need to be more careful about the level of impact in the exercising that I do. Perhaps I also need to maintain balance and not overload myself with too much in too short a period of time. I have another 5K walk coming up in a couple of weeks, which should be fine, as long as I don’t overdo it in the days right before and right after. Some mindful moderation is in order, I believe.

This is another way to take care of myself. Rather than ignore the problem and soldiering through, taking extra care now will, hopefully, prevent a serious injury down the line.

Body Matters

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Whew! What an Active Week!

by Mary Stella

It’s Sunday afternoon and I’m seriously considering taking a nap. It’s been a super physically active week for me, friends.

You already know about the manatee rescue attempts and the hours of kayaking. Then there was the Wednesday night Tai Chi class that I barely made it through. But it didn’t stop there.

Remember a few months ago I signed up for a FoamGlow 5K event? I’d almost forgotten about it, but remembered early in the week, that it was last night! So, for Thursday and Friday, in lieu of the regularly scheduled 21DayFix routines, I walked more to keep in the fitness groove and prepare more for the 5K.

Yesterday morning, we had a three hour Tai Chi class. Not so much cardio, but lots of stretching, turning, and weight shifts. After class I grabbed my overnight bag and headed up to the mainland. I don’t like driving back through the Keys by myself too late at night, so I decided to stay over in a hotel. I’m so glad that I did because I was dog tired by the end of the night.

The FoamGlow event was fun, but not without its challenges. Since it was held at the Homestead Speedway, I assumed we would walk and run on the track. Wrong. Everything took place outside the track on a route that veered from even pavement to uneven ground or gravelly road. Whenever we left pavement, the course became sort of risky. Not only was it uneven, but there were some holes, rocks, minor bumps, etc. My friend twisted her ankle twice. I stepped in a lower indentation and jammed my knee at one point. Not fun. It would have been okay had the lighting been just a bit better, but for most of the course, we were illuminated only by the glow sticks worn by most of the participants.

The race drew thousands of people. Seriously. We got there when the registration first opened at 5 p.m. The race was late starting – close to 8 p.m. People were still arriving in the parking lot and walking up to start their walk after 9 p.m.!

Okay, challenges aside, I was determined to beat my time from the 5 K I did earlier in the year, so I needed to complete in a faster time than :58. I was running my stopwatch on my phone. When I checked about two miles in, I was at 30 minutes, so I know I was ahead of my time and going at a good pace – despite having to slow down during rocky or uneven stretches. I resolved to finish strong and kept pumping. Unfortunately, at some point not only did my phone begin randomly pocket-dialing people, but my stopwatch turned off, so I don’t have my exact time. However, I know I beat that :58 minute goal. I decided to celebrate the accomplishment, even if I don’t know the exact time. So, Booyah me!

Here’s a picture of me with my preliminary foaming as well as glow sticks and flashing eyeglasses accessories.

My friends and I went out for a late dinner after the race. Then it was back to the hotel to wash up, down some Motrin, and go to sleep. I will admit that I woke up a little stiff and sore today, but I downed another dose of Motrin and got moving.

The Miami Branch of the Taoist Tai Chi Society holds classes very close to where I was staying, in a beautiful Koi Garden/Nursery. Once you belong to the Society, you can take classes anywhere in the world, so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and go to the two hour continuing class. Not only did it help me continue to loosen up and stretch sore muscles and joints, but the location created a wonderful, peaceful feeling. How could it not, when it was so lovely? See for yourself:

From kayaking to koi gardens, I’ve done a lot. My body is tired in that “wow-it-really-worked” kind of way. My mind is oh-so-happy that I actually have the physical ability to have accomplished all of these things. I never, ever, ever, want to take this fitness level for granted. Hence, I don’t bitch too much about a little soreness or stiffness. Instead, I celebrate and express my gratitude.

Body Matters

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Feeling My Age

by Mary Stella

I am close to being asleep on my feet, except that I’m not standing, so that would be asleep on my ass. Yes, I’m that tired. I think I’ve shared that I work for a marine mammal facility. In addition to the animals that live in our family, we also volunteer for the state/federal agencies that are responsible for manatees. For the last several days, our manatee rescue team has been out desperately searching for an orphaned baby. I am not being overly, or unnecessarily dramatic when I say that the situation is critical. If we do not find this baby, it will most likely die.

A lot of the time when we go on rescue missions, my role is pretty non-physical. It’s been a lot different this last week.

I got back from vacation late on Friday and went out with the team all day on Saturday. It might sound silly, but spending all day on a small boat can still be tiring – particularly coming off as active a week as my friend and I enjoyed at Universal Studios. So, by Saturday night I was very sleepy. Okay. Long day. I can deal.

I didn’t go with the team on Sunday or Monday. Yesterday, we needed as many people spread out over the area as possible, so instead of being on the boat, I kayaked. For at least five hours. On the 21 Day Fix routine, yesterday would have been devoted to upper body. Trust me. after the kayaking, I didn’t need to run the exercise DVD. I think my upper body got worked more than enough, thanks. When I finally got home, all I wanted was a hot shower and an o-t-c pain reliever. I was in bed by 10 p.m.

Unfortunately, we didn’t find the baby yesterday so we went back out today. More kayaking for me. I really got into the whole rhythm of the movement. Then it got a little broken up when I jumped off of the kayak to help haul a very heavy net through the water. Piece of cake. Not completely unlike trying to drag a stubborn team of mules but without the mules’ ability to actually move forward on their own.

It was another long, hot, tiring, frustrating, discouraging day. I came home, showered again and went to Tai Chi class.

Not to be all whiny and stuff, but my muscles ache, I have a headache, and, for the first time in a long time, I actually “feel my age”. During Tai Chi class, I was so tired, I couldn’t maintain my focus on the moves. It was awful.

To be honest, I don’t actually know what my age (56) should feel like. I realize that it’s only an expression, but I get it tonight. I’m sore. I’ll be lucky if I stay awake 10 minutes after I hit Publish on this blog post. My energy decided to take a hike. My booyah attitude is currently M.I.A.

Sometimes I really need to force myself to remember that I’m not a kid anymore. I’m not ready for a rocking chair and retirement, but even with my increased fitness, it’s okay for me to feel like I overexerted when that’s exactly what I did. Maybe I’m feeling the effects of having kayaked for several hours, but I won’t lose sight of the fact that, hot damn, I kayaked for several hours!

At least these days when I feel my age, I’m age-appropriate. There was a time when I felt far older than my years and knew, just knew, that I was getting old before my time. This is better. Much better.

Now it’s time for a little self-care in the form of another dose of pain relief, followed by going to bed. I need my rest.

The Foam Glow 5K is this Saturday. I have to be ready!

Body Matters My Progress

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Moans and Groans

by Mary Stella

I’m about to whine a titch, but I’ll preface it by saying that overall I’m still doing well with my food plan and workout regime.

Okay, now for the whine. Two days ago, I was stressed at work and at home. I’d brought a perfectly respectable, healthy selection of foods for my two snacks and lunch at work. Unfortunately, I ate lunch way too fast. For whatever reason, perfect lovely, raw baby carrots do one hell of a number on my stomach when I eat them too fast. This made the deli turkey meat also feel like it was sticking in my stomach. I felt like crap for the rest of the afternoon into the evening.

Yesterday, again for whatever reason, my whole body just felt off. I think if I could have imbibed some magical that would instantaneously flush and cleanse every internal system I would have chugged it like Alice in Wonderland. Instead, because my belly ached for hours at night, I bellyached to myself, to the dogs, to the empty room. If a telemarketer had called, I probably would have bitched to them too.

I was that miserable. Not so bad that I thought I needed emergency medical care or anything, but bad enough that I dissolved into one big old baby.

So, that’s the negative. Now here’s the positive stuff I learned from the experience. I am, indeed, capable of making adjustments for my own good when needed. I can change behavior. Maybe I don’t do it all of the time, but I know that I can do it — and this is knowledge on which to build.

First of all, I stayed away from raw carrots for the next two days. I also opted to replace lunch with a protein drink all together. I had solid food in the form of one fruit snack and then dinner but I was super careful and slow in how I consumed these things. Anything to help the digestive system so that I didn’t further irritate my stomach.

As a result, I feel much better tonight but I continue to baby myself more than I normally might. I don’t consider this a bad thing. I deserve to self-pamper, particularly when it sets me up for success.

I’m going to do a little more of it in a bit by soaking in a bathtub before bed.

Tomorrow is my official weigh-in day. Even though I get on the scale every day, I count my overall success with my Friday morning weigh-ins.

I’m also psyching myself up to stay with the current program through the next several days. One of my closest friends is coming into town for a visit. I’m taking vacation time next week too. I’m really looking forward to it, but don’t want to use it as an excuse to take a break from my effort. I can still exercise every day. I can make sure that I don’t go off of the rails with my eating too. This is the friend that I traveled to both Alaska and Hawaii with. She won’t mind if I choose to do a protein shake for breakfast some mornings, any more than I’ll mind that she doesn’t. After all, she watched me drink protein shakes for the first four days of our Hawaiian cruise so that I was sure I’d make the weight limit for our zip lining adventure.

If I derail, it will be because I choose to deviate in my choices and behavior — not because of any pressure or influence from my friend. So, I continue to tell myself now that a fun vacation time with a friend is no excuse to screw up my own effort.

Body Matters General Musings My Progress

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The Fear Remains

by Mary Stella

Will I ever lose my fear that small deviations screw up my food and fitness efforts? Am I that wired into the mindset that perfection is the necessary goal and anything less equals failure?

I spent yesterday, a Sunday, doing things around the house. Sunday, the daily exercise routines with the program call for the Yoga Fix. Instead of Yoga, I did Tai Chi. I also walked the dogs and cleaned the pool. Between that and other things, I was still physically active.

I did not eat junk, but I didn’t eat on the same time schedule that I use weekdays when I’m at work. As part of my dinner, I ate some potato. It’s on my plan, but because, overall, the day felt a little wonky program-wise, I started emotionally obsessing over whether I’d “blown it”.

Once I start down that path, I really need to work to put on the brakes because my motivation and determination start to crumble under the pressure of negative thoughts. Negative thoughts as in:

“You blew it again.”

“Yousuck.”

“Whybother? You already blew it.”

“Might as well go pig out on something.”

“Get a cupcake it won’t do any more damage since you already blew it.”

“You’re destined to fail.”

My diseased thinking is absolutely rotten to me. If I heard someone talking to a friend like this, I’d give them a blistering talking to — a verbal bitch slap into next week. Thankfully, I did not give in to its suggestions that I go pig out on cupcakes or something else that would have made the situation even worse.

Even so, I woke up all annoyed with myself, walked to the scale like a condemned prisoner doing the green mile, and saw that I’d lost another half a pound.

My disease-oriented brain was, once more, dead wrong. I wasn’t perfect and rigid on my plan, but I didn’t damage myself. This is not a case of a narrowly missed close call. I was still healthy in my eating and didn’t overeat. THAT’s the lesson I need to learn, the distinction I need to make. Progress not perfection. Healthy eating does not have to be rigid. It just needs to be . . . healthy.

The perfection poison is destructive in the long run. It effectively manipulates my emotions and my mindset. Ultimately, it can undermine my effort instead of bolstering it and shoring up my foundations. Today I’m focused on diffusing its power.

I’m going back to Booyah in my attitude. Even though I’m still doing things around the house, I’ll stick to my eating schedule. This will help me to avoid the negative thinking. I have yummy, fresh food to enjoy and I will savor it. I have some projects to do around the house and I’m looking forward to completing them. I already took the dogs out for a walk and will do today’s cardio routine a little later this afternoon before I get ready to go to a friend’s house for a barbeque/birthday celebration.

I may not be perfect, but I won’t give into fear either. I got this!

Body Matters My Progress The Past is the Past

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Laboring Weekend

by Mary Stella

I’m about to go soak my weary body in a warm bathtub. Not that I need the justification, but I earned the relaxation and my muscles will appreciate the treatment. I definitely put the labor in Labor Day Weekend today. It began with Tai Chi class for about 90 minutes this morning. I then made a circuit through town to do errands. Here’s my list:

Drive to veterinarian’s office to pick up the heartworm preventive treatment for Nat & Pxyi
Get gas and fill car tires with air
At little neighborhood hardware store pick up new trash can, new recycling bin, picture hangers and those little felt things you put on the bottom of chair legs
Stop at the post office
Go to pet store and tote out big bag of food, also for Nat & Pyxi
Since it was right next door, run into florist and pick up half a dozen sunflowers just because I wanted them
Go to health food store and check out coconut palm sugar (Ever since I found out that most stevia products still have junky stuff in them, I’ve been on a quest for a lower calorie but more natural sweetener for my tea. A friend suggested coconut palm sugar at 10 calories a teaspoon. Will let you know if I like it after I try it.)
Realizing I was hungry, I had lunch at the health food store — a salad of zucchini, beets, carrots and cabbage, spiral cut so that the veggies looked like spaghetti, served with warm quinoa. Delicious and I brought half of it home to eat tomorrow
Go to Home Depot’s garden section to get new herbs and flowering plants

That was all by 1 o’clock! Once I got home and unloaded everything, I got to work on removing the old/straggly/dead plants from my various planters and replacing them with the new items. I love the instant satisfaction of seeing new, pretty flowers and greenery!

I moved inside to do some work. The construction work on my dining room and living room is complete! (Except for a few touch-ups that will be completed next week. I have a short punch list for my contractor.) I at least got the floors “broom clean” today and can do more tomorrow. It’s also important that I move some stuff that I was storing in the guest bedroom out of that room because a friend is coming to visit at the end of next week. So that was more of my labor today.

With that complete, I took a little break during which I debated with myself about whether I’d done enough physical activity with my chores and Tai Chi to qualify as exercise. Thankfully, my higher minded self won the debate. I turned on the DVD player and did the entire 30 minute routine that was scheduled for the day and then took Nat & Pyxi for a walk.

But I still wasn’t done!

After dinner (Leftovers from last night. I’d made balsamic glazed brussel sprouts and grilled skirt steak. The meal was even yummier tonight.) I put together the last two new dining room chairs that I bought. When that task was complete and the chairs were arranged around the new table, I decided that I’d done enough for one day. I flopped into my chair and watched the rest of the Phillies game.

I’m whipped, but also feel terrific for having accomplished so much. I feel even better that I actually can accomplish so much in a single day. The fact that I’m tired and my muscles feel the effects of the work has nothing to do with obesity. I think anyone on the planet would feel the same after such a busy, filled day. More than the tiredness, I feel grateful for the energy and endurance that helped me achieve the day’s chores.

Better yet, I know the same energy and endurance will be with me tomorrow when I finish putting my guest room to rights, clean the swimming pool, and hang some art. Labor ensues!

How are you spending the three day weekend?

Body Matters General Musings NSVs

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Portions and Balance

by Mary Stella

I can’t find the post from more than a year ago, but I remember talking about how much I loathe weighing and measuring my food. In my recent rejuvenated quest, I became willing to go to whatever lengths necessary to break through the stall and start losing weight again. As it happens, I chose a program that requires me to sort of measure what I’m going to eat.

I say sort of because there isn’t a fully written plan that specifies things like, “Eat 4 oz of lean protein, 1 cup of green beans, a quarter cup of whatever.” Instead, the plan came with brightly colored square containers in various sizes. The green container is for vegetable portions; purple for fruit; red for protein; yellow for starches; blue for some nuts and similar things; orange for certain seeds. The program provides a mathematical formula to figure out a target calorie range, depending on current weight. Then, depending on the range, it specifies how many portions of each classification of food one should eat. If you can cram it into the container and still snap on the lid, you can eat it.

In my case, I went with the lowest calorie range — 1200-1499 a day — since I know that’s sort of where my doctor wants me to hit and it’s akin to what I was eating, knowing that with exercise I’d net less. Since I don’t really have to look at measuring cups or spoons (except for oils) and I don’t have to weigh any foods, I don’t feel like I’m measuring.

I take my food to work with me in plastic containers anyway. That’s what I’m doing with these colored containers, but with the added benefit of automatic portion-size control. I don’t pack the containers full either, since I can’t handle that much food.

Where this colored-container program has really helped is in the area of seeing balance in my daily food intake. I thought I was balanced, but now can tell that I wasn’t to the degree that I should. For example, we hear a lot about a healthy diet including five servings of fruit and vegetables a day. Left to my own devices with that broad a description, I would be happy eating three fruits and two veggies — which means I take in more sugar, even natural sugar, then I probably should. This plan breaks it out into three veggies and two fruits, so by following it, I achieve a better balance.

After weight loss surgery, the emphasis was on many grams of protein a day. Protein was supposed to be the leading role in the program. I did that so well for so long. Somewhere along the line, I started to deviate a little. Instead of a quality, more dense protein snack in the mid-morning, I’d eat nuts, for example. Whatever happened, I realized this week that on most days I don’t eat the amount of protein that I should, or that my body needs. So, this week I made sure that my mid-morning snack included protein. I think this has already fostered some small improvement in my metabolism. Plus it must help my body recover and my muscles work and strengthen with the workouts. I still have trouble getting in four servings of protein, but I’m definitely a solid three every day.

I absolutely know that for a while I was eating too many empty carbs like breads or crackers. I really dropped those this week. I can have two servings, but it’s hard for me to incorporate them if I’m eating the veggies, fruits and proteins. At best I had some for taste but didn’t pack in a full size portion.

Lest you think I’m starving myself, trust me. I’m not. I make up most of the shortfall by spreading out my food intake over six meals. I know that while I’m in losing phase, my doctor’s okay with me eating 1000 calories a day. I find because I’m eating everything in balance, I physically feel really good. Better than I have in a while, and my system isn’t sluggish.

I’m also making a concentrated effort to up my hydration. I’m drinking plenty of water, but a few cups of green tea or a tasty detox tea.

So, this week, the attention I’ve paid to portions and balance, coupled with the 30 minutes of strong exercise every day (plus my daily Tai Chi and dog walks), paid off. As I edited to add in the post this morning, I lost 9 pounds in the week since I started this program. Some of it was flushing out “water weight”, but the rest sure wasn’t. I credit adhering to the program, eating clean, and working out.

It feels terrific and I’m looking forward to continuing next week.

Body Matters My Progress

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Booyah!

by Mary Stella

Booyah is my word of the day. Actually, it’s my word on a lot of days. My assistant at work and I use it a lot to indicate a victory, the completion of a particular accomplishment, or when we’ve had an opportunity to be a little “in-your-face-take-that” in a somewhat metaphorical way to some opponents.

Tonight, I feel all of those things. Tomorrow it will be a full week that I’ve been on this new program. I can already tell that I’ve lost weight. That’s a victory over the stall I’ve experienced and an accomplishment. No matter what, every single one of us should remember that every successful day on a program – whatever that program happens to be – is an accomplishment. I’ve had a string of great days in a row, so Booyah!

Booyah to my eating disorder, too. That’s the “in-your-face” part of my feeling. My eating disorder sometimes acts like an ever-criticizing voice in my head. When I struggle, it says rotten things to me about how I’m screwing up, how I can’t stick to a program, how I’m doomed to regain all of my weight, how I’m weak-willed. Blahblahblahyousuckandshouldadmititblahblahblah. Well, eating disorder, you can take your critical, demeaning attitude and stuff it. I’ve had a great week, despite your effort to sabotage or undermine me so, Booyah!

Every day I stuck to the food plan and did the scheduled exercise routines. These were not easy. I’ve been sore most of the week which tells me I’ve worked muscles that needed the extra effort. I’ve also kept up with twice daily dog walks and daily Tai Chi. Today’s routine involved Pilates. I have zero experience with Pilates but I did the entire routine. I hope that my abs will thank me when they finish cussing me out. In keeping with my experiment to do some of the routines in the evening, I worked out a while after dinner and the evening dog walk. That’s probably why right now I feel particularly strong.

For so many years my body just felt beaten down, tired, and old beyond my actual age. To feel this strong and capable is more than a physical boost. It’s truly an emotional high. I love it!

I’m taking the positive energy experienced this week and bridging it into the next week of effort. I can build this into real momentum and keep chugging toward my goal.

Say it with me now, friends, “Booyah!”

**********Quick Edit************
I weighed in this morning (Friday) since I started the new program last Friday. I’m down 9 pounds! Yes, I know some is the water weight bloat but that’s still significant. So, again I say Booyah! Have a great day!

Body Matters My Progress

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Ease of Motion

by Mary Stella

I signed up for another 5K Walk today. This one is a fundraiser — Making Strides Against Breast Cancer — organized by the American Cancer Society in communities around the country. Co-workers and I are forming a team to walk together.

Right now a friend of mine is battling breast cancer. Another dear friend is a 17 year cancer survivor. I’m walking in their honor.

I absolutely love that the thought of walking five kilometers holds no intimidation and creates no trepidation in me. I’m holding onto that thought even though I spent the day periodically feeling complaints from the muscles in my abs and legs. I’m sticking with my determination to do these daily exercise routines and trying to remember that the soreness means that the muscles are being worked. The effort I put out ultimately will strengthen my body.

So what if every once in a while I need to break down and take an over-the-counter pain reliever to quiet the complaints? This is a far cry from the days when I came home from work and swallowed 800 mgs of Motrin every night because just the daily exertion of living my life resulted in significant pain and throbbing joints.

By comparison, this 5K will really be like a walk in the park.

Body Matters The Past is the Past

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Weighty Matters

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A Beautiful Day

About My Knee

Whew! What an Active Week!

Feeling My Age

Moans and Groans

The Fear Remains

Laboring Weekend

Portions and Balance

Booyah!

Ease of Motion

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