Since Friday I have been sticking to a low carb diet. It has not been as bad as I thought it would be. I thought that I would be hallucinating about cupcakes and doughnuts, but so far so good.
I went to three appointments at Renew today. The first one was to see Dr. Hummel, the Chiropractor. He adjusted my neck and back. He cracked bones that I did not know existed. A little painful, but so worth it!
I then headed to Physical Therapy. I had a great work out! These guys had me sweating! A word of advice, if you are going to work out, don’t forget your tennis shoes! Yes, I forgot my tennis shoes and on top of that I ended up working out in some funky green striped socks. I never thought that my socks would be exposed to the world!!!
Last, I met with John Dodds for acupuncture. Like I have said before, it is the best form of relaxation I have ever experienced. If you have never had acupuncture, I recommend it. It is not as painful as it seems.
I took today to regroup a little. I had been following my self prescribed diet and exercise regiment. This was temporary until I would meet with the doctor at Renew. I met with him yesterday and I voiced my concerns over my headaches and about how I had put in a great effort towards my weight loss this week and had not seen results. It looks like I have been consuming too many carbs. I was afraid to hear that, because I sooo love my carbs. He prescribed a new diet for me to follow and also advised for me to temporarily cut down the amount of time I spend exercising. This will increase as we work on getting rid of the headaches.
It was a wonderful visit. The doctor gave me a thorough check up and took his time to explain his findings. A lot of my maladies come from my poor dietary habits. I have to help my body eliminate the toxins that currently inhabit it. He wants me to have some lab work done, to determine the risk of me getting cancer again. This scared the heck out of me. For a long time I had managed to block any thoughts about my experience with cancer or my fears of it. This opened up a floodgate of emotions. I can not have cancer again. My kids need me. I love life too much. I need to take dieting seriously, it is an important step towards being healthy.
On friday I also had an acupuncture session with John. It was a great experience. I had previously mentioned my maladies to John and he treated me for that. He worked on helping me with my problems with sinus infections, and with with my digestive issues. The treatment was not painful at all. It was the most relaxing experience that I have ever had! It beats getting a massage! I would recommend it to anyone. I also have to say that the treatment worked. My sinus is cleared and my digestive system is up and running! Thank you John!!
I hate to report that yesterday I did not get any exercise in. I was exhausted and decided to skip the exercise.
Today I did not think that I would get any exercise in either. I had a very stressful day. My computer at work has not worked for the past three days and I rely on it for most of my work. On top of that, my daughters ear infection worsened. I had to take off from work to take her to the doctor and then I had to drive back to work. After work I headed to the grocery store and was thinking about how nice it would be to go home and rest and forget about exercising. Then I listened to a message on my cell phone. It was from Tina, the psychologist from Renew. She left a really nice message and was very encouraging. That motivated me to go home and get dressed and head to the gym. I exercised on the elliptical machine for 30 minutes. (No headache)
Don’t know if you have ever watched Sanford and Son, but yesterday I had my ELIZABETH moment. I went on a two mile walk with my husband and Matilda and as we were finishing the last mile, my head started hurting. I was so upset about this happening again and that all I could do was invoke poor Elizabeth, like Sanford used to do!! That thought got me out of my negative thinking and I just went home and let the headache take it course. I was ok after two hours.
Today, I went back to work after being on leave for two weeks. On top of that my younger daughter also got an ear infection. Needless to say, I was a bit stressed when I got home from work/doctor’s office!! After dinner was done, I managed to get in 40 minutes on the Wii Fit. I did a combination of strength training and Yoga. I also did the exercises that were assigned by the Renew folks. All this helped relieve the stress.
P.S. The Wii Fit person commented that my weight had slightly increased, since my last weigh in!!! I could just strangle that Wii Fit person!! Ok I will admit that the Pat and Oscar’s breadstick I had yesterday did not help!
Today I got 40 minutes in on the Wii Fit (my eight year old Arianna was my official cheerleader) and I also did the exercises that were assigned to me by the Renew folks.
I am pleased to announce that according to the Wii Fit I am no longer obese! Thank god!! So far I have lost three pounds. Still got a long way to go.
Right now I am in need of a schedule. Tomorrow I am going to write up a good exercise schedule. I also need to decide what kind of diet I will follow. I have been watching my calorie intake but am not following a specific diet. I am not too sure if the Renew folks have something in mind for me. When I go back I will ask.
Yesterday, started out great. I visited Renew and saw the Chiropractor, the Physical Therapists and the Psychologist. I first saw Dr. Hummel. He gave me my first spinal adjustment. It hurt a little, but made me feel so much better. He gave me a call later in the day, to make sure that I was feeling ok! Can’t ask for more! My Physical Therapy was next. I worked with both Dr. Pansky and Adam Meinhardt. They started with stretches and started me one a workout routine. They got me sweating! I am supposed to be doing the workout on a daily basis. Last I saw the Psychologist (Tina Mears, MFT) and we spoke about my need to accomplish goals. The goal of losing weight, to me is very important. My kids have taken notice that I always start diets and I quit right away. I want them to see that this time I will accomplish my goal. Thanks again to Renew!
Today I woke up motivated to go to the gym. I got there and did 30 minutes on the elliptical machine. I then moved on to the sauna. If you ever want to be entertained, go into a sauna filled with woman. Just by sitting there, I found out who was having marital problems, who had implants (this includes implants in the buttocks ) and who had just gotten a DUI. TMI for me, but at least I was entertained while I melted in the sauna.
Got home with guess what? A headache!! You do not now how discouraging it is for me to get headaches after I exercise. I hope that I can soon find out why exercise triggers my headaches. This afternoon I felt so depressed about it. I so wanted a nice king sized Hershey bar. I could already feel it melting in my mouth and taking away the sadness. I confess that I stopped by at the store to get it, but I finally convinced myself to buy the Weight Watcher’s Ice Cream Bars. Not as good as a king sized Hershey bar but close enough!!
Yesterday, I had my first visit at the Renew Integrative Health Center. It is a beautiful health center located in Pacific Beach. When you first go in, you feel like you have stepped into a spa. The place has a relaxing atmosphere. Everybody make you feel right at home.
My first visit consisted of seeing the Chiropractor ( Dr. Hummel) the Physical Therapist (Dr. Pansky) and the Accupunturist (Jonathan Dodds). All were great to work with. They performed a complete check up and thoroughly explained their findings. They also answered any questions that I had. They all made me feel at ease and made the first visit easy and comfortable.
This is so exciting! I am so blessed to have this opportunity and I will do my best to accomplish my goal!
I finally feel that I recovered from the headache/migraine I suffered on Saturday. Since then, I have not exercised but have done really well with my eating.
I have to share this. I have a weakness for all desserts. My sister had mentioned a french bakery close to where I live. I decided to check it out with my daughters. To my horror, the bakery was lined with the most luscious tempting desserts I have ever seen. My daughter put it this way “it is the dream for anyone suffering from PMS”. A brief description: brownies, cupcakes, croissants, danishes, German chocolate cake and any cake or decadent dessert that you can think of! It is any dieter’s nightmare!!! Well, I have to say that I did not get any dessert!!! I am proud of myself, but I have promised myself that once I lose ten pounds, I will treat myself to half of one of those treats!!!
Tomorrow is my first appointment at Renew! I get to see the Chiropractor, the Acupuncturist and the Physical Therapist. I can’t wait! I will write about my visit tomorrow.
I woke up motivated to go on a long walk. After eating breakfast, my husband, Matilda and I went out for a walk. We walked three miles out in the hot sun. When I got home, I had a pounding headache. I still have the headache. When I go to Renew, I am going to ask the doctor about it. This seems to happen, every time I exercise. I am not sure if my blood pressure goes up, or the headache is a reaction to the exercise.
Took the kids and their friends to the beach today. I always pray that I do not run into someone that I know over there! It can be a scary sight to see me without make-up and in a bathing suit!!! Thank God my kids love and accept me, no matter what I look like!!
This beach day was different for me. Before, the beach was about the food!! Potato chips, cookies and anything fattening that I could stuff into the beach bag!!! Today, I only snacked on fruit. It was not as terrible as I thought it would be. Instead of thinking of what I would eat it next, I just concentrated on the beauty of the beach and of the incredible time that my kids were having!!
Came home exhausted, but managed to jump rope!! So far so good. I usually fall off the wagon on the third day, but I pray that this will not happen again!!
Crystal wants to lose 25 pounds by the end of the year. She's a cancer survivor who also suffers from high cholesterol.
