Time to Slow Down

Well, I thought things were getting better, however, after doing the workouts for 2 days (keeping my arm out of it) I was starting to feel worse in my neck - instead of better. I guess it's hard to do any time of workout without using (or tensing) your neck. So I am going to lay off the exercises for awhile and focus on the strengthening exercises my physiotherapist assigned me to do.

I'm still monitoring my food intake on MFP.

Take care, Gwen.

Day 18 of 90 - Redo

Well, I did workout #3 today and modified all the sets that involved using my right arm/shoulder. There's quite a lot of exercises in this workout that use those muscles. I instead did other things - ab work, running in place.

My neck/arm is kind of bothering me more tonight - not sure what that's about. I'm icing it again.

Meals were good - quite light actually. For lunch I made my banana - whey protein shake, but because I had no banana's I used a cup of frozen fruit. Definitely not as good tasting as with the banana.  I still have 429 calories left for today, but I'm sore and tired and going to bed.

Day 17 of 90 - Redo

Today I've probably felt better than I have in the last 2 weeks. So I decided to give my workout a try. It was the cardio workout and I did it with no problems. Of course, I had to hold my right arm still but other than that, I did the whole workout. Yippee! I even went for  a 20 minute walk to burn a few more calories.

Food was pretty good - breakfast was a blueberry-banana muffin, lunch was 2 ham and cheese on tortilla wrap sandwiches, and dinner was a chicken salad on tortilla wrap. Then there was the 3 chocolates, baby cookies and 2 glasses of wine. But still came in under my daily goal.

Looking forward to tomorrow. Workout #3, and the Senators play again.

Go SENS Go!  Yes, that's me with Mike Fisher and Jason Spezza!!!

Can It Be True - Am I Actually Feeling Better?

Today I would have to say has been the least painful day since I sprained my neck. Yes, that's what it turned out to be - not my shoulders or my arm, but basically overstrained my neck.  I went to a new physiotherapist on Monday morning. He spent alot of time testing my arm and neck strength before deciding on a course of corrective action. That was EXACTLY what I wanted someone to do. Not just start treating me with drugs or acupuncture, etc, but find out what is the problem and how I can change my body to correct it.

My poor posture over the years - due to working all day on the computer - has resulted in my head being slumped forward which has pulled the muscled in my back and limited my flexibility. So first thing I need to do is keep my posture correct and aligned to relieve the pressure on my nect. Sitting up straight with support for my lower back. Sleeping on my back with a roll under my neck for proper alignment. Doing small neck exercises every hour in bed.

When my posture is corrected, I can definitely feel less pain.

So to all you younger people out there working all day slumped over a computer, please keep in mind your posture and try to keep your head over your shoulders - not leaned over.

Here's my picture for the day of me with my grandson William taken in 2010.

Neck Problems Slowing Me Down

Well, it's been a week since my last workout. I went to a massage therapist to work out some of the stiffness in my shoulders and the pain has been absolutely unbearable since then. I finally got to see a doctor last night and he diagnosed me a neck strain with inflammation and swelling that is cutting intothe nerves that travel down my arm. As a result, I'm now taking a muscle relaxant and anti-imflammatory/pain medication. I also have physio starting on Monday so I hope I can work thru this and learn how to properly strenghthen my back and shoulders!

I am still not able to do my workouts yet but have decided that I will start back at the beginning of Workout #3 and do the full 2 weeks. But it may be a week or two before I can start back in.

Good luck to everyone else on their fitness journey's. I'll be back as soon as I can.

Day 21 of 90

It's hard to believe that I've been doing this workout for 3 weeks already. They say it takes 3 weeks for something to develop into a habit. I agree with that because even though today was my rest day I did kind of miss exercising today. Crazy.  I so hope that after the 90 days are up I continue to keep exercising on a regular basis.

My shoulder injury is worse than I had thought. Apparently all 4 muscles in my right shoulder are inflamed. Today was the worst of it - probably aggravated by the massage I had yesterday. I'll be calling my doctor tomorrow and will start going to physiotherapy asap.

So, starting tomorrow with workout #3 I will be doing a modified version of Jillians workout focussing on the legs, core and abs and doing light upper body work. I think that's okay. The important thing is to keep exercising - not lose what I've gained (ahem... lost) so far.

Tomorrow is my weigh in day.

Day 20 of 90

I love Saturday. Once my cardio workout is done I know I have the rest of the weekend off. Enjoyed the workout today, but I had to do it with only 1 arm. I kept my right arm tucked by my side. Hopefully between my rest day tomorrow, the icing, the ibuprofen and a deep-tissue/trigger-point massage later this afternoon, I'll see some improvement and lessening of pain in my right shoulder. Then I can gently begin to exercise it again.

I'm going to keep going full steam ahead - even if I have to baby my right arm. I don't want to lose any of the momentum I've built so far. My body feels great and strong and I have so much more energy.

I've increased my daily calories to 1610 - which is 200 calories over my BMR. Big difference from the 1270 calories MFP suggested I use. Let's see how it goes. I ate a healthy breakfast and had my banana shake with whey protein today after exercising.

Have a great day everyone!