Week 3, Month 1

Week 3 has been a bit challenging. I walked 1.7 miles Monday afternoon on my day off, and some yoga last night to stretch the aches out. I hurt my left knee at the beginning of the week. I slipped on some water and basically S-L-A-M-M-E-D my knee into the wall. To say it hurt is an understatement. This is the knee I tore my ACL when I was 11 and ended up in a full length cast for TWO months during the summer!

I iced the knee for a few hours and there was a massive knot on the top. Now this story, like most I have, is about to take a twist. It's my RIGHT knee that hurts. My left knee is FINE. I have NO IDEA what happened. I do, however, have my suspicions:

Option 1. When I hurt my left knee, I over compensated by walking funny, which led to the right one hurting.

Option 2. It's some of option 1, PLUS: I've been moving more and this was my knee's way of telling me to take it easy.

Option 3. This is the scary one *there always has to be a scary one.*

I was in a car accident a week before the first day of freshman year of high school. My head hit the dash, both of my wrists went through the vents, and my right knee hit the dash. The doctors said I had water under my knee and a lot of swelling. At the time, I had a sinus infection which they gave me antibiotics for.

When I went to the ortho appointment a few days later, the water didn't show up on the x-ray anymore, but I still had a lot of swelling. The theory was that since I had taken the antibiotics, there was a chance that they cleared up the water. Weird, I know. BUT, this was after a traumatic event, AND 3 years after the ACL surgery. I was so excited that I didn't need another surgery, that I went on my merry little way.

A month later the swelling was still there, but they assured me that the X-rays showed nothing that required surgery. Fast forward to the present.

I STILL HAVE THAT SWOLLEN SPOT ON MY KNEE!

I have been living in a state of denial for 12 years. I figured if I'm fat and you can't really tell I have the swelling, unless you look closely. If it doesn't hurt, ignore it. That was my motto. WAS.

I have been trying to get an ortho appointment for 2 days. No doctor has an opening in the next few weeks, so tonight, I'm going to the ER to get checked out.

I hope it's nothing, but I want to know. I know something is off, even if I just need to take it easy.

This journey has brought me to some realizations I never dreamed of having. In the past, I would have let this derail me. Don't get me wrong, this sucks. But the difference now, is that I will continue on with my weight loss and exercise. I am in physical pain with my knee, but emotionally, I feel on top of the world.

I'm really proud of myself.

Week 2, Month 1

Here it is.

I do not like tracking calories. I just don't do well with tracking EVERYTHING.

I tried weight watchers when I was in High School and it was the same problem. I would freak out if I was 2 points over or 2 points under. I felt like I was ALWAYS thinking about food.

I got sick the last week, after the yucky Six Flags trip, and fell off the 'calorie watching' wagon. in that first week, I noticed that my habits have changed enough that I don't need to count calories. I was able to stay around 1700-1800 calories a day anyway! I was a bit shocked.

So, I have decided to go back to what has been working for the past 6 months. I am going to listen to my body. I will eat when hungry, I won't if I'm not. Simple as that.

I will take every opportunity to eat healthy. I read motivational weight loss blogs. I keep an eye on pinterest for healthy options. I find that I CRAVE fruit after a walk. I LIKE quiona and asparagus. I'm good.

I trust myself to be ok. I will still need someone (mainly Amber) to talk me off a ledge sometimes, but I realized that is ok. I'm human. I make mistakes. This isn't a yo-yo diet anymore. I will lose as much as I can and be as healthy as I can until I need to make a change.

I've got a handle on my life (atleast for now).

Six Flags! Week 1 (Day 6)

Today was Six Flags. It was kinda yucky and rainy. Bright side was Cracker Barrel!

 

 

On our way, Triboro Bridge

Nice view of Yankee Stadium

GWB

 

we all had a nice laugh over the 'humps'

 

Amber and I split funnel cake and chocolate ice cream

 

and the best end to the day

 

 

Breakfast (420 cal)
Everything bagel w/cream cheese before heading off to Six Flags

Lunch (380 cal)
Funnel cake with ice cream

Snack (100 cal)
Kellogg's Special K Pastry Crisp

Dinner (939 cal)
Chopped Sirloin steak
mac n cheese
mashed potatoes
dumplings

Snack (360 cal)
1 cup walnuts

Water (8 oz)
6 cups

Week 1 (Day 5)

I am so sore from the concert last night. I feel like I can barely move. Willie wants to go to EDC at Citi Field to see if we can catch any of the music, but I'm not so sure about it right now. We have Great Adventure tomorrow, so tonight may turn into cleaning and then relaxing.

Either way, I had a Non-Scale Victory (NSV) this morning. The top I bought a week ago to go to the Biggest Loser Casting in Philly, is a little looser than it was! In just a week. I can't wait to do my measurements Sunday!



Breakfast (100 cal)
Kudos Snickers Bar

Lunch (190 cal)
Nature Valley Oats 'n Honey Bar

Snack (183 cal)
Home made Trail Mix
(craisins, walnuts, pecans)

Dinner (1108 cal)
Cheeseburger w/bun
Broccoli (roasted in oven, meh)
Roasted Potatoes (yummy)


no snack


Water (8 oz)
9 cups  (apparently, I was thirsty)

Paramore!!!

Amber and I went to see Paramore at the Hamerstein Ballroom! Doors opened at 6:30. When we got there, the line was completely around the block. It was nuts. People had been waiting in line since 7 AM. Thank goodness the line moved fast and we were in at 7:20.

Side note: I have a slight love of the old water towers that are on NYC rooftops.

 

And waiting gave me a few minutes to snap some touristy photos, like this one of the New Yorker sign...

 

...and the Empire State Building.

 

 

Spoiler Alert: Blurry, obligatory, concert photos ahead.



Kitten opened at 8.

 

They were ok.

 

Paramore was on around 9. It was an awesome concert.

 

 

I had fun. Now on to EDC at Citi Field and listen from the parking lot Friday :)

 

Week 1 (Day 4)

Today is a 'rest' day, but I'm not sure how much resting I did. I really wanted to get up at 6am and do a walk, but Amber said I shouldn't since we had the concert tonight. I think she was right.

It was really hard to eat breakfast. I forced myself to eat throughout the time at work. I left work at 2 for the concert. I basically ate all day long. I never got hungry and I was actually annoyed with food.

Got home, ate dinner, got ready, went to the concert, got home at 12-ish.

Now here's where I had an oopsie. I kinda had rice-a-roni and milky way. I used all my exercise calories, so I didn't go into the red, but I ate over 2000 calories. I know what happened and I know how to combat it in the future.

No more dinners at 4 pm!


Paramore!!

Breakfast (139 cal)
1 cup cantaloupe
1 cup honeydew

Lunch (183 cal)
Craisins, Walnuts, Pecans

Dinner (1139 cal)
Taco Salad (made with rice)

Paramore Concert!!!

Snack (100)
Fudge Bar

Oopsie Dinner (800 cal)
Rice-a-roni
Milky Way Bar

Water (8 oz)
7 cups

Week 1 (Day 3)

Today was awesome! I started using the My Fitness Pal app that Kim suggested. I really like it. It keeps track of EVERYTHING. I made some smarter choices because of it. Only draw back, I wish there was an option to not have the exercise calories added into the daily allowance. Other than that, it rocks!

I did a 2 mile walk with Sammy at 7PM. I chose the route this time, so it wasn't as wonky.

 I'm really proud of myself today. I was really tired and sore, but I knew it had to be done. I walked with my new shoes, which started to hurt around the 1 mile mark. I wanted to slow down while doing my "hills," but I pushed through. Thank goodness for music!

I came home and hopped in a really hot shower. It felt so good to feel my muscles relaxing. I really need to figure out a post workout stretch routine. Especially since my calf muscles have been so tight lately.

After the shower was dinner, some tv, and sleep by 10PM.

What I ate:

Breakfast (140 cal)
1 cup Cantelope & 1 cup Honeydew

Lunch (470 cal)
 Tuna Sandwich

After workout snack (45 cal)
1/2 chewy oatmeal raisin bar

Dinner (1225 cal)
Taco Salad* (cheese and sour cream)
*I made it on a bed of lettuce and only crumbled 3 chips on top.

Exercise
1 mile walk from train (200 cal)
2 mile walk in park (600 cal)


This was my first day and I definitely hit my goal for the day. I also learned a few things. I need to incorporate a few more snacks during the day, and have a lighter calorie dinner. Especially on rest days.