hitting a mini-wall

I am not sure what that means....I guess when you are exercising, running or bicycling and stuff, you hit a wall and need to get past it to continue working out. I think I hit a mini-wall. While walking on the treadmill today the pain in my left foot was getting worse. It starts at the top right of the ankle, and shoots into the joint below my big toe. The pain was probably a 5 or 6, but because it hurt everytime I stepped on that foot I guess it wore me down and I started to get teary. Also, I was trying not to hold on to the treadmill while I walked and swing my arms naturally, but I kept getting off balance. Not sure why.

Well, I tried to hide the fact that I was crying and keep walking, but after 10 minutes, I gave up and went to the restroom to sob a little. When I came out I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, leave or try another machine. Someone asked me what the problem was and I told them - crying again - darn waterworks - and she had me try stretching out the backs of my legs and use a tennis ball to stretch the tendons in my feet. That seemed to help a little. I will have to do that more, of course. I then did about 4 minutes on the rowing machine and called it a day.

With no real weight gain and so much pain, I am pretty discouraged. But I have an appointment with someone at the gym tomorrow who is suppose to assess my problem areas and get a game plan set. Also I wonder if I should go to a podiatrist - maybe get steroid injections in my feet again to help the arthritic inflammation.

on my way to being a fitness freak

Well, I know that I am a computer geek, but can I become a fitness freak? I am going to try. I now have a personal trainer, a gym, and a heart monitor with watch. I have the necessary "gym" clothes and shoes (I think). I had my heart tested a couple of months ago and it is in good shape. I have been tracking my calorie intake for 6 days. woo-woo.

I am not hurting too bad. Went to the gym again today to use the treadmill for 20 minutes. I guess I have two personal trainer sessions set up for next week, plus an extra one for someone to evaluate my right ankle, left knee and right hip problems.

Maybe I will get so healthy I will be running or riding a bike.....who knows.

day 5

When I woke up this morning I wasn't hurting as bad as I thought I would be from the exercising that I did last night. So I was able to get up and go back to the gym and walk on the treadmill for 20 minutes. I didn't try the other machines that my personal trainer showed me last night. I need to get more comfortable there before I branch out on my own on the equipment that I don't know how to use very well. When I am less shy I will ask to be shown how to use it again.

I am suppose to have two sessions with a personal trainer next week and that might help also. In the meantime, I will keep walking. When I am on the treadmill I can feel my stomach muscles tightening up and my hip joints loosening up. My left knee is tight and a little sore and my right foot is a little sore, but it is all manageable at this point. I probably will take some acetaminophen today to help me not get too sore.

I have been fairly good on my diet and entering my food into the livestrong website. We shall see.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Well, I exercised tonight with my personal trainer. Tomorrow I will probably have pain, but not doing too bad tonight. I will try to go to the gym tomorrow before work. Hopefully I will be able to enjoy this and have fun and possibly lose weight.

Getting old

I admit it..I am overweight and sedentary. Yes, I have let myself go. But I am happy. So, am I doing anything to fix this situation? Well, maybe. Maybe with a little help from the blogosphere and my friends and family. We shall see. Hopefully everyone still loves me whether I am fat or not.

Anyway, when we moved to Oklahoma we signed up to a small gym and thought we would go there regularly to walk and use the gym equipment. But my feet started hurting and Dave never really did like it, so we stopped going.

Since then Dave has embarked on his diet and weight loss. He has lost 22+ pounds and counts his calories religiously via the livestrong.com website.

In the meantime, I am still heavy and my bones ache and creak. I need to get moving. But with the weather being bad and Dave's working hours being so crazy, we haven't been able to get outside and walk.

So....I visited a local establishment called Body Solid. That sounds good. My body isn't very solid and maybe they can make it more solid. There are all kinds of torture chamber type machines in the open airy space and it felt welcoming. So I tentatively asked what their prices and policies were. They don't have a yearly or monthly commitment fee. There is an initial fee of $75 to find out your body age, flexibility, and general state of your health. Then you can sign up with a personal trainer for as low as $20/30 minutes as little or as often as you would like. Then I think you can use the state of the art treadmills (with individual overhead TVs) as often as the gym is open and as long as you have appointments set with your personal trainer.

Last Friday I had my initial assessment. Oh my lord. My 58-year-old body thinks it is 73 years old, or at least that is what the program tells me. After the assessment, I stayed to walk the treadmill for about 15 minutes. I left with a game plan for diet and exercise.

I started using Dave's website to track my calorie intake. Luckily my calorie goal for the day is more than what Dave uses. But then I won't be able to loose a much weight as quickly either. Maybe I will stick with it longer.

Tonight I go back for a 20 minute training session. I will let you know how I do.

So far after three days on the diet, nothing has happened. :(