Weight Pains

You would be amused if you saw what the staff room looked like on my first day of the no-extra-snacking week. Please, look at the picture below.









I did manage to succeed -- I walked over to Safeway, had a Stoffers Philly Cheesesteak sandwich box meal. It was moderately tasty. I forgot to have the morning snack (the kids LOVE the strawberry yogurt), but it was loaded with things I really don't want to have anyway. I did have some crackers in the afternoon. However, I did not pick up "dinner," but I'm thinking that maybe an open-faced turkey burger with some steamed veggies might be a good idea.

I mentioned that I'd talk about some 'weight pains' today.

Most recently, I injured myself. I think I have an overworked and tight TFL (Tensor Facaie Ligament), and I really noticed when I was stretching after softball practice tonight. When I first joined the RAC, I tweaked something while I was playing racquetball. Since then, it's been tender. I tweaked it some more when I did Zumba and each subsequent visit to that class. I figured that for the time being, I'd lay off the Zumba. The pain I have is in the right hip area, but it definitely feels like a tendon, ligament, or muscle. It's near the hip joint. At night, it is painful to lay on my right side. I have to sleep at an angle if I'm on my right side. It's pretty high up on my thigh and I think I may have not strength some of my other muscles on the right side near the obliques as well. I notice it especially if I'm stretching over to my left or doing the stretch where my right knee is down on the ground, my left leg up in front with a little lean forward. It definitely stretches it, but there was a week where that was incredibly painful.

Prior to this injury, I had been having a sharp, painful twinge with varied movements in my right butt cheek. It was prominent if I did not work out every two to three days. For example, if I did Monday and Wednesday at Curves and then skipped Friday, without fail, Friday evening, reach across my body, twist or bend and -- eep! -- there it was! When it started radiating down my leg, I figured it was time to do something, so I went to a chiropractor. Turns out that my pelvis was crooked because my lumbar region was warped.










I like to call the pain I was having sciatica, since it seems to match the most with the symptoms. I've always known that I had tight hip muscles, tendons, ligaments, but it became abundantly clear when I started chiropractic care. I spent December 2010 through February 2011 visiting the chiropractic 3 days a week. I had adjustments and traction. My was also curved the wrong direction, but I blame computer usage for that, not my weight and lack of muscle tone. The therapy straightened me out pretty well, but after insurance coverage, I still owed $3200, which, thank God, I could use care credit to pay for.... interest free for a set period of time. Since then, I've noticed muscle soreness in my groin, hip, and pelvic area, especially if I sit down for more than ten minutes. Granted, most evenings, I sit in front of the television, knees pulled up in the recliner. But still. I'm don't think I'm using the muscles enough to have consistent soreness. Thankfully, it's not to severe.

My other weight pain may also be a side effect of the chiropractic care. My right knee really doesn't appreciate any length of standing. I find myself leaning on that side, though, especially when I forget to wear my heel lift (which also, subsequently, brings up sciatica issues!). This, of course, isn't helped by being a kindergarten teacher, constantly moving, standing, changing positions all day, or at least isn't eased. Not to mention, being in an Orthodox Church choir. If you don't know what I'm talking about, come join us. (But if you really don't want to, just know that I stand for 1-3 hours at a time on Saturday and Sunday for the church service. Not required, although standing is highly encouraged, but being in the choir and singing in response to things throughout the service, I kind of need to be standing, unless the choir go flat because of my lack of breath support!) I apologize, of course, for the delightfully busy run-on sentence. I enjoy using commas (I'm sure I didn't not use them correctly up there, somewhere). Anyway, I need to be able to stand. And I want to be able to jerk myself around to chase a softball or racquetball or tennis ball. But, alas, my knee does not appreciate any of these activities!

One thing I have started doing, at the persistent encouragement of my friend Leah, is stretching. No more ten second stretches for me! I aim for at least 30 seconds. I also received a series of stretching exercises from the chiropractor that focus specifically on the hip region. It was really helped with the pain and other areas of life. ;-) (My mother would read this a think -- TMI, TMI, TMI!!)

So, note to all: start stretching, don't gain this much weight, and workout regularly, at least three days a week. It does help!

Now, I'm starving and would really like to smell that turkey burger cooking with Penzey's Northwoods spice mix. Delicious!

Apparently, hubby was tired of waiting for me! Food is cooking already!