Within this span, I have lost eight pounds, built up my strength (upper body, lower body and core) and cleaned up my diet a large bit. My bum knee (the one I dislocated several years ago) has a broader range of motion and I just generally feel healthier.
Unfortunatley, over the last while I have a had a flare-up of hip pain (which a physiotherapist-turned-teacher friend thinks may be related to my sciatica), which worsens when I do jumping jacks or jogging or the like. I have been trying to avoid activities that exacerbate the problem, but full-body exercises typically require the use of the hips. So, I am going to look into stretching and strengthening exercises for this area.
I have finally started to notice that my clothes are fitting better. In the past few days, I have been able to wear some pants that have been too small for a while now - cue angels singing. My body has a tricky habit of building muscle quickly (woo hoo!), but releasing fat slowly (boo hoo!). It is rather disconcerting to work hard at healthy diet and exercise, only to have newly built muscle push out the existing fat, which results in my dimensions getting larger before they get smaller. So, feel free to picture me laying on the floor, drumming my heels and screaming, "BUT, I'm supposed to be getting SMALLER!!" However, it appears that the fat burning has begun in earnest now (cross your fingers please). Whew!
So, if you have been playing along at home, how goes the battle of the bulge?
7 comments:
Oh dear what a shame - perhaps the new exercise will help - stretching etc. My weight went down, and then up two and its taken me two weeks to lose those two pounds - I am keeping my fingers crossed for my weigh-in tomorrow. I haven't exercised since my surgery so that isn't helping me much.
Good luck.
I hope your hip gets better soon! I've been there- after my third baby. I wasn't even supposed to walk at all, but that isn't really reasonable.
My 8 and 11 year old daughters and I walked (and ran a little too) a 5K yesterday. It was a lot of fun. I'm still not losing any weight. Next month I will get some tests done on my thyroid and then maybe I'll know what is going on.
I am not exercising near enought and starting to get sick of the restricted calories - so no movement since last week. I have lost 2 kgs all up and my clothes are feeling much better. No more stuffed sausage feeling. Must try really hard this week to get down another .6 to reach a magical figure where I can buy myself a new fitting book..hehe. Well done on your fitness. Me I can't put on muscle to save myself. Just one of those figures :(
I'm the same - my thigh muscles get huge quickly but the fat takes longer to go away. If you're having sciatic issues it may be due to tight hip flexors made worse by weaker abdominals. I was almost immobolised a year ago with a sciatic/hip thing. For a while it hurt to walk, it hurt to sit and it hurt to lay down. A combination of chiropractor, acupuncture and yoga finally made things better but it took 3 months. By strengthening my abdominal slings, I have eased the pressure on my hips and don't get the horrific sciatic flareups I used to. I'm still working on taming my arse, though!
I have hip problems (due to my age, ugh.) I've found that my calf muscles are very tight and the massage therapist indicated how much one relates to the other. Naturally I have weight issues also. I wonder why, when I gobble chocolate every time I sniff some out?
Shannon, congratulations on the success so far! Have you tried water aerobics? It's great for any hip or knee problems. If you have access to a class near you, give it a shot. With a good instructor you can get quite a workout with little stress to the joints. As for my weight loss/tone up, I have been following a Denise Austin routine called Jump Start. So far, so good too!
Shannon, you sound exactly like my daughter-the same problems when exercising. May I suggest Yoga? It stretches your muscles and so makes ones look longer and leaner.
BUt congrats on the success you've had . I so hear you about the sciatica. When I was still teaching, one year I was reduced to teaching while sitting on a high stool, not my style at all.
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