Healing takes time....too much time!

On Wednesday this week I woke up with extreme back and hip pain to the point that I could barely walk. I had enough and called a chiropractor and made an appointment to get seen that afternoon. I hobbled into my appointment and talked with the doctor about what had been going on and what previous conditions I had been diagnosed with over the years. My back has been an issue for me since 2005 (when I had my car accident) and I've never really had it properly treated because I never had the money to do so. I get what I called "spot" treatments, but I've never been able to continue care past a certain point. The doctor didn't seem surprised at all by my conversation with her and she began working on me after our talk.

First she applied electric stimulation to the regions of my back that were giving me issues. My lower back and hips. She also placed the electrodes on my upper back so the stimulus would complete a circuit. While the electrodes were gently working on my muscles, she placed an ice pack on my lower back and hip area on my right side. I had some extreme inflammation there and in order for me to start feeling better that inflammation had to go down. She wasn't able to do an adjustment that day because I had too much swelling. She recommended some good stretches for me to do first thing in the mornings and right before bed at night to avoid stiffness and muscle soreness. After the electrical stimulation and ice was done she applied some biofreeze for my drive home and gave me my instructions for the evening. She wanted to see me the next day to reassess the inflammation and to see if my mobility had gotten any better. I left the office feeling decent, at least I could walk without pain (probably from all the ice and numbness). That night I rotated ice packs on my back for the rest of the night and laid in bed. I woke up Thursday in agony and was glad I had an early appointment to see the doc.

I once again hobbled into her office and I must have had a washed out look on my face because she knew instantly that something was wrong. I explained the pain that I was having and told her I just felt sick mentally and physically. I got onto the table and she once again did the electrical stimulation and ice pack on my right side. She also put some electrodes on my left shin which is the one I injured jogging the week prior. I relaxed into the table and I think I dozed off for a bit. When the stimulation was over she used what is called an activator to do some light adjusting. The activator is an instrument that gently pushes against the vertebrae to start them in a natural movement back into the position they should be in. She does not "pop" your back because that can be dangerous for someone with as much inflammation and back issues as I have. Once she did the adjustment and had me stretch a bit I felt much better. She put some biofreeze on my left knee and shin area to help with the pain there and told me no exercise for the rest of the week and to keep my activity light but that I could do some things around the house. Obviously no heavy lifting or pushing or mowing the lawn (which needs to be desperately if it would ever stop raining). I could do dishes and cook dinner but if I got sore, to take a step back and rest. We agreed on a treatment schedule for me which will consist of 9 weeks twice a week of treatment, then 9 weeks of once a week treatments in order to get my back into position and order again. 18 weeks of treatment? Oh my. Sigh. I guess if that what needs to be done in order for me to function. Numbers and finances started going through my head and I had a small anxiety attack when I realized how much this was going to cost us. Luckily we were able to work out a budget that would allow us to make the payments to the chiropractor and continue to pay for my son's medication. Monday I plan on calling and talking to the doctor's office and asking them if they would be willing to work with me on the payment schedule that my husband provided me so we don't end up once again having to cancel my treatment because we simply can't afford it right now.

Yesterday I felt pretty good. I had some muscle stiffness in my hips and lower back but I figured that was part of the healing process. I did my stretches, drank plenty of water and made sure to eat at my scheduled meal times. We headed in Chattanooga to go to a baseball game with my husband's co-workers last night. We ate at one of our favorite restaurants Genghis Grill. I love that place because I can still eat vegetarian there and there are plenty of non meat protein options (tofu and egg are what I chose). Huge bowl of deliciousness and a gentle walk around the block before heading to the ball field for the game did me some good. We got to the ball field and realized that there were some stairs to climb. I didn't realize that there was an escalator option so I attempted the stairs. It was hard. My hips got tired quickly and my back started to ache (now I know why the doc said no exercise). Once I got inside the stands and stretched a tad it felt better. However sitting in stadium seating for 3 1/2 hours was brutal. My mid back was what was hurting by the time the game and fireworks got over from being pressed into the back of the seat for that long. Hard plastic chair stadium seats suck (but are better than bleachers any day). Luckily the pain was temporary and by the time I got into the car and settled into a cushioned seat my back started feeling better. We made our way home and got back into Georgia way past our bedtime but it was a good night out with friends.

My muscles are stiff again today but not too bad. I'm really regretting not being able to workout. It's driving me nuts to just sit inside and not do anything. I just know that after an extended period of not working out I'm going to start gaining back all my weight and be back at square one. I had to take 5 days off from workouts last week due to shin splints, now I'm taking another bit of time off because of my hips and back. There are times when I think that I'm just not supposed to be thin. It seems like every time I get into a good routine of working out something medical comes up and I have setbacks and restarts. I get sick of it and it causes me to feel very disillusioned and depressed. Hopefully next week when I go back to the doctor she will allow me to start walking again. I won't be able to power walk or jog I'm sure, but I have to do something, I can't just sit here and expect the weight to fall off because I did that for years and it didn't happen. I got on the scale yesterday because I couldn't take it anymore and I knew I had gained back some weight. To my surprise, I hadn't. It still said 178. So even with having to take time off from my workouts I have been able to maintain my current weight. I'm not a panicky today about it but it still bothers me to not have the option to go walking if I want to.

So it's been a week of frustrations and healing processes but I'm sure that eventually I will be where I need to be in order to continue on my healthy living path. I miss my exercise but I know that in order to be able to get back to that level of physical being I have to heal first or I won't be able to challenge myself in the ways that I want to. Patience is still not a virtue that I possess willingly but I'm working on it.

What just happened?

So it appears that I have suffered my first major "injury" while jogging yesterday. I went out for my morning run like I always do. I got to the park, I stretched my legs a bit and I started jogging. I was going along pretty well, the humidity was pretty thick but I live in the South so I'm used to it at this point. About 1 1/2 miles into my jog something weird happened. I was unable to move my left leg. I couldn't lift it, I couldn't move it, it was like it was dead. Of course that caused me to stop jogging and take a moment to try to figure out what I had done. I don't recall twisting it or stepping down too hard or anything out of the ordinary. I was confused. I rubbed my calf and it felt fine but when I tried to touch the front of my shin it hurt really badly. I assumed that I had just done too much and I was going to walk it off, so I continued on the path.

As I went along I got slower and slower. Every time I put any pressure on my left leg it felt like my shin bone was coming through my skin. My ankle started to hurt as well and my poor right leg was having to try to keep me balanced. I was halfway around the mountain at this point so I pushed on and figured that I would get to the car eventually. I was still able to move so nothing was broken or fractured. At this point I was getting more and more frustrated.

By the time I finished and got back to the car I was walking a mile in almost 20 min. My usual walk time for a mile is between 15-16 minutes. I was mad. Luckily I don't use my left leg to drive so I was able to get home. I got into bed and elevated it. There was no swelling, no bruising, nothing that would indicate an injury. It just hurt and I wasn't able to put pressure on it. I went online and looked up some information on the runners world website for shin injuries while jogging. Two of them sounded like what I was experiencing. It was either shin splints, which is a common injury in runners or a stress fracture of my shin bone. Neither of these conditions requires medical care and there is very little that you can do for them other than to let them heal on their own. Both instances had symptoms that were what I was experiencing. It did say that if it was shin splints that it would continue to be sore the next day and would take several days to heal. There are stretches you can do to help bring the tendons back into a non compromised state but that's about it. If it's a stress fracture it will not hurt unless you are using that leg for any length of time. If you are sitting or lying down and not utilizing it there is no reason for it to hurt. Well let me tell you my stupid leg has hurt all day yesterday, all night and now this morning it's sore. I'm leaning more towards believing that it's shin splints.

After reading about the causes of all of this I have come to the conclusion that jogging on hills is not something that my body can handle right now. I've been trying to do it now for just over a month and I think it is simply too much for my legs. Luckily I have found another park nearby that does not have any hills and is very pretty. I think next week when I go back to jogging (given my leg is better by then), I will use the new park so I don't continuously push my muscles beyond what they are capable of at the moment. My brain is in "you can do it" mode all the time but my body is struggling to keep up at this point. It's time to admit that I'm not an Olympic athlete and take things at a much slower pace. I am getting stronger but it's a process to build new muscle where muscle never existed. It takes time for all of these physical changes to kick in and I have to allow my body that time. One cannot simply depend on their calves to carry all of the burden, especially when jogging.

So for the next few days I'm not going to do any structured exercise. My son's best friend is here through Sunday to celebrate my son's birthday with him. I'm sure with two eleven year boys in the house I will be kept pretty busy, I'm sure I won't even miss the exercise. Wait, who am I kidding? It sucks that I won't be able to go jogging/walking, it's part of my morning routine now. Changing my routine throws everything off and makes me feel like I've forgotten to do something all day. Embrace the change, become the change....*insert whine here*.

Exercise is my new comfort food.

In the past when things got hectic or I would get into arguments with people that left me feeling less than super I would turn to food for comfort, especially chocolate. I would eat those emotions knowing that I wasn't doing anything good for my body, but just not caring at that moment. Now that I have had to limit what I eat (no gluten, no dairy, no meat, no caffeine) I do not have the option to comfort eat, nor do I want to. Now when I get frustrated, angry, upset, or just need to clear my head before making rash decisions, I go walking. However as I discovered recently walking when you are angry can be more difficult afterwards than it is while you are doing it.

Emotions have been running high in our house and it seems like all of us adults have been dealing with PMS or some sort of emotional baggage the past couple of weeks. Short tempers and irritability have led to a few conversations that have ended on a sour note. Sunday was one of these days. The hubby and I were in a disagreement over what seemed like everything and I reached my breaking point of wanting to just throw in the towel. I laced up my walking shoes and took off out the door. I only took my phone and my house keys with me and I was going to walk until my mood got better. This led to me walking a total of 6.85 miles. I've trained my body to do 5 miles easy, however that extra 1.85 miles was quite an effort, especially since on the way back home I had this huge incline to go up and my legs were starting to give out on me. After I got home I felt exhausted. I was drinking water and making sure I was replenishing what my body had used. I had pulled my back muscles the night before so forcing myself to walk that far was a bit much but I didn't care. I needed to do something. I needed a distraction so I could refocus and be able to have an adult conversation that wasn't flooded with emotions and hormones. I walked not to escape the situation but to allow myself the time I needed to be able to confront the situation with a clear head. That in itself is a huge deal for me, those that know me understand this.

Food is no longer my go to for anything other that nourishing my body so I can get stronger and healthier. I will admit that I did buy some soy dream gluten/dairy free cookie dough ice cream and it took me 2 days to eat one of the small containers of it. Normally in the past I would have devoured that whole container in one night without a second thought. I may not have followed the 4 servings per container rule (it was only 2 servings for me) but the fact that I can put it down and only eat a certain amount that is less than I normally would have consumed shows me that I have made steps and gained willpower. Last night we got Chinese food for dinner and I only ate half of it. I ate slowly and stopped the minute my stomach said to. I love Chinese food and at one time would have eaten the entire portion of dinner and then eaten dessert, then probably a "snack" before bed or while watching TV. Now I eat to nourish not to comfort. Even though there is a very different kind of comfort in eating right and nourishing your body. Goodness knows that I have experienced the benefits of this and I love how being healthy makes me feel!

The benefits of being healthy and watching my body change are unreal. I'm so impressed by what I am able to do now and how much my body can handle. The other day while I was jogging I looked down at my stomach. I was thinking about how amazing my stomach looks when I'm engaging my abs muscles and holding it in. Then I realized that I wasn't holding it in. Without tightening my abs my stomach no longer hangs over the tops of my pants. I cried a bit when I realized this. My legs and abs no long flap when I jog and my thighs are barely rubbing together anymore. I can wear shorts to work out in and tank tops and not feel the least bit self conscious. Guys stare at me when I jog by and it makes me blush because I know that they are enjoying the view but it's hard for me to believe that I have become in shape enough that they would even want to look. It makes me giggle inside when I notice it (especially the older men). I am wearing a size 14 pants now and a large size shirt. I no longer have to shop in the plus size section and sometimes I find myself still trying to grab those extra large clothes out of habit then I realize that it's way to big for me and that I need to get a smaller size. The only time I am bloated is when that time of month rolls around and even then it's not near as bad as it used to be by far. I remember when I would get on the scale during that time and I would have 3-5 extra pounds on me from water weight or something. Now I gained 1/2 a pound and that went away quickly. Cutting dairy out of my diet has helped tremendously and I'm glad that I finally decided to make that decision.

I'm going to be 37 years old in a couple of weeks. There was a time when that number would have terrified me. I'm getting old, I'm going to start getting ugly and wrinkled and OLD. Now I realize that age is just a number and it does not define who you are or how you look. If you allow it to get into your head and control your outlook on life then yes you are going to age poorly. I am in the best shape than I've been in since high school now and I'm improving little bits every day. I don't look my age, I'm not wrinkled or old at all. I feel amazing and I'm hoping that the coming years will be the best because I am taking care of me for a change and not ignoring myself because I'm putting other people first. I have time enough to take care of everyone but overall I have to do what I need to do for myself first and foremost. I'm looking forward to getting tattoos once I've lost a little more weight, I'm also looking into getting some more piercings. I've always put this off because I was overweight and I didn't want the tattoo or piercing to look distorted or stretched on my big girl body. Now that I am comfortable enough with the healthy path I am travelling I don't have to make excuses anymore to not do the things that I want to do. Don't worry I'm not going to go totally crazy with it but I need to express who I am. My inner personality would like to come out and introduce herself to the world, she has been locked away for so long and I think it's time that she make a grand entrance back into the land of the living.

Conversations with my body

I will totally own up to the fact that for the past six days I have not done one ounce of structured exercise. Despite falling off my exercise bandwagon I still managed to lose a pound, the scale happily reported the other day that I was 178 pounds now. I was a little shocked considering that I haven't been doing my daily workouts but I'll take it! This morning when my early alarm went off I hadn't gotten much sleep so I ignored it and went back to bed. I finally drug myself out of bed at 9am and started my morning. A little before 11am I decided that I needed to go exercise. I reluctantly got my workout clothes on, laced up my shoes and headed to the car. I arrived at the park for my 5 mile endeavor not feeling very motivated. I got my Endomondo app started and turned on my music. I had planned on only walking today since it has been six days since I last worked out and I didn't want to over do it. However the moment my feet hit the pavement of the trail I heard this little voice coming from my legs saying "Run?" I decided to address them and I asked myself "Are you sure you can handle a run today, it's been a few?" My legs answered quickly "Run now, need to run." So I did.

I have been researching jogging and reading plenty of fitness tips and how to's so I can prevent injuries and make sure that I am building the proper stamina and strength that my body needs to get stronger. Many of the articles I have read said that at first if you are slow as a snail don't sweat it. There is nothing wrong with jogging at your own pace and unless you are going to be an Olympic runner, speed shouldn't be your focus anyway. Speed will come over time and what the main focus should be is proper form and stamina building. Learning to control your breathing and distance ran. So I started out today and jogged slowly. At first it felt really weird because it was just a tad faster than my walk speed when I'm power walking. I continued at this pace and wasn't feeling tired or winded at all. My breathing came easily and I was certain that this is what I should have been doing all along instead of worrying about long strides and speed. I got to the first incline of the roadway and I slowed my jog down so my leg muscles could switch gears in preparation for the incline. I made it over that hill easily. I made it over 3 more hills just like that one. I was feeling pretty accomplished and proud that I wasn't hurting or having difficulty breathing or feeling like I was doing to pass out. However at about 1.68 miles into my job I got an urgent message from my lungs. "Hey, legs, we appreciate your enthusiasm and we respect your need for more but this humidity is doing nothing for us and if you want to keep this body moving we need to slow it down a notch so we can actually function at a comfortable rate". My legs reluctantly realized that they were not going to win that battle and I took it back down to a power walk rate. The humidity in GA is ridiculous especially since it's been storming for days now and all that moisture is just hanging over us like a wet blanket. Mind you it wasn't raining when I was working out today but the storm hit right as I got into the car to head home after my workout. I walked the rest of my workout today and felt pretty good when it was finished. I know it's a good workout when my shirt is soaked and my shorts are almost completely soaked as well.

Feeling better after having worked out. I'm not sure what my issue has been the past few days and why I just haven't felt like working out. Over the 4th of July weekend we were busy and rarely home so that is fine. However Monday and Tuesday I was at home and totally able to workout in the early morning and I just didn't do it. My mind was not in the mood for exercise or anything really. I just wanted a break from all the structure and effort that I have to put into my daily activities just to keep myself healthy. It's such a chore and it doesn't seem to get an easier the further along this journey I go. I'm stoked to be losing the weight but sometimes I wish there was an easy button so I didn't have to make such a grandiose effort. I am going to get back onto my exercise bandwagon and make sure that I move my five days a week like I'm supposed to. I've had my pity party now it's time to tighten the belt and move on.

Speaking of tightening of my belt, I discovered that I can now fit into a large top and a size 14 jeans again. My size 16's are so huge on me it's hilarious when I walk and they slide down. If my hips were a little smaller I'd lose my pants altogether. I suppose that by the time fall gets here it will be time to update my wardrobe and buy smaller size clothing that actually fits me and doesn't look baggy and sloppy. Oh no, shopping for a new wardrobe, oh the horror! (said no girl ever!)

How the other half live

In celebration of the 4th my family and I decided that we wanted to get out of the house and do something fun. It was going to be raining all day long so our planned visit to Stone Mountain Park was not going to happen. Instead we opted to go to Lenox Mall in Buckhead GA and walk around the mall, eat and wait for the fireworks display to begin. At the time we planned it, this sounded like a great idea and I was a little excited to be getting to go to a mall and hang out. Then we arrived at the mall and let's just say I was completely overwhelmed.

Buckhead GA is the part of Atlanta where the wealthy people live. The homes in this area are huge and very much not something that I see in my day to day life. The mall in this area is also for the wealthy. We walked in and as I was looking around I was completely taken aback. Stores like Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Prada and Monteblanc were a few that I recall off the top of my head. We made our way to the food court and found a nice little place called the Fresh Basket to eat. As I stood in line looking at the people around me I felt judged even though I know I wasn't. It was obvious I didn't belong in "that" sort of place. I don't look like I have money or come from money. Here I am, my tomato red blouse on with my blue jeans and my black and hot pink Nike sneakers, hair not done and zero makeup. There were women walking around that place whose whole outfit was probably more expensive than my entire wardrobe. On the other side of the coin though there were normal everyday folk like me walking around with the same awed expressions waiting for the firework show to start and keeping out of the rain. I started to feel a little anxious because there were a lot of people there and I was in a new surrounding that I knew nothing about. I took a few deep breaths, found a table and ate my vegetarian lunch.

After lunch we walked around the mall some more taking in just what kind of stores were there. It was vastly different from the "poor people's" mall as I was referring to it. There were only a couple of stores that I  went into. Bath and Body Works was the first one I went into because it was a store that I see in every other mall. I was grasping at normalcy and not feeling totally inadequate in such an upscale mall. I got to smell some of the new scents that they have and I found my inner girly happy again. I went into Williams and Sons kitchen store and was floored by the amazing gadgets, cookware and unique stoves they had in there. It was like something out of a magazine! Dreams of what I would do if I won the lottery began to flutter around in my head as I planned my dream kitchen. I also quickly went into a store called Free People. It looked to be a "hippie-esque" sort of store with natural fabrics and neutral colors. However when the hubby pointed out that most of the blouses I was looking at were over $100, I simply walked right back out.

As we were walking through the cosmetic section of a Macy's there was a woman who was completing her purchase and the cashier said her total was $750 and change. My jaw hit the floor. How in the heck do you spend that much money on cosmetics or perfume? Seriously, people do that? I had the sudden urge to find the closest WalMart or Target and hide. Maybe my thoughts would be different if I had money and spending that much money wasn't even an issue. I'd like to think that there are so many better ways to spend that kind of money though. We made our way back to the parking garage and sat in the car for a little while, I tried to decompress from feeling so uptight and completely out of my element.

Rain prevented us from doing much walking around outside the parking garage. We spent a vast amount of time sitting in the car, playing with our phones or playing little imaginary games with my son who at this point was bored out of his mind. When the fireworks started we were having a pretty good time. I had forgot to bring our camp chairs or even umbrellas so I was hoping that the rain would pause long enough for us to enjoy the fireworks. It did. We stood there watching and then everything stopped. Due to technical difficulties they had to stop the show for a bit while they fixed whatever it was. When they finally got things started again it was pretty but my heart just wasn't in it anymore. I was tired, hungry, overwhelmed, damp and my legs and back were killing me. The website for the show said that it was the largest display in the Southeast and it was easily over 20 minutes of fireworks. We got maybe 10 minutes of bang and that was it. What made it worse was the hellacious traffic in downtown Atlanta after the show as thousands of people tried to make their ways back home too. We finally arrived back home around 11:30pm and I crashed hard almost immediately. What a day!

Today I am going to go to stores that I feel at home in and can afford. It's time for a little bit of retail therapy and a much needed brow wax (it's been quite awhile). I hope everyone had a wonderful July 4th celebration!

I have more willpower than I thought

Recently I have had to make some necessary diet changes again in order to be able to be comfortable and not suffer with stomach issues every time I eat. I have completely eliminated dairy from my diet now as well as caffeine. Wouldn't you know that the moment I did so and my body adjusted to it, I've been fine ever since and haven't had a single stomach issue. That should be great news and I should be super excited to have "normal" digestive health now, but I'm kind of sad. That means no more cheese, yogurt or chocolate. No more coffee beverages either. I can't help but feel sorry for the little voice in my head that keeps pestering me to "eat the cheese or it's just one chocolate bar", because that little voice has no control over me and I'm not going to eat or drink something that I know is going to cause me discomfort or pain. Does that mean that I no longer want these things, no, I still want them. However I have learned that by accepting the fact that you want them, allowing yourself to think about it for a moment then redirecting your thoughts elsewhere is very rewarding in itself. I have not given in to temptation at all since cutting these foods out of my diet and I don't intend to either.

The other morning when I got on the scale I was surprised to see that the number kept bouncing between 179 and 180 pounds. I'm beginning to think that the excess weight I was experiencing was from bloat due to the dairy products in my system. Now I don't have that issue so those couple of stubborn pounds might be gone for good. I would very much love to see myself in the 170's because I haven't weighed that since I was about 3 months pregnant with my son. It would be nice to know that all this exercise and eating right are keeping me going in the right direction.

Emotionally recently I have been doing well. There have been days when I have been outright exhausted but that's from me pushing myself way too hard physically and wearing myself out. There was a day last week when I walked my 5 miles around Stone Mountain Park then I came home and spent over an hour mowing my front yard. I learned some very valuable lessons that day. Lesson 1 is never mow your lawn the day after a storm front passes through Georgia. The grass is wet, thick and virtually impossible to cut and will manage to clog up your lawnmower with each pass. I spent more time cleaning out the undercarriage of the stupid mower than I did cutting the grass it seems. Lesson 2 is never listen to my brain when it says "oh c'mon it's just a little physical exertion, you totally got this!" Yes I did finish the work but afterwards I was spent. I could barely walk and I spent the rest of the day feeling very disconnected. I had burnt over 1300 calories that day and that is definitely not something that I am used to doing normally. Lesson 3 is never rub your eyes when sweat runs into them. Holy cow I was in agony for a few moments because of this. I was sweating so bad and it was so humid outside that day that my sunglasses were fogging up and making it very difficult for me to see what the heck I was doing. I blame some of the crooked mow paths on this. It was like doing an insanity workout only I didn't have a trainer screaming at me or telling me to suck it up and get it done. However I was picturing having Bob Harper from The Biggest Loser giving me a pep talk. Whatever it took to get the job done I did. Stupid wet grass!

I have to understand that I am not a machine, I am a human being. I am older and my body is not that of a young person anymore. If I push myself too hard and something goes wrong, I'm going to hate the fact that I wasn't more careful when I'm laid up in bed on bed rest. However, I am a competitive person. I am always trying to best myself and go further, or faster or longer or harder. If I have a young mind then my body will be young too right? I can only hope. So far I haven't killed myself doing anything excessive so I guess it's not too bad. I'm chasing the body that I know is under this small layer of fat that I have left that is just refusing to go away.

Today I did some much needed housework and got things done. I didn't exercise outside today so I'm feeling very pent up right now. I'm hoping that tomorrow morning when I go out to work out that my body will comply and I'll be able to get in some good cardio. It's very strange that exercising is so much a part of my routine now that when I miss days I feel empty and like something is missing. Who would have thought that I would ever have that mentality? Yet here it is. I would really like to make jogging a more routine staple in my exercise plan but to date my jogging has been mediocre at best. I can do about a mile then I have to start walking it out. To me that's not acceptable, especially since I've been doing 5 miles 5 times a week since April. I should be able to jog more than I walk now but I just can't seem to push past that mile mark. It's like the moment I hit a mile my body shuts down and I simply can't run anymore. It's frustrating but I'm going to keep working on it and add techniques as I learn them to see what works best for me. Running burns calories really well and I would love for this weight loss to pick up a little bit of speed.

 Hopefully all these changes will give me something to write about more often so my poor little blog isn't so neglected. I would love someday for more than a handful of people to read my blog and to relate or be inspired by it. Hey a girl can dream can't she?