Riding the Struggle Bus

Phew, it has been a bit again.

Today I am feeling in a little funk and needed to get some thoughts out so here I am.

The knee/quad are still a struggle but finding a few tools that help. Using a mix "traditional" medicine in regards to anti-inflammatories and Physical Therapy but also some non-traditional methods too.  

These include Young Living Essential Oils, Fascial Stretch/Release Massage and Yin Yoga.  The oils help with pain relief.  The FST and Yin Yoga help to address the crazy, unexplained tightness/muscle imbalances I have.  

Swimming is still an evolving tool.  3 months of lessons and I no longer appear to be drowning but now it is just spending more time in the water and getting my breathing down.  Taking a break on lessons for a while.

P.T. got me over the hump with a lot of deep work on the quad and reassuring me I was not a big Whitney baby lol.  Have some nice techniques I can use for the knee and quad myself now.

FST is a HUGE tool for me.  My body likes to make scar tissue and my muscles like to be "knotty". FST is different than "normal" massage as it works to release the fascia on a deeper level and has really helped to get things looser.

Yin Yoga is a different type of yoga that works to stretch the fascia and helps,support the "hands-on" work my FST therapist does.

I also realized w the need to "modify" my workouts it is time to spend time back with my personal trainer.  We are looking to fine tune workouts and nutrition to get me back in track.  

My clothes show the 5 pounds.  My work pants are approaching the "hobo" look of being to big.  Wore a dress to work twice this week and because they "fit" people really noticed the changes I have made.

So, why the title "riding the struggle bus".  Because my brain is fixated on my weight and Body Fat%.  For the past 3 weeks I have been back on track w food and exercise.  Could my macro mix be better?  Yes but 100x better than before and my workouts have been much more consistent.  The result?  The first week was great-4 pounds,  second week only 1 pound, this week..a measly 0.2. Body Fat% on my home scale is only down 0.5% overall.

If you ever watched the Biggest Loser or those other shows it is usually week 3 when the body freaks out and stalls or shows a gain.

Knowing this isn't helping.  It is messing w my head and from experience I know I need to stay the course.  I know from looking at my metrics from this week my body was not in a good phase last week.  Pain was up a little and resting heart rate went from 64-65 to 71. Stress was high which intellectually I know them affects my pain levels, recovery post workout and sleep.  But it still sucks.  RHR is back down to 67 today.  

Fun new tool? The scale at the gym- it goes beyond just regular body fat and does more of a full body scan and also provides where you should look to change your body comp.  Not surprising is the need to lose body fat. The nice thing is the # of pounds it recommends.  55 pounds of fat.  That is about in line with where I set my goal.  The magic scale feels my lean body mass is spot on. This was a nice validation.  Will be fun to watch how the numbers shift over time and the difference in my Wednesday post-workout numbers and my Saturday AM pre-workout Numbers.



Shout outs to the great team who have been behind me and keep pushing me forward:

Becky Wilson, FST3, LMT at 2XL Body Works (https://www.facebook.com/pg/2XLBodyWorks/about/)-
AJ Aguilar at Lifetime Fitness-Schaumburg 
Yin Yoga with Sue at Lifetime Fitness-Algonquin
Laurie Hill, PT Advocate Sherman-Streamwood
Dr. Enrique Saguil, MD AMG Bartlett


If you want to know more about how I am using Young Living Essential Oils -send me a message.  I am a distributor and have an amazing team of ladies supporting me there too!