Ouch...Twisted Pelvis

Hi all.

Have you ever twisted your Pelvis? Well I now have.

I was doing dead lifts and although I felt in control I lost balance as I was lowering the weight and knocked my body out of whack.

It is quite painful but fortunately I was with my trainer and he and another trainer helped me immensely.

I have to be very clear here...although I was being supervised by my trainer it is not my trainer's fault. I have done dead lifts a hundred times and he always tells me to contract my abs...I didn't listen.

I was focussed on lifting the weight and didn't give the clenching of the abs the attention it deserves.

After the accident I was massaged and instructed to do things like pull-ups to relieve the pain and it did work..if only temporarily.

They then suggested I see a chiropractor and at that point I would have tried anything.

My trainer made a call and got me an emergency appointment and off I went.

When I was there the chiropractor asked me how the incident occurred and I told her about the dead lifts and she said "it wasn't your first set was it?"...to which I replied "no". She then told me she sees it too often. People do exercises right for the first set or two, and then get careless and don't do things they need to do like clench their  abs. That was when I realized I was in fact NOT clenching my abs.

So now...because I failed to listen to my trainer I am in a lot of pain.

This morning I barely managed to get out of bed and started walking to the bathroom when my body literally froze. It hurt too much to move forward and it hurt too much to move backward. I had to wake Jamie up and get him to help me back to bed.

Eventually I did get up again (the only real motivator was the desperate need to go to the bathroom) and slowly moved around until my body started to release the stiffness a bit.

The day has been ok but I am a little afraid to go to bed tonight...the body will stiffen again for sure.

So...my words of wisdom for today...listen to your trainer! The things he/she tells you to do while exercising are likely more important than they may seem to be.

Now I can't exercise for a while and that is a worse feeling than the actual pain :-(

Be healthy!

Alan

The Morning After - Paying attention to the feedback

Last night we went to a friend's 40th Birthday Party.

We had a great time and met wonderful new people  but I consumed too much wine (surprise) and ate too much wonderful Mexican Food.

Most of the food was actually quite healthy (the quinoa salad was delicious!) so other than a Samosa and a small slice of cake I wasn't really eating bad food...I was just eating too much good food.

Sadly...quantity matters.

This morning I am not feeling the best. I have a slight hang over but the real issue is I feel sluggish, bloated, and...well...fat.

I am doing my official weigh-in on Sunday mornings now.

Seeing as I actually possess the official "Weight Watchers Scale" (not the ones you can buy in stores...the ones in the meeting rooms that are about $1000 each and are insanely accurate) I can weigh myself once a week, at home, at the same time...and yes...naked.

Ooops...sorry...hope you will be able to get that image out of your head quickly.

I am up 2.2 pounds.

I figure by weighing in Sunday mornings I am keeping it real. My weight will definitely have readings that are not "true" readings because I will have just come off of a Friday/Saturday night but let's face it...life is not evenly balanced and I think by doing it this way I am less focussed on what the scale reads on a particular day (too many variables) and more interested in the trend over time.

I am finding this way I don't starve myself before getting on the scale or binge right after getting on the scale...the scale simply captures a second in life and shows trends over time.

I wish I had had the guts to think of it this way when I was a member attending Weight Watchers meetings rather than  a Leader running them. Sometimes I would get so focussed on making sure the scale said the right thing that I would manipulate my eating patterns to achieve the correct result.

The question is...for who? I may have obtained the results I wanted but I know the truth...and doing it for the receptionist who weighed me or the Weight Watchers Leader is just plain silly. Now that I am a Leader myself I  know more than ever that before a meeting the WW staff are so busy processing people and getting them into their seats that they have forgotten what you weighed two seconds after you weigh in.

So my advice to anyone watching their weight?

Weigh in once a week..record it... take two seconds to think about WHY you are seeing a gain or loss...and then forget about it.

Once a month...take a GOOD look at your weight TREND and make adjustments if necessary. We are not on a diet after all...we are learning a better and healthier lifestyle.

Now back to today...I feel gross. I had fun last night but I could have had an equal amount of fun without waking up feeling like I just ate an entire pig.

Am I going to beat myself up? No. Am I going to remember the feedback? Remember how I feel right now in the hopes that I will do better next time?

Absolutely!

Be Healthy!

Alan

I'm Still Alive

Hey All!

Wow it has been a long time!

The last blog entry was on my birthday June 3rd!

Lately a few people have been kind enough to tell me they miss my blog and that is really nice to hear. Others have just wondered where I went as I haven't been on Facebook much either.

Not sure why I haven't been...just taking the time to re-group a bit I guess.

So why did I stop blogging?

If I am being honest I think for a few reasons:

1) I started feeling I was running out of things to say. After you lose weight one of the hardest things about "maintaining" is that it isn't as fun. There is a lot less joy when one says "Yay...I stayed the same!" It is a bit the same with blogging...writing about "maintaining" is harder.

2) I started wondering if anyone was still reading the thing anyway...but judging by the number of people telling me they miss it...I guess people were.

3) If I am being totally truthful I was a bit worried it was affecting my Real Estate Business. Not from a personal time perspective (it only takes me about twenty minutes and is usually done before 7:00AM) but from the perspective of people thinking I have refocussed and am less interested in Real Estate...particularly since I have taken on a couple of sessions as a Weight Watcher's Leader each week.

Believe me, that last point couldn't be further from the truth.  I am a workaholic and even when I was blogging almost every single day my devotion to Real Estate got me the President's Award for outstanding achievement in 2011...my devotion is and always has been very strong. Still...perception matters so I have to be careful with this one.

I am thinking the solution may be to write more Real Estate Blogs as well...just to ensure people know that that is where my focus truly is...I just won't compromise my health in the process.

So where am I with health and weight loss? With weight loss I am totally cool. Ideally I would like to drop an additional 5 - 10 pounds but the clothes fit great and I don't really need to...I am comfortable where I am..and it is summertime...I want to be able to have fun!

So will I lose the 5 - 10 pounds? Yes...but in September. I am focussing on maintaining for now.

The health side is where I really need to refocus. I have been eating the right foods to stay slim, but WAY too much processed stuff and way too many dinners out.

So a couple of weeks ago we started to change that. I am back to having healthy dinners almost every day and it makes me feel a lot better.

I am loving being a Weight Watchers Leader by the way. My groups are fun, and having to get up in front of them each week definitely helps to keep me in check.

So what is next in terms of goals? I am going to establish four goals as of today:

1) Make a healthy dinner at home at least five nights a week
2) Maintain my weight for the summer and not worry about "losing" while ensuring I don't gain.
3) Refocus on losing that 5 - 10 pounds on September 4th (1st day after Labour Day Weekend) and post a new picture of myself on-line shirtless on Friday October 12th.
4) Track what I eat...even if it is bad.

I guess I have some things to report on regularly.

Looks like the blog is back!