Monday Morning Check-In (Knee Braces and a New-ish Plan)

As I contemplate my next plan of action, I went ahead and weighed in this morning, and was 204.4 lb, and 45% body fat. This is about where I thought I was.  Still about 15 lb less than this time last summer, so this is better than the same, or even 15 lb more.  No reason to feel frustrated with how little it seems, even though that's an easy route for me to take.  Today (well, likely Friday since we are going out of town with friends for a couple days and I need enjoying and planning time) is a new day for a new plan and a great starting point.  I'll get back to the plan shortly.

I was measured later in the day for my new lateral unloader knee braces for both knees.  I am very excited about these since they are designed to separate the area of each of my knees so the bones do not rub on each other (where cartilage is missing and severe arthritis has taken its place) as I walk.  There's a dial I can adjust on each brace that modifies the distance the my bones are separated to accommodate for steepness of stairs and hikes.  So, potentially better workouts on my hikes, etc.  I'm ready to give them a try, as I am very frustrated with pain in my body with simple movements that restrict much of my activity for years and years, decades even.

My main question to the brace fitter was about losing weight (feeling optimistic!) and the braces still fitting, and she did say that I will likely need to replace them after each 20 pounds of weight lost since they are made specifically for my legs and knees and current weight.  She said that Kaiser would be likely to cover the 80% of the cost of a replacement set as long as they have documentation of my weight loss.  Some of that seems ironic to me as one of the recommendations from the orthopedist is to lose weight, along with trying the braces, and trying the hyaluronic gel injections, but it's possible they wouldn't cover the 80% if weight is lost and it's not documented?  Anyhow, I'm not concerned about the documentation as I seem to be at Kaiser pretty frequently now.  20% of the brace charge seems like a small price to pay every 20 pounds for the benefits of the braces and added benefit of weighing less and putting less weight on the joints.  I will obtain these little miracle workers in a couple of weeks.

 Meanwhile, in light of my goal or experiment with helping heal the underlying (and hopefully overlying) issues of uterine fibroids (story is here: An Experiment in Healing), and the success of my eliminating wheat and wheat products in late May, I am going to further modify my diet to eliminate sugar and most dairy.  This seems the simplest route to take as I need to keep it simple with pharmacy classes beginning in a few weeks. I will still eat fruits, especially those packed with nutrients like blueberries and strawberries, but anything that has added sugar of any kind will not be included.  Similar with the dairy products, pretty much the only dairy I'll be eating is the non-fat unsweetened yogurt I already consume.  Eliminating wheat has been challenging, but doable.  It is VERY difficult to control what wheat I consume when dining out, and I know the same is true for sugars (and salt!). So, one obvious solution is to eat out less often, as fun as it is, plus that will help relieve the "budget" to buy quality organic foods so that what I do put in my body is of the best quality I can find. By eliminating these three items, I pretty much eliminate whatever processed foods were left in my diet (there weren't many left), so this is extremely helpful for the immune system and preventing those kinds of toxins from getting in.  That one is in my control, vs. other environmental toxins that are less in my control.  A recent workshop presenter suggested diet-wise:  if it doesn't have a mother or come from the ground, don't eat it.... For some reason I feel highly motivated and excited about this, mainly, I think because I'm ready to feel good and better and better now that I have some answers about what has been causing my pain and things I can do about it. 

And it's not that I have a horrible diet, in fact, compared to he majority of Americans it's way on the healthy side of the continuum of healthy diets, however there are still foods that I consume that have deleterious effects on my health, so that's the part I'm looking at, and am hoping/planning to continue to lose weight. And perhaps there's a way to still have those foods that are so appealing, but on a limited basis, and to check in with their specific effects on my body.  The wheat elimination was significant to the point that I have successfully avoided it almost for the sole reason to not feel deep burning pain in my joints and discomfort all over my body from the swelling and inflammation. 

My ramble comes to a close.  I will be checking in more frequently than I have this summer, so as to keep myself going and going.  Life is short!  The time to feel good is NOW!

1-4-2011 Thoughts on Exercise and Some More EFT

I realize that I am enjoying blogging so much that it takes a fair amount of my day to report and share my thoughts.  This is all right, of course, while I have this unstructured "free" time.  However, when school starts again on Monday (the 10th), I have a plan and goal to update at least once a week when I weigh in, and, as called when there is time during the week, to write some quick thoughts or strong EFT sessions.  I hope to address some of the key components in my New Plan, such as yesterday's Thoughts on Food, and today's Thoughts on Exercise in my time before classes begin.  I think it will be helpful to save and share my daily menu and results, and any recipes that come up, so we will see how it all comes to fruition!

Turns out it's a good day to talk about how I have felt about exercise throughout my life.  

Basically it boils down to the fact that I'd far rather curl up in bed with a good book than move my body.

(Even though I'd rather curl up in bed than exercise...I deeply and completely love and accept myself...tap, tap, tap)

Ever since I became aware of the need to exercise, I have resisted it.  First of all, from as long as I can remember, if my heart got pumping too hard, I would get a very uncomfortable feeling that I cannot fully describe.  It's most a strange "airy" feeling through my jaw and chin.  So, I tend to keep my heart rate in a comfortable range for my goals, and don't overdo it, because I would also become a bit nauseous with the airy chin feeling.  Also, my knees have provided a great block to getting regular exercise.  I had cartilage removed from my right knee when I was 12 years old (it was torn and stuck), and from my left knee when I was 13.  As a result, I had developed severe arthritis by the time I was 26 years old.  The doctor told me at the time that I was too young for a knee replacement, and the best I could do is bear the pain as long as I can and then consider replacement.  I was in a good amount of pain that restricted my activities until I discovered, or opened up to acupuncture.   I originally tried acupuncture to eliminate allergies (which was very successful), and the acupuncturist "threw in" some extra needles for my knees and hooked them up to electro-stim.  The results were phenomenal!  The pain was all but gone and I could finally hike and walk and ride my bicycle again.  As long as the hills weren't too steep, or too rocky, I was pretty comfortable getting out there.  This has helped me immensely since 2000.

This past April, after a wonderful massage, I awakened the next morning with severe pain in my left knee.  Two days later it swelled.  This prompted visits to the surgeon and the rheumatologist, who x-rayed, and took MRI's of my knee.  The severe arthritis is there, and I have the questionable diagnosis of pseudogout, which is a build up of calcium deposits within the joints.  This wasn't fully confirmed, but it appears I am susceptible to pseudogout flare-ups.  The advice this time was to use my knees as long as I can stand the pain, receive acupuncture to help with the pain (this was cool to hear from the rheumatologist), and then decide when its best for me to have them replaced.  As a result, I am taking glucosamine chondroitin in the form of Joint Juice daily, and monitoring my activities (no steep/rocky/super long hikes), and my exercise has to be as non-knee-weight bearing as possible.  I love to walk in the fresh air, and am slowly getting used to the hills where I now live, however the walking takes a fast toll on my knees.  I am so very grateful for the Tony Little Gazelle that I have in the house to use for cardiovascular workouts.  It is very easy on my knees, and works the entire body, including my arms.

That was a bit of a tangent from my "I hate exercise" story.  But, perhaps, it hasn't been pleasant for me because of the pain and frustration of having knee issues for most of my life.  No wonder I just want to curl up in bed!

Anyhow, yesterday I felt amazing and great before, during and after my elliptical workout (and Five Tibetans, etc.)  I felt great and energized until the headache started later in the day, possibly related to a variety of reasons.  According to My Food Diary, I did not eat enough calories to compensate for my exercise expenditure (which was the same as the day before), also I had not had my usual small dose of caffeine, plus, my eyeballs had an enormous workout the day before with the Brain Integration Technique.   I awakened in the night pretty hungry, even though I felt like I ate and ate yesterday.  I woke up this morning and the headache was gone, but the rest of me feels wonky and those 45 minutes on the elliptical felt at least double that.  This has triggered a bunch of my negative attitude about exercise, which I will proceed to clear with EFT:

EFT:  "Even though I hate exercising..."  "Even though I feel crummy sometimes after I exercise...."  "Even though my knees hurt all the time..."  "Even though my knees and heel hurt more because I'm heavy..."  "Even though I am afraid I am going to hurt myself exercising..."Even though I resist exercise..."

Replaced with:

"I love to move my body"

"I love feeling energized"

"My body is flexible and has a fantastic metabolism"

"I am light as a feather and my knees are healthy"

"I live a balanced life between rest and activity"

"My body loves exercise and feels great!"

Five Tibetans:  15 repetitions (we're getting used to getting up really early again, perhaps tomorrow we will aim for 18 reps)

Alternate nostril breathing:  We almost forgot, but we did about 8 inhalations/exhalations

Exercise:  45 minutes on the elliptical and walking when Richard got home

Meditation:  Lesson 57, A Course in Miracles

Food: My goal is to get enough calories that don't stress my salt maximum and my saturated fat quota.  So far, I am doing pretty well, and am tapping out the negative 'tudes that would lead me straight to the big chunky piece of cheese, or leftover chocolate because of how my body feels.

"Even though I crave the big chunk of swiss cheese in the fridge... I deeply, completely love and accept myself"

Breakfast:

Blue Corn Meal Pancakes: 1 serving

1 tsp. pure maple syrup

Joint Juice

1/2 apple

1 c. Wallaby vanilla yogurt

1 c. Matcha tea

Snack:

Pumpkin Latte, sugar-free

Lunch:

Avocado Alfalfa Jalapeno Almond "Cheese" Sandwich

2 Sans Sucre sugar-free (with stevia) and fat free brownies

Zero calorie Lifewater

Snack:  

2 c. Stevia Chocolate almond drink

Dinner:

1 c. whole wheat pasta

1/4 recipe of low-salt tomato sauce with olives (posted earlier today)

8 spears of steamed asparagus

In spite of my earlier attitude "glitch" with exercise, which I feel far better about at this point after the EFT, this turns out to be a successful day in meeting my goals.  And, tomorrow, I affirm, I will have a far better attitude than I did earlier today, regarding my New Plan!

My Food Diary Summary: