Getting Stronger Day by Day

It's true! I really am getting stronger day by day :) I've been walking regularly as many days as I can, and I'm up to walking 2 miles! Woohoo! I had to go buy shoe inserts because my feet we're aching by the time I'd get back to my apartment.

Once a week I'm trying to go walking with a couple of my dear friends. This week was supposed to be our first week - but I had an asthma attack on Monday that was pretty bad so I stayed home yesterday to rest. The good news is that I'm having very few attacks these days, so over all I'm able to exercise pretty consitantly!

Along with the walking I'm doing a few basic aerobic exercises like crunches, leg lifts, and some modified push ups. I do the push ups against the wall because my back has never been strong enough to do them normally, and this still strengthens my arms and upper back. I've also just barely started working on learning some yoga exercises. I picked up a video from the library and I'm slowly working that into my routine.

I'm still not seeing a ton of results, but I'm sure those will come with time. It's kinda hard to measure how my weight is changing because my scale is officially broken! Oh well. I'm sure we'll go get a new one soon.

I do have to be careful while exercising though. If I've recently had an asthma attack then Mo tries to go walking with me, just in case. I always have my cell phone with me if I walk alone so I can call for help if something goes wrong.

Last week I found out there's another complication. Not with my walking, but with doing the other exercises. I have osteopenia, which is the stage before osteoperosis. My hips density is fine, but my lower back is way out of range for someone my age. This means I'm at higher risk for a broken back than most people my age.

Putting things in perspective though, I've always had back issues, so I've always been careful while exercising. I have scoliosis (a twisted spine), shoulder damage from a car accident, and sciatica (problems with the long nerve in my right leg). I'm much more likely to do something that could potential trigger pain in one of those than I am to break something!

Plus, I have the go ahead from my chiropractor to exercise. I stopped all exercises until I checked with her (well except for walking) and she said that the exercise is the best thing for me as long as I continue to be careful.

The positive side about exercising is that I'll not only feel better (I already am!), but the exercise helps the calcium I'm taking build up in the bones of my lower back. It's possible to reverse the damage that's been done, and at the least, to prevent the damage from getting worse.

Why do I have these problems? It's a side-effect of the prednisone that I'm on for my asthma. Hopefully I'll be able to work off of that in the next year, but for now, I'm doing everything I can to minimize the long time effects.

Looking Forward

Yesterday I talked about how I did on my goals for last quarter.  Today I want to look at my goals for next quarter. 

My big goal that I didn't achieve last quarter was starting to make money off this blog. I still want to work on that, and with my improving health, I'm hoping it will now be possible! Even if it's just a little bit here and there :) 

I'm only adding one goal at this point in time to my "life" goals. I have another big one in mind, but since I'm not ready to start it yet, I'm not going to write about it! 

My big new goal actually has two main parts. Overall goal? LOSE WEIGHT. I've actually been wanting to work on this for a long time, but do you have any idea how hard it is to eat healthy when your having daily migraines and asthma attacks? Let alone exercise?

With my recently improved health I've been working really hard on both my diet, and working exercise whenever I can. I've lost 4 lbs so far! I'm not going to tell you how much I need to lose, just that it's a lot. Being super-sick for a year and on steroids because of it can do that.

So the two parts of this goal are I'm trying to exercise for at least 1/2 hr each day, and I'm keeping a food journal to track calories and get a more realistic picture of what types of foods I'm eating. I've found a site that's helping me out with that - but I want to use it for a few days before I talk more about it so I can give you guys an accurate review :) 

Instead of making this a three month goal like my others, I've set this out for one month. I'm hoping that I can increase my exercise goals at that point :) 

I'm using Goal For It to help me record and track my goals. I wrote a review about it back in January if you want more information. If you want to join me on Goal For It and encourage each other on our goals - just look for me under roseworksjewelry! 

Adventures in Getting Stronger

A few weeks ago I started going on walks in the morning. My migraines are finally at least semi-under control, and my asthma is getting better again as well since that stress is decreasing, so it was time to start trying to get into shape! It's been a long year battling with my health, and as a result I'm very out of shape and overweight. I figured walks were the best way to start. Low impact and all that :)

I was doing really good, walking almost every day, and then a cold and our trip to Pheonix set me back. I was determined not to give up though! As soon as I could I pushed myself to work on things around the house, and then once I was recovered enough, to start walking again. I've been able to go walking the last few days, and it feels great!

Today I made it to my goal of walking 1/2 hr :) Woohoo! Plus, I walked down to Winco, so I was able to pick up a couple grocery's w/out spending any gas :) That made me pretty happy too! The doctor told me he wants me walking 1/2hr a day, so I've reached that goal!

So what's next? On days that I still have even a small amount of stamina left in the evenings I'm going to start working in a few simple stretches and aerobic exercises. I started last night, and it was daunting how much harder they were than they used to be, but I'm just going to start small and work up!

The other thing I'm working really hard on improving is my diet. I was already doing "ok" with it, or at least a LOT better than in the past! But with the news that my kidney's are going south slowly, the doctor has told me that I need to start eating like I'm a diabetic. I found this information really overwhelming...but I've got a plan and I'm working through it slowly.

Being a cheap-skate (ok, broke) I ordered some books on eating with Diabetes from the Library. I'm starting by going through "Diabetes Cookbook for Dummies." I love the "for Dummies" books! Not trying to comment on my intelligence, but I've found that in general they make things easy to understand, and there's enough humor to help relieve my tension.


I've worked through the first two chapters so far and I'm learning a lot! It's still a little overwhelming, but I'm taking it slow and absorbing it bit by bit. I'm also writing down what I eat in a food journal. I'm not going to worry too much about specific caloric goals until I have a better grasp on what I should be doing, but this will give me something to look at when I'm ready for that, and help me have a realistic view of what I'm actually eating.

Oh! And I took my weight and all my measurements. No, I won't tell you :P I WILL tell you if I lose inches or weight though :)