**Days 481 - 483**

Since Tuesday I've been sitting around nursing my sore foot, and gaining weight.  Weight today:

That's 1.5 pounds gained, and I have no excuse.  I mean, just because I can't exercise doesn't mean I can't lose weight, but I was feeling down because I couldn't exercise, so I was doing some emotional eating.  Again, that's no excuse - I'm just being honest about the bad choices I made.

I went to the doctor today, had my foot x-rayed , and, the good news is, I don't have a fracture, or anything like that, but, as I suspected, I do have Plantar Fasciitis, and I, also, have two heel bone spurs.  So, this will be my new bed buddy for awhile:

I don't know how I'm going to sleep, comfortably, with this thing on, but I'll give it a try.  It's suppose to allow stretching of my calf and plantar fascia, which will, hopefully, minimize stress on the inflamed area of my foot.  I'm really hoping it will help with the awful pain I have first thing in the morning. 


Thankfully, I can start exercising again, but I MUST ice my foot after exercising, and, also, do some stretching exercising for my foot.  I still have pain, so I'm going to continue to rest my foot over the weekend, and get back to exercising on Monday.  So, that's my plan!  


Have a great weekend!

**Days 477 - 480**

My foot pain is getting worse, unfortunately.  I had to cancel my gym plans yesterday because it was so painful to walk when I woke up.  I iced it a couple times throughout the day, and took some ibuprofen, and by last night it was feeling better, so I took a 45 minute walk, which was not a good idea because this morning my foot is hurting worse than it ever has! :(  I'm, finally, going to the doctor on Friday, and I'm really hoping he can do something to help.  I'm having alot of trouble walking around, but sitting on my butt all day is not an option, since I have to get my girls to horseback riding, piano, dance, and theater today, so I'll be hobbling around in pain.  Anyway, I'm going to focus on eating well, and drinking lots of water, of course.

I'm really behind on reading blogs, so I'm going to try to catch up tonight.  I hope you are all doing well!!

**Days 474 - 476**

My weight two weeks ago was 233, and today it's:

No loss, and no gain - the same.   So, not bad, but not good either because if I was doing what I need to be doing I would be losing.  I only worked out twice this week because I woke up Wednesday morning with a very painful calf.  I have no idea what I did to it at the gym on Tuesday - I didn't feel any pain in it when I worked out.  It's pathetic how many problems I'm having, lately.  Listen people, just don't get fat!  And if you do get fat don't wait until your old to try to fix the problem.  Okay, so I'm not old, but I'm older (40), and it's harder (imo) to lose weight at this age.  Totally doable, but harder.  Anyway, I rested my calf for two days, and the pain was gone this morning, so I went to the gym:

30 minutes on the incline elliptical, and 15 minutes on the treadmill.  My calf didn't hurt at all on the elliptical, but when I was increasing the incline on my treadmill workout it started hurting, so I'm guessing my calf isn't liking the incline intervals I've been doing.  Whatever.  It's always something.

Have a great weekend!

**Day 473**

After not working out for 10 days my workout at the gym today was hard!  I did 15 minutes on the regular elliptical, 15 minutes on the incline elliptical, and 15 minutes on the treadmill.  My chest was burning the whole time!  I felt like I hadn't worked out in months!  It's crazy how quickly I can lose it. Anyway, my back didn't hurt, at all.  My knees only hurt a tiny, tiny bit.  My foot hurt like hell!  But I was very happy to be working out again, and I'll be back in the gym tomorrow morning.  Today was a good day, and tomorrow will be even better!

**Days 470 - 472**

Sitting around for a whole week, waiting for my back to heal, really put me into a funk.  I was depressed, and I just wanted to give up because I feel like I'm never going to be able to do what I need to do to lose this weight - physically, mentally, or emotionally.  Truly, as you all know, I've been struggling since last July.  Maybe longer.  Since then I've made no progress - I've gained weight, actually.  I know, exactly, what I need to do, but here I am still asking myself.....what am I waiting for?  The million dollar question - what am I waiting for?  I don't have an answer.  I want to lose weight, and I want to be healthy - I really do, but something is still holding me back.  Whatever that something is I have to fight it, and get past it.  So, tomorrow is a new day.  I will start my day off at the gym.  I have my meals and snacks planned out for the day, and I will stick to the plan.  I will drink 120 ounces of water.  One day - I can do one whole day right.  And if I can do one day right, I can do another day right, and then another, and another.  I can do this.  I know I've said that here on this blog a hundred times before....and I'm going to keep saying it.  I'll keep saying it until I get it right, and reach my goal.

**Days 467 - 469**

It was a long week dealing with my back pain, but I woke up this morning feeling much better - finally!  I was even able to put my pants all by myself!  I still have a little pain, but I can move around much quicker now.  I'm going to take it easy over the weekend, and then I'm going to head by to the gym Monday morning.  I can't wait to get back to exercising!

Have a great weekend!

**Day 466**

My back is not getting better, so I'm, probably, going to call a chiropractor tomorrow.

Funny - normally, exercising is the last thing I want to do, but now that I'm injured.....it's the only thing I want to do. :-(

**Days 463 - 465**

My back went out on Easter - not, completely, out, but it's bad.  I can walk, but only very slowly, and very carefully.  I can sit, but not comfortably.  I can lay down, but not easily.  Anything I do is painful, and I'm scared, with each move,that it will give out, completely, like it did about five years ago, or so.  It was awful!  I went down by the back door, and it took over an hour for me to crawl to the living room floor, and that's where I stayed for days.  In order to get to the bathroom I had to crawl up on one of these:

and then my husband would roll me to the bathroom, and with great pain I would climb onto the toilet to pee.  It was terrible!!  Eventually, I was able to make it off the floor to get to a chiropractor, but it took eight weeks to fully recover.  Obviously, I don't want to go through this again, so I'm being very careful, right now.

I had a mini-meltdown in bed at 1:40am this morning - sometimes having a good cry is good, right?  I'm just so frustrated with all the issues I've been having with my foot, my knees, my shins, my hip, and my back.  Exercising will help me lose this weight, but now I can't exercise, and I don't know how long I'll be out, so I'm upset, but I know exercising isn't the only thing I can do to lose weight.  For now, I will focus on what I'm eating, and I will drink lots of water.  Hopefully, my back will heal, quickly, and I'll be back to exercising soon.

**Day 462**

Weight today:

1.5 pounds lost this week.  I'll take it!  Slow and steady wins the race, right?

I went to the gym this morning - 30 minutes on the elliptical and about 20 minutes on the treadmill.  I say "about" because my time on the treadmill was interrupted by a phone call from my daughter saying that her sister had kicked her in the face.  Really?!?!  I can't even leave for an hour without all heck breaking loose!  My younger daughter fights dirty!  It doesn't happen often, but sometimes when my girls argue my youngest will get physical.  It's not good and not tolerated, so she's now grounded - for kicking her sister AND for interrupting my workout!!  Damn!

I'm going to do my C25k training tonight (or tomorrow night) since I missed it last night.  I'm trying not to get discouraged when I run with my group.  I'm slower than everyone else, and it's a little embarrassing.  I outweigh a couple of the ladies by about 75 pounds, and I outweigh the other gal by about 105 pounds, so, of course, I'm slower, and I'm sure they understand this, but I get so far behind, and they backtrack (because they are nice) to me after each running interval, and I feel silly because I can't keep up, BUT I have to look at the positive - I'm out there doing it, and, hopefully, I'll get faster (and thinner) eventually.

Have a great weekend!

**Days 460 & 461**

I didn't exercise yesterday, and I ate a horrible dinner.  Moving on....

I went to the gym this morning.  I started out with my usual 30 minutes on the incline elliptical:

The elliptical was tough for me today.  My heel was really hurting, but I pushed through it.  After the elliptical I
hopped on the treadmill for almost 20 minutes, so I did about 50 minutes of cardio.  I was suppose to do my C25K training tonight, but my hubby and I had to go out shopping for Easter and for my daughter's birthday (her birthday is on Easter this year), and this was the only night we could go.  We didn't get home until almost 10pm, so my C25K training will have to wait until tomorrow night.  I'll, also, be going to the gym first thing in the morning.  Plus, tomorrow is weigh-in day, so we'll see what happens!

**Day 459**

My day started out rotten.  I woke up around 5:15 to pee, and I had to limp my way to the bathroom because my heel hurt so bad, so I knew going to the gym was out of the question.  Also, my period arrived this morning, so that didn't help my mood!  Anyway, I iced my heel a couple of times this morning, and I took some Ibuprofen, and it started to feel a little better, but my day didn't get better.  I went to brunch with my girls and my dad, and I ordered biscuits and gravy!  I knew it was a stupid choice - even my daughter knew it was stupid.  When I was looking at the menu wondering aloud what I should get she said, "You should get the oatmeal", but I didn't.  My eight-year-old is smarter than me. So, I felt like crap after eating it - physically and emotionally.

I continued to ice my heel throughout the day, and when it was time to meet my friend for our Couch to 5k training the pain was manageable, so I decided to go, and just walk, but once it was time to run.....I ran.  I just couldn't bring myself to skip another night of running!  We were bumping up to the next phase:

Jog 90 seconds
Walk 90 seconds
Jog 3 minutes
Walk 3 minutes
Jog 90 seconds
Walk 90 seconds
Jog 3 minutes

I really wanted to see if I could jog the whole 3 minutes.....and I was able to finish it - both times!  My heel pain was minimal.  My knees actually hurt more than my heel!  I iced my heel and my knees when I got home, and I'm not experiencing much pain, right now - thankfully!

My girls have been doing the training with me.  I'm so happy they are exercising, and they really seem to enjoy it, which is great!

So, my day didn't start out the best, but I'd say it ended pretty good!

**Days 456 - 458**

I had a good workout at the gym today - 30 minutes on the incline elliptical and 20 minutes on the treadmill.  It was, also, a painful workout - 20 minutes into the elliptical workout my heel was on fire.  After I got home I iced my heel off and on all day, and I was hoping it would feel better before my C25K training tonight, but, unfortunately, it didn't.  I did join my group for the training, but I only walked.  I hate to miss out on the running, but I need to take it easy on this heel.  It really sucks having this pain!!  Anyway, I did about 75 minutes of cardio today, so I'm very happy with that!