Setbacks

December 2008 my in laws treated the family to a trip to Montana. You can see me in this picture ( I am the one on crutches ). It was fantastic. Snowmobiling in Yellowstone for a day and then snowmobiling free style into Idaho the next day. After the snowmobiling adventure the group traveled to Big Sky for skiing. I opted out of skiing the first day as I was so tired from snowmobiling. Ironically the second day I got all geared up, hit my first run and ended up tumbling down my first and last run of the day. I remember turning into some powder and couldn't recover. I had a slow, painful fall. My daughter skied down for help and I was taken by sled to the ski hospital, wrapped up like a human burrito, head first down the mountain.

The outcome was a torn ACL, a torn meniscus, a stretched posterior lateral, and a very bad pulled MCL. The trip home the next day was terrible as I was on crutches. I kept thinking about not being able to play soccer any longer and I was mad at myself for risking my soccer nights for skiing which I don’t do very often anymore.

After the double bundle knee ACL and meniscus surgery I was non weight bearing for 6 weeks. I remember being prepared for muscle atrophy and gaining weight. I figured even if I just ate the toothpaste when I brushed my teeth I would probably still gain weight! The atrophy set in the 5 weeks prior to surgery and continued after surgery. Not that I didn’t want a skinnier leg but not this way. It looked odd and misshapen. I was depressed so I had my share of vino in the evenings and joined Facebook. I was going nuts sitting there day after day watching my family try to do the things I wanted them to do.

I was in physical therapy for 4 months. I was determined to beat the odds and get my strength back quickly. The surgeon took out one of my hamstrings to fill and strengthen one of the ligament bundles that was ripped in half. I still have trouble with strength if I do not continually work my hamstring.

I was happy that my PT said I was the most successful and quickest recovered double bundle patient they had ever had! I was even ahead of the 24 year old guy who had the same surgery 2 months ahead of me. I was very proud and determined. It took 14 months to get back into soccer. By this time, it was more mental than physical. I pictured myself hurt and then I pictured myself on the couch getting a fat butt again. I wanted to conquer my fear reasonably. I wear a fancy brace now and play less and play differently (not as aggessive) but the important part is that I can still enjoy my sport.

Setbacks sometimes push you further than you had pushed before. I learned a lot about myself and about the challenges of being physically handicapped, even temporarily.

You are what you eat

I know what food is good and what food is not so good for me. I know that a half a bag of pretzels before bed is not going to do anything positive for my waistline. Some people I know workout so that they can maintain a certain weight. A friend of mine, a runner, loves a bowl of ice cream every night. Part of the reason she runs is so she can have her sweet tooth craving satisfied.

There is a difference between maintaining weight and losing weight. There is also a difference in the way the body maintains as we age. I remember when I was 30 years old I could do the Slimfast diet shake for breakfast and lunch and have that ‘sensible’ dinner the commercials advised. Monday through Friday I would follow the plan and I could drop 5 pounds in 5 days. These days, I would be lucky to lose 2 pounds even if I did the same diet. My body’s metabolism has slowed down. I find I have to watch my food more closely and do more things at the gym to just to stay in the maintenance mode.

Food is 80 percent of success when you combine it with fitness. I can do all kinds of different types of classes and biking and if I do not watch my calories, forget it, the scale will not drop in numbers.

I know this very well but it can be so hard not to have a glass of wine, or a bad food carb. By no means am I a fanatic about not eating bread for example.I just try to make sure it is whole grain. For the most part I make smart choices. I definitely give myself a day to eat more freely or have a few cocktails but lately I have not been strict with myself. Some days I think ‘I am getting older, I should be able to enjoy more food and drink’. I also know that I am not happy when my stomach feels fat and bloated. I start out every week with good intensions but in the last year have found myself straying from getting in 5 or 6 clean days of eating. My mother used to have a yellow sweatshirt with a picture of a banana split on the front. Underneath the picture it said I will start my diet on Monday. I do not want this to become my motto. Often I have started clean eating on a Saturday or Sunday, just to prove to myself that I do have willpower.

EXHALE: CORE FUSION Pilates Plus - Thighs and Glutes

The ButcherShop

I decided first on my list of my fitness checklist should be the complete opposite thought of what I am trying accomplish with this blog. Get it out of the way, off my list, off my mind. I think there should be something to say about how far some women go to get the look without all the work!

I know women that opted for surgery. Now, I am not saying never say never on anything in life because some have reasons and validations for every situation. Personally, I do not think I could be happy with a hip bone to hip bone scar just so that my stomach was flat. I will accept my little roll as part of life and hope that it does not get out of control as I age.

Movie stars are under pressure to stay thin and look fit and tight in case a lurking paparazzi catches a ghastly piece of cellulite and blows it up, circles it and shows arrows pointing at the dimples in a magazine for all to see. Indeed it gets frustrating to be a normal woman who has some dimples to get up every morning to sweat it out at the gym. It is easy to get caught up in the insanity. It is a hard balance some days not to just wish for a quick fix. A little lippo here or there? Would I turn it down if it were offered free....hmmmm. Would I call it maintenance or label it what it was, a sneaky little cheat to fitness.

I decided to air this vent even though I realize that focusing on this aspect of what some consider the quick fix to fitness, is not the REAL way I want to go about blogging on fitness because nipping and tucking yourself in not really fitness now is it?

The year was 1976, the bicentennial celebration of this great nation. Bicentennial sounds so grandiose on the tip of your tongue or written on a page but for the most part, it conjures memories of my dad in red, white and blue striped bell bottom cotton pants and a Budweiser beer in his right hand which come to think about it matched his pants quite nicely. Commercially speaking anything you could think of was geared toward the bicentennial bash. Clothing, beach towels, bumper stickers, billboards, you name it.

I was 12 years old in 1976, a fresh faced 6th grader and a tomboy to boot. My elementary school held its annual Field Day. Of course this year's event was even more special as it was labeled Webber Elementary Bicentennial Field Day! It was also the year I learned I could run and run very fast indeed. It sparked my love of exercise and sports.

The foot races that unfolded on school playgrounds, the softball teams I played on and the track I ran in school fueled a love of exercise and the exhilaration it provided me. I feel fortunate that I have stayed healthy and that I still have the drive to exercise and push myself decades after school girl days and summers of Parks and Recreation softball. Exercise makes me happy and gives me a sense of accomplishment in my day. I have three teenagers. I feel the previous sentence speaks volumes as to how important it is for me to feed my own soul so that I can have the energy to be ready to deal with my offspring! Exercise is one way I feed my soul.

I am a healthy woman and I have a decent shape. I do not enter fitness contests nor do I run marathons. I just want to be the best I can be. I have experienced the ups and downs of staying fit. I have dealt with injuries, pregnancies, dealing with the insecurities about how I will be able to maintain my personal level of fitness and my personal expectations of and for myself as I move into the middle years of my life. I feel 25 years old body, mind and spirt for the most part-not the actual seasoned 45 years that I am. I contribute this largely to the exercise I engage in.

Ideally I would like this blog to act as a sounding board to women of all levels of fitness. Women come in all different sizes and shapes and it can be a challenge to find your personal fitness confort zone. One thing that keeps me positive and hopeful is that the 40’s are the new 30’s!

Bare with me as this blog may seem a breadth of a topic at this point. I am excited to narrow some topics down, hone in on some specific experiences and ideas. I am very excited about this new venture and very eager to my blog blossom this semester and hopefully into the future.