All Good

I just finished my (almost) daily Wii Fit and Weights routine. It all adds up to about 30+ minutes of exercise each day. And it's paying off. I've been doing it for close to 80 days now so progress hasn't come quickly, but it is doing good things for me, things I can observe and measure. My stomach is becoming measurably smaller as is my waist. My feet are not swollen any more.

Yes, I'm losing weight; not a lot and certainly not as fast as used to lose it when I was training for a race. And I'm toning muscles, especially those needed for core strength.

Part of my weight loss has to be attributed to diet changes, as the Wii Fit exercises rarely cause me to break a sweat. I've eliminated some favorites from the menu and I'm trying for smaller portions. Portions are the key to losing weight; go on a 1,000 calorie a day diet of anything and you will lose weight. And this new diet has paid off because my last blood cholesterol screening put me into the 'safe' zone again. At the same time the doctor told me that my blood sugar levels had been rising as well and now they were normal once again.

OK, so I'm not racing right now and I don't know if I ever will again, but I'm making some kind of progress and that's good.

More Dreams

I've been to the pain clinic once again and this time I had an injection of corticosteroids into the SI joint space on the right side. Ouch! The plan as I now understand it, will be for me to recuperate overnight and then proceed to live normally. (normal? Hah!) In one week I will report back to the clinic and discuss what we will do for Plan B if the pain has not been relieved. Right now, I think Plan B will become a reality.

At this point, my dreams of another marathon seem like just that…dreams. But – I'm always a little bit down after a visit to the clinic. I may awake tomorrow with an entirely different outlook. And my dreams renewed.

Dreaming

On to the second cup of tea and more thoughts; such as… I've been pretty regular in my Wii Fit use. I try and get in at least 30 minutes a day and then I do a short routine of weight lifting for upper body strength.

I know the Wii Fit is doing me some good, but it also reveals how much core strength I've lost during the past 9 months and that is depressing. The Wii trainer says, 'It looks like your right side is a little unstable.' 'No kidding!' I reply, 'You think I don't know that?' as I yell at the image on the screen. OK, a little venting is good for me.

Yes, it's the second night in a row that I've had a dream about racewalking. Last night I was doing the Portland marathon again, but I woke up too soon and don't how well I did.

Update

I was dreaming about racewalking, but this morning's real world includes the usual aches and pains and that doesn't make me happy. It's been a full year now of varying degrees of pain. Some enough to make me howl, but mostly just enough to cause me to whimper. I'm tired of it.

I'm going in for my last of 3 corticosteroid injections in a week or two. I'm not hopeful. The first injection gave me a week of relief and second one gave me two weeks. The third will give me…what? Three weeks? It's not worth it. And after that? Maybe surgery. I'll keep you posted.

Spinal Stenosis, the 'creeping paralysis' is far too common. I was really hoping for a rare but easily curable condition.

Link to article…

http://www.spineuniverse.com/displayarticle.php/article1423.html