One (pain-free) step at a time...

Posted on August 19, 2015

It's been a long and somewhat painful summer, but I have returned and will be working on catching up with my DietBet friends and long lost weight loss goals. It feels good - though I'm a bit afraid to look up my transformer goals...

Since I first signed up with DietBet in April, I have been dealing with back pain. I kept thinking that if I lost weight it would get better. Nope - WRONG! After having lost over 20 lbs, I starting thinking that if I walked more it would get better. Nope - WRONG! In fact, I was participating in some very motivating walking challenges and I was walking a whole lot. It was making everything much, much worse. So I finally dragged my sorry butt to my family doctor. I have been diagnosed with a hypermobile (too loose) sacroiliac joint on the right side of my pelvis and a hypomobile (too tight) sacroiliac joint on the left side. Why have only one problem when you can have two polar opposite problems, right? Yeah, my body is an over-achiever that way. LOL!

In early August, I took my over-mobile and my under-mobile joints to a physiotherapist and hoped I wouldn't be given the finger wag for the length of time I waited to address this issue. That first appoint went well considering the amount of historical information I had to provide about my back pain. I've had weekly appointments ever since where I am assigned exercises to do on a daily basis. Since then I've been thinking a lot about how I should do those silly exercises. The problem is that I can't be bothered. [Oh, I can feel the tsk-tsk-ing and the finger wagging from the two people who will actually read this blog post. I know, I know. I'm an idiot.] That's not to say I don't do anything they tell me to do. I have done some of the exercises once in a while because I'm pretty darn sure they can tell when I don't do them. But I refuse to wear that stupid SI belt whenever I'm walking (it's this 2 1/2" wide white velcro belt that I'm supposed to wear over my pants to hold my right hip closer into my body). I don't have any work clothes that drapes long enough to cover that, or that is heavy enough to camouflage the lumps that it creates both above and below the belt. There will not be any SI belt wearing. Deepest apologies to my physiotherapist.

Anyway, before I spend the next dozen paragraphs writing about all the reasons you should disapprove of me, I will mention that in the last couple of weeks I have seen some significant improvements. I can actually move in bed now. Heck, I actually get some sleep now! I won't even complain about not being able to walk my 10k steps a day because I'm sure if I put more effort into those exercises I'd be doing even better.

Having barely walked these last several weeks, I have managed to gain some weight. I made the mistake of giving up completely by disconnecting from DietBet and eating whatever I wanted. Luckily I've only gained a little less than 10 lbs. On the one hand, I'm pretty lucky because this sliding could have continued for quite some time. On the other hand, I should have slammed on the brakes some time ago. But whatever, I am not going to beat myself up about it.

I'm going to get back into the swing of things and lose more weight before Christmas. I can't currently do much walking (or much else that requires properly functioning hips) so I am going to focus on food for now. And I'm going to ease back into it with implementing a new diet-related rule each week (I hereby reserve the right to amend this approach as required based on the results achieved).

Rule #1: No more poutine until Christmas. O. M. G. You'd have to know me to understand how devastating it is for me to start with that. If I am honest, however, I really need to put an end to the private little poutine-fest I've been celebrating these last few months. I'm usually pretty good at the whole 'moderation' game, but when it comes to poutine, it's got to be all or nothing. "All" is out of the question, so "nothing" it must be. Sadly.

I'm mulling over a couple of options for Rule #2 which comes into effect on Sunday. I will be posting my rules on my blog to keep myself accountable. The results, aka weight loss achieved, will also be posted to see how much of an impact these changes will have.

So there it is folks... I hope you have all been doing well this summer. I'm sorry I haven't been around to cheer you on but I am back, with a better back, and I've got your backs! Let's go people, let's make those good decisions and make just a little bit of progress every single day!

Comment Now!

Chrystal M.

08/20/2015 10:44AM

As an, "All out" sort of person...How about healing, "All Out?" All the best to you, glad your back!!!

GlampingGal

Good point! I guess I was just stuck at the other end of the spectrum. I will be taking this more seriously going forward and making more of an effort with the physio.

bahhhhh

08/20/2015 10:39AM

I will never understand Canadians and poutine. Never. Back on the horse for all of us, lady! I have about 3 months till I see family I haven't seen in a year. I'd REALLY like it if I could be visibly smaller and more fit. I'm having cantaloupe for lunch. As a result I'm sad, lol. But it's a jumping point. I am tsk-ing you, but you already know so I'll leave it at that :)

GlampingGal

Ah Tia, always there to tell me like it is. What would we do without you? LOL! Cantaloupe for lunch is fine - you can do that. In two weeks you won't even remember how sad or deprived you felt when you had cantaloupe for lunch today, right? Yeah, you know I'm right. :-)

Elizabeth H.

08/19/2015 2:53PM

I had to go to physical therapy for my back pain years ago. It took ages, but it did make a world of difference. Some of the things they asked me to do I had to stop doing for a bit until my back calmed down, other things I needed to do much more, and even increase the difficulty level quite a bit to really truly get to a (relatively) pain free existence. Well, pain tolerable one, I guess I should say. Haha. I do actually mean this as a success story. I go through whole days, even weeks, feeling normal now, and back in high school the pain made me consider killing myself. I just wanted to offer some hope that it will get better. All my friends with back problems now fuss about doing the exercises and are looking for some magical cure instead and it drives me nuts that they don't take my success seriously, so I'm shamelessly pandering for it here! Haha So, very best of luck to you and I hope you can see even more improvements soon! Good job coming back to diet bet! We can do this!

GlampingGal

It does take some time and effort to heal a back problem. And I suppose it's human nature (or at least human nature in today's fast-paced society) to want a quick fix. I'll be taking my physio more seriously from this point forward. It would be a shame to have access to this great resource and not take advantage of it to get myself back in action. Thanks for sharing your story. It's a good reminder that back problems don't go away quickly and can easily return if you go back to bad habits.