Showing posts with label pain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pain. Show all posts

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Living the SWEET Life Saves the Day (or Month)!

Sleep
I slept well last night. It's nice not to have to set an alarm on the weekends. However, a couple other nights this week, I didn't sleep well. Once because I woke up at 3:30 and couldn't get back to sleep, and another night because I woke up extra early to get some stuff done while the house was quiet.

Water
I need to pay more attention to drinking enough. I don't think I did, yesterday. Well, I guess that depends on whether you count the 2 cups of coffee and the 3 alcoholic drinks I had yesterday. I don't usually count alcohol and caffeine because they are dehydrating.

Eating
I've been trying to pay closer attention to my eating, to make sure I get the variety of nutrients I need.

Exercise
I'm a bit behind on exercise this week, only having exercised 3 times so far. I need two more times to make my goal of 5 times/week. Strangely, I feel like I've been getting out of shape, even though I've continued to exercise!? I've been doing some exercises from a fitness magazine, but I think some of them are too easy for me, so I'm not getting as much of a workout from them. Also, I've been using an AMT cardio machine at the gym, which I don't think gives me as much of a workout as running does. It also seems to hurt my lower back, so this week I switched to the treadmill instead. I feel like I'm hunched over, my belly is pooching out, and my lower back hurts. Also, my pants seem to be getting tighter in the waist. So what do I need to do?
  • For my hunched shoulders, I need to strengthen my upper/mid-back to pull my shoulders back in place.
  • For my belly I need to strengthen my abs to hold them IN place.
  • For my lower back, I need to strengthen and stretch it to relieve the pain. Stronger abs will also help my lower back feel better.
  • For the tight waistbands, I need to cut out unhealthy calories (i.e., Valentine's chocolates) and make sure my workouts are burning calories and building muscle. All of those will increase my ratio of calories out vs. in.
I think another problem I have that could be contributing to all of these problems is that I need a new computer chair. Poor sitting posture, especially if it's for extended periods of time, can definitely make all of these problems worse.

Tranquility
I had one of the few massages I've ever had in my life yesterday. It was wonderful! I told the guy my aches, and he spent most of his time working on those parts of my body. Unfortunately, I felt like I rushed around all morning before the massage, and my girls didn't nap after my massage, so I didn't get to spend some time relaxing myself before it (i.e., in the sauna or hot but), or afterwards. I had to jump full speed back into mommy mode. But it was definitely a special, tranquil treat.

How did I do, and how do I feel?
Yesterday, I had a S_EET Life.
Honestly, because I've been so busy with other things, I have been paying increasingly less attention to living the SWEET Life, and the result is that I feel like I'm getting out of shape, despite having the habit of exercising. I know that it's a simple matter of paying more attention to living the SWEET Life, which doesn't necessarily take more time. I just need an awareness of how I'm living the SWEET Life.

At the same time, I know that I would be in much worse shape, and probably sick, if my SWEET Life habits weren't already in place. Without the SWEET Life, in the past month I probably would have gained weight from poor eating and lack of exercise, which I haven't. I'd feel exhausted from dehydration and lack of sleep, which I'm not, and I'd feel stressed out from lack of tranquility, which I don't. So I thank living the SWEET Life for keeping me pretty healthy during the past month of an overly busy life.

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Back Pain!

Sleep
Yesterday, I woke up before 6:00 for some reason and couldn't get back to sleep, so I didn't get 7 hours of sleep. 0 for 1 on the SWEET Life

Water
I made an effort to drink enough water yesterday, although I was also drinking other things like soda, cider, beer, champagne (at a party). 1 for 2 on the SWEET Life

Eating
I ate pretty healthily yesterday, I think. 2 for 3 on the SWEET Life

Exercise
For the first time in days, my back felt better, so I took a nice walk with a friend after the rain stopped. 3 for 4 on the SWEET Life

Tranquility
I went to a friend's baby shower, which included just a handful of close friends, no kids, no extended familiy members, etc. It was great to hang out with these close friends and chat about everything. 4 for 5 on the SWEET Life.

How did I do, and how do I feel?
Yesterday, I had a _WEET Life.
The past week, I've had a lot of lower back pain. By Friday, I could hardly get out of bed, so I skipped exercise on Friday. Ibuprofen wasn't working, but I started icing my back, which helped. Yesterday (Saturday), I woke up feeling better but not great. I took 4 ibuprofen, instead of 3, iced my back and went to the baby shower. At some point during the party, all pain disappeared! I couldn't believe it, but I was grateful to feel better. This morning I woke up feeling a lot better than I had the previous two mornings, but now, sitting at the computer, it's starting to hurt again, which is part of why I haven't been at the computer much the past several days!