So.
I've taken a looooong time off of working out regularly. I don't even know exactly how it happened. One day I'm running regularly, one day I'm not. And then pretty soon it has been probably 3 years since I really ran (maybe more).
And not just running. I've really let it all go. I've had some really bad back issues in the last 6 months so other than semi-regular yoga workouts, I've done not much of anything in terms of physical movement. And my yoga workouts were only 25 minutes so I'm not sure they were good for a whole lot other than to say I did them.
I got my sleep issues resolved. Somehow. I think I finally healed my gut well and now am sleeping just fine. I still stay gluten free so I don't have inflammation and joint pain. In fact, I went to a naturopath who did a test that indicated I have a huge reaction to gluten. So that confirmed it.
Over the summer Dave and I both got some kind of mild virus for about 5 weeks, which resulted in me getting down to 124lbs and I was able to stay there. Mostly because eating was a non-issue for me. During the summer the virus caused me to be nauseous or have diarrhea so I had very little appetite. After that (somehow) resolved, I started a major kitchen renovation which meant that I was hardly eating - not intentionally, just too busy to do it. We ended the kitchen stuff and immediately went to Hawaii. And this whole time I maintained 124 lbs. But recently I've gained 6 and am back up to 130. Halloween. I was good at 124 until Halloween. And now up to 130.
Last summer a friend of mine told me about The Dailey Method. She was attending classes in LaGrange and said a new studio would be opening in Orland soon. So I went online to check it out and signed up for the email alert to let me know when it opened. This past weekend was the Grand Opening and they did free classes Th/F/S/S. I attended twice and I love it. I signed up for the 5 weeks of unlimited classes and began this morning. I am hoping that with a minimum of 3 classes (hoping for 4)/week I will find a non-medical, non-surgical solution to my back pain. My next step was to go to a back specialist for an evaluation, but I wanted to try this first. So I've committed to 5 weeks at this point and intend to continue after that.
I've also committed to limiting my sugar intake to 2 pieces of dark chocolate per day and limiting my carbs to only fruit carbs (the naturopath's test indicated that carbs are an issue for me so I should stick with high protein high plant based diet). And limiting my alcohol to the weekends rather than my one glass of wine or cocktail at night.
Obviously, I will be giving myself a reprieve on Thursday :)
This blog... I took pictures this morning and was not pleased. The only way I'll post them is if there is an after picture that shows a change, lol. But. I had thought about updating this blog and then decided that I wasn't going to do so because I never look back at it to read my progress, so really what is the point of taking the time to do it? A few hours later as I googled "The Dailey Method results" and "The Dailey Method before and after" for probably the 10th time in 5 days, I decided that since there are so few sites to look at that I would provide one (hopefully), so that is why I'm back.
Ultimately my thoughts are: In 5 weeks I hope to feel a change in my chronic back pain and spine/hamstring stiffness. By my birthday (April 1) I hope to SEE a change. We will be in Maui over my birthday and other than relief of back pain, I couldn't think of a better incentive to stick with it and be consistent.
Today is day 1.
