Random back pain strikes again!

Today didn't start off so hot. Not at all.

At about 7:30 in the morning while I was taking a shower, the middle left area of my back randomly locked up. It hurt SO much. I couldn't move for a minute or so. Then finally the tenseness subsided a little bit and I could continue taking my shower. I just tried my best not to move my left arm or strain my back. I asked my husband to massage my back a little and see if he could help it loosen up. He's so awesome. He spent a good 15 minutes working on getting the knot out. I'm so thankful he did that for me. Then I took some ibuprofen and iced it 2 times. I have no idea where this came from, but I knew I had to take care of it early on. And I knew from prior experience!

In 2011 I was living in Texas and worked at a coffee shop. Naturally it involved alot of bending and stooping, and alot of lifting boxes, bags of coffee, jugs of milk, bottles of syrup, etc. One day after work I noticed my lower back was hurting. I am prone to back pain and it comes around often, but this seemed worse than usual. For a couple of days I was having trouble sitting and sleeping comfortably. Still, I thought nothing of it and figured it would just go away. Then I noticed I would start getting spasms in my lower back. I was still trying to function at work, until one day my back locked up completely. I couldn't move or breathe, I was involuntarily groaning in pain as it "locked/spasmed". It was absolutely crippling. I couldn't work anymore, I had to go home early and ended up going to urgent care. All they did there was give me a muscle relaxer which didn't do jack squat. Then the next morning I couldn't even lie still in bed without my back locking up. I literally could not move. My husband ended up taking me to the ER where they injected my back with a shot of valium. My entire left side jerked violently when they gave me the shot, but I felt *so* good. All the pain, gone. And with a few more rounds of meds I was back to normal.

What I learned here is that muscle pain shouldn't be taken lightly. Any time I notice something that's out of the ordinary with my body I need to take steps to fix it early on. Especially with back pain. I can deal with leg or arm pain, but when the major connecting segment of my body is locking up and spasming I just can't stand the pain and discomfort. I absolutely do not want to end up in the ER with back pain again.

Luckily today was my yoga day, so it gave me a good opportunity to stretch out my back. I will probably give it more ice and ibuprofen today. Hopefully this won't interfere with tomorrow's workout which is total body, but with a focus on core and upper body work. But if it's still bothering me I will have to do the smart thing and let it rest.

On another note, as I continue to lose more weight I have noticed a couple of quirky things.

One - my wedding ring is looser! This has been happening for about a week, and it hasn't been any colder than the typical Georgia weather which is something like 35 one day and 70 the next. I notice it especially when I wash my hands. I'll have to get it resized but it's probably best for me to wait until I'm at my goal weight.

Two - The fat on my stomach, arms, and calves is loosening up. My belly fat has always been kind of hard and now suddenly it's not! I did some research and apparently your body fat loosens up right before it's about to start coming off. I like that! But it's still a bit weird. Not used to a big flabby belly.


These are changes I've never experienced before. It's been a very long time since I've been at such a low weight, and I still have about 15 pounds to go. I have a feeling I'm going to start noticing some pretty crazy changes. I'm still a little bit ahead of schedule with weight loss so I adjusted my goals to compensate. My ultimate goal weight is no longer 160 as planned, but now 155. And if I feel like I still have more to lose I'll keep going. I have never known what my true healthy weight is. But I'm about to find out