Adjusting

Oww.

I've had 2 adjustments to my back so far. So far it seems that I am sore as hell on the day that follows an adjustment. Makes sense I suppose, my body needs to adjust to the new alignment and my muscles are probably strained as a result. Yesterday I asked the chiro about what the plan is for my long term care. He says I need about 10 adjustments. I will start off getting 1-2 a week, then it will taper off to once every 3-4 weeks, then every few months, etc. At first it takes awhile for the adjustments to take effect, but apparently the more I have the faster my body reacts to them. I feel a little bit relieved after them, which the chiro said is a good sign (I guess most people don't feel much of a difference at first) but then I'll be sore during the next 12-24 hours. The chiro said I could exercise on days when I don't have an adjustment... but as long as I'm this sore I don't know if I will want to! I haven't exercised this week, and my plan is to go out for an easy run on saturday morning and see how I do with that. I will probably do some yoga on sunday, just not anything that might aggravate my back.

My strategy here is to definitely listen to my body. I am going to take it easy and gradually ease back into activity. It's been hard enough just getting through daily activities. Right now I have no idea how long it will take to get back to normal, but I'll get there eventually. I've reached a point where I've experienced a few setbacks during my training and missed a couple of races. And I have realized that I can't stress over it and I can't let it get me down. Life happens. I need to take care of those things that are causing me to miss out. I have realized that my progress won't be erased overnight, and that it's far more important to make sure I don't further injure myself than it is to run a few miles.

That being said, something pretty cool still happened despite all this.

I haven't been weighing myself for the last 5-7 days. Hasn't been on my mind at all. I got really frustrated with the past 3 weeks of hovering between 163-161. For a solid week, I busted my ass to work out hard and cut calories. The scale did not budge ONE OUNCE. So I said fine, I won't do the numbers for awhile and see what happens. This morning I weighed myself out of curiosity and ended up being 158.8. I don't understand how I magically went down 5 lbs when before my weight would not budge. All I did was put the scale out of my mind, eat healthy and exercise (before the back issues anyway) and it just happened. I can't believe I am finally under 160. My goal is 155... and I am almost there. And I think now that I am close to where I think I want to be, I am changing my strategy a bit.

I am going to keep eating calories to cut weight (1400 or so) until I feel like I can enter a maintenance phase.  I will continue to weigh myself less often, and focus on a variety of exercise. I think my recent increase in strength training has helped considerably. So I'm going to keep making it a priority in an effort to tone everything up and convert my last little bits of pudge into lean muscle.

I also made an interesting discovery yesterday. During my lunch break I was on the phone with my mom and we were talking about my weight loss. She asked how much I weighed now and I told her 163, and that I want to get down about 8 more pounds. I said that considering my large build, 155 would be a good weight for me. Then she said "How tall are you, about 5'8"?" I said no, I'm 5'7". Then I thought about it later that afternoon. Am I? I haven't really been measured in years. Whenever I go to the doctor they just ask how tall I am and don't bother to measure. So just out of curiosity I measured. I am 5'8"! Who knew! Obviously my mom did, I guess. How is it that she hasn't seen me in nearly a year and she knows my height, yet I don't?

The point is, this changes things slightly. Among the goals I have set for myself, reaching a healthy weight, BMI, and body fat % are among them. Being an inch taller than previously thought changes those guidelines. So here is where I stand now:

5'8", 159 lbs

BMI - 24.2 (Normal)
Body fat % - 23.7%

Ok, this kind of contradicts what I said about not focusing on numbers. But numbers are part of the reason I was successful with weight loss this time, and was never successful in the past. You have to set goals for yourself, and numbers need to be part of those goals. The numbers are important for health reasons - if you are within normal ranges then you lower your risk of developing diseases. Just don't obsess over them like I was doing. And now that I am getting to a healthy state, it will be less about numbers and more about maintaining. I want to build up some more muscle. I want to work on those non weight related goals, like how many pullups I can do or a new race PR. The mindset is shifting. If I keep doing things right, I will continue to change in whole new ways.