Cory's Quest for a Healthier Life

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The 2 paragraphs below sum up chiropractic medicine well. They are pulled from he link below. Even if a chiropractor is doing something science based and proven helpful a physical therapist is still better trained and has an education based in science rather than a mix of evidence based practices and disproven hypotheses still being applied.



"When chiropractors use spinal manipulation therapy for symptomatic relief of mechanical low back pain, they are employing an evidence-based method also used by physical therapists, doctors of osteopathy, and others. When they do “chiropractic adjustments” to correct a “subluxation” for other conditions, especially for non-musculoskeletal conditions or “health maintenance,” they are employing a non-scientific belief system that is no longer viable.

As the authors of this paper indicate, the subluxation construct must go. And without the subluxation, the whole rationale for chiropractic collapses, leaving chiropractors no justifiable place in modern medical care except as competitors of physical therapists in providing treatment of certain musculoskeletal conditions."

I believe that my physical therapy visits were $30 with insurance, but they were well below $200 out of pocket IIRC. The good thing about physical therapy is that they will set you up with an exercise routine to do at home and eventually you stop going. You could plausibly go twice and have enough info to do the work yourself. Chiropractics tend to have a perpetual adjustment, realignment, or treatment schedule in what I have gathered from others that have gone. The downside is that I think you need physical therapy prescribed to be covered by insurance so you'd need to see your doctor.
 
I was (am) having some issues with my lower back, so family insisted that I go see a traumatologist. I was then derived to see a kinesiologist* (Not sure if this is the correct name? It's exercises and such, nothing to do with the 'applied kinesiology' stuff).

Anyways, It might be worth checking with a doctor to see exactly what it is that you have. If you do have an injury it's better knowing sooner rather than later.

As for prices, the most expensive thing was really the x-rays and MRI I had to take. The therapy (on my case) costs about 30$ per visit as well.
 
I go to the chiro once a year to once every 3 years, but only when I start really sitting crooked on my horse! I thankfully don't have any pain issues, even in my back when I'm really crooked, so I solely do it to aid my riding.
 
This week was really bad. I went completely off the wagon. Literally no exercise and I ate whatever, whenever, and how much I wanted. I'm talking cupcakes, Chinese food, hamburgers, stuff like that. I almost never eat that poorly. Honestly, I think I was depressed, but I also think I'm coming out of it. I was sad the entire week for no fucking reason. It was interesting. I'm not really a person who struggles with depression like that. Everyone has an off week now and then though.

Today I'm determined to do a few things. I want to go riding. It's a good form of exercise and I think it'll help pull me out of this mood. I'm also determined to quit listening to the Smiths for a while. They really don't help. :p Lastly, I'm want to catch up on everyone's diaries. This place has offered a lot of support and I think it would also help me to see what everyone has been up to.
 
One thing I've noticed is that I seem to get very very sad whenever I overeat. It isn't a feeling of guilt, it is a general sadness against pretty much everything. I first blamed carbs (since if I overeat it's generally that), but it can happen when eating only protein/fat too, so it's not that.

It's a weird pattern that I can't explain, but it has repeated itself almost every time I've eaten (a lot) more than I should.

But anyways, I hope you feel better soon! Don't let the bad week get to you.
 
-Cory- said:
This week was really bad. I went completely off the wagon. Literally no exercise and I ate whatever, whenever, and how much I wanted. I'm talking cupcakes, Chinese food, hamburgers, stuff like that. I almost never eat that poorly. Honestly, I think I was depressed, but I also think I'm coming out of it. I was sad the entire week for no fucking reason. It was interesting. I'm not really a person who struggles with depression like that. Everyone has an off week now and then though.

Today I'm determined to do a few things. I want to go riding. It's a good form of exercise and I think it'll help pull me out of this mood. I'm also determined to quit listening to the Smiths for a while. They really don't help. :p Lastly, I'm want to catch up on everyone's diaries. This place has offered a lot of support and I think it would also help me to see what everyone has been up to.
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Don't beat yourself up. We all have "off" weeks. But, I don't look at it as a negative; I choose to look at it as a positive. Because, once you realize you've been in a funk (which you have), it serves as a big surge of motivation to get your ass back on track. So, keep your chin up...you'll rock it out this week and make up for it.
 
Chef is totally right. When I have a major splurge I get upset, but I usually immediately turn it around and give myself a mental slap. You have to train yourself to turn those moments into positives. I find that the more I do, the less I slip up.

On that note, it's been a weird week for me too. Hang in there, Cory, spring is right around the corner :).
 
Thanks for the support guys. I think I’m FINALLY out of whatever funk I’ve been in the last few weeks. Not sure what was going on there, to be honest. Now I’m trying to get back into the swing of things.

I did go ride on Friday and Saturday and it was a blast. Even though I’ve only been back a month, my instructor is already putting me on more challenging horses. Saturday I got to ride a 3 year old, so he’s a bit beyond green broke but is definitely still learning things. It was both challenging and a lot of fun. He wasn’t bad or anything, but he did require constant attention on my part that the old lessons horses don’t.

My food has been pretty good the last couple days, but I haven’t been exercising as much just because I had a test earlier this week and didn’t have time. I did go on a mile long hike yesterday though and I plan to do a walk later this evening. I’d prefer to go to Zumba, but we only have one parking permit for my college and my brother needs it at the same time the class is.
 
Glad that you got out of your funk Cory! Sounds like riding is becoming your great escape. Keep at it. I'm very envious! :)
 
Ok. So I've been gone for a while. I'm sure a lot of you know how it goes. You get busy and you've made good progress with your weight loss and this is one of the easiest things to cut out if you're short on time. That worked for a while and over the summer I reached my lowest weight to date, 238lbs and close to 40lbs lost. Since school started back for the fall though, I've completely fallen off the wagon and basically gained 10lbs back. I've been eating out a lot, drinking soda, eating way too much candy, and not exercising. The eating is partially because my brother moved out and we used to split the cooking, so now I'm doing all the cooking by myself and it's a hard adjustment. The exercise is a little more complicated. It's not even that I don't want to do anything, it's just that the activities I want are too expensive or conflict with work or school. I'd love to horseback ride more, but it's a 35 minute drive and costs $20/lesson. I can't afford to do that more than a couple times a week. I wouldn't mind hiking, but because of the time of year it gets fucking dark by the time I get off work. Frankly, I'm bored with zumba. I've been doing it for almost a year and a half almost exclusively and I'm just kind of done with it. The other fitness classes offered through school that I might have an interest in are at really inconvenient times.

I know these are just excuses and I know I need to get over myself and just do it. That's why I'm back. This forum was so helpful to me when I first started losing weight and I think the support here will really help keep me motivated and accountable. I hope there are a few people left from when I was here last.
 
Yay, Cory's back!!! More rocker scientist jokes for me. :)

Glad to hear you're still ahead of the game on the scale. Can you still hike on the weekends/days off? Even if logistics makes it hard to exercise as much as you like or think you should, if you still have time to do some exercise you enjoy once a week, that will still help and help a lot actually. IOW, I believe the effective difference between exercising 1 time a week and 0 times a week, is much bigger than 2 and 1 or 3 and 2.

Anyway just wanted to say welcome back.
 
Welcome back Cory! Congratulations on 238! Even if you've rebounded you can get back there pretty quick.

I would recommend running. All you need is a good pair of shoes. There are probably tracks with lighting at your school or at local high schools and a cheap headlamp works for road runs this time of year. So long as you take it really slow and start with walking and ease into slow runs it isn't bad.

Either way you will find something that suits you. There are still quite a few of us around and some great new people too.

:hurray:I'm glad you are back!:hurray:
 
Thanks guys! Mr. Vee, I have been walking some. Went walking today, as a matter of fact. I usually ride Fridays and Saturdays, so that's at least two days I get to do something physical that I enjoy. I just like to have it more like five days out of the week. Quercus, I've considered running before, but I'm actually really afraid of joint damage to my knees. My dad has a pretty serious family history with bad knees and I already have a strike against me because of riding (just the motion and the leg position can fuck you up). I'm afraid with my current weight, the stress on my knees would be too much. I know, it's kind of nuts for a 25 year old to worry about that stuff, but hey I'm a little neurotic.

Today went pretty well. I'd estimate my food was under 2000 calories and I know I burned more than that, so I'm happy enough. I went for a walk at work. I'd intended to do one when I got home too, but it started fucking snowing. I did drink a soda, but that was intentional. I'm trying to wean myself off of the caffeine and sugar rather than go cold turkey. I always get terrible headaches when I go cold turkey.

Also, here's a comparison pic to see the progress I've made. The first one is me at probably around 270 and the second is at 240 or so. Forgive the terribly ill fitting gym shorts in the second pic:
View attachment 22439 View attachment 22440
 
Okay so you have a shirt that fit when you were 30 pounds heavier and big baggy gym shorts, but despite your best efforts I can still tell a big difference. :p You're obviously smaller, but you've also changed your shape a lot.

Very nice work!
 
Thanks guys!

So yesterday was pretty good. I hit right around 2000 calories, which is higher than I generally like to go but I'm not going to stress to hard over it. I've been trying to keep it <2000 because that's around where my BMR sits for my weight and height. That way even if I don't exercise, I've still got a deficit. Took a short walk (maybe 2 miles) and went horseback riding. It's been so long since I've ridden in winter, I forgot how much the cold impacts muscle strength and control. It was in the 20s yesterday and I'm REALLY sore. I know it had to do with the cold because my ride wasn't particularly difficult. Going to take another ride this morning (also freezing outside), but I'll probably be on this crazy ass three year old instead of the bomb proof lesson horse from yesterday.
 
Hi Cory :) Welcome back lovely. Jealous you went horse riding--In England you can't ride if you're over like 13 stone which is mental.
 
That is pretty insane, Sunflower. A good rule of thumb is for a rider to be no more than 20% of the horse's weight. You'd need a horse around 1200lbs to carry a 250lb rider. It's not hard to find a horse that size. Once you get closer to 300lbs, you might have to look at draft horse crosses, but it's still not impossible for someone of that size to safely ride without hurting the horse.

The weekend was ok. I probably broke even yesterday and I know I went over Saturday. But Saturday is the only day I consistently go out with friends, so I don't really watch myself as much. I'm going to try switching from soda to tea today. Been working on stepping my con sumption down and I think I can quit and avoid the headache at this point. I probably won't be able to walk today. It's doing this awful sleety-rain thing outside that is pretty gross, so I'll have to adjust my food intake accordingly.
 
Good luck on cutting back on the pop. I have finally managed to kick my pop addiction. It's definitely hard to give up, or at least it was for me. Anyways, welcome back, Cory! :)
 
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