Rob's Diary

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Thanks for the reinforcement Amy and Cate! I got around to a couple. It's good reading everyone's journeys. I'm forgetting some of the tough parts I went through now that I've eased off. Yes, exercise is so important. Glad I'm on a healthy track again and have it again to help enrich my life and glad it helps you similarly.

Today was mixed. I was fighting off urges for ice cream tonight which I was able to avoid. I did eat too many turkey patties and pistachios though. I went to the gym and did the elliptical and treadmill. My knee is still bothering me so I'm bummed I can't run.

I'm literally falling asleep right now. Will post more later.
 
Sounds like you're headed for a good night's sleep - which is excellent! :)
 
Thanks for checking in on me, Rob. Struggling a bit with BED, my knee, and some difficult work issues. Reading diaries and tossing and turning right now. Will try to get back to it tomorrow.
 
Had an OK day today. Better than the past couple of days. I didn't go to the gym and I'm going to really try not to put any strain on my knee (no walking, no elliptical, no treadmill; swimming and weight training only) until it heals. I miss running SO much and just hobbling along getting only a couple miles here and there and continuing to put strain on my knee is just making things worse. I may gain 20 pounds but oh well. I've got to figure this out and what I'm doing is the wrong way to go. I've tried everything but full rest. So this takes courage for me. It will have been worth it if I can run again at the same level as before. I will drop pounds again quickly if I can run again. I will try for 4 weeks straight and if it doesn't heal, I'll go see the doctor. I'm going to keep track of my steps so I can get an idea of the amount of load I'm reducing.

Today I ate 3381 calories. No exercise. 4.3k steps. My weight this morning was 188.8.
 
Rob, I think you are right to be trying to figure out how to get your knee back. If you can I'd go to the doctor sooner rather than later. And as you say if you add a few pounds while resting the knee you know how to lose them back. Not that I am an expert, but one of the reasons I decided to go with biking was my knees. Neither of my knees are great, too many years of wear and tear from my obesity. It has worked, the riding is not hard on my knees and now that my legs are getting stronger my knees are feeling a bit better.

Thanks for your post on my diary, I appreciate the nice words. And thanks for you input on my riding. Actually my legs and all felt better today after the 30 laps than they did yesterday after 22. I think I have broken through to just being able to ride with less limitation. Not that this is a huge workout or anything. My best guess is the 30 laps is about 3 miles, but those are miles on loose gravel with some up and down. Maybe I will just start shooting for a time rather than a lap count, getting my heart rate and breathing up for 20+ min a day would be a good thing.
 
Rob, I had so many pops and aches in my knees and legs when I was 250+. The running hurt all the way down to about 215 or so. I couldn't do much more than walking until 250 or so. A lot of it has gone away but I still have a little popping when I get up after resting awhile. My understanding is that exercise is a good treatment for arthritis if that's present. Not sure if I had any. I bet you'll find things keep getting better with your knees as you continue to drop weight. Glad they're feeling a bit better already. I enjoy following your progress. I wouldn't worry about the distance so much. Even just a little activity results in a big benefit. The time/distance will automatically increase if you just keep focusing on consistently getting out there and improving on what you can do.

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Well, today, I had more time for things and it felt odd. This is the 3rd day in a row of no activity. I haven't gone this long without activity in a long time. Maybe a year or more. I can feel my knee. Hopefully that means it's repairing itself. Pain is in different places than where it hurts acutely when I'm running. Maybe it's "referred pain" as Trusylver refers to.

So that means I've been doing more work and paperwork stuff. Had time to video chat with a relative I haven't spoken to in a long time. I won't talk about these things much. I'll just refer to all things non-weight loss, non-nutrition and non-fitness related as "work and other stuff." So it was lots of work and other stuff today lol.

I ate well and I feel pretty good. Better than I thought I might without cardio. 1789 calories in. 2416 calories out. 5k steps. I weighed 188.6 pounds this morning.
 
Hey Rob, its good to see you eating well, I know not exercising must be tough for you, I hope it doesn't last long. I don't see any problem with talking a mix of weight loss and non-weight loss things, if you want to. The social interactions here make coming back more interesting for some, like me.

Thanks for you nice words and advice. I do appreciate hearing from someone like you who has successfully lost about as much weight as I need to. It helps me see where I can work to get. Not that I will ever be able to match your exercise routines, I'm too old for that. But I don't need to, as you say just getting some exercise is the goal.
 
4th day in a row now of no exercise. I think I may lift tomorrow although I'm not feeling very motivated...probably bc I'm not going.

After I posted my calories last night, I ate more. My total yesterday was 2939. Today, it's 3380. On Monday it was 4271. I think those are all the corrections and I'm up to date but there may be one farther back I forgot to update. I'm not eating unhealthy things, just more nuts. Today, I forgot to weigh myself. Fitbit says 2223 calories out and 3.6k steps.

I did lots of work and other stuff and felt OK. I miss running but I can still feel some things in my knee/leg. Sometimes I can feel a small strain in my hamstring, my glute, the back of my knee, my ankle, and right in the middle of my knee. I think the knee and everything up is the aggravated IT band. I'm not sure what's going on with my ankle but sometimes I can feel a slight pain radiate down from my knee into my calf. I hope the rest works. It seems like I'll be able to tell when I'm ready to get back by these small pains going away. They're not really pains or painful, I just don't know how else to describe them - pressure maybe.
 
Sounds like you need the rest Rob, you have a lot of things to heal. Have you been exercising too hard?

Your calories may be higher than you'd like, but I am sure you have done worse. I know I have gone well over 5,000 in a single binge, my guess is you have too. And not eating unhealthy things is good. I am sure you'll find a way though this and be fine. Hang in there.
 
Thanks, Rob. I’m OK and not concerned about where I am right now. I don’t consider any of my recent high calorie days binges and more and more, I’m moving away from that word - it‘s too loaded and too often too subjective for me.

The IT band goes from your hip to your knee. Most people feel it acutely in their knee when exercising (like I do) but I think it can be felt in any of the other areas I mentioned too except for maybe the ankle. We’ll see how well this time off works. My outcry and emphasis on it relate to not being able to run. It doesn’t directly affect me otherwise.
 
I'm too ignorant of physiology to be able to comment usefully, Rob, but wanted to say I'm following your entries, and sending as many supportive vibes as I can, for everything to go well.
 
Thanks Amy! That's really sweet. Thanks for the supportive vibes and following along. :)


Not the best day today food-wise. I didn't get up to the gym but it would be a good idea for me to go tomorrow.

My focus has changed a lot since I hit my goal weight but unfortunately now I'm dealing with not being able to run. I didn't see that coming even with all the warnings but I sure as shit hit my goal weight lol. Anyway, it's my top concern now and calorie accountability and weight loss will take a back seat. I'll stop posting my calorie counts for awhile. I'm doing the right thing with rest but it just feels terrible when I can't run. I'll get up to the gym to swim and weight train but I am committed to staying off the knee now. Some elite runners have said it took months for their ITBS to go away. :confused:

It's the end of day 5 of full rest. I could feel some throbbing in my knee earlier. Hmm, the idea was for it to get better, not worse. It doesn't affect me functionally at all, I can just feel the tightness and pressure and know if I were to run on it now, it would come back. 4k steps total today. I did weigh myself this morning and I was 188.8.
 
bensanon said:
I sure as shit hit my goal weight
Click to expand...
That is important, I am a long ways from being able to say that, if I ever can. Much as you are struggling now, don't forget what you've accomplished. Watching you struggle with your transition from weight loss to more of a maintenance has been good for me, its helped me understand that the struggle can't end at some point in weight.
 
So I went to the gym and worked out. I went swimming and lifted weights. I'm not sure I'm saying that right. I lifted? I weight-lifted? I engaged in weight training? I moved heavy things from one location to another lol.

I've been a little confused for awhile actually. I found this Quora somewhat helpful: What's the difference between weight lifting, weight training, strength training, body building, etc.? - Quora. I'm not sure why there are all the different terms. It's not really that way in other sports.

:newbie:

Anyway, here's what I did:
DB bench, 50lb*(11, 8, 4)
DB bicep curl 25lb*(9, 8), 20lb*9
landmine press 45lb*(11, 9), 50*([7r,5l])

My right arm seems to be stronger with the landmine press so that's what that last little bit of notation means. Anyway, these are all very small amounts it seems for each of these exercises. According to this site, Dumbbell Bench Press Standards for Men and Women (lb) - Strength Level, I'm somewhere between beginner and novice for the DB bench and my estimated one rep max is 64.4. Same site says I'm squarely in the beginner category for the DB curl and the landmine press is not listed.

These exercises work the following muscles is my understanding:
DB bench: pecs, triceps, and front delts
DB bicep curl: biceps, brachialis, and brachioradialis
landmine press: scapular stabilizers group (serratus anterior, upper/middle/lower trapezius, and levator scapula); triceps, deltoid, and the obliques (internal and external)

I'd like to do more on this but I need to sleep so I'll pick up later.

The swimming was nice. I went for 45 minutes. Once I got about 20 minutes into it, I started feeling comfortable with the activity. I did freestyle the whole time. I did do a 5 minute warmup on the elliptical before I started lifting and I could feel it in my knee. I can feel tension and stiffness all the time still. The swimming didn't put any strain on it. Total steps taken today were 10.6k. 3359 calories out. I had lots of healthy food - salad, chicken, turkey/pork chili, some dark chocolate, nuts and a couple bowls of organic raisin bran cereal with almond milk.
 
Rob, I love all of your last post. Whatever it was called you did it & 45 mins swimming & enjoyed it & ate well. A great day! Well done :)
 
Wow, I am sore this morning and I believe it's mostly from the swimming and hardly at all from lifting. It feels right but I wasn't expecting that from the swimming.

I think these are some of the muscles in the upper body that are worked with the freestyle stroke:
primary: anterior and posterior deltoids, pectoral, anteriror serratus, latissimus dorsi, triceps, rotator cuff (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis)
secondary: trapezius, biceps, external oblique (outer ab muscles), rectus abdominis

I think it's my delts and probably rotator cuff muscles that are sore this morning and maybe a little bit of my traps. Triceps too. Not really biceps or pecs although I targeted those.
 
This is the end of day 7 of full rest off all knee-involved exercise. I can feel pain in my knee, hamstring, glute, calf, and bottom of my foot sometimes.

I went swimming again. 60 minutes, freestyle. Gave me a great mood boost. I also did 3 sets each leg on the glute machine and 3 sets on the hip abductor machine.

I'm having difficulty with cravings in the evenings. That's a pretty well-defined issue I need to work on. I ate well but I ate too much. The swimming helps with my appetite but not enough.

6.3k steps. About 3k calories out according to my Fitbit.
 
Great about the swimming. :) I can identify all too closely with
bensanon said:
I ate well but I ate too much.
Click to expand...
I guess at least we're not putting rubbish into our systems. Solidarity for working out a way to deal with after-dinner cravings.
 
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