Basically, I felt like I was coming down with a cold Saturday night. Sunday I felt it and new I had gotten sick, and come time to wake up for my first day of work, and I felt like shit. But it was time to get moving. I hung around for a couple hours before I actually had something to do. The crew leaders were just finishing up some lab work. After the other 2 interns arrived (I got there Sunday night, they made it there Monday morning), we got started on some mundane work. We simply had to attach 3 vials to a flag, over and over again. Took us around 90 minutes for us to finish up 200 flags. The vials have fluorescein in them; the vials (attached to flags) go into the water in the evening, and then 24 hours later we retrieve them. Doing lab work on Wednesday, we'll be able to measure how much photodegradation has occured over the last 24 hours in the streams.
Before we ditched the vials out there, we were going to get our feet wet (literally) out in the field to start us off. We went to a stream that took us 45 minutes of driving to get to, and that has pretty rough terrain to walk through. Dana Warren, Matt's (grad student) advisor and our PI, tagged along to help us out. I didn't have waders on, which proved to be a problem. I eventually slipped my feet into the stream which got my feet completely soaked. Oh well. But it was tough work still. We measured out a couple hundred meters of the stream, as well as took some measurements of the stream (called bankfull and wetted measurements), which are part of our habitat survey. This took a couple hours. Also, as I was attempting to catch up to a few people, I must have walked through a bee nest or something, because I ended up getting stung twice on my legs. If only I had my waders, then I wouldn't have gotten stung. But oh well, no problem. Tired as hell, plus with me being sick I was extremely wiped out at this point), we went back to HJA. However, an hour later, we needed to go back out to place the fluorescein. Matt ended up telling me to stay back and rest, since I was feeling pretty crappy and looked pretty crappy too. So I finished off my night by just relaxing on a couch for quite a few hours. But I was told that everything was successful, and they ended up leaving around 6:30 and got back at 10:15. Was a long work day.
Stay fancy.
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
Day 0 - A New Adventure
Yes I know, I was going to write in my blog. Didn't happen. Let's move on. Instead, I'm working out at the HJ Andrews Forest about an hour east of Eugene, working on a graduate student's stream ecology project. I am going to try to write about every single day, just to do some writing, keep myself busy during my relaxation time, and to let people know how things go. I'll try to post pictures as well, but no promises about what I'm working on, as I don't know if I'll many opportunities to snap pictures while working. I will have lots of free time, which will be my time to take pictures for everyone.
So Sunday, June 29th, I arrived at around 7 PM, and didn't really do anything. Just met a few people that are staying here as well, played some Beer Frisbee, and went to bed. The drive out here was amazing on Hwy 126 after Springfield. Even further down the highway I bet is better. We're basically stationed right next to the Blue River Reservoir, which is next to Blue River (I recently found out that is a town, and I assumed when I saw Blue River on the map, that it was in fact a river). It's nothing but beautiful forests here and this stellar reservoir right next to us. I'm planning on lots of fishing this summer.
Beer Frisbee - Just what it sounds like. You mix frisbee, horseshoes, beerpong, and you've got Beer Frisbee. Basically, two posts, each with a beer bottle on it. You are trying to knock over your opponent's beer bottle with the frisbee, with a drink in your hand. First to 21 points wins.
My posts will be pretty short, but frequent (trying for every day, or at least a post about every day).
Stay fancy.
So Sunday, June 29th, I arrived at around 7 PM, and didn't really do anything. Just met a few people that are staying here as well, played some Beer Frisbee, and went to bed. The drive out here was amazing on Hwy 126 after Springfield. Even further down the highway I bet is better. We're basically stationed right next to the Blue River Reservoir, which is next to Blue River (I recently found out that is a town, and I assumed when I saw Blue River on the map, that it was in fact a river). It's nothing but beautiful forests here and this stellar reservoir right next to us. I'm planning on lots of fishing this summer.
Beer Frisbee - Just what it sounds like. You mix frisbee, horseshoes, beerpong, and you've got Beer Frisbee. Basically, two posts, each with a beer bottle on it. You are trying to knock over your opponent's beer bottle with the frisbee, with a drink in your hand. First to 21 points wins.
My posts will be pretty short, but frequent (trying for every day, or at least a post about every day).
Stay fancy.
Saturday, February 15, 2014
My Return
Well, this is awkward. For a while, I kept telling myself, "Just write up a blog post today or tomorrow, and keep going with it." Except, I never listened to myself, and it never happened. I didn't feel as if I had much to say in a blog as well. Then, I got pretty busy with work in late March and on through September. Then school came around and I simply forgot about my blog. So, here I am. Except already it has been a year. This is quite shameful in my opinion, but then again, I really did not feel like writing very much at the time. However, let us not dwell on the past, but rather look towards the future.
During the time that I have been absent from my blog, I have managed to unfortunately gain back weight. It primarily started from working a lot and eating lots of unhealthy foods. I managed to get down to 194 pounds last March, which was amazing for me. I fell from this and gained back weight due to being careless and not managing my health well. It continued and over the course of 8 months or so, I have gotten back up to 240 pounds. It is just awful. I am ashamed of myself for letting it happen, but I do not want to dwell on that. When I work, I often am too tired and exhausted to work out. But I also eat too much food to compensate for the exhaustion. It's a bad habit of mine during the summer. So that began the process. But I also started back at Oregon State to continue school. Let me tell you, I'd rather be a little overweight and successful with my education, than a normal weight and not ever achieve a degree. Overall, I'm happy. But I could be happier.
I decided to change my major from Zoology to Fisheries and Wildlife. I decided this would be a better fit and the possible career opportunities that come from this degree interest me more than zoology would. I had to get my grades up, after a pitiful few terms of not caring about school, before I could officially transfer majors/colleges (College of Science to College of Agriculture). As of 2/13, I am officially a Fisheries and Wildlife student. I'm very interested in conservation, and I hope to be able to work with organizations to help support our wildlife, especially struggling species. I was able to do this by getting my grades up in fall term, with all As and Bs. Now, most of this came from easy classes, including a writing course. But what I liked about these classes was that they required a lot of easy work. This was able to help me transition from not being in school and having a lack of motivation, to doing a lot of work, even if it was simple. I also found an interest in writing. My brother has been doing some writing of short stories and even published a novel recently. Both of these have made me wonder about doing some writing myself. I would love to get started with short stories, but I have had trouble beginning, mainly due to a lack of ideas. This is one reason why I decided to start writing in my blog again. Hopefully I can find some inspiration. The best way to write is just to start writing.
In other words, I enjoy writing; I'm having a good experience with school again; this transition in my life is a good one. And finally, I am actually enjoying many of my classes. I am taking Animal Behavior and Sustainability for the Common Good at OSU right now, and they're both amazing classes (although A.B. has had some troubles due to the first professor being really boring. But the usual professor for the course took over and it's much better now). I am looking forward to my future classes and experiences with this new department.
I will write more about this past year in order to catch up any readers on my life. But I can do that another day. For now, I want to mention that I will be changing this blog a little bit. First, yes, I want it to focus around a healthy lifestyle and to keep my motivated with exercise and healthy eating. But I have also started to cook more frequently. So I would also like to share my meals. Sometimes I might post a recipe, or just discuss the making of a meal. But I'd also like to share some pictures, so that my blog isn't just a wall of text. I also will post my cooked meals whether they're healthy or not. Sometimes you just need a delicious unhealthy meal.
Last night, I made a wonderful meal for Valentine's Day. Cornish game hens wrapped with bacon, spinach fettuccine alfredo with bacon, BBQ pork brisket, a simple salad, and some sparking rose wine. Lots of meat, but delicious.
Don't mind the clutter in the background, the apartment can be crowded at times and it's difficult to find homes for all of our belongings.
The brisket was labeled as "pork spareribs brisket" from the store, and it was only about a dollar per pound. I thought I would try it out. They're pretty good, but nowhere as tasty as beef brisket. I just baked it in the oven with a simple bbq sauce and brown sugar.
I make most of my game hens the same way, bake it in the oven for around an hour, and rub it with some olive oil, paprika, pepper, oregano, basil, lemon pepper, a tad bit of garlic seasoning (we have some in the cupboard, I use it because I don't want to use too much garlic), and rosemary. But I also layered on 3 stripes of bacon, because we all know, bacon is delicious.
The alfredo didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. My mistake in order to cut down on some calories was using half and half rather than heavy cream. But it was still good. Spinach fettuccine with an alfredo sauce made from half and half, butter, and parmasan cheese. Also I added in some cut up pieces of bacon because I had a lot of leftover bacon. Nonetheless, delicious.
I think I'll leave it at that. If people want recipes, I can do that. Or if pictures are desired of the cooking process. I'm open to suggestions. It's not going to be solely a food blog, but I would like to share my new found passions of cooking, writing, and trying to lead a healthier lifestyle again. Until next time, stay fancy.
During the time that I have been absent from my blog, I have managed to unfortunately gain back weight. It primarily started from working a lot and eating lots of unhealthy foods. I managed to get down to 194 pounds last March, which was amazing for me. I fell from this and gained back weight due to being careless and not managing my health well. It continued and over the course of 8 months or so, I have gotten back up to 240 pounds. It is just awful. I am ashamed of myself for letting it happen, but I do not want to dwell on that. When I work, I often am too tired and exhausted to work out. But I also eat too much food to compensate for the exhaustion. It's a bad habit of mine during the summer. So that began the process. But I also started back at Oregon State to continue school. Let me tell you, I'd rather be a little overweight and successful with my education, than a normal weight and not ever achieve a degree. Overall, I'm happy. But I could be happier.
I decided to change my major from Zoology to Fisheries and Wildlife. I decided this would be a better fit and the possible career opportunities that come from this degree interest me more than zoology would. I had to get my grades up, after a pitiful few terms of not caring about school, before I could officially transfer majors/colleges (College of Science to College of Agriculture). As of 2/13, I am officially a Fisheries and Wildlife student. I'm very interested in conservation, and I hope to be able to work with organizations to help support our wildlife, especially struggling species. I was able to do this by getting my grades up in fall term, with all As and Bs. Now, most of this came from easy classes, including a writing course. But what I liked about these classes was that they required a lot of easy work. This was able to help me transition from not being in school and having a lack of motivation, to doing a lot of work, even if it was simple. I also found an interest in writing. My brother has been doing some writing of short stories and even published a novel recently. Both of these have made me wonder about doing some writing myself. I would love to get started with short stories, but I have had trouble beginning, mainly due to a lack of ideas. This is one reason why I decided to start writing in my blog again. Hopefully I can find some inspiration. The best way to write is just to start writing.
In other words, I enjoy writing; I'm having a good experience with school again; this transition in my life is a good one. And finally, I am actually enjoying many of my classes. I am taking Animal Behavior and Sustainability for the Common Good at OSU right now, and they're both amazing classes (although A.B. has had some troubles due to the first professor being really boring. But the usual professor for the course took over and it's much better now). I am looking forward to my future classes and experiences with this new department.
I will write more about this past year in order to catch up any readers on my life. But I can do that another day. For now, I want to mention that I will be changing this blog a little bit. First, yes, I want it to focus around a healthy lifestyle and to keep my motivated with exercise and healthy eating. But I have also started to cook more frequently. So I would also like to share my meals. Sometimes I might post a recipe, or just discuss the making of a meal. But I'd also like to share some pictures, so that my blog isn't just a wall of text. I also will post my cooked meals whether they're healthy or not. Sometimes you just need a delicious unhealthy meal.
Last night, I made a wonderful meal for Valentine's Day. Cornish game hens wrapped with bacon, spinach fettuccine alfredo with bacon, BBQ pork brisket, a simple salad, and some sparking rose wine. Lots of meat, but delicious.
The brisket was labeled as "pork spareribs brisket" from the store, and it was only about a dollar per pound. I thought I would try it out. They're pretty good, but nowhere as tasty as beef brisket. I just baked it in the oven with a simple bbq sauce and brown sugar.
I make most of my game hens the same way, bake it in the oven for around an hour, and rub it with some olive oil, paprika, pepper, oregano, basil, lemon pepper, a tad bit of garlic seasoning (we have some in the cupboard, I use it because I don't want to use too much garlic), and rosemary. But I also layered on 3 stripes of bacon, because we all know, bacon is delicious.
The alfredo didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. My mistake in order to cut down on some calories was using half and half rather than heavy cream. But it was still good. Spinach fettuccine with an alfredo sauce made from half and half, butter, and parmasan cheese. Also I added in some cut up pieces of bacon because I had a lot of leftover bacon. Nonetheless, delicious.
I think I'll leave it at that. If people want recipes, I can do that. Or if pictures are desired of the cooking process. I'm open to suggestions. It's not going to be solely a food blog, but I would like to share my new found passions of cooking, writing, and trying to lead a healthier lifestyle again. Until next time, stay fancy.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Making Progress Again
Before I touch on weight loss, this is just an update on my knee.
Went to the physical therapist a little bit after my last blog post, and things are doing well. They can tell that my knees and hips are much more superior to just a month ago, and things are really improving. My hips and quads are strong enough to start supporting my femur better, and now the only thing I need to really work on is form/technique. By that, I mean that when I do a squat, for instance, I need to make sure my knee is bending in the right way and that it's aligned properly, as well as how I walk and run. I need to focus on pointing my toes forward, and keeping my knee pointing straight towards my toes, rather than inwards. Now, I'm still working on my hip/quad strength, but I'm a lot stronger than I was. My knees are feeling better, and at my last appointment, I actually got on to a treadmill and did a bit of running to see how I could improve my form in order to help my knees. I need to work on keeping my knees straight of course, but also I should increase my cadence. Meaning that I need to increase my steps per minute. I run at around 140-144 steps per minute, and if I increase to 160-180 eventually, then there's less time I spend putting pressure on my legs because there's more contact between my foot and the ground per step when I run at a slower cadence. This doesn't mean that I need to run at a faster pace, but that my legs shouldn't be taking such long strides, I guess. Anyways, as I increase my pace, it will be easier to increase my steps per minute.
I actually did go for a run on Monday, and it was tough. Not on my knees, but tough because I haven't run in a while. It also was a bit harder because as I was trying to increase my steps per minute to a bit above 150, it was hard to run even a 10 minute pace (as in I was running faster than that, and it was hard to slow down my pace but keeping up my cadence). I'll be hoping to make it out and run tomorrow, we'll see how that goes. But it felt good to finally run. My knees are a bit sore today, which is why I didn't run today, but they weren't bad yesterday. Hopefully this is just a one time deal with knee pain. I should be icing them more... Sorry, I'm just rambling now. Went for a run, went poorly, but it was great to be out again. Things are looking up for my knees.
On to losing weight. As I got back to Corvallis in early January, I decided I needed to start counting calories again in order to control what I was eating. Plus, by counting calories, it also has helped keep up my motivation to eat healthy. Well, in just the first two weeks, I lost any weight that I gained during winter break. I had gained some weight because I wasn't staying active, due to keeping off my knees. At that point, I was back to about 212 pounds, which as you might remember, is 12 more than I weight back in June. For most of the summer, I weighed 205-210 just because I was focused more on work rather than losing any weight. Nonetheless, I'm now about 205 or 206 pounds. I was hoping to hit 200 again by March, but I'm having problems getting past 205 right now. Hopefully running will help. One problem is that I've only been doing my hip exercises, and other than that, just a bit of walking. So not much cardio or intensive workouts. But I'm working on it, and it's all a work in progress. One of these days, I'll finally be at a comfortable weight, but until then, just have to keep pressing on to meet my goals.
One thing that set me back was the Super Bowl. I decided to basically go all out and eat a bunch of junk food for a few days (leftovers after Sunday) and I definitely gained a couple pounds back, plus had a lot of sodium in my body, which retained a lot of water. So this week, I've actually been doing sort of a cleanse. Essentially, I limited all sodium, and reduced consumption of fats and sugars, as well as fake sugars (minus stevia in oatmeal). For the first two days, I didn't eat any meat, and focused all my attention on fruits and vegetables, as well as beans (not canned), edamame, and almonds. After that, I incorporated a little bit of meat, but also tried some tempeh, which was interesting. I've also been drinking lots of water, having green tea daily, and making sure to not eat after a certain time of night to prevent overeating before going to bed. Just reducing the sodium made me lose at least 3 pounds, so now I'm at a solid 205/206 weight. Luckily, this cleanse is helping my transition back into watching what I eat, since Super Bowl weekend threw me off a bit.
Speaking of food, I made some steelhead trout last night that was pretty good. I marinaded it for about 3 hours prior to cooking in 1/3 cup water, 1/3 cup teriyaki and soy sauce mixture (soy sauce was fine, but I wanted to use a bit of the teriyaki), 1/3 cup brown sugar, 3 minced garlic cloves, and a tad bit of honey. Also, threw in a few lemon slices as well. Then baked it with a bit of diced onion and more lemon slices, and sprinkled a bit more brown sugar on top of it. Was pretty darn good. But it was quite rich because of the brown sugar. Very tasty, and the first time I've ever cooked fish before.
And with that, I'm going to end this, because I'm not sure what else to say off the top of my head. So until next time, I'd enjoy it if you stayed fancy.
Went to the physical therapist a little bit after my last blog post, and things are doing well. They can tell that my knees and hips are much more superior to just a month ago, and things are really improving. My hips and quads are strong enough to start supporting my femur better, and now the only thing I need to really work on is form/technique. By that, I mean that when I do a squat, for instance, I need to make sure my knee is bending in the right way and that it's aligned properly, as well as how I walk and run. I need to focus on pointing my toes forward, and keeping my knee pointing straight towards my toes, rather than inwards. Now, I'm still working on my hip/quad strength, but I'm a lot stronger than I was. My knees are feeling better, and at my last appointment, I actually got on to a treadmill and did a bit of running to see how I could improve my form in order to help my knees. I need to work on keeping my knees straight of course, but also I should increase my cadence. Meaning that I need to increase my steps per minute. I run at around 140-144 steps per minute, and if I increase to 160-180 eventually, then there's less time I spend putting pressure on my legs because there's more contact between my foot and the ground per step when I run at a slower cadence. This doesn't mean that I need to run at a faster pace, but that my legs shouldn't be taking such long strides, I guess. Anyways, as I increase my pace, it will be easier to increase my steps per minute.
I actually did go for a run on Monday, and it was tough. Not on my knees, but tough because I haven't run in a while. It also was a bit harder because as I was trying to increase my steps per minute to a bit above 150, it was hard to run even a 10 minute pace (as in I was running faster than that, and it was hard to slow down my pace but keeping up my cadence). I'll be hoping to make it out and run tomorrow, we'll see how that goes. But it felt good to finally run. My knees are a bit sore today, which is why I didn't run today, but they weren't bad yesterday. Hopefully this is just a one time deal with knee pain. I should be icing them more... Sorry, I'm just rambling now. Went for a run, went poorly, but it was great to be out again. Things are looking up for my knees.
On to losing weight. As I got back to Corvallis in early January, I decided I needed to start counting calories again in order to control what I was eating. Plus, by counting calories, it also has helped keep up my motivation to eat healthy. Well, in just the first two weeks, I lost any weight that I gained during winter break. I had gained some weight because I wasn't staying active, due to keeping off my knees. At that point, I was back to about 212 pounds, which as you might remember, is 12 more than I weight back in June. For most of the summer, I weighed 205-210 just because I was focused more on work rather than losing any weight. Nonetheless, I'm now about 205 or 206 pounds. I was hoping to hit 200 again by March, but I'm having problems getting past 205 right now. Hopefully running will help. One problem is that I've only been doing my hip exercises, and other than that, just a bit of walking. So not much cardio or intensive workouts. But I'm working on it, and it's all a work in progress. One of these days, I'll finally be at a comfortable weight, but until then, just have to keep pressing on to meet my goals.
One thing that set me back was the Super Bowl. I decided to basically go all out and eat a bunch of junk food for a few days (leftovers after Sunday) and I definitely gained a couple pounds back, plus had a lot of sodium in my body, which retained a lot of water. So this week, I've actually been doing sort of a cleanse. Essentially, I limited all sodium, and reduced consumption of fats and sugars, as well as fake sugars (minus stevia in oatmeal). For the first two days, I didn't eat any meat, and focused all my attention on fruits and vegetables, as well as beans (not canned), edamame, and almonds. After that, I incorporated a little bit of meat, but also tried some tempeh, which was interesting. I've also been drinking lots of water, having green tea daily, and making sure to not eat after a certain time of night to prevent overeating before going to bed. Just reducing the sodium made me lose at least 3 pounds, so now I'm at a solid 205/206 weight. Luckily, this cleanse is helping my transition back into watching what I eat, since Super Bowl weekend threw me off a bit.
Speaking of food, I made some steelhead trout last night that was pretty good. I marinaded it for about 3 hours prior to cooking in 1/3 cup water, 1/3 cup teriyaki and soy sauce mixture (soy sauce was fine, but I wanted to use a bit of the teriyaki), 1/3 cup brown sugar, 3 minced garlic cloves, and a tad bit of honey. Also, threw in a few lemon slices as well. Then baked it with a bit of diced onion and more lemon slices, and sprinkled a bit more brown sugar on top of it. Was pretty darn good. But it was quite rich because of the brown sugar. Very tasty, and the first time I've ever cooked fish before.
And with that, I'm going to end this, because I'm not sure what else to say off the top of my head. So until next time, I'd enjoy it if you stayed fancy.
Friday, February 1, 2013
My Hips Don't Lie
Sorry for pulling a Shakira on you, but it's true, they don't lie.
I apologize for not updating my blog at all recently. I didn't really feel like posting anything throughout December, and then in January, I kept forgetting to write up anything. Well, it's time to change that.
I last left off in early December, just shortly before I had a doctor's appointment. It was simple physical/check up exam to see how everything was going. I NEEDED to raise a question about my knee, because nothing was getting better, and it's necessary to have healthy legs if I ever want to run again. Currently, I am not running, as my knee(s) just can't handle it. Now, I feel discomfort every single day. I put up with it, but when it does hurt, my knee can hurt pretty badly. So anyways, everything is good in the health department. I got a blood test to see how things have improved after losing so much weight, and things are looking really good. It was amazing to see my test results only improve. But I also asked about my knee. He said that it appeared that there was some sort of alignment issue with my femur and kneecap, and that I should go to Physical Therapy to get a better idea on what's wrong and what I should do to fix it. He also recommended to check out a chiropractor to see if that could help at all. Needless to say, I did both.
About two weeks ago, I finally made the appointments for PT and a chiropractor. I kept putting it off due to working during the break, and that I just didn't feel like calling to make an appointment. However, the day I moved back to Corvallis, I spent a lot of time walking up and down stairs, and it really got to me knee. That night was the worst pain my knee has endured. I had to get a brace the next day, and I quickly called to set up the appointments. I went to the chiropractor first, and she said that she agreed with my doctor - there was an alignment issue with my femur and kneecap, and because of that, it was causing a lot of inflammation behind my kneecap, which prevented it from healing, even while resting for long periods of time (for example, an entire month, i.e. winter break, of doing no physical exercise). She wanted to see me a few times for some adjustments to help quicken the pace of my recovery. No complaint there, the adjustments are nice. Relieves some pressure, and just makes my legs feel a bit better in general. So I've now had 3 appointments with her, and she says that she can notice the different in how she adjusts my tibia or fibula, I forget which she said), and has noticed some looseness (that's good) in my hips. Well, the reason things have gotten a bit better is due to my PT.
I got the complete news at my first PT appointment. My femur is malaligned with my kneecap, meaning that when it bends, my femur is bending inwards. It's not something I have ever noticed, but when I do a squat, my knees bend inwards very slightly. But the fact that I've always been a heavy guy, and that slight alignment issue has caused some serious pain issues. The reason why my femur is doing that? My hips. That is why my hips, in fact, do not lie. Apparently, I have, well, in proportion to my body size and the rest of my leg muscles, week hips. In reality, they're about average for someone smaller than me. But this means that my hips aren't able to support my femur properly, thus, causing me knee issues. This isn't an uncommon problem, and in fact the common name for it is runner's knee. It's exactly what I thought the problem was prior to seeing the doctor, so it was nice to know that I was at least correct on my self-diagnosis.
A part of me almost wished that I needed surgery or something, just for a quick fix, some recovery time, and voila. The main reasoning was because of the fact that I could rest for an entire month and my knee would get worse. But, I'm on the right track. I need to strengthen my hips. I started off with a few basic exercises for my hips/upper legs and after two weeks, felt no difference. I had another PT appointment yesterday for a check up. Firstly, they didn't expect much of an improvement after two weeks, considering that it should take 4-6 weeks before I could think about running again. Secondly, I found out that I wasn't really working my muscles as well as I should have been. I needed to really emphasize a few muscles while holding a certain exercise. So now I'm doing those properly, and they added two more exercises to my repertoire - two different kinds of squats. I hadn't realized that when I was doing squats previously, that my knees were bending in slightly, and now I'm supposed to make sure that when my legs bend, that my knee is pointed straight. So in order to do that, I have to purposefully feel as if I'm pointing them outwards. It feels slightly abnormal, since it's just slightly different than what I'm used to. But I can notice the difference. It's working my muscles differently, and it puts less strain on my knees, WHICH IS SO NICE. I can still feel the slight discomfort in my knees today that I always feel, but everytime my knees bend, I'm conscious about keeping them aligned properly (straight, to my middle toe or so) and I can tell that there isn't as much pressure on my bad knees. Also, the grinding noise that I've had for over a year now, is diminished when I bend my knees properly. So it looks like I should be seeing some real improvement over the next two weeks. I'm sure hopeful to see improvement. I need it.
That's all I will talk about for now. Basically, my knees are still screwed up, and it's all because of my stupid hips. Strengthening them should fix the problem, but it'll take some time and a lot of effort. Each workout takes around 45-60 minutes, just for my hips. But it's all for the better. I hope to be running by March. It should really help with weight loss. Speaking of which, I have gotten back into losing weight successfully, and I'll touch on that topic in my next post. But until then, stay fancy.
I apologize for not updating my blog at all recently. I didn't really feel like posting anything throughout December, and then in January, I kept forgetting to write up anything. Well, it's time to change that.
I last left off in early December, just shortly before I had a doctor's appointment. It was simple physical/check up exam to see how everything was going. I NEEDED to raise a question about my knee, because nothing was getting better, and it's necessary to have healthy legs if I ever want to run again. Currently, I am not running, as my knee(s) just can't handle it. Now, I feel discomfort every single day. I put up with it, but when it does hurt, my knee can hurt pretty badly. So anyways, everything is good in the health department. I got a blood test to see how things have improved after losing so much weight, and things are looking really good. It was amazing to see my test results only improve. But I also asked about my knee. He said that it appeared that there was some sort of alignment issue with my femur and kneecap, and that I should go to Physical Therapy to get a better idea on what's wrong and what I should do to fix it. He also recommended to check out a chiropractor to see if that could help at all. Needless to say, I did both.
About two weeks ago, I finally made the appointments for PT and a chiropractor. I kept putting it off due to working during the break, and that I just didn't feel like calling to make an appointment. However, the day I moved back to Corvallis, I spent a lot of time walking up and down stairs, and it really got to me knee. That night was the worst pain my knee has endured. I had to get a brace the next day, and I quickly called to set up the appointments. I went to the chiropractor first, and she said that she agreed with my doctor - there was an alignment issue with my femur and kneecap, and because of that, it was causing a lot of inflammation behind my kneecap, which prevented it from healing, even while resting for long periods of time (for example, an entire month, i.e. winter break, of doing no physical exercise). She wanted to see me a few times for some adjustments to help quicken the pace of my recovery. No complaint there, the adjustments are nice. Relieves some pressure, and just makes my legs feel a bit better in general. So I've now had 3 appointments with her, and she says that she can notice the different in how she adjusts my tibia or fibula, I forget which she said), and has noticed some looseness (that's good) in my hips. Well, the reason things have gotten a bit better is due to my PT.
I got the complete news at my first PT appointment. My femur is malaligned with my kneecap, meaning that when it bends, my femur is bending inwards. It's not something I have ever noticed, but when I do a squat, my knees bend inwards very slightly. But the fact that I've always been a heavy guy, and that slight alignment issue has caused some serious pain issues. The reason why my femur is doing that? My hips. That is why my hips, in fact, do not lie. Apparently, I have, well, in proportion to my body size and the rest of my leg muscles, week hips. In reality, they're about average for someone smaller than me. But this means that my hips aren't able to support my femur properly, thus, causing me knee issues. This isn't an uncommon problem, and in fact the common name for it is runner's knee. It's exactly what I thought the problem was prior to seeing the doctor, so it was nice to know that I was at least correct on my self-diagnosis.
A part of me almost wished that I needed surgery or something, just for a quick fix, some recovery time, and voila. The main reasoning was because of the fact that I could rest for an entire month and my knee would get worse. But, I'm on the right track. I need to strengthen my hips. I started off with a few basic exercises for my hips/upper legs and after two weeks, felt no difference. I had another PT appointment yesterday for a check up. Firstly, they didn't expect much of an improvement after two weeks, considering that it should take 4-6 weeks before I could think about running again. Secondly, I found out that I wasn't really working my muscles as well as I should have been. I needed to really emphasize a few muscles while holding a certain exercise. So now I'm doing those properly, and they added two more exercises to my repertoire - two different kinds of squats. I hadn't realized that when I was doing squats previously, that my knees were bending in slightly, and now I'm supposed to make sure that when my legs bend, that my knee is pointed straight. So in order to do that, I have to purposefully feel as if I'm pointing them outwards. It feels slightly abnormal, since it's just slightly different than what I'm used to. But I can notice the difference. It's working my muscles differently, and it puts less strain on my knees, WHICH IS SO NICE. I can still feel the slight discomfort in my knees today that I always feel, but everytime my knees bend, I'm conscious about keeping them aligned properly (straight, to my middle toe or so) and I can tell that there isn't as much pressure on my bad knees. Also, the grinding noise that I've had for over a year now, is diminished when I bend my knees properly. So it looks like I should be seeing some real improvement over the next two weeks. I'm sure hopeful to see improvement. I need it.
That's all I will talk about for now. Basically, my knees are still screwed up, and it's all because of my stupid hips. Strengthening them should fix the problem, but it'll take some time and a lot of effort. Each workout takes around 45-60 minutes, just for my hips. But it's all for the better. I hope to be running by March. It should really help with weight loss. Speaking of which, I have gotten back into losing weight successfully, and I'll touch on that topic in my next post. But until then, stay fancy.
Friday, December 7, 2012
Lack of Motivation
I'd have to say the main reason why I haven't been updating my blog is due to my motivation. I keep telling myself that I'll continue a good eating pattern and that I'll increase my workouts in order to lose more weight, but it just never happens. I'm not sure why, but something has been hindering me.
I decided to write this blog because I've had a really tough day, and just want to write about things (not to do with my day, just life in general). So, my knee hasn't gotten better, and in fact, it may have gotten worse. I have a doctor's appointment scheduled for next week, and I really hope that we can figure out something in order to make my knee better. My left knee is starting to get kind of bad, I assume due to having to compensate for my hurt right knee. It's not horrible, but it definitely gets uncomfortable sometimes when I exercise. Nonetheless, my right knee has been bad, and I'm really starting to worry at this point, since it's been over a year and has only gotten worse. Hopefully we'll learn something next week.
Other than that, I was running some, then decided to take some time off again. Instead, after Thanksgiving, I spent some time workin stength training at my apartment with resistance bands, which was a nice change of things. Also was going to Dixon recently to be able to do some cardio without ending up running on pavement. Running on a treadmill has been nice. It's been much easier on my knees, and I really do prefer running for my cardio. I feel as if it gives me the best cardio workout.
However, no weight has been lost. I've just been maintaining. But now I'm home for the holidays, and I'm hoping that will help control my snacking, which has been my biggest flaw in my eating habits. Grabbing a bag of chips or some candy while in Corvallis, and quite frequently, has been a big problem. So like I said, being home might change that. Definitely have some healthier snacks around the house, and at least so far, I haven't been eating tons while here. But, I'll need to make sure to keep exercising, otherwise, what's the point of trying if I'm not working on both a healthy diet and regular exercise? But, I think I will keep things fairly mild until I see the doctor. Maybe after that, I'll have a better idea of what I can and should be doing.
Other than that, not much is going on. I'll be working in camp again this winter (Tiger Camp, or 1st graders), and I'm excited for that. I'm also glad it's the holidays. As I mentioned earlier, I've had a really rough day, but I'm hoping it won't be like this for most of the break. I really just want to be able to enjoy myself during the break. Not to mention things can be a bit tough for me around this time. It's great to have a lot of family now around this time, but knowing everyone I've lost can make things hard.
I feel like I'm rambling. I'm not really myself today, and I've just been needing to keep myself busy today to keep my mind preoccupied. I really should get some sleep, as I will be needing to wake up fairly early tomorrow morning. So until next time, stay fancy.
I decided to write this blog because I've had a really tough day, and just want to write about things (not to do with my day, just life in general). So, my knee hasn't gotten better, and in fact, it may have gotten worse. I have a doctor's appointment scheduled for next week, and I really hope that we can figure out something in order to make my knee better. My left knee is starting to get kind of bad, I assume due to having to compensate for my hurt right knee. It's not horrible, but it definitely gets uncomfortable sometimes when I exercise. Nonetheless, my right knee has been bad, and I'm really starting to worry at this point, since it's been over a year and has only gotten worse. Hopefully we'll learn something next week.
Other than that, I was running some, then decided to take some time off again. Instead, after Thanksgiving, I spent some time workin stength training at my apartment with resistance bands, which was a nice change of things. Also was going to Dixon recently to be able to do some cardio without ending up running on pavement. Running on a treadmill has been nice. It's been much easier on my knees, and I really do prefer running for my cardio. I feel as if it gives me the best cardio workout.
However, no weight has been lost. I've just been maintaining. But now I'm home for the holidays, and I'm hoping that will help control my snacking, which has been my biggest flaw in my eating habits. Grabbing a bag of chips or some candy while in Corvallis, and quite frequently, has been a big problem. So like I said, being home might change that. Definitely have some healthier snacks around the house, and at least so far, I haven't been eating tons while here. But, I'll need to make sure to keep exercising, otherwise, what's the point of trying if I'm not working on both a healthy diet and regular exercise? But, I think I will keep things fairly mild until I see the doctor. Maybe after that, I'll have a better idea of what I can and should be doing.
Other than that, not much is going on. I'll be working in camp again this winter (Tiger Camp, or 1st graders), and I'm excited for that. I'm also glad it's the holidays. As I mentioned earlier, I've had a really rough day, but I'm hoping it won't be like this for most of the break. I really just want to be able to enjoy myself during the break. Not to mention things can be a bit tough for me around this time. It's great to have a lot of family now around this time, but knowing everyone I've lost can make things hard.
I feel like I'm rambling. I'm not really myself today, and I've just been needing to keep myself busy today to keep my mind preoccupied. I really should get some sleep, as I will be needing to wake up fairly early tomorrow morning. So until next time, stay fancy.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Back in Action
I keep telling myself that I'll update my blog more frequently. The problem as of recently is that I haven't had much to talk about. I haven't been as active as I'd like due to my knee, and I've found myself making occasional mistakes with my snacking habits which set me back a bit. In reality, I haven't done much to lose weight - it's been primarily to maintain my weight. Luckily, that has been the case, and my weight has been fluctuating between 205 and 209 pounds, which is fine by me. But, I'd like to change that.
The last week or two, I have found myself making it to Dixon more often - the only times that I ended up flaking out on going, was just because I decided to rest my knee rather than putting stress on it. I've been spending a lot of time on the ellipticals, because really, it's the only thing that I can do without making my knee uncomfortable. I can ride a bike, but for a maximum of 20 minutes, maybe 30 if I'm taking it easy. I shot hoops one day for 20 minutes and the jumping really got to my knee and I had a lot of knee pain for an hour or so. And of course, running is out of the question at the moment. Even more than 30 minutes on an elliptical can be stressful on my knee. But usually it's just uncomfortable during the exercise, and doesn't really affect me by the time I'm back home from the gym.
So, I'm trying to be more proactive about making it to the gym, even for half an hour. I need to be more active, and one problem is when I rest, I end up doing nothing during the day. Just getting to the gym for a bit will really improve my activity. But I'm also working on eating a bit better.
I've had a problem with snacking. One example is buying a bag of chips, and eating nearly all of it in one sitting. It's disgusting, but I've just been getting cravings lately. Because of that, I'm focusing on redirecting my attention towards healthy snacks, that I can just continuously chew on, that way, I'm not ingesting tons of calories. Part of my snacking is late at night, I just want to eat, even if I'm not hungry. So finding healthy and low calorie alternatives will be a good move for me. That will be a big focus for me, is just watching what I snack on, and making better choices.
Since I've been just maintaining my weight, and not really losing any, I've decided I need to set another goal. My goal last year, to hit 200 (which of course I'm now just barely above) by my birthday, really motivated me to work harder, especially when I saw the number on the scale dropping every week. Because of that, I figured it would be a smart decision to start up another numerical goal for my weight. And for that, I've decided to set a goal to weigh 183, by my birthday again. That would put my BMI at 24.8, or just in the range of Normal Weight according to BMI standards. Easy, right? I'm keeping this goal much simpler, for two big reasons. One, I weigh less than I did a year ago, and as I lose more and more weight, it obviously becomes harder to lose a pound. Second, I'm not running anymore. That was the ignition behind my massive weight loss last spring, was just running. It helped so much, motivation to become a better runner, and also that it was giving me amazing results. But that's not a viable option for now, and I've found that I lose weight slower when I'm working out at the gym, instead of running. 25 pounds is still a lot of weight, especially at my current weight and height, and it will still be a tough challenge. I am also creating an optimistic goal to weigh 175 by my birthday. Similar to last year, I had both a realistic goal, and an optimistic goal. One I knew I could reach as long as I kept up the effort, and another that I was hoping I'd reach, but knew it'd be tough to accomplish. 175 seems like a nice number for me, and I would be pleasantly happy weighing that much for the rest of my life. I also chose my birthday for my goal mainly because I have no idea how long this will take me.
So there you have it. Trying to crack down on my snacking habits, and still making it to the gym a little bit more frequently. And also having another numerical goal for my weight - 183 to be considered Normal Weight by BMI standards, and 175 as an optimistic goal, by my birthday in June.
I plan to post more often, I just need to make sure I have something to talk about. Until then, stay fancy.
The last week or two, I have found myself making it to Dixon more often - the only times that I ended up flaking out on going, was just because I decided to rest my knee rather than putting stress on it. I've been spending a lot of time on the ellipticals, because really, it's the only thing that I can do without making my knee uncomfortable. I can ride a bike, but for a maximum of 20 minutes, maybe 30 if I'm taking it easy. I shot hoops one day for 20 minutes and the jumping really got to my knee and I had a lot of knee pain for an hour or so. And of course, running is out of the question at the moment. Even more than 30 minutes on an elliptical can be stressful on my knee. But usually it's just uncomfortable during the exercise, and doesn't really affect me by the time I'm back home from the gym.
So, I'm trying to be more proactive about making it to the gym, even for half an hour. I need to be more active, and one problem is when I rest, I end up doing nothing during the day. Just getting to the gym for a bit will really improve my activity. But I'm also working on eating a bit better.
I've had a problem with snacking. One example is buying a bag of chips, and eating nearly all of it in one sitting. It's disgusting, but I've just been getting cravings lately. Because of that, I'm focusing on redirecting my attention towards healthy snacks, that I can just continuously chew on, that way, I'm not ingesting tons of calories. Part of my snacking is late at night, I just want to eat, even if I'm not hungry. So finding healthy and low calorie alternatives will be a good move for me. That will be a big focus for me, is just watching what I snack on, and making better choices.
Since I've been just maintaining my weight, and not really losing any, I've decided I need to set another goal. My goal last year, to hit 200 (which of course I'm now just barely above) by my birthday, really motivated me to work harder, especially when I saw the number on the scale dropping every week. Because of that, I figured it would be a smart decision to start up another numerical goal for my weight. And for that, I've decided to set a goal to weigh 183, by my birthday again. That would put my BMI at 24.8, or just in the range of Normal Weight according to BMI standards. Easy, right? I'm keeping this goal much simpler, for two big reasons. One, I weigh less than I did a year ago, and as I lose more and more weight, it obviously becomes harder to lose a pound. Second, I'm not running anymore. That was the ignition behind my massive weight loss last spring, was just running. It helped so much, motivation to become a better runner, and also that it was giving me amazing results. But that's not a viable option for now, and I've found that I lose weight slower when I'm working out at the gym, instead of running. 25 pounds is still a lot of weight, especially at my current weight and height, and it will still be a tough challenge. I am also creating an optimistic goal to weigh 175 by my birthday. Similar to last year, I had both a realistic goal, and an optimistic goal. One I knew I could reach as long as I kept up the effort, and another that I was hoping I'd reach, but knew it'd be tough to accomplish. 175 seems like a nice number for me, and I would be pleasantly happy weighing that much for the rest of my life. I also chose my birthday for my goal mainly because I have no idea how long this will take me.
So there you have it. Trying to crack down on my snacking habits, and still making it to the gym a little bit more frequently. And also having another numerical goal for my weight - 183 to be considered Normal Weight by BMI standards, and 175 as an optimistic goal, by my birthday in June.
I plan to post more often, I just need to make sure I have something to talk about. Until then, stay fancy.
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