Recovering.

Let me set a scene for you. Imagine a sixth-grade P.E. class. This Friday they're using roller skates on the gym floor as some sort of special exercise program. It's supposed to be a treat. Imagine a twelve-year-old brunette with hazel eyes who is scared to death of roller skates because she's only ever used roller blades. She has no coordination at all when it comes to maneuvering with the four wheels spread out. How does a person even use these things? Taking it slow, she makes her way around the gym once. Hey! This isn't so bad! She is starting to feel a bit more confident when a group of rowdy sixth-grade boys, skating the opposite way of the crowd, rushes her way. In a panic, she tries to get out of they're way.  But it's too late. One particularly large sixth grader collides with the girl, knocking her right smack dab on her tailbone. Suddenly all she can see is the fluorescent lights of the elementary school gym. She can't breathe. OH MY GOSH it hurts so bad.. In shock, she can't move. And there's the boy -- getting up and continuing his skate around the gym. "HEY! Ya big jerk! The least you owe me is an apology!" .. the words don't make it out of her mouth. All that escapes is a scream. Followed by several "ow ow ow"s. With the help of friends, she hobbles, in excruciating pain, to the nurse's office and waits for her dad to arrive and take her to the doctor. Several hours and lots of tears later, she finds out it's a tail-bone fracture and a shock to the spine. "I fractured my butt?!" You've gotta be kidding...

Fast-forward 8 years later. The same girl is sitting here with back problems she shouldn't have at only 20 years old. And they all stem from that stupid day in P.E. class. The big jerk didn't ever apologize, by the way. The shock to my spine left me out of alignment. Something I'm sure is fixable.. Its just never been addressed by a doctor, no matter how many times I tell them I have a lot of back pain. Because I'm out of line, I pinch nerves in my back ALL THE TIME. It literally happens at least once every two months. When I'm more active, working out, and stretching more often, it happens more often. When I pinch a nerve, the pain lasts several days and leaves me couch bound. This would all be fine and dandy if I wasn't trying to lose weight. This past Monday, I hit the gym. And it felt great! Got a great burn, felt all hot and sweaty, left with a big smile on my face. Tuesday I was ready to do Week 1, Day 3 of Couch to 5k! I'll just bend down and grab my headphones.. and bam. Pinched a nerve. Fell to my knees. Couldn't breathe. NOOOOOOOO! I laid on the floor a good 10 minutes before I crawled my way onto the couch. Worst timing ever. It really put a damper on my week and the things I was trying to accomplish! The pain made the thought of standing in the kitchen to make a meal sound like the most unappealing thing in this world. So I read a lot. Didn't eat enough. Obviously wasn't able to work out. Didn't drink enough water because that required walking. I felt like giving up, honestly. It would have been easier to order pizza and not worry about making my own meals. It would have been easy to get sucked back in to the TV. It would have been easy to just say F it. But I didn't! Luckily I've found some great support and they keep me going. Yeah, I was scolded for not eating enough.. but I think that's better than eating a large pizza. lol

So now I'm feeling better, recovered for now.. but I'm trying to take it easy and be cautious of the strain I put on myself. I don't want to be couch bound again for a looooong time. So today is day 2 of no back pain! Yesterday I did some of the Week 1, Day 3 C25K. But when I felt myself maybe pushing it too much, i went ahead and just walked the rest. I didn't mark that day as complete because I know it wasn't 100%. But at least I did something. Today I'm doing some light weight training (and by light, i mean like 5 pounds. lol) on my arms. Still taking it slow and easy. I'll probably go for a walk as well. But I'm really hitting the diet hard. My problem is getting enough calories! I managed to choke down a 400 calorie breakfast (PB and dark chocolate oatmeal) and a Luna bar so far. I'll talk more about these delicious discoveries later. :) Also upping my water intake since I used an ItWorks wrap last night! Maybe I'll actually see a bit of results since I'm actually drinking the correct amount of water! haha

Anyway, just wanted to update on how the weight loss/fitness stuff is going. So far, okay. lol I owe a lot of my motivation to friends I've made on MyFitnessPal.com as well as the Battle the Pooch facebook group I'm a part of. Lots of motivation coming from different directions. If you're on MyFitnessPal, add me - quinntendo :) Thanks guys! You're all awesome.

Tell me, have you ever fractured/broken a bone? What was it?