So, the medial and lateral degeneration (A) will likely build up calcium deposits what will chip off and I'll have to get removed. This happens as the pad basically start wearing out.
And then the degenerative disease in my tendon (B) will only get worse. The more I run on it, the worse its going to get. No way around that.
But he referred me to a sports medicine orthopedic specialist who can help teach me things that will allow me to continue running. He said the specialist can show me exercises that can be done to help compensate for the weaknesses and recommend ways of running or equipment to wear to help compensate.
But the part that bothered me the most is that he said degeneration like this is normal in someone who's in their 50s and 60s but not in their 40s. I forgot to ask him, but I'll bet its because I've been twice my normal weight most of my life.
All this time, I thought I was perfectly healthy being overweight. I always got great check ups. No high blood pressure. No high blood sugar. No abnormalities in my liver or kidneys. No high cholesterol. EKGs always perfect. I've always been in perfect health, even when I was almost 300 lbs. But I guess I wasn't.
I've made my knees 20 years older than they really should be.
I've also been having pains in my upper arms, but in the bones, not the muscles. It hurts when I have to lift them above my head. And heaven forbid if I wake up in the middle of the night with my arms above my head! Its excruciating!
He said that might be related to the degenerative disease. So when I go to the specialist, I'm going to mention it to him and see if there's anything that can be done about that as well.
I'm suddenly feeling so old. :|
On the flip side, my weight loss is going strong. I lost another 4/10ths this past week. That's 5 weeks in a row, now, that I've had a loss.
I've lost a total of 5 lbs over the past 4 weeks. Woo hoo!!!
I've got my head in the right place, now. I know I can do it this time. I want to be back down to below 100 lbs before my 3-year anniversary of starting Weight Watchers rolls around. That's on May 12th of this year. I'm only 2.2 lbs away from that goal, so I really should have no problem reaching it.
Would be really cool if I could reach my Weight Watchers goal of 155 lbs by then. I'm not going to set myself up for failure, though. The old me would have figured out how many weeks it is between now and May 12th and figured out how much weight I would have to lose each week to be at goal by then. But I'm not going to do that to myself. I've learned that I don't work well under pressure—weight loss pressure, that is.
Nope, I'm going to take it one day at a time, one week at a time and we'll see where I am by then. All I know now is that I'm on the right track.
The funny thing is that I've known how to do this all along, I just didn't do it. I guess I'm the type who likes to find out how to beat the system and then get by with as little work as possible to accomplish the goal. Well, that does not work in weight loss! And its only taken me 3 years to learn that.
I think I know enough now about weight loss that I could write a book about it. I know what to eat, how much, when, what types of food are good and bad for weight loss, exercise, etc. I know how to lose weight. But the actual process of losing weight isn't what's been tripping me up, but I never realized that. Its the mental and emotional part of losing weight that's the hard part. That's the hidden danger for me.
Speaking of writing a book, I'm still reading though Dr. Colbert's "I Can Do This" Diet and its really getting good. He's so thorough. This last chapter, that I've reread twice now, is about cravings and why the body craves certain foods and how to stop cravings. Its very interesting. Maybe on my next blog, I'll share with you some of the things he talks about. It's really amazing.
But for now, no more running until I can see the specialist. I sure miss it. I'm afraid the longer I don't run, the hard it's going to be to get started running again. And it was so hard to get started.
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6 comments:
Well if you can't run is there any other exercise that you can do that won't put pressure on your knee (elliptical) or perhaps biking or low-impact aerobics or swimming. When I had a knee problem and couldn't run I found myself doing other activities.
Keep pushing. I know you can reach your goal!
Those folks who have serious joint problems yet need to exercise, would be advised to use Hydrotherapy. Where because you are essentially weightless, you can move joints without any wear and tear. Hook your arms by fair means or foul to the edge, and then 'cycle' - 'run' 'walk' 'frog legs' -- whatever you want. It will tide you over, keeps muscles supple and toned, and even use a few calories.
Blue~
Pssst! it also works well for shoulders too...get chin deep and move them about full rotations both directions - you know the stuff.
Blue~
Sorry to hear about your knee. How about bucycling? You are the one that inspired me last year bicycling. I already did 3 events of 26 miles last year and signed up for one in April. Anxiou to hear more about the book you are reading....might have to pick that up. Same situation here - know how to lose weight, jsut need to learn the how to keep it off part.
Five pounds in 4 weeks is great! I'm glad to hear your weight loss is going strong.
So sorry about the knee. I know it's hard to realize that maybe it wouldn't have been this bad had you not been overweight, but you need to focus on the fact that you have made yourself healthier NOW because of the good choices you've made. Even though you didn't have problems with your heart, blood pressure, etc. before doesn't mean you wouldn't have had them in the future if you'd let yourself stay overweight, so you have still done a great thing for your body. I agree with the other commenters about doing other exercises for now that are non-impact. Spinning is fantastic cardio that is pretty much non-impact on your knees, and the elliptical is great, too. Plus, I think it would actually be good for you to do these different exercises because your body has gotten so used to running that it will be a nice change for it do something else. Good luck with everything, Cara. :)
sorry about your knee, but happy for your wl!
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