Friday again already! You know what that means, WEIGH-IN DAY.
Before I post the results, here’s a little bit about my week.
For the second week I couldn’t train as hard as I’d’ve liked. Nothing to do with wussing-out, everything to do with the iffy back I still have. It’s still pulling from just right of my spine up towards my underarm, making it feel like I’ve been stabbed, especially after workouts. Makes me feel momentarily short of breath sometimes and sitting or standing often makes it uncomfortable.
At times there’s just no respite so have to grin and bear it. When it gets that bad I cancel training simply because it’s already painful enough.
Been concentrating on honing my form but this pain still persists. There are times, often during/after workouts when I feel like something is trying to jump out of my back (more at the point towards the spine but not on it), like a weird pulsating sensation. I can handle that, but this then develops into the deep stabbing, throbbing pain described earlier which gets painful.
The pulsating sensation occasionally happens also after a swim and sometimes when I wake in the morning.
Wife seems to think it may be trapped nerve, does anyone have any ideas? Need to get to the bottom of it, we have a Physio friend we think I should have a chat to. We should see her at the hospital in the next week, poor thing, she’s another cancer patient.
Enough moaning, my week besides that was pretty good. I didn’t stray foodwise this week and upped fruit serves to 3 daily which has obviously worked wonders with sugar levels. Terry, I’ve had no dangerous, chronic sweet cravings this week! 
The protein powder has proved a bit of a help too when time is tight, though I’m careful to do my sums to ensure the added fat etc. does not hinder my diet calculations.
Terry, I know the Metabolic Drive was recommended for the wife (I talked to her about it but she’s reluctant, not about cost, she’s just like that sometimes) but the idea of using it at night if you’ve missed a meal was great advice for myself. It doesn’t happen often but it did last night!
A protein powder shake has proved much better after waking unexpectedly at midnight and realising I’ve missed a meal, rather than having to make a Tuna meal which before now always seemed to keep me awake for another 2 hours. The protein drink is made and downed in minutes and doesn’t keep me awake nearly as long when I’m wanting to get back to the ZZZ’s.
Back to the wife for a second though, despite not wanting to do the Metabolic Drive thing the good news is that her appetite is getting much more normal, her nausea is reducing and those muscles of hers must be improving because she’s even coming swimming with me now. She gets up to 1.2km done per session now. Bloody impressive for someone on chemotherapy I reckon.
There’s no way I’d be able to do what she can. It’s fantastic to see her making such a HUGE leap forward after her track record of being physically very weak thanks to some pretty intense drugs and being laid out in bed for prolonged periods.
BIG PROUD GRIN.
This week I’ve used swimming for cardio work. I’ve done an hour daily (2.5kms) in place of the running in order to be more gentle on the calves. I’m glad to say they’ve come good after a rest and they feel back to 100%. I’ll be running on 'em tomorrow after what seems like a looooong sabbatical. I know it’s kinda sad but I can’t wait!!!
Weights are still getting stronger (when I’ve done them!) with greater reps. Strange thing is though my bicep measurement is down this week which I’m a bit pissed about but then I put that down to fewer sessions thanks to my weird back.
The good side of the measurements is my chest which went back up in size this week. So I was pretty happy with that. Flat and Incline presses and flys are particularly stronger now, though the shoulders still crunch a bit! Oh, I burnt ANOTHER new hole in my belt on Wednesday thanks to the all-important reducing waistline!
I’m looking forward to cheat meal tomorrow, but this week I’m not nearly as desperate for it which is probably a good thing as the cravings seem to be under control again. I’m glad to report that I’ve consumed NO sugar or naughty stuff this week, not even on our Wednesday night out; believe it or not I managed to keep the diet clean.
Still, I shan’t miss my good old cheat meal tomorrow night. And a single donut still sounds nice for dessert!
I found a great article knocking around on the web some place about how plateauing weight happens to most people at some time or another who have chosen to pursue a healthier lifestyle and more nutritious eating habits.
I’m not sure you’ve explained this to me before Tampa-Terry (you might have, apologies if you did, I just can’t have been paying close enough attention!) but they detailed the CHEAT MEAL CONCEPT and the reason WHY it must be part of your new lifestyle plan when eating healthy, trying to lose weight, get fit, build muscle etc.
I now know that once the body has acclimatised to the new healthy foods and exercise, it can slow the metabolism back down and less weight loss occurs which can result in plateauing. By eating a cheat meal once a week it gives the body something unhealthy and different from what it has more recently become accustomed to and therefore kicks the body back into increasing your metabolism again.
I know this is duffers-speak and I might not have explained this particularly well but I at least I know WHY the once-weekly cheat meal is so important in a healthy eating plan and why missing them in punishment for naughty-food-sins ain’t a good idea. Not that I don’t take your word as good Terry, I was always unsure WHY it must be part of the weekly plan.
And like you say, they’re also there to allow you to enjoy yourself now and again, splurging, indulging and enjoying yourself with family and friends.
See, you learn something new every day. Not you lot, I’m sure you knew this simple piece of information already but I’m just a noob, remember?!
Well, that’s enough babble, I’m gonna add my stats now and go do the weekly shop.
Weight and measurements as of Friday 21st September (all changes stated are only in comparison to last week’s stats) look like this…
WEIGHT: 78.4kg = 173 lbs (down 2 lbs on last week)
R Arm: 32cm / 12.5�?? SMALLER BY 1cm (not enough weights?)
Chest: 100cm / 39.5�?? LARGER BY 1cm
Waist: 90cm / 35.5�?? SMALLER BY 1cm
Butt: 97.5cm / 38.4�?? SMALLER BY 0.5cm
R Thigh: 55cm / 21.6�?? NO CHANGE
R Calf: 40.5cm / 16�?? SMALLER BY 0.5cm
Till next time, happy lifting…
NF
