Month: May 2016

how I’m dealing with injury and why I’m a firm believer in physical therapy

~ loveandlunge ~ Leave a comment

I have been laying so low these days.  My step goals for the day have been blown and I’ve been enjoying more me time than usual on the weekends to focus on recovery.  This is very unlike me.  I’m a go go go person and taking some time to slow down is a necessary evil.

Spoiler alert: dealing with this injury right now is not my favorite thing.  It’s not my first injury rodeo though.  It comes with the territory for me, I’ve just accepted it, but because I’ve been around the block a time or two with this and I’ve got handling it down to a science.

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Here are my steps:

  • Rest.  Seriously.  Unless the activity that caused the injury is your full time job, take it off.  RICE it.  Rest-Ice-Compress-Elevate
  • Find a way to workout that doesn’t aggravate your injury.  This could be anything as long as it doesn’t involve you exacerbating your injury.  When I hurt my piriformis (fancy word for muscle in your butt) it hurt to do anything cardio related except bike, so biking it was with some weight training.  For my current injury, biking, ellipticalling, and weight training don’t bother it.  As Tim Gunn once said, “Make it Work”.
  • See a doctor f it lasts for more than a couple of days.  I am a big ole fan of ZocDoc.com.  I literally decided to go to the doctor on Thursday night and had an appointment booked for Friday.  Read some reviews and do some googling so you at least have somewhat of an idea of what’s going on and you can have an informed conversation with your doc.
  • Listen to your doctor.  In one ear and out the other doesn’t always work in this scenario.  All to often, doctors will tell patients to stop running for x amount of weeks or to take some time off, and they’ll take it as a light suggestion more than a requirement and just come back more injured than before. Take what he/she says to heart and listen.  If he/she prescribes physical therapy, do it and do it well.

Physical therapy is something I am all kinds of in favor of.  My first experience with PT was when I injured my IT Band a couple of years ago.  It hurt to walk with a stabbing, persistent pain and always felt like something was pulling my kneecap over across my leg.  I headed out to my first physical therapy appointment not knowing what to expect, but I ended up loving it.  When my doctor recommended it for this injury, I was more than game.

What do I love most about Physical Therapists?  They can pinpoint the bigger issue behind your injury.  Sure, when I injured my IT band, I could have just taken a couple of months off and gotten back to running on my own, but I assure you my injury would have come back very shortly.  The whole issue stemmed from my glute muscles being weak, so I worked really hard to build strength in that area and I haven’t had an issue with my IT band since.

This go around, we are focusing on stretching my calves.  They are extremely tight and that is causing unnecessary pulling on my Achilles.  Each session, I learn new exercises and techniques to really challenge myself.  Ever since I’ve started PT last week, I have seen a HUGE improvement.  My ankle hasn’t bothered me in days and that’s an awesome feeling.  Trust these people.  They know what they’re doing and you can learn a lot if you’re paying attention.

Plus, these mad men let me run muhaha.  They have an Alter G Anti-Gravity Treadmill that I have been using and I’m obsessed.

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It basically uses different air pressures to add or remove the amount of body weight your body is using while running.  Not going to lie, it’s straight up just cool.  I’ve tried countless times to video tape myself while running and it hasn’t really been successful, so stay tuned.  But being able to at least semi-feign the running motion has made my heart so happy, I can’t even explain it.  I can’t wait to get back at it.

  • Have any of you ever done physical therapy?
  • Do you like to recoup from injuries by yourself or with help?

-sj

 

what I learned from tracking my macros week 1

~ loveandlunge ~ 1 Comment

Just casually sitting here an injured girl.  I finally got my ankle checked out by a podiatrist and my suspicions of tendonitis were confirmed, but so was something else.  Turns out I have Haglund’s Deformity in my ankle, which sounds gross but apparently is relatively normal.  It’s genetic and it involves extra bone build up in the back of my ankle, which leads to extra pulling on my Achilles.  So I’m off running for four weeks and heading to physical therapy to learn how to deal with this.  It’s actually really interesting to look back at my half pictures and notice my foot turning in because my tendon is too short.  The more you know.

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So what’s a poor, injured girl to do while she’s side lined?  Focus on building some muscle and working on nutrition.

Enter counting macros.

Nutrition had always kind of been my downfall.  I have trouble eating for my goals and some times that means eating too much or too little.  That’s why I decided to hire a nutrition coach for a couple months.  We started this week focusing on macros.

So, what are macros?
There are three major macronutrients that make up all food: carbohydrates, fat, and protein.  When you count macros, you’re focusing on just counting the amount of each you are getting.  Calories don’t matter because technically, your macros should line up.  A gram of carbs and a gram of protein both have 4 calories each.  A gram of fat has 9.  This all gets factored in to your counting in the long run.

What did I learn week 1?

I had tried counting macros on my own in the past using what MyFitnessPal recommended, using what IIFYM.com recommended, and literally just trying whatever I could find to give me a number to count, but it never really worked out and I never felt any different.  This time around, I was given numbers that involved a little bit less carbs than I had been eating before and more protein and fat.  It’s about a 40:30:35 split between carbs, fat, and protein (I am aware this doesn’t equal 100%, I said around haha).  Before, it was closer to 50:15:35 for reference.

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Less carbs and more fat meant I had to start getting creative.  I introduced peanut butter back into my diet, which had been something I steered clear of because I was always weak in the face of the jar.  No will power.  But now, because I want to be exact with the grams I’m consuming, I know I can split the 32g serving size into 4 smaller portions, which means more peanut butter for me in a controlled amount.  But that’s not the only thing I’ve learned.  Here we go:

  • Measuring things is shocking.  Turns out what I was using to measure a half cup of oatmeal was WAYYY off.  Like painfully off.  Like I was probably eating 2 plus servings every time off.  The more you know.  Also, two tablespoons of peanut butter can go really far if you split up the grams.  4 8g servings is a lot more than you’d think.
  • Sure you can eat anything you want as long as it fits, but that’s not always your best option.  One of the greatest things about counting macros and IIFYM (If It Fits Your Macros) is the flexibility it allows you.  My boyfriend and I went out to sushi yesterday and I was able to plan a feast for myself as long as I worked out some of my other meals for the day.  And you’ll see people posting things on instagram about epic amounts of donuts and cake they fit in to your macros, which is awesome, but you quickly learn the value of those tiny grams.  If you blow 30g of carbs on a donut with a high glycemic index (basically how long something will last in your stomach until your blood sugar dips), you’re going to regret it 20 minutes later when you’re ravenous and out of macros.  You live and you learn.
  • Volume, volume, volume.  The egg scramble I’ve been eating religiously for lunch is amazing.  It’s 5 egg whites (I don’t like yolks, don’t ask), 150g broccoli, 117g onions, and 1/5 cup of sliced mushrooms.  Top it with salsa and it’s this overflowing bowl of goodness for 21c, 1f, and 23p.  To put it in perspective, one pack of gum has 30g of carbs…would you rather eat 21g of carbs overflowing out of a huge bowl or chew on some sticks of nothing.  You know my answer.  I’ve been adding in more veggies to my meals because they just boost everything up and make it seem like you’re eating wayyy more than you actually are and it’s like magic.  Highly recommended.
  • Fail to plan, plan to fail.  I’m a planner.  Always have been, always will be.  So, every night, I’ve opened up my MyFitnessPal app and mathed my way into trying to hit 0g of carbs, protein, and fat left.  So far, it’s gone pretty well.  But there have been a couple days (I’m looking at you, weekend) where I’ve really struggled and wanted to just throw it all away because I ate something I didn’t track.
  • You don’t live or die by your macros. Nope.  You don’t.  In fact, I freaked out for like 10 seconds earlier today when I started mindlessly snacking on something I hadn’t planned.  I was like OH NO THIS RUINS EVERYTHING.  Spoiler alert: it did not.  In fact, I realized I could just move around some of my dinner macros and I was good to go.  Non-crisis averted.
  • Many meals is everything.  Since I have to eat a lot of food (specifically protein and fats) I eat often.  I have breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, second lunch, snack, dinner, and dessert.  All spread out throughout the day, which I’m loving because it never feels like that long until I eat again and I’m not ravenous.  In fact, I’ve somehow magically been able to kick my gum habit I’ve had for 5+ years because I don’t feel the need to be mindlessly chewing on nothing.  Seriously, it’s been over a week and I don’t know who I am anymore.

Here’s a sample of my dinner 10c/7f/35p:
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  •  And so is dessert.  I used to avoid dessert because it’s not the greatest for you and I’d feel guilty eating it.  But, you know what, if I can end the day with something to look forward to, it’s awesome.  Just a little sweet treat and I’m good to go for the rest of the night.  Lately, I’ve been OBSESSED with Enlightened’s Ice Cream.  It’s 100 cals in a half cup 18c/3f/7p and it’s delicious.  The Oatmeal Caramel Crunch flavor is my go to.

Results so far?  It’s odd to think I’d see results from just one week, but I am.  My clothes are fitting a little looser and my abs and arms and showing more definition than they have in awhile.  Most of all, I’m just excited that even though I’m sidelined from working out, I am still making progress in other areas.  When one door closes, another opens.

 

-sj