My roommate is fond of telling me that "life is the weirdest thing ever." And most of the time he's right. If you think about all the stuff that happens to us on a daily basis that we just take in stride, or deal with and keep going....life is indeed weird.
Yesterday I had a plan: get up, get coffee, get my nephew a present, work, come home and relax. Here's how yesterday really went: get up, get in the car and drive to get coffee (because there was too much to do to walk to the coffee place), drive towards home, get hit (on my side of the little Neon) by big F150 Ford driven by an old man leaving a garage sale, spend time calling insurance companies, start feeling pain in lower back and radiating down left leg, buy present for said nephew and drop it off, drive (my car) to the lake that I walked around a month ago and walk 4 miles in an hour, feel better, come home and watch a movie and go to bed.
The crash could have been much worse. Much. We weren't going over 25, having just left a stop sign and turned onto the road. The old man was pulling out from in front of a house when we were right next to him. It was almost like he didn't register "oh there's a car there with a woman next to me yelling and gesturing with her coffee cup" and he pressed on the gas when his BIG truck wasn't going (because WE were there).
This was my roommate's second accident in a Neon this year. The first accident was his fault, totaled the car, and he went to the hospital with a compression fracture in his back. He was already a slow driver but that accident freaked him out (as well it should) and he was very happy to have gotten another car that looked exactly like his old one. I wasn't in the other accident. This one shook me up as it was on my side of things and, as mentioned, made my lower back seize up for a bit. But this time the car is repairable. The truck is probably totaled (axle issues) but the car will be fine and all will be paid for by said old man's insurance.
When my back started to feel painful I was trying to analyze "now, is this related to the accident? or because I slept weird and then had to crawl over to the driver's side to get out of the car?" And I knew that if I spent the day sitting it would only get worse. So when my dear friend Janice mentioned the lake on Facebook I thought "ahha!" Change of plans. Put walking shoes on and go walk. And this time I didn't walk 6 miles but I walked faster than last time. And by the time I was done my back was not hurting, my knee (that usually starts hurting) wasn't hurting.
Just have to learn to go with the flow and adapt. And thankfully the exercise option helped in all ways. Today I am 1.5 pounds away from my next goal. That's a total loss of 28.5 pounds.
I was reading an article on the WW website about the exercise high that people talk about. I can say that I've felt that a few times and I felt it yesterday for sure. The exercise high is an endorphine high, endorphine hormone secreted by the pituitary gland in response to physical stress. During exercise these hormones have the ability to block pain, curb hunger, elevate mood and get rid of stress hormones. Of course everyone has a different threshold where this high kicks in. Some people get it from running for 30 minutes, others from aerobics, others from swimming.
The article, by Vanessa Voltolina, gives ideas for achieving this high: 1. Give it time. In other words, push yourself to work out longer. The longer you work out the more likely you are to reach it. And of course you also get the benefit of exercise, burning those calories. 2. Everyone's high is different. This of course is what I was saying earlier so just because one person tells you they got the hormones after calisthenics for 20 minutes doesn't mean that you will. 3. Stop obsessing. This was very interesting for me to read. Voltolina points out that if you are spending your exercise time paying attention to who's paying attention to you or how you look while you're working out you are losing the synergy needed (mind/body) to get the result you want. Letting your body and brain get into the movement, feeling the air go into your lungs and feeling the way your muscles respond and how it feels once you've walked through any discomfort or pain.
I know exactly how that feels. Yesterday when I started walking I was thinking about the accident and how warm it was and my back hurt and my knee throbbed. By the time I was about halfway into the walk I had forgotten about that and was feeling good.
This week I will reach my goal. I am only 1.5 pounds away and I know I can do it. Of course, that means I'll have to make a new goal but I'm TOTALLY ok with that.
One day. One pound. One step at a time.
~N
What a crazy day. So thankful the accident wasn't worse. And also thankful someone who has insurance hit you. That is NOT a given these days, at all. Also, GO GIRL!! I know you will make your goal this week, too. And even if you didn't, for some strange reason, you won't give up and you will do it next week. Either way, you are going the right direction and I am inspired by you.
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