Flight of the Noodle Casserole

[Bonnie]

Goodness, what happened to my last post? I swear I wrote one.

Eh.

I almost didn't post tonight. So many things have happened and up until about an hour ago I thought I was probably out of this challenge.

First, I've not been meshing well with Precision Nutrition, probably because I haven't committed to it.

I really liked TNT. It was so easy. And I think I really do best leaving grains out of the picture. Veggies, fruits, beans, no problems, all of them great carbs for me. But when I try my hand at brown rice, quinoa, or whatever, it's like I go into Locust Swarm Mode. I can't turn off the eating. First comes the quinoa, then comes the saltine crackers, and next thing I know, I'm scarfing down banana cream pie.

Second, I've been sporadic with my physical therapy exercises meant to target the hamstrings and gluteals. They just don't seem like exercise to me: haphazard and really, really boring. I think I'm going to buy me some kettlebells or something. I'm desperate for something new.

Third and most important: I just came from an unexpected trip out of town. My brother-in-law died unexpectedly, and we don't know the cause of death yet. He was only a decade older than me, and the sweetest, most lovable guy you ever knew. My husband is devastated at the loss of his big bro. This week was really hard.

And you know what? People bring comfort food to a house in mourning, and comfort food includes banana cream pie. I think one of my relatives got a deal from Marie Calendars, or something, because there were, like, 5 banana cream pies. And guess who ate approximately three of them?

My nickname: "Eats When Stressed".

So I felt like I had the perfect excuse to get out of the challenge, but then I realized, I don't want to get out of the challenge, I want to get off my rapidly increasing rear end and get in shape.

So I put this post together in about 40 minutes, and that included taking the pictures, resizing them, and taking my measurements, because I just got back into town. If there'd been a traffic jam on the freeway, I wouldn't have made it.

My pics:
January:


February




And here are my stats. I swear, I try very hard to be consistent, but they are always all over the place. The only consistency here seems to be that my lower half got larger:

	01/05/09	02/02/09	03/05/09	04/05/09	05/05/09	06/05/09	CHANGE
Age	48
Height	5' 8"
Weight	165.5	168					Bleah!
Bust	37.5	37
Under bust	33	33
Waist (narrowest point)	31.5	32.0					UGH
Hips	41.5	42.5					OUCHEE
Rt. Thigh at midpoint (7.5 inches down - or up)	22.5	21.5					Hunh?
Rt Calf at widest point	16	16.5

[realcdn]

Sorry to hear about your brother-in-law. It does seem that most family functions (good or bad) involve food.

Consider yourself lucky that it's only a couple of pounds though. As for the food, hey, if TNT worked, why not go back to it? There's no shame in admitting that something doesn't work for you. Good luck in the coming month!

[Celestialmom]

I'm sorry for your (and your husband's) loss. I can imagine that it would be such a hard situation to deal with that good eating would fly out the window. You'll get back on track, good job for staying in the challenge.

[nutbar]

I'm so sorry to hear about your BIL. I'm glad you've decided to stay on course with the Challenge, though.

And don't sweat the PN thing, just go with whatever you're comfortable with. TNT works great for many!

[Bonnie]

This month has been full of extra obligations, especially with my newly widowed sister-in-law. I feel so awful for her! My husband is taking the loss of his brother very hard, too. The memorial service was truly intense.

So I've let another month slip by with only a cursory nod to any workouts... but I've got a good plan set up now and had my first real workout in a long time... I'll write more about it later. In the meantime, here are the stats:

I'm trying to work on resizing pics, but only got the March set resized. And lookee there.. I've got a new pair of pants. Woot.
January:



March pics:

	01/05/09	02/02/09	03/05/09	04/05/09	05/05/09	06/05/09	CHANGE
Age	48		49
Height	5' 8"
Weight	165.5	168	165
Bust	37.5	37	37.5
Under bust	33	33	33
Waist (narrowest point)	31.5	32.0	31
Hips	41.5	42.5	42
Rt. Thigh at midpoint (7.5 inches down - or up)	22.5	21.5	21.5
Rt Calf at widest point	16	16.5	16

[Celestialmom]

I'm so sorry about the loss of your brother in law. I can't imagine dealing with that, it must be very hard for you. And to have a loss in weight and inches during a hard month, double kudos!!

[LisaS]

congrats on the Age PR+!

sorry about your BIL - hope things are starting to get back to normal for you and yours

[Bonnie]

Oy, oy, oy!

I'm just hanging in there by a thread, ladies! Totally self-absorbed in my own problems, but I did work out this month... sorta often... well, ok so I missed a week!

And now I'm in the middle of major period bloat. Egad, I'm huge! Everything feels enormous! Next week I hope some of it will disappear.

Good news is my core and hip are coming along. I roll out the piriformis muscle after every set. It extends the workouts (still doing Ballantine's bodyweight stuff) but it doesn't cause me the pain it used to.

And in the pictures I see that I'm standing more normally! No more hip popping up!

Photos from January



Photos from April

	01/05/09	02/02/09	03/05/09	04/05/09	05/05/09	06/05/09	CHANGE
Age	48		49
Height	5' 8"
Weight	165.5	168	165	168.2
Bust	37.5	37	37.5	38
Under bust	33	33	33	33.5
Waist (narrowest point)	31.5	32.0	31	32
Hips	41.5	42.5	42	43
Rt. Thigh at midpoint (7.5 inches down - or up)	22.5	21.5	21.5	22
Rt Calf at widest point	16	16.5	16	16

[Bonnie]

OK, so this month I thought I would zip past 180, but no! I kept up with my workouts, my best month yet, and I'm feeling so much better.

Every now and then I over do it and my hip and back go "pop" and hoo doggy, that hurts. But now I can do so much more than I used to do before that "pop" would happen. I've made some really good gains with my bodyweight workouts.

For example, when I started this challenge, I could not do a side plank for longer than 5 or 6 seconds, and now I'm up to 25 seconds on a side plank on my weakest side. Yay, me!

My pushups have improved but my squats still suck -- still working on my form on those.

Finally got my eating under control. Back solidly on my TNT plan. Can't see much difference in the photos -- didn't grab the right shorts so it's hard to compare the lower half, but I feel different! I feel good -- I feel like I'm back on track again.

Photos from January



Photos from May

	01/05/09	02/02/09	03/05/09	04/05/09	05/05/09	06/05/09	CHANGE
Age	48		49
Height	5' 8"
Weight	165.5	168	165	168.2	168.8		+3.3
Bust	37.5	37	37.5	38	38		+0.5
Under bust	33	33	33	33.5	34		+1
Waist (narrowest point)	31.5	32.0	31	32	31.5		0
Hips	41.5	42.5	42	43	43		+1.5
Rt. Thigh at midpoint (7.5 inches down - or up)	22.5	21.5	21.5	22	21.5		-1
Rt Calf at widest point	16	16.5	16	16	16		0

[Bonnie]

I'm late! Again!

OK, so the pictures don't show much of a difference. The measurements, either. But I'm doing so much better than I was six months ago that I am happy with it!

(Maybe this is just me getting older, where how I feel has become more important than how I look?)

Anyway.

Lots more improvement in my ability to hold planks, etc. I rarely have painful "pops" anymore. And to think that PT told me I'd always have a hypermobile back! Maybe I will, but if I keep my core muscles strong, it won't matter.

I'm building up my pushup strength again, and working on loosening the hip flexors and increasing flexibility in ankles so I can do squats with proper form.

And best of all: I had a CT scan which showed that there IS something amiss in my hip: two bone spurs in the right hip socket, rubbing against the hip joint. On the scan they look HUGE! Like two fingers!

I asked the radiologist how come those ostephytes didn't show up on the MRI or the x-rays; she just said CT scans are better. Ewkay. Whatever! Don't care... just glad I got something I can take back to the sports medicine doctor.


Photos from January



Photos Today


And goodness... you'd think I could've cleaned up that bench before I took the photos!

	01/05/09	02/02/09	03/05/09	04/05/09	05/05/09	06/05/09	CHANGE
Age	48		49
Height	5' 8"
Weight	165.5	168	165	168.2	168.8	168.2	+2.7
Bust	37.5	37	37.5	38	38	37	-.5
Under bust	33	33	33	33.5	34	32	-1
Waist (narrowest point)	31.5	32.0	31	32	31.5	31	-.5
Hips	41.5	42.5	42	43	43	42	+.5
Rt. Thigh at midpoint (7.5 inches down - or up)	22.5	21.5	21.5	22	21.5	21	-1.5
Rt Calf at widest point	16	16.5	16	16	16	16	0

[Fang]

Hey Bonnie, just sticking in my head to say hello to a fellow bone spur victim--my left hip has been a problem for years but my bone spur is on my pubic bone. It is so ridiculous that they didn't find yours--but what a relief to know that there IS an issue. I have had the same problems with physical therapists...wimpy, seemingly useless exercises and misinformed folks.
Here's hoping that things improve for you...I hate being sidelined by that kind of crap.
Do they know WHY you have the spurs? Just being misaligned for years? Or is it a chicken-and-egg thing?