Back Injury

The day I turned 30, I injured my back.  I was bending over putting on my daughters shoes and sweater and when I stood back up - incredible pain.  For 3 days I was literally walking like an old woman, hunched over and slow.  It hurt to go up stairs, it hurt to carry my baby, it hurt to do anything.  That was a Wednesday.  By Monday I was feeling almost normal so I decided to go to the gym.  I did my usual 1:1 running and went super easy on the weight machines and even skipped the ones where I used my back.  That night, I was in incredible pain again.  This time it took about a week and a half to feel better.  The original back injury occured 3 weeks ago and even tonight, I am still not pain free.  It is incredibly depressing.  As you can read by my last post, I was at a point where I was so motivated. I was losing consistant weight again.  I was working out hard.  I was eating healthy.  I was feeling like my body was strong. 

Needless to say, my eating suffered.  I had a few moments where I ate my frustration.  Probably more than a few moments.  I obviously stopped going to the gym.  For me, I exercise and my healthy eating follows.  Putting the effort into a workout makes me want to eat healthy in order to not "waste" that workout.  Taking the exercise out of the equation caused my eating to go haywire.  I can't tell you how many times I told myself that if I don't exercise I could still lose weight if I stick to my caloric intake.  It is totally possible.  More often than not, I ignored myself. 

This week has been a turnaround.  I've gone to the gym twice.  Tonight I even ran 2 minutes, walked 1 for 21 minutes and then continued to walk for another 30 minutes at a 2.0 incline.  I've gotten back into my healthy eating (mostly).  I weighed in this week at 179.  One pound gain is not too shabby for me.  I was seriously expecting way worse.  With 4 weeks left of mat leave, I'm hoping I can make the most of it.