Taking a breather from weight lifting

Sad to say it but I think I'm taking a breather from weight lifting. As of last Friday, I am squatting 105lbs and I am sure my form is off. My knees have been aching and I don't want to mess them up. For now I think I will do simple walking. I have plenty of time of doing that for now. When my knees feel better I'll get back in there and hopefully I'll hire a trainer for the min time to make sure my form is ok. I hope I can afford it, I have to check with my gym and see but I think it will be worth having someone to work with me for a bit to avoid injuring myself.

For now I'll just keep watching my calorie intake (which has been horrible the last few days) and walking.

Weight loss and health care, what a disappointment

I recently went to see my primary care doctor. In all honesty I don't like going to see him because every time I go I feel like I'm on some kind of conveyor belt at a factory. In, out, in ,out. The doctors there don't seem to take the time to listen to you and really help. They seem quick to just prescribe something and give advice but that's it. Here's a an example.

I sent to see the doc for a few things. One in particular was this crunching sound my knees starting to make a few months back. I started to notice it when climbing the stairs at the gym soon after I started working out. It's horribly scarey. I started taking supplements to help support my knees, I come from a family where both my parents have had knee surgery and I be damned if I'm going through that crap! So, I started taking MSM and glucosamine. Mind you, I do not have knee pain...well I do now but that's another story....but the crunching sound did not come with pain, it's just this grinding sound that totally freaked me out. I looked online and found that it's not something to worry about but in the long run it could lead to knee issues. Ok, good this is something I can work on and hopefully I won't put myself on the chopping block.

So, I tell the doc about this sound and he tells me that it's probably just the cartilage that is grinding together and the only thing to alleviate it is to lose weight :| He then proceeds to send me on my way home with a print out with weight loss advice. It lists the benefits of losing weight some faqs some suggestion on what to eat and how to get moving a bit more. That's it. I was disappointed. Why? Because it's obvious that I need to lose weight. Although I do not have any health issues now, thank goodness, if I don't lose weight statistics say as I get older I am putting myself at risk of having diabetes and all kinds of heart problems. Why then doesn't "health care" involve helping people lose weight? I mean more than giving them a print out with suggestions? I would love to talk to a professional team and have them look at what I'm doing and tell me where I can make improvements on my diet and my exercise.

Most people do not know what to do to lose weight, many more are even less motivated on losing weight. Why don't doctors or the health care systems and insurances try to tackle this from every angle aggressively? I would have loved it if he would have referred me to a nutritionist, a food psychologist, and some sort of trainer. A team of people who will talk to me and each other, let's say once a month and set up a plan for me to lose weight.

Granted I've lost some weight on my own. I have a long way to go and quite frankly I don't know if what I am doing is right much less right for me. There are a ton of people who are doing it on their own, thank goodness there is a ton of resources online and communities like MFP. The thing is not everyone has access to the world wide web, not everyone has a smart phone where they can add a weight loss app, not everyone can afford to join a gym or buy certain foods or even has time to cook. Each person has different life circumstances and each persons body is different. There are so many things involved with weight loss. It's not as easy as "stop eating" and get "moving more". You have to do those two things the right way AND there is a huge psychological part of it that no one seems to address.

I'm not making excuses for people who are over weight. There are tons of people who are able to do it on their own and are very successful. I just think we have doctors and professionals and health insurance for a reason. I personally have health insurance through my employer. Wouldn't it make sense and cheaper for my insurance to cover a weight loss program for me now, rather than shell out all kinds of money down the road for health issues that come up because of obesity?

Week 1 of lifting

I just finished one week of adding weights to my routine. I actually started a week ago today and since I had Monday off I did weights Tuesday and Thursday this week even though my routine for lifting is going to be Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

I've increased my squat weight to 75lbs. Lateral pulls are at 70 lbs. I'm also doing none weighted lower back extensions and abdominal lifts, which I really do not like and I think I'm swapping that out for bench pressing starting next week. I figure I feel my abs working when I squat and do lateral pulls. I was doing them because someone suggested them, I could care less now. Maybe I'll do them later. I just hate that I'm all sweaty and I keep slipping from the pads.

I weighed in today. Let me tell you I am not happy about it. I went up almost 4lbs!!! I felt so defeated. I know I didn't do the greatest with my eating this week. I went over my 1750 limit a few times but I don't think it was enough to gain 4lbs. This is what I really dislike about lifting 3 days a week. You can't really track how many calories you burn so I feel like I'm not doing any good for myself and plus I'm hungrier and go over my calorie intake! At least with doing the elliptical I knew I was burning something and ate some calories back so I wouldn't feel so damn hungry.

I did measure myself this morning though. That was a surprise. I lost inches all over, waist, hips, thighs and arms. I don't know how accurate that is since I measured this morning vs in the evening. Does that make a difference? I'll keep measuring in the mornings. I'm taking a picture tomorrow and comparing it to the first one I took 6 weeks ago. I'll continue doing lifts for three more weeks. If I don't see progress I might just kick it to the curb. It feels very defeating when you don't lose any weight. Maybe if I continue to lose inches I'll feel better.

The girls on MFP say it's normal and I should just focus on my measurements and not at the number on the scale. I've been weighing myself every day the last couple of weeks. I want to see how much my weight really does fluctuate especially around the time of the month. There was one day, I didn't log it in MFP where I had lost another pound, I was at my lowest ever in a long time on that day but now I'm up.

This is very frustrating.

Sucky days

It's the weekend. I was looking forward to this weekend. Time off from work, spend time with family, and dedicate some time to myself.

My husband treated me out to lunch. We went to this new, to us, seafood place. We had prawns in a garlic sauce and sea food stuffed pineapple with a creamy sauce.

I wasn't able to calculate how many calories I ate today. Even though I had a good time I feel horrible I am not able to track how many calories I ate today. I hope I didn't go over. I had ice cream and chocolate covered almonds to boot.

It sucks. To be someone who is trying to be healthy and reach a healthy weight. Why? Because once you feel good about yourself and eat something you don't normally you.....I feel guilty.

Tomorrow is another day I suppose.

Lifted weights today!

I lifted weights for the first time in years. I started light to get a feel for things again. I did weighted squats, lateral pulls and good mornings.

I'm super excited yet very concerned. I didn't sweat like when I do the elliptical. Sweat is fat crying after all. So the fact that I didn't sweat makes me feel like I didn't do anything and I didn't burn any calories. I totally went over my calorie intake and I went against recommendations by going for a long walk even though it's blistering cold for some reason. Besides I didn't listen to my audio book during my "work out" so I needed to know what's going on.

Lifted:
50lb squats
50lb lateral pulls
30lb good mornings