LocalBrada

@Lyric No I had eating timers during the fast, but just kept it down to four a day, instead of the six to eight. @lobeteriffic Thank you. I cannot wait until the ortho release here come FRI.

Went 5 days in a row before I unintentionally broke my fast while being asked to taste if the steamed white rice was cooked right. Then I went another 3 days before I woke up and ate some frozen fruits. This occasional break in fast occurred every 3 days or so between the stress of work and the comfort of spending time with loved ones. Work has been picking up here the past few weeks and I've been working anywhere from 48 to 52 hours a week with two 12 hour split shifts. Hopefully work will stabilize here in the upcoming week before I start thinking about hitting the gym. I have yet to revisit a strict eating schedule nor have I done anything serious when it comes to putting together a warm up routine in anticipation for next FRI doctor's release. I have moreorless just been enjoying life and eating whenever I can get something in. Of course I haven't overeaten or binged and my weigh has been proportionate to that, as I am smaller than I'd like to me. I have reset my food alarms and intend to start toting around my protein and carb shakes around.

The fast has been going well, no cravings or missing marks. Woke up this morning alive and radiant after a seemingly difficult night of restlessness. Upon wake I decided to spend approximately 15 mins of yoga stretches. Which eventually turned into 5 min planks, then 3 sets of 25 push ups, leading into parallel dips between my bed and comfy reading chair. I was unsure as to how many dips I did as I was moreorless in a trance focusing purely on the sensation in my mid to upper back. Being unsure on how to interpret the discomfort, I decided to stop and go do something else, mainly laundry. I have no idea if I am going to make this a routine, but the stretching is something that I see as beneficial and calming. I will make it a point to incorporate that.

@Lyric Thanks! I can't say I'm back into the lifting scene, but today's diet went well. @Rob Yeah I've done this before, although for only 2 weeks. I'm going to see how rapid the weight loss is, since my intent is not to loss tons of weight.

@Johnny *hugs* @lobsteriffic Same here; I totally have issues recognizing the caloric value of certain dishes I prepare, especially if they are created off the cuff. Today with the exception of breakfast starts my spirulina and liquid fast. I'll be intaking spirulina 4 times a day with the first or second including a multivitamin and the last two servings done with flax seed oil or coconut oil. So folks will see me walking around with a gallon jug of water and a makeshift container of spirulina. Oh how nice it'll be to unload myself of food alarms and carrying totes during this fast. Whee!

Keep kicking butt.

Grats on all your races!

Keep doing what you do boss!!!

Still currently out of the gym and I'm becoming quite antsy. I've been seriously considering making an early entrance just to get back into the routine of being consistent with visiting the gym. I figure that if I stick to pull ups and dips, that the traction on the spine will be beneficial. As well as assist in keeping my bf% within the normal range for me, in-comparison to the work I've done up to the point before my surgery. If not, I'll be seriously considering doing a spirulina liquid fast for two weeks or so. We'll see how things go in the up and coming weeks. My diet has been a tad bit wishy washy. I've been cooking gourmet style food and entertaining my lady friend. It's been pleasant, but still outside of the regimented dietary habits that I've prescribed to up to this point. I'd like to get back on that at some point and allot for gourmet days. The food is still rather healthy and of course vegan, but I've been doing more pasta dishes, coconut milk and olive dishes. The additional carbs and fats aren't inline with my current activity level, so a reduction is necessary.

@Vegan Joe Thank you, sir. Much appreciated. Yesterday was the three week mark and my first post op visit to the ortho. Everything went well and as expected. The checkup was very routine and the only thing the ortho commented on was that I was to wait six weeks from this appointment before I should start lifting again. Normally my reaction would be, "Are you serious?", but I am going to take heed and give my back that much longer to repair.

@MaryStella Thank you. @lobsteriffic I'm going to take it slow no matter what. I've just gotta remain out of the gym and stick with lifting at the house or I will most likely reinjure myself. Yesterday was my first day back on the job. I wasn't released yet to work, but it was one of those situations where I felt if I didn't at least do a test/trial run that I might not have a position to return to. Let's just say after the 2 hour mark I was trying my best not to just pack up and head home. The great thing is after my shift, my lady friend, gave me an excellent back massage.

@Lyric Thank you. @Johnny John John lol, I kept telling VV...My ass hurts Yeah I'm gonna take it slow; I am just not too sure about losing as much weigh as I've had already. I really don't want to fall under 200lbs, I just don't think I can help that.

Thanks VE, he did mention that I should not bulk and train more for endurance, but the fact that he didn't say, "Consider not training period," kept me from walking out of the examination room. And yes I won't go lifting celestial bodies that soon out the gate, although I was up and walking way way too early.

Tomorrow is the 2 week post op landmark; eating as been a little less calories than optimal. I will definitely work on eating more before the week 3 mark, so that my weight will be up before I see my ortho. As soon as I get the go ahead at the 6 week mark, I'm looking to ease back into lifting with a strict bodyweight exercise routine. I won't go crazy high volume or anything, but when I do progress it'll be an increase in volume and not load. After I feel like I am getting back into the feel, I'll progress with 40lb dumb then 60lb dumb onto the bw routine. My thoughts are that doing a routine like this at home and not visiting the gym will stave off my desire to start lifting heavy again; possibly leading to re-injury. The great thing is during this progression, I intend on utilizing this blog to track my progression as well as to insure that I am not proceeding too quickly or with too much of a load when I add in resistance. The goal at this point is going to be tone and stay fit which will then transition into approaching the load I use to do; keyword being approaching.

woot!!

Take care of that knee, woman!!

Ok here's the update: In my goal to get to 230lbs, I changed up my workout routine to 3 days a week morning and after work at 1h30m sessions. And focusing on resting and eating big all week long. My employment schedule started to pick up, so I didn't get the type of calories in that I wanted to and was hovering at about 218-220lbs. About three weeks in I started to develop a pain in my left glut that seemed very abnormal. I thought it was from overtraining legs, since I had been doing high rep squats at the beginning of the week and heavy squats towards the ending of the week in concert with deadlifts and lower back in the middle of the week. So under the advisement of MW I took 6 weeks off of training lower back and legs, just to heal the glut. Sure I wasn't happy about halting my leg training during a bulk since that was the focus, but I stayed off those two big movements. After maybe 5 weeks and seeing my legs fill in from basically allowing them repair time, I noticed that the glut pain was linked to me standing too long during work. I mentioned it to MW and since she was going through rehab from two disk herniations, he demanded that I go to an ortho just to have it checked out. I scheduled a visit and everything from that point on progressed like a white water rapid. I went in for the checkup on a TUE, MRI on a WED, pre-op on a FRI and surgery SAT morning. Here is the skinny, I go in for the checkup and immediately it's diagnosed as a disk herniation. I go in for the MRI and have it read the following day. The surgeon explained that it was an L5/S1 disk fault with herniation on the left side causing root sciatic irritation. It was fairly bad and cortisol shots weren't going to retract the herniation and surgery was my best option and that it needed to be addressed quickly. So now I'm a little less than a week post op, with a check up at the 3 week mark and no lifting of any kind until the 6 week mark where we'll discuss my approach back into the gym. The great thing is my doc is a sports ortho who is keen to the type of gym routine I do and goals.

Amazing...

Glad to hear that!

Best of wishes on your race tomorrow.

You GET IT woman!! I was so doing high rep high weight on calves with Lyric. Their leg press only went up to 12 plates so I knocked that out 4 sets of 25. Total love. Then just finally swapped over to single calves to put those heavy numbers I'm use too. Gotta get that stimulation.

Go go speedracer!

I hope the swelling goes down.