My husband and I began following Jorge Cruise's "Belly Fat Cure" plan in March of 2011. Needing to keep my motivation up, and also wanting an archive to read back over, I decided to join the legion of those people already tracking their progress.

Thursday, June 02, 2011

Learning Acceptance

It's been three weeks or so since my last confession update. The time has been such a blur, though. I know we've missed every weigh in since week 9, so I don't have progress to report. Actually the exact opposite.

Two weeks ago I woke up one morning, showered as usual, got dressed. When I went to put on my make-up, I got this feeling in my leg like someone was squeezing my thigh with a clamp. Then they stuck a dagger in, straight to the bone, and started wiggling it around. I was fidgeting as I tried to finish my make-up application, trying to find some position for my leg that would be more comfortable.

Then I realized my bare feet were not just cold from the tile. The toes of my right foot were numb.

I tried to continue my morning routine a bit, while on the inside I'm freaking out about nerve damage and imagining myself in traction in the hospital. I sat back in the recliner for a few minutes. The pain subsided quickly, and the numbness took a step down to just cold, the tingling fading.

But the cats were crying for breakfast. I got up again, downstairs to the basement, then back up. Then feed the rabbit and guinea pig. By this point the stabbing and numbness was back. I accepted that this wasn't going to go away if I ignored it.

I called in to work and said I'd have to be home that day. I called the acupuncturist (I had a GC from a friend and hadn't managed to make an appointment yet) and left a message. I called the chiropractor and left another message.

Then I laid back in the recliner and cried. I'd be crying pretty consistently over the next three days.

I got an appointment later in the afternoon for the chiropractor. He examined me and suggested maybe it was time to have an MRI. He and his wonderful receptionist worked hard to get me a pre-authorization, but the next available appointment wasn't until the following Tuesday. The acupuncturist didn't have an appointment available until Friday. I stopped by work and picked up my files, then went home and took a few ibuprofen and kept ice on it, and stayed off my feet.

I continued working from home for the rest of the week. Thursday night my pain had me tossing and turning all night – and NOTHING can keep me from sleeping, normally. The next morning a friend told me about an experience of a previous mother-in-law, who had gone to the chiropractor for three years. Initially he made her feel much better, but later she was only feeling enough relief to get to the next chiropractor appointment. This also sounded very familiar. What she eventually did was go to a doctor for muscle relaxers and a few rounds of massage therapy. Now she just needs to go to massage therapy every now and then when it bothers her. The constant pain and chiropractor visits were a thing of the past ever since.

I told this to my husband, who immediately got on the phone with the PCP office in town, and before I knew it I was in the car and on the way to an appointment 15 minutes later.

The doctor (who has had 4 back surgeries) listened super close to my story, told me to hold off on the MRI, and gave me an injection of anti-inflammatory pain stuff (like a mega dose of ibuprofen, she said). Then she gave me three prescriptions and told me to take them, no matter if I felt better, for two weeks.

That evening I went for acupuncture. It was all very relaxing but I don't know who to give credit to for the relief I was feeling. But I do blame the acupuncturist for sleeping the rest of the evening and then solidly all night.

And thankfully the meds weren't making me loopy at all. I'm still not driving right after taking them but I remember a friend who was on a muscle relaxer once when she came to visit. It was like talking to a pillow. SO glad I'm not like that.

The weekend was  much more pleasant, and I was able to be out and about a bit. The PCP doctor had told me not to stay too long in a chair, that I needed to move and stretch. So we saw Pirates of the Caribbean, and did grocery shopping and that sort of thing. Very nice.

I returned to work on Monday morning, moved back my MRI appointment (just in case it was determined I should still have it), saw a massage therapist on Tuesday morning for half an hour. Tuesday evening there was a belt promotion ceremony at my Martial Arts studio, so I went for that and took photos rather than participate. Wednesday night we saw Pirates again, this time with my parents and in 3D.

Friday there was more acupuncture, but I didn't feel like I got much out of it that time. And at $75 a pop, I think I'll try the $40 massage therapy again. There are acupuncturists around, though, that take my health insurance, so I may try one of those.

So as you can see, my focus was not on eating according to the BFC. Out of habit I think we stuck to it fairly well, eating what we knew we could have from experience, but not branching out into anything new.

And there were cookies.  Those pre-segmented Tollhouse cookies that I love, fresh from the oven. We bought two packs over a week but thankfully I think I ate 5 or 6 at the most. There was also whole milk. I remember McDonalds, Indian food, Popcorn and candy at the movies (saw Kung Fu Panda 2 on Friday night).. but I can't recall as many transgressions as I thought I would. Cheerios or Uncle Sam for breakfast each day, or Dunkin Donuts breakfast sandwiches (4/2). LOTS of coffee. With benefiber!

But things were returning to some semblance of normalcy (with the exception of some severe frustration over not being able to return to Martial Arts.. AGAIN), and I went for a pedicure and manicure on Saturday morning (another birthday GC I hadn't managed to use yet).  This actually felt wonderful. The place where I go includes massages with everything, and I left even more relaxed.

Sunday my husband and I resolved to get back on track with the food, and I was even able to stand long enough to cook! We had egg scrambles, bacon and toast for breakfast (3/2), leftover pepperoni dip with Joseph's pita pockets for lunch (0/2), then my husband made chili for dinner, which we had with Late July brand saltines (1/1). Then the pound cake with Redi Whip and blackberries for dessert (5/1).

Monday morning, a holiday, I got up and baked the velvet blueberry muffins from the BFC book (only with some of the muffins in other Nature's Hollow flavors) to eat during the week, then made the traditional pancakes while I still had the soy flour out. Served the pancakes with bacon, whipped cream and a reduction of nature's hollow mountain berry preserves (0/2). It was so late by that point we skipped lunch. Dinner was spicy cheeseburgers from the book, with cucumber in mayo/vinegar/truvia dressing with fresh dill and Pirates Booty (1/2). Then another round of the dessert mentioned above (5/1). Still lots of coffee.

Tuesday I had the muffins for breakfast (0/2), an egg & cheese (they forgot the ham) DD sandwich (4/2) for lunch, and dinner was leftover chili (1/1). No dessert that night.

Yesterday was muffins for breakfast (0/2), chili for lunch (1/1) and dinner was this salmon recipe from AllRecipes.com, served with brown rice and leftover cucumber mix (1/2). Delicious! And I had dessert (5/1), though my husband abstained.

But, my major discovery, which restores my hope for this whole process was magnesium! I was reading up, Tuesday night, about sciatic nerve pain, and one site mentioned that magnesium supports good muscle health, which in turn can relieve pressure on the sciatic nerve. It listed caffeine and whole grains as causes for low magnesium levels. Well, those two things have been greatly increased since we started this diet, for sure!

So yesterday at lunch I went to Vitamin Shoppe to get some magnesium supplements. I bought a Magnesium Potassium Magnate supplement, and then my eyes fell on a tub of Magnesium Plus, made by PureEssence. It's a powder that gets added to water. I tried it with my lunch and it was delicious! But more importantly, this morning.. I took my vitamins with it! FINALLY I have found something that I can drink to swallow ALL my vitamins (plus now the magnesium supplement). It's nothing short of a miracle. I currently have at least five, if not more, canker sores in my mouth from my food allergy combined with stress. I was resigned to adding orange juice back to my diet just to take vitamins with (which I did on Sun/Mon/Tues morning), but now I can return to the BFC without my orange little secret. Did I mention it's really tasty? It actually prompted me to finally set up my own Amazon sales widget, it's that good. ;)




In addition, I bought some more decaf coffee and will switch to that to cut out the main source of caffeine in my diet. I should cut back on coffee anyway. Following "Common Sense" when it comes to fat intake is hard when you like your coffee with extra cream and you have 8 cups of coffee a day.. ;)

I will weigh in tonight if I remember, to give myself some perspective.

3 comments:

  1. Hi I am sorry to hear about the pain. I used to get real bad backaches sometimes. I too saw a chiropractor a long time ago. I don't think they help you in the long term, just temporarily.
    I know you probably don't need me to tell you this - but some things you shouldn't eat on the BFC even if it does fit in the allowed 15/6. Like the pound cake or chili. chili probably has 5 gms of sugar a 1/2 cup.
    Don't be mad - I am just trying to help.
    I hope you feel better and have a great day :-)

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  2. Thanks for the advice! Yes, the chiropractor was a miracle worker on the first visit but after that without attending to my muscles I just kept getting twisted up all over again.

    The pound cake is sugar free, sweetened with xylitol. I know it's not a great source of fiber but we need a treat now and then (we had it so much this week because we don't want to waste it, but then we don't get it again for a while).

    The chili is homemade and we calculated it out from the ingredients, divided by servings, and it was less than a gram of sugar per serving, the only source of sugar being the tomato paste, and that was one tiny can for the whole pot. :) Otherwise it's all meat and a bit of beans - we like our chili simple!

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  3. Hi there,
    Do you drink your coffee with actual cream and still lose weight? I love it and it is such a treat, but I like a lot of it in my coffee and I'm not losing. Just wondering if you can help.

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