Today was another HIIT workout that I couldn't complete. My legs are still super sore from Monday, and my day got thrown out of whack when I had to have a MRI of my foot when I normally have lunch. Why an MRI? I've been having pain in my right foot for years which I've always just assumed was related to gout. Then two months ago, my foot started randomly swelling up.
Pretty, right? Saw my primary Dr who referred me to a rheumatologist because of high inflammatory markers in my blood but can't get in for another month. Ended up going to urgent care a little over a week ago and they referred me to a podiatrist who I saw Tuesday. He ordered the MRI, and that showed I have bursitis in all 4 joints between my toes. So let's just add that to my list of painful BS ailments. Doc wants to do two injections of steroids into my foot which will be happening next Friday.
Anyway, having the MRI when I normally eat lunch threw me off. It took an hour, and I didn't want to waste time with eating when I had planned on getting a bunch of old work done, so I skipped lunch altogether. Such a bad idea. I worked half an hour late to make up the time from the scan, and I normally have a snack after work because it times out to be 3 hours after lunch, but I was still driving at snack time. Well, started to feel funky in the car.. light headed but racing heart and sick to my stomach.. got home and checked my blood sugar and it was over 200. Since I've started sticking to a diabetic diet, my numbers have all been in target range. Pretty bad when a missed meal throws sugars into a tailspin.
So back to my initial point, still sore and feeling sick from my blood sugar and I didn't do that great with the workout today. But, I did some which I'm counting as a victory because I really wanted to not do anything. Then I cheated and ate some pizza rolls after an already bad meal day. Tomorrow I'll be back on track though. I think Thursdays are a cardio day, and I'm looking forward to something easy!
Today is a recovery day according to BodyBoss, which is basically 30 minutes of light cardio. I was going to ride my stationary bike, which at this point in my fitness journey I can only do about 10-15 minutes tops on. But, my kid's had their open house today at their new school and we walked around the building, including going up a couple flights of stairs, for a good 45 minutes. I have this issue where I sweat uncontrollably when I'm out and about and it's the most embarrassing thing, and I couldn't seem to stop sweating the whole time I was there. Soooo, I figure if I sweat that much walking around, then I'm going to count it as my light cardio. Besides, my legs feel like sore jello today. Tomorrow will be an actual workout, and I'm feeling hesitant because based on how I did yesterday, I don't think I'll do that great tomorrow either. But, I will do my best!
Have you seen all of the ads for BodyBoss? It's been all over my Facebook as suggested content. I've been scrolling past it for months. First their ads had these super fit models working out. Now, they have ads with overweight women working out, and the comments are thanking them for showing "real" women working out. We are all "real" women, ranging from skinny to very obese.
I, unfortunately, am on the very obese side. I've been on that side for most of my life, and after having kids, even more so. I have this terribly annoying pooch from having two kids born via c-section. Then I was in a car accident in 2012 that left me with a messed up back and pain that shoots down my leg, resulting in the use of a cane that I absolutely hate. My injuries have been a great excuse to not work out, since I'm in pain all the time. But, being overweight is probably part of why my injuries cause me so much pain. Then there are the other medical problems. I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes just under 2 years ago and I've been terrible at managing it. I have high blood pressure, but my Dr believes it to be anxiety so it's not being treated as actual high blood pressure. I've had bouts of high cholesterol in recent years. Basically, I'm pretty unhealthy.
As for the diabetes, I randomly checked my blood sugar about a week and a half ago and it was almost 300. Now, that's super high and I've never had a number that high before. I decided that enough was enough, and I vowed to start eating better. I have a tendency to not eat enough, and then eat really crappy when I do eat. Last Wednesday I started to follow a diet similar to that of when I was pregnant with my daughter, a diet that actually caused me to lose weight during my pregnancy instead of gaining weight (much to my Dr's dismay..) I've been eating every 3-ish hours, having a protein drink in the morning because I'm not good with food in the morning. Then I'm having fruit and a source of protein for my snacks and veggies with a protein for my meals. But, I know that diet alone is not the answer, even though I'm already down 10 pounds (yes!)
So, after doing some research and reading some reviews about BodyBoss I decided to purchase the online version of the program. You can either buy the physical book, an online copy of the book, or a bundle that offers both. It didn't make much sense to me to buy both, and I figured with the online book I could have it no matter where I was without having to carry a book along with me. However, I don't really like the format of the online book, but it'll do for now.
The program is set to start on a Monday, so today was my first day. The program is a 12 week program, but there is a 4 week pre-training program to help you prepare for the actual program. The main reason I'm writing this blog, is to provide real information about how it's going for a real person. A really obese person. A really obese person with a lot of health issues. When I was trying to research how the program works, I couldn't find any reviews like the one I'm hoping to provide. I found reviews from some people who weren't in terribly bad shape who only did a couple weeks but they said that it made them feel stronger and healthier. There are testimonials on the BodyBoss website, but I didn't see any from someone as overweight as I am. Are you wondering how overweight I am yet? I weighed myself at 278.8 pounds this morning. So yes, I was 289 pounds a week ago. I'm 278.8 pounds with diabetes, a bad back/leg, high blood pressure.. I also have a bad knee that I've had a few surgeries on. So, when people say they want to know how it works for a "real" woman, I think they are looking for a review from someone like me. But like I said earlier, we are all "real" women, we just come in a variety of sizes.
BodyBoss boasts that you can workout in under 24 minutes which isn't entirely true. There is a warmup that is about 10 minutes, with 4 minutes of warmup cardio and 6 minutes of stretches. Then you do the workout which consists of a set of exercises that you do for 7 minutes, with a 3 minute rest break, then you repeat the exercises for another 7 minutes. After that, there's a 10 minute cooldown which is another 4 minutes of cooldown type cardio and 6 minutes of stretches again. So altogether, it's more like 37 minutes if you're able to do everything in the time they state.
Like I mentioned, today was my first day. While the pre-training program is suppose to be 4 weeks, I know for a fact it's going to take me a lot longer than 4 weeks. I did the warm-up, and made it through one rep of the first 3 exercises, which took me a lot longer than it probably should have. Then I half-assed the cooldown because I felt like I was going to die. Right now I think my goal is going to be able to complete week 1 all the way through before moving on to the second week, and that alone will probably take me a few weeks before I'm able to do all the stuff all the way through. I just kept thinking "they want me to do this TWICE?!" So, it's going to be a slow but hopefully still progressive journey. I don't plan on advancing in the weeks until I can successfully complete each week in it's entirety. This will ensure that I'm closer to where I need to be physically, I think.
I plan on posting every day, except for maybe the weekends because those are rest days, but we'll see. I plan to use this blog as a review of an exercise program by someone who is extremely obese, someone who has health problems, someone who a lot of women can relate to. I hope to maybe even be an inspiration. Once I've been on the program for awhile and when (if) I start to see some results, I'll post pictures of my progress. The BodyBoss program encourages the use of photos to track progress, probably because it's designed to help you build muscle which will help burn fat faster, and muscle weighs more than fat and I might not see the results on the scale the way I'll see results through images. Despite that, I'll be weighing in and posting my weight every Monday. Wish me luck!
