January | 2015 | Fighting Fibro with Fire

First off, many thanks to Aerosmith for providing my latest theme song!

In case the title of this post didn’t give it away, I am back up and running again. Literally. The last few months of 2014 were hectic, to say the least, and I fell off of my routine pretty hard. (I am rather miffed about admitting this next bit, but accountability is important, so here goes). Not only did I fail to lose the 8 pounds I gained from Christmas 2013, I managed to put on another 10 or so on top of that. See? I wasn’t kidding about having fallen off of my wagon.

Those of you who read some of my previous posts have probably seen me say something like this before. I wish I could say that this is the last time I’ll say it, but that’s really unlikely. Living with fibromyalgia involves a lot of stopping and starting. You get into a solid groove and then, WHAM!! the fibro steps in and knocks you for a loop. You can try to fight it, I know I’ve tried, but somehow I always find myself off track. Rather than sitting here feeling sorry for myself, I have come to accept that this is just part of my life. I’m like the itsy bitsy spider, (or that old Chumbawumba song); I climb up, I get knocked down, then I get up again.

So, now it’s time to get up and get back in the game. I’m back to counting calories, (ugh), and I’m once again walking almost religiously. I’ve decided to set my daily step goal to 11k, which, if I’m honest is something of a challenge for me, but with the help of my trusty fitbit, I’m getting it done. In addition to these tried and true methods, I’ve started working on creating meal plans for each week. While I find it to be somewhat tedious to actually write them up, I do like the structure the plans provide. No more standing in the kitchen staring into the fridge trying to figure out what to eat, I just follow the plan!

The best part is, this time around, I get to use the buddy system. My boyfriend, Aaron, is totally on board with the whole thing. With his help, I’m dragging my sorry butt out of bed and going for walks in the morning and soon, we’re going to add some strength training to the mix. Don’t get me wrong, he has been there for me every step of the way on this journey of mine, but mostly as a cheerleader, now he’s a full fledged participant and it’s awesome!

I’m thrilled to say that he will be joining me in running the Shamrock 8k this year! Since we don’t have a lot of time to train before the race, we’ve set our goal time at 70 minutes, which is the same goal I had for myself last year. Our plan is to use this race as a kind of baseline and then keep training for the Wicked 10k in October. If nothing else, it should make for a fun and interesting year!

Hello, 2015!

New year, new me!

Just kidding. Honestly, I hate that phrase and all it’s implications of self loathing. Yes, we’ve just entered 2015 and it is a brand new year, brimming with brand new possibilities, etc., etc., etc., but I am so tired of hearing people say the same exact thing over and over again.

We all get so excited at the thought of totally new, unblemished calendar; we set all sorts of goals and make thrilling new plans… Can you even imagine how awesome life would be if we could get as excited about the start of a new day? Sure, our goals would have to be smaller, but if we could start each new day with the same enthusiasm that we have for a new year, we could all take over our own little worlds.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t set long term goals, those are definitely good things to have, I’m just suggesting that you break them down into smaller pieces. Instead of eating an entire triple decker cake in one go, (making yourself sick and getting totally burned out on cake in the process), why not slow down and take a bite a day? You’ll enjoy it considerably more in the long run and every day you can savor the anticipation of taking that bite.

So, this year, the only resolution I am making is: to remember that every single day is a brand new chance to take a step towards where I want to be. It doesn’t matter whether that place is a smaller jeans size, a faster mile or bigger bank account, as long as I get out of bed every morning with the knowledge that today is my chance to get closer.