I almost decided to avoid weighing in today. I knew I would have to weigh in here at home because I couldn’t make it to my Weight Watchers meeting. I didn’t weigh in last Sunday either though, so I figured I might as well face the ugly truth. It was definitely ugly – up 5.6 pounds. 
The reason for the big gain had nothing to do with not staying on track with my eating, fortunately. It had everything to do with medication this time. My body is notorious for retaining fluids when I’m on medications, and it certainly didn’t disappoint this time either. I knew it was going to be bad before I ever set foot on my scale because my poor fingers have looked like overstuffed sausages for the past several days. 
Why am I on medication? Well, last Friday evening, May 14, I started experiencing severe lower back pain that was also shooting down my right leg. From past experience, I had a feeling my sciatica was once again rearing its ugly head. This was confirmed by my G.P. on Tuesday. He prescribed muscle relaxers, pain medication, and stretching exercises. He said if it wasn’t feeling better soon that he would refer me to a chiropractor.
Fast forward to today, I’m still in pain. I’ve been to one visit already with the chiropractor and will be seeing him again tomorrow. He wants me to come in three times per week for the next couple of weeks to get me out of crisis, and then I can drop down to once per week until things get back to normal. Of course, both my G.P. and the chiro gave me the lecture about how losing weight and strengthening my core will help alleviate most of my back issues. Recognizing how I was basically free of back issues when I was at my lowest weight six years ago, I have to admit that I know they’re right.
As if that weren’t motivation enough to keep myself on track, I read this blog post this afternoon. Talk about some motivation to get the weight off … WOW! I spent some time reading some of the other posts on the Share It Fitness blog. It’s definitely a good read, so I’ve added it to my Google Reader account.
I’m still not sure what effect my back issues are going to have on my half marathon in two weeks. At this point, I can’t even imagine trying to walk 13.1 hours (or four hours, whichever comes first) since I can’t walk more than a few feet right now without pain. I’m just trying to stay positive and hope to go out and walk however far I can that day.
Along that line, I’ve really been battling with beating myself up over the whole situation. There is a big part of me that feels like I’ll be letting down all of my friends who have donated so generously to my efforts. The competitive side of me also feels like a bit of a failure at the thought of possibly not being able to do the event. I keep trying to remind myself that this was all about raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and has NOTHING to do with me actually finishing a race, but it easy to lose focus of that at times. I’m just really thankful right now that I have friends and my fellow Team Shrinking Jeans teammates who remind me of that fact when I start feeling down on myself. You guys rock! 
Oh, and speaking of Team Shrinking Jeans, with the help of all our friends, families, and generous donors, we’ve raised $41,566 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! There’s still time to help out this wonderful cause by clicking on the Team Shrinking Jeans link above and making a donation. We’ve already exceeded our goal, but every dollar goes that much farther in helping find a cure. Thanks!!
Until next time …
