The past 2 months has been THE most stressful and emotional 2 months ever in my whole entire life. Been dealing with some personal issues as well as some health issues…which caused me to take a break from blogging… AND the gym. I know working out helps relieve stress and wished I could have taken advantage of it all, however my health would not permit it. Back in August, I was hit with some sinus/cold/flu thing that took me out of the gym for almost 2 weeks. Then about a month ago, I had to put in some OVERTIME at work to set up what my company calls “Holiday Lane”. A week of OT meant early call times…which meant go to bed early… which ALSO meant NO time for the gym. So I worked out at home. Halfway through the week…half way through a workout – squats with heavy weight to be exact – I don’t know what happened, but I developed an excruciating headache/migraine behind my right eye that extended to the back of my neck. This was 3 weeks ago. And guess what… I still have that pain.
I went to the doctor and she found nothing wrong with me. She prescribed me a muscle relaxer and gave me a shot of what she described as “like ibuprofen but stronger” that was supposed to last 3 days. Um yeah… I’d say the pain came right back by the end of the night. So I’ve been taking that muscle relaxer as well as some ibuprofen on days where I can’t bear the pain. I did some research online (probably a bad idea since I’m such the hypochondriac) and I’ve come to the conclusion that this pain is stress related. My only other options are aneurysm or brain tumor… I will settle for the stress-related-headache diagnosis thank you very much.
Anyway, after not being able to workout for the past 3 weeks, I decided to take my butt to the gym today. It’s been one hell of an emotional rollercoaster ride for me…especially all of last week. I haven’t had an adequate amount of sleep, I lost about 10 lbs (leaving me with almost zero muscle definition), I’ve had these dang headaches, and I’ve just been plain exhausted. When I talked to one of my good friends (whom I work out with on some occasion), even with all that’s been going on in my life, he told me I should try to my best to get my life back in order. So despite a slight pain behind the right eye, I made it to the gym. At first I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to do a thing. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to motivate myself to do the things I’ve done before. “Slow and steady” was the advice I was given. Didn’t want to pull a muscle or injure myself some more. So I jogged on the treadmill for the first 15 minutes and then did a full body workout using cable machines working both the upper body and lower body. Not so heavy weight. 3 sets of 12 reps. And even though I’m usually lifting heavy fixtures and mannequins at work on the daily, I realized my strength had diminished just a tad. The light weight seemed to tire me out quicker than what I’m used to. I’m not worried though, I know I’ll get back to where I was 2 months ago.
One day at a time.
fab . fit . me 