Cat's Exercise Diary

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Update 12/28/15: I was so busy Thurs-Fri-Sat that I didn't end up working out any of those days. Thurs I had to clean my house and prepare everything, Friday I hosted my parents and brother at my house for xmas, and Saturday we went to my in-laws' house for xmas with hubby's family. So those were a crazy few days. Sunday, I finally had a quiet day to myself! So on Sunday I finally worked out. I just did a weights and stretching session from home. That went fine. I had a tiny bit of reflux near the end, but nothing bad and nothing out of the ordinary for me. I'm a bit sore today but that's probably because I didn't work out for a few days.

Today, the weather is horrendous. It's just started snowing heavily and blowing snow, and possibly freezing rain/sleet/ice. Yuck! We're going to get anywhere from 2 to 12 inches of snow depending on how the storm tracks, and up to a quarter inch of ice. I'm at work but hoping that the weather is bad enough to warrant closing early. But, if we don't close early, then I'm definitely not leaving the building on my lunch break. So, if we close early then it's probably a rest day. If we stay open then I'll do a cardio session (stationary bike) and some stretching in the little gym in the basement during my lunch break.

Either way, tomorrow I'll do weights, probably in the little gym. If I don't do cardio today, then I'll likely do cardio on Wednesday. Thursday I'm off work for the holiday, and I don't want to venture out, so I'll do a weights session at home. Friday, probably a rest day. That's the tentative plan so far. Right now I'm just waiting to see how bad this winter storm gets...
 
Update 12/19/15: Bit of a stressful time lately. We had a nasty snow & ice storm yesterday and you could literally see the roads getting bad, but at work they decided we should stay open. They finally did let us close at 4 PM, but by then the roads were super bad. I had to drive like 15 mph the whole way home and even then I was fishtailing a bit, it was not good. This morning, the city had done some plowing (but a rather crappy job of it) so work decided to open as usual. So it was another not great drive, and some of our people got stuck in their driveways or on residential streets that hadn't been plowed. It's just a weird week. There's hardly anybody at work anyway because it's a holiday week, and the people who made the decision to keep the office open weren't actually here anyway... ugh. That stuff drives me nuts, I'd rather be safe than have scary drives to and from work like that. But I'm basically out of vacation days (our vacation & sick days are pooled together and mine have been used up as sick days for the most part this year), so I had to come in to work, I didn't have a choice. So yeah, just some stress due to the weather and crappy road conditions and dumb decisions to keep the office open.

Fortunately, exercise is my stress-relief, so I'm definitely hitting the gym today. Heading to the little gym in the basement on my lunch break for some weights. I did hit the little gym yesterday, as sort of a maintenance/recovery day. I did 15 mins on the stationary bike and didn't push myself too much at all. My legs were already sore from doing weights the previous day, so I just wanted to loosen them up a bit. So I did the bike for a bit and then I did a bunch of stretching and about 10 minutes of walking on the treadmill. That felt pretty good, I think I'll do more days like that where I'm being active but not pushing myself.

Today, however, I do plan to push myself. I like to push myself on weights days. :) Tomorrow will probably be a rest day. I am off of work Thurs & Fri which is good. Thurs is New Year's Eve and I hate leaving the house on days like that, so I'll stay in and do weights from home and then have a nice dinner and spend a relaxing evening at home with hubby. I don't drink much but I'll have a small bit of champagne, hopefully that won't rile up my guts. Friday, I might walk the dog - possibly with my snowshoes. Now that we actually have some snow on the ground, I can start doing some winter outdoor fitness activities like snowshoeing. I'm hoping some of the outdoor ice skating rinks open soon, too.
 
Another quick update for today: I went to the gym and I did push myself. I ended up quite burpy and a bit refluxy and with a hint of heartburn even (I don't usually get heartburn). Once my workout was done, the reflux symptoms themselves went away, but now I'm super bloated. I do get bloated with my reflux sometimes so this is not abnormal. The bloat usually goes away overnight, so hopefully by tomorrow morning I'll be back to normal (well, my version of normal!).

At any rate, probably a good thing that tomorrow's a rest day. That will give my reflux a day to be calm and quiet. Then on Thursday I might rile it back up again. :p
 
Update 12/30/15: Today's a rest day. I feel mostly okay - reflux is quiet, bloat has gone down. I'm a bit tired and somewhat headachey, but nothing bad.

I recently realized that my workouts are going to have to take place mainly in the little gym or at home for the next few weeks. I absolutely hate going to the big gym during New Year's resolution season. :p For most of January, the big gym is absolutely packed with people, I can't stand it. And a lot of the newbies have unfortunate and annoying habits, like hogging equipment, or not wiping down equipment, or just plain not knowing how to use and even breaking the gym equipment. Fortunately most of the resolutioners are gone by February. But in the meantime, to save myself a lot of aggravation, I'll be working out away from the masses.

I don't mean to dissuade anyone who is reading this and thinking of starting a fitness journey in January. Exercise is wonderful, but please make sure that you have some idea of what you're doing so that you don't injure yourself, and please be courteous of others in the gym. And don't give up! Yes, exercise is hard work - that's why another name for it is "working out". ;) It wouldn't have the word "work" in there if it was easy. But the benefits of it are wonderful, so don't quit and don't get discouraged if you don't see results right away. For me, it's been much more about how I feel inside rather than how I look or what the scale shows. Anyway, I'm rambling. Just, don't be an annoying resolutioner who quits right away like most do - be someone who is making a positive change and sticking with it. :)
 
Update 1/4/16: I had a decent long holiday weekend overall. I had off of work on Thurs & Fri. I had the start of a headache on Wednesday, and by Thursday it was quite bad. So I didn't do much of anything - stayed in my pajamas all day and stayed on the couch. Fortunately, by Friday the headache was mostly gone. Hubby had to work Fri - Sun, so I had a lot of time to myself which was nice (massive introvert alert, ha ha). I did a weights & bodyweight workout at home on Friday. Saturday, it was sunny although cold outside, so I bundled up and took the dog on a nice long walk. Sunday, another weights workout at home.

Today's a rest day. Tomorrow, I'm hoping to hit the little gym for weights on my lunch break. I'm a bit iffy about that because I can see that there are a handful of New Year's resolutioners at work, so the little gym might actually have people in it (usually it's just me and I can crank my music and nobody's using the machine I want, nobody's trying to make conversation with me, etc). I think, though, that it'll be okay. My one co-worker mentioned that she wants to walk 10 minutes or so every day (she just had knee surgery so she can't walk more than that right now) and I saw another co-worker bring in workout clothes, but he seems to be going outside to walk rather than to the gym. So hopefully I'll still have the little gym all to myself!

Wednesday, I'm thinking that will be a cardio day in the little gym (stationary bike). Thursday I have a dentist appointment during my lunch hour so I can't hit the little gym that day. I am planning to do a weights workout at home after work on Thurs. Friday, probably another rest day. I see my GP on Friday and I have many questions for him, mainly in regards to my upcoming trip to Japan (I think I need him to write a letter that I can show customs, saying that it's okay that I'm travelling with medicines and that I need these medicines and please don't confiscate them).

Speaking of Japan, I don't know if I've mentioned this previously, but I will be going on bike rides through the sakura (cherry blossoms)! :D :D :D So excited for that. I'm going with my mother in late March/early April, which is peak cherry blossom season for the Tokyo & Kyoto areas, which is where we'll mainly be. My mom has been booking hotel rooms for us, and she's said that multiple places that we'll be staying at include free bicycle rental during our stay. Um, fun! I love going on bike rides anyway, I love seeing beautiful scenery on my bicycle, I obviously want to see the sakura anyway, and it sounds absolutely amazing to have the opportunity to ride bikes amongst the sakura. I cannot wait! I'm going to be in Japan for 3 weeks and I likely won't be doing any weights workouts while I'm there, but I will be walking all over the place (including walking in a 5K) and now I'll be riding a bicycle as well. Going to get my fitness in while I'm on the vacation of a lifetime. It's going to be amazing, I just can't wait.
 
Update 1/6/15: I had a rough day yesterday. I apparently formed a new bleeding hemmie, and I found out they don't make my favorite hemmie cream anymore! (Why, Tucks, why??) I was all sorts of emotions and some pain and just meh. I bled a LOT into the toilet last night before bed which was particularly upsetting. And then, once again, I had a really hard time sleeping. So long story short, I didn't work out yesterday. Was not exactly feeling up for it.

Today, despite the continued lack of sleep, I am feeling significantly better. Less pain in the anal/rectal region (I put myself back on the steroid suppositories, again). And mentally I'm feeling a lot less emotional. Yesterday I was angry and sad and just didn't want to do this anymore. Today I'm much more ready to face the day and feeling far less despondent. I think I can do a workout today. The steroids are giving me a bit of extra energy, and I know I always gain weight on the steroids anyway, so a workout seems like a good idea. I won't do any abdominal work as that seems unwise, but I'll do my normal weights & bodyweight routine minus planks.

Oh, I'm getting a massage today as well. My massage therapist is also a friend and he makes house calls which is lovely. He's giving me a free massage as my xmas gift - score! I'm looking forward to that.

Fitness-wise, just going to play it by ear. My body often feels quite sore after a massage, like I've been gently beat up. :p So I'm presuming that tomorrow is probably a rest day to recover from the massage. Friday I see my GP and then I might exercise at home after work. Will just have to see how I'm feeling.
 
Update 1/7/15: Still bleeding bright red blood, but there was less of it last night/this morning than there was on Tuesday, so hopefully this trend continues and it stops soon. Sometimes the steroid supps take a little while to kick in.

I had a good workout yesterday - I felt really good. And it seems that working out didn't make the bleeding any worse, so that's encouraging. The massage went well, too. I don't feel super sore today - sometimes I'm SO sore after a massage, but today I feel okay. Some slight soreness but I'm not stiff or feeling beat-up or anything like that.

I think I will use the stationary bike at home this evening. Even if I just do 20 or 30 mins, I think that will be do-able. I want to keep exercising every day that I'm feeling okay, even if I have symptoms like rectal bleeding. My workout yesterday didn't worsen the bleeding, so a fairly quick cardio session hopefully won't either. I just kinda feel helpless when I do nothing, so doing something fitness-wise gives me some sense of control over the situation. Plus, exercising not only feels great, it also allows me to (temporarily) feel healthy and normal, so it's a big mental boost as well. I get depressed when I'm bleeding out my ass, and exercise really helps alleviate the depression. It's good in so many ways.

So yeah, cardio tonight but I won't overdo it. Will play things by ear but am hoping to do weights at home tomorrow evening.
 
Update 1/8/15: My anus hurts. I have been bleeding less and less - this morning there was only a tiny smear of blood on the TP and that's it - but the hemmie started hurting as of this morning. Not sure why, but I can feel it. It's right inside the anal sphincter which is where I've had many hemmies in the past. At any rate, I see my GP today, so hopefully he can help.

I did ride the stationary bike last night, but I only did 20 minutes and it is a recumbent bike, so it's got a chair-like seat and not a bicycle seat, so I don't think that's why the hemmie is causing pain today. I don't know. Even with the pain, I still want to lift weights tonight. Maybe if I just ignore the hemmie it'll go away. :p I know that's not reasonable, but I just want to work out so I'm going to work out and that's that.

Tomorrow, I might walk the dog. It's been raining for 2 days - yes, raining in Wisconsin in winter, it's weirdly warm enough here that it's raining rather than snowing. Normally we never get rain here this time of year! But anyway, tomorrow it's still supposed to be reasonably warm (temps in the 30s) but the rain is supposed to stop early in the morning. So, I think I will walk the dog once the rain has stopped. We won't go to the muddy park, we'll stay on the paved path instead. That should be okay. Sunday, I have a family lunch gathering to attend, so I think I'll work out on Sunday evening at home.
 
Update 1/12/16: Rough times. I lifted weights on Saturday instead of Friday. Did not walk the dog. I just didn't have tons of energy and I have even less now. On Sunday evening, my guts went nuts. Watery urgent d with lots of blood. I had the worst bloody bowel movement I've ever had, and I passed blood about 7 or 8 times that evening/early Monday morning. I didn't sleep at all that night and had a fair bit of abdominal pain. I stayed home from work on Monday and just rested.

So obviously it's rest days for a little while until I recover. I'm doing somewhat better today - no more blood, no more d, but I'm very weak and a bit dizzy. I lost a fair bit of blood so I know I need to allow my body to replenish that before I even think of exercising. I saw my GP on Friday (before these bad bleeding incidents) and my iron was at 54 and my ferritin was at 180 (!!!) so that's a vast improvement over my previous readings (iron was at 30 and ferritin was at 4 in October, back before I had the iron infusions). So, I see my GI in early February and I'm thinking of asking him to repeat the labs. I'd be interested to see how a bad day of repeated heavy rectal bleeding affects my levels.

In the meantime, it's rest until I feel strong enough to work out again. Hopefully it doesn't take too long.
 
Update 1/19/16: Haven't been to the gym since my last update. Fortunately, the bleeding gradually slowed and then stopped. I'm still having some slight anal/rectal pain, so I think there's still a hemmie there that's mostly healed. I haven't bled for something like 3 or 4 days now. I'm not feeling stellar by any means, but I'm mostly okay.

I'm thinking today I'll head to the little gym on my lunch break, but I'm going to take it very easy. Mainly stretching out my joints. The weather here has been seriously cold the past few days - as low as -30 wind chills - which has made my joints quite achey. Particularly hips, knees, and lower back. So I'm going to do some gentle work on those joints and a lot of stretching. Am not going to push myself, I know that's unwise right now. I'm hoping that this helps me ease back into working out. If today goes okay, I might go for a more full workout tomorrow - weights and bodyweight exercises. But that's very tentative, just going to see how today goes first. I'm slightly dizzy, and with the lingering pain "back there", I obviously don't want to make things worse or start bleeding again. But I do want to work on my achey joints, so that's the plan.
 
Another quick update for today: Nope, my guts are giving me the "rest" signal, they don't want me to go to the gym. I think I should listen. I still will do some gentle stretches tonight, but won't do anything other than that. Gotta listen to my body, and it still needs to heal.
 
Update 1/21/16: I still haven't been to the gym - still dealing with ongoing symptoms although they're slowly getting better I think. At any rate, I'm sick of waiting, so I'm going ice skating today. The weather looks ideal (upper 20s F and no wind), and I will just do what I can. Hoping to skate for about 30 mins. This will be my first time on the ice this winter, so I will probably be shaky, and I'm just going to focus on trying to be somewhat comfortable and confident on the ice. Not going to overdo things, just going to try to get past the "baby deer legs" stage. I love skating and I'm looking forward to this.
 
Update 1/22/16: I went ice skating yesterday! :D It was tougher than I thought it would be. It was colder than I thought it would be. And it was my first skate of the season, so I was quite shaky and unsteady at first. My shins and ankles were really burning for the first 10 minutes or so. But once I got through that initial discomfort, then I slowly became a bit more relaxed and confident on the ice. I did about 40-45 mins of skating, and by the end I was feeling very good and could actually skate a bit fast without worrying about falling. That felt great!

I had been nervous because I was having some prickly abdominal pains, plus anal/rectal pain from the hemorrhoids, prior to skating. I was afraid I was going to make those pains worse, but fortunately I actually felt a lot better after skating. Abdo pains seem mostly gone now and anal/rectal region feels a bit better too. Very encouraging! The only real issue was that my knees were aching fairly badly after I finished skating. I think it was because of the cold and the fact that I was only wearing leggings (they were fleece-lined, but apparently not warm enough for my bad joints). Once I got warmed up again, the knees ached less, and when I got home yesterday evening I took a hot bath which got rid of the remainder of the knee aches.

I'm feeling reasonably okay today. I am encouraged by the mostly positive result of skating yesterday, so I'm going to hit the gym today. I won't push myself too much, but I will lift weights. Hopefully this continues to help me feel better and better. Tomorrow, the weather looks very nice (30 F and sunny and low wind), so I'm planning to go ice skating again. I'll take a hot bath right afterwards so that I can get immediately rid of any joint pains that occur. I'm thinking I'll go to a larger ice rink this time, which sounds intimidating, but I'm not going to improve unless I push myself a little bit out of my comfort zone, right? So that's the plan. I'll skate anywhere from 30 - 60 minutes, depending on how I'm feeling. If I skate longer than an hour, my body tends to get too cold and my muscles get too tired and then I'm at risk of falling/injuring myself. So yeah, that'll be nice. I'm excited to finally be doing some active things again after having a rough few weeks!
 
Update 1/25/16: Forget what I said in my last update. On Friday, about an hour before I was going to go to the gym, my stomach started throwing some wicked pains at me. I'm not sure what was up with that, but I felt unwell enough that I skipped the gym that day. Saturday, rather than ice skate, I just walked the dog and that was it. Sunday I was feeling lazy so I rested. So yeah, all I did all weekend long basically was walk the dog and that's it. Not great.

Today I'm feeling okay-ish again. As long as my stomach continues to be calm, I'll hit the gym today. Not planning anything beyond today just yet. It's been awhile since I've had a proper workout so I'm just going to take things one day at a time and see how today goes.
 
Another quick update for today: Well, I hit the gym. It was not super easy. My stomach was pretty unhappy the whole time, with a fair bit of pains around the belly button area. I didn't push myself too much, in fact I skipped a couple of things that I'd normally do, and I avoided any type of abdominal exercise (no planks for me). I'm still feeling not super great stomach-wise. Not sure what's up with that. I'm thinking that tomorrow should be a rest day though, I don't want to make myself any worse. I will re-assess on Wednesday and go from there. Bleh.
 
Update 1/27/15: Yesterday was a rest day. Today I woke up with a throbbing, pounding sinus migraine so it seems like it's another rest day today. It's okay though because I was afraid my vertigo was coming back, but it turned out that my body was just building up to a migraine. Phew! I can deal with a migraine, vertigo not so much. Vertigo debilitates me but migraines are just annoying. So I'm really glad it's just a migraine!

The weather is looking nice for the next few days. I don't have any fitness plans, just going to see how the migraine plays out (they usually last me anywhere from 2-5 days). I'll do some fitness and hopefully get outside for some ice skating as soon as I'm feeling up to it.
 
Update 1/28/16: I just realized I wrote the date as 2015 instead of 16 yesterday. :p Whoops! That's Cat's brain on a migraine for you.

Fortunately the migraine is much improved today. I'd say I'm feeling about 75% better. There's still a little bit of lingering head pain and sinus pressure, but nothing like what it was yesterday. So, I'm planning to hit the gym today! I feel like I can do a workout today and I'm excited for it. Not planning any future workouts just yet, going to see how I do today and go from there. I am hoping to go ice skating sometime soon, but the weather might actually be too warm! It's supposed to get up to 40 degrees F this weekend! That's warm enough to melt the ice or at least make everything really sloppy. Sooo, my skates might have to wait until it cools down a bit which is a weird thing to say in late January!
 
Another quick update for today: I did go to the gym. :) It felt very good! I almost didn't go. About an hour beforehand, my migraine got a bit worse and my stomach started acting up. I wasn't sure if I should skip the gym or not. I decided, screw it, I'm going anyway! So I went, and fortunately that was a good decision. My head feels a lot better now. My stomach, well, it's about the same. But overall I felt good and energetic and strong in the gym, and my mood was greatly lifted. I really needed that.

Tomorrow, the weather looks decent and I'm thinking I'll be bringing my ice skates to work with me. If my body and the weather both cooperate, then I'll go ice skating on my lunch break. That's the tentative plan! I'm looking forward to it!
 
Update 2/1/16: Had a bit of a rough weekend. My parents came down on Saturday and there's always a lot of eating when they're around. We went to a chocolate shop, then out to lunch, and later we went to a winery for a tasting. I had I think a bit too much wine and food, my stomach wasn't super happy with me and I had an episode of rectal bleeding that evening. Sunday, I woke up feeling all wrong in my head. It felt like my migraine was coming back, probably a result of the wine and/or chocolate. So I didn't do anything active either weekend day because I overdid the eating and drinking on Saturday. I needed Sunday to be a rest/recovery day.

Today I'm feeling better-ish. Not great but not as bad as I was yesterday. Stomach is a bit iffy but my head feels mostly okay and I can tell I have a decent amount of energy. So, I'm going to hit the gym for weights on my lunch break today. Hopefully my stomach will be okay with that.

Tomorrow, we're supposed to get a snowstorm with likely 5-8 inches of snow in total. I'm not sure exactly what I'll be doing - if work closes early/opens late/closes for the full day, then I'll help hubby shovel at some point. If work is open as normal then I'm obviously not going to go out on my lunch break, so in that case I'll make it a cardio/stretching day. Likely will do about 20-30 mins on the stationary bike and then do some good stretching afterwards. So, it all depends on what the storm does and what my workplace decides to do, but either way I'll be doing something active.
 
Another quick update for today: I almost didn't go to the gym. My migraine started to sneak back in and my guts got a little more unsettled. But I was determined to go, so I went in spite of my head and stomach. I'm so glad I did, I feel a lot better now. My head feels fine and my guts are calmer. And I just have that "Ahhhh!" feeling that you get right after a workout, like I feel refreshed and just good. It's a hard feeling to describe. Anyway, long story short, I almost didn't go but I'm very glad I did. Sometimes I need to remind myself that the gym is my happy place and that that is true even on not so great days. The gym can make a "meh" day into a better day.
 
Update 2/2/16: I hit the stationary bike for a short cardio session today. It was more difficult than I thought - my guts and head were okay, but my hemorrhoids were not so happy. I definitely had some anal/rectal discomfort, but I seem to be okay now. I only did 20 mins on the bike because I didn't want to aggravate the hemmies too much.

Tomorrow, the plan is to hit the gym again for weights. I'm tentatively thinking of going ice skating on Thursday, if the local outdoor rink is open. It's currently raining (!!) so the ice conditions may not be good, as everything is currently melty and slushy. We'll see. Hoping for another weights session on Friday. Haven't gotten as far as the weekend yet, trying not to get too far ahead of myself.
 
Update 2/3/16: I hit the little gym for weights today. That went mostly fine. I had some abdominal discomfort during my warm-up, specifically in my LRQ (which is where my main "pain spot" has always been). It was disconcerting, I haven't had LRQ pain in a little while (I suspect I'm in remission, my main issue lately has been hemorrhoids but I don't seem to have active inflammation/symptoms related to the IBD). Fortunately, as soon as I got warmed up, the LRQ pain went away and stayed away. I've been feeling slightly backed up today - have had some rectal pressure like I have to go but then nothing comes out, so I'm slightly constipated I guess - so I am presuming the LRQ discomfort was just related to that.

Other than the brief LRQ discomfort, my workout went fine. I'm thinking that I won't go ice skating tomorrow - it looks like the outdoor rinks will still be closed due to poor conditions, and I am feeling like I'm in need of a rest day anyway. My quads felt tired and a bit sore today during my workout, so I know it's best to let them rest. Still planning to hit the gym on Friday again for weights - and, now that it's no longer January, the New Year resolutioners should be pretty much cleared out and I could actually go to the big gym again! I'm thinking I'll bring hubby with me (he never goes to the gym voluntarily, I always have to drag him along with me) and we'll make an evening of it. We'll have a nice workout and then pick up dinner afterwards. The big gym is usually quite empty on Friday evenings so that should be nice.
 
Update 2/5/16: Yesterday was a rest day, as planned. I had good energy but I knew that my muscles needed to heal - I probably could have done a workout, but I knew the wise thing to do was rest.

Today I'm headed to the big gym with hubby in the evening. We haven't been there in awhile so that'll be nice. I'm going to have a nice, long, thorough weights session and then have a nice dinner afterwards. It's been a super stressful week at work and a nice workout sounds like just the thing I need to end the week.
 
Hi Cat! Is "the big gym" the Princeton Club? When I lived in Madison(back in 2005) I went there and loved that gym, it's huge
 
Eridon2002 said:
Hi Cat! Is "the big gym" the Princeton Club? When I lived in Madison(back in 2005) I went there and loved that gym, it's huge
Click to expand...

No, although I belonged there for a year about 10 years ago (probably right around the same time as you, actually!). Yeah, that place is intimidatingly huge (the west side one was anyway, I never went to the east side - I'm a west/south sider). I belong to Planet Fitness now, mainly because of the price (it was something like $75 per month for the hubby and I to belong to the Princeton Club, and it's only $10 per person per month to belong to PF). I refer to it as the big gym mainly because I don't want to constantly name-drop the place as that's weird, plus there's a little gym in the basement of my workplace, so in comparison PF is quite large. So yeah, those are my two main gyms these days - a little free gym at work, and PF. I also have a home gym in my guest bedroom, but I prefer working out in a gym environment as I can focus better (too many distractions at home).
 
Update 2/8/16: I had an active weekend. :) Went to the big gym with hubby on Friday evening. It was more crowded there than I expected - usually it's dead quiet as soon as the weekend hits, but there were a fair number of people there this time. It wasn't too bad though, because I was able to use every piece of equipment I wanted, in the order I wanted to, without having to wait for anything to open up. Can't ask for much more than that! That workout felt really good. I felt strong and I really pushed myself and did a lot. I even did a plank at the end and my guts/GERD didn't punish me for it.

Saturday, we walked the dog. It was kind of cold out but it was nice to get outside for a little while. We walked by a local creek and saw some ducks (my dog loves ducks, she will just sit and watch them but will not chase nor bark). It was nice to get out even though it was cold and overcast.

Sunday, hubby and I went back to the big gym for another weights workout. This time, I was still a bit sore from pushing myself so hard on Friday! So it was definitely a tougher workout. Once again, the gym was busier than I had hoped, and this time around I did have to change up the order of what I did because a few times some of the machines were taken when I wanted to use them. There was one guy in particular who was really hogging the assisted chin-up bar, and there's only one of those so it's super annoying when someone is doing a bunch of sets on it. I did get to eventually use it though so it was fine in the end.

Today I'm slightly sore but not bad. Still, I think today should be a rest day just to make sure I don't injure myself. Tomorrow, I have an all-day meeting at work but hubby expressed interest in going to the gym after work, so hopefully that will work out. I'm mainly concerned about when I eat vs when I work out - ideally, with my GERD, I have a substantial snack/small meal (usually oatmeal) about 2 hours before going to the gym. That seems to be the best system for me. But since it's a work meeting, lunch is at a set time, and it's looking like it'll be about 4 hours between when I eat and when I can go home and head to the gym. So I'm not quite sure about that. I am thinking that I will pack myself some food and sneak out of the meeting in the early afternoon and scarf down my snack a couple hours before the end of the meeting. That might work out best. I don't want to go too long between eating and working out, because then my energy levels are bad - 4 hours between eating and exercising is just too long. But I can't eat and then go work out right away or my GERD will go nuts - 2 hours seems to be the golden time, I'm not starving and my energy is good and my GERD is also happy with that. I have to time things just right. So hopefully I can manage to eat at the right time tomorrow so that I can hit the gym right after the meeting. I'm going to make every effort to do so. And if my boss sees that I've packed a bag of food, I will just remind her that, with my various fun digestive issues (IBD and GERD), that I feel safer packing my own food especially when I don't know what is going to be on the menu for lunch.

So yeah, long story short, today is a rest day, tomorrow big gym for weights. Wednesday, maybe cardio - I'm thinking stationary bike in the little gym. Thursday will likely be weights again. Hubby's currently furloughed from his job for at least the next week, so I'm dragging him to the gym with me every chance I get (and he's actually appearing to enjoy that), so likely we'll go to the big gym after work on Thurs. Friday, probably another rest day. I'm betting Saturday will be another weights day. Haven't planned things out further than that yet.
 
Update 2/10/16: I did hit the gym yesterday. Almost talked myself out of it. I had to go to a work meeting all morning and part of the afternoon, I was helping run the meeting so I had to get there quite early to help set up. I was running around like crazy all morning, I got over 3,000 steps on my fitbit before the meeting even started! I was sure I'd exhaust myself from everything that had to be done for the meeting, plus I wasn't sure about the food situation. I had neglected to pack myself some safe food so I was at the mercy of what was served and when it was served. Fortunately, there was a lot of safe food in the lunch - rice, pasta salad, bread, baked chicken. Oh, and chocolate cake. :p So I sort of stuffed myself with food, most of it carbs.

The meeting ended an hour earlier than anticipated, which meant I got out of there at a quite reasonable time. I was actually still a bit full from lunch when I got home! But I had decent energy and was feeling okay. Hubby still wanted to go to the gym, so we waited for an extra half hour or so for my lunch to further digest, then we headed to the gym. That went great! :) I felt really strong and energetic. You know those days in the gym where the weights don't feel quite so heavy and there's extra pep in your step? Like you just feel strong and good and pumped. That was my workout yesterday, it was wonderful. I felt really strong the whole way through.

Today's just a light cardio day in the little gym on my lunch break. I pushed myself yesterday so I'm going to relax a bit today and just do an easy light cardio session. I'm thinking I'll do about 15-20 mins on the stationary bike, then some good stretching. Tomorrow hubby and I are headed back to the big gym for weights again. Friday will probably be a rest day, and Saturday I think I'm going to the big gym by myself (hubby is having some friends over that day to play some dumb game, they always play stuff like dungeons & dragons which is so not my style, so I avoid hubby and his friends and do my own thing). Hubby says that he still wants to go to the gym every other day though, so it's possible he'll work out a schedule with his friends so that he can either go to the gym early or late in the day. At any rate, I'm definitely hitting the gym on Saturday, with or without him.
 
Update 2/11/16: I hit the little gym yesterday and just did 15 mins on the stationary bike. I've been feeling for a couple days like I might be developing yet another hemorrhoid (ugh) so I didn't push it as I was already having some anorectal discomfort. Fortunately that went fine, if I do have a new hemmie it hasn't bled (yet) so I didn't overdo things on the bike yesterday.

Today I'm kind of exhausted - haven't slept well all week. I seem to fall asleep okay but can't seem to stay asleep. I wake up a lot during the night with weird dreams in between, I can't seem to just get a good chunk of rest. Last night I woke up at 1 something in the morning, then I fell asleep and had a dream that I was paying bills. Apparently even in my dreams my financial situation is grim, hah. Then I woke up at 4 something and when I fell back asleep, I dreamed that I was making salt pork with a pioneer woman (???). I don't even eat pork and in this day and age we have refrigerators so I don't know why my dream felt like I needed to dream about salt pork. So odd. Can't I just have a nice dream where things are happy? Must I always be doing chores in my dreams?

At any rate, even though I'm kind of exhausted, I feel like I can still do a workout. I have had some rectal pressure but no pain today, so maybe the hemmie is healing? I'm still on the steroid suppositories (probably a big reason why I can't sleep well these days) so the steroids should be healing whatever's going on in there. I haven't bled and no pain, so I can do a workout with some rectal pressure and some tiredness. I won't push myself too much, but I will do what I can. Heading to the big gym with hubby in a couple hours.

Tomorrow's a rest day and thank goodness, I just hope I can get some sleep. And not dream about bills or pork! Other people have cool dreams where they're flying or whatever, I have boring or just plain stupid dreams. :p
 
Update 2/15/16: I did do a workout in the big gym on Thursday. It was super crazy crowded in the gym that evening for some reason. So I had to shuffle up the order of my workout, I just jumped on whatever machine was open. I did get to do everything that I wanted to do, and I felt quite good. Friday, it was originally going to be a rest day but it was so cold out that I didn't want to leave the building on my lunch break. So, I just walked on the treadmill for my entire lunch hour. That went fine.

Saturday I went to the big gym around noon for a workout. Fortunately it wasn't very crowded that day. I was able to do everything that I wanted in the order that I wanted with only one exception (some ladies were hogging the assisted chin up bar but I eventually got to use it once they were finally done). I felt quite good. I also took myself off of the steroid suppositories on Saturday - hoping that my anorectal region is healed enough that I can be off of the steroids for awhile. And if things go downhill again, I'll go back on the steroids. My GI encouraged me to try to get off of them for awhile at least, though, so that's what I'm doing. I see a colorectal surgeon next week so hopefully she will have some better ideas about how to heal and not get any further bleeding hemmies.

Sunday, it snowed all day so we ended up shoveling once it was finally done snowing. It was light and fluffy snow so it wasn't very difficult to shovel. I had a headache all day but the activity of shoveling seemed to help. Other than shoveling, I really didn't do anything active, it was essentially a rest day. I mostly did stuff around the house and some crafts (sewing and crocheting).

Today my head still hurts a bit but not too bad. I can definitely do a workout today, so I'm heading down to the little gym on my lunch break for weights. Hubby is also keeping up with doing a weights workout every other day - he worked out at home on Saturday and is also working out at home today (for some reason, he refuses to go to the actual gym without me, but he's okay with working out at home by himself - he's weird sometimes). So we'll both do our separate workouts today. Tomorrow I'm thinking cardio - if the weather holds up, I'm hoping to go ice skating. It's looking to be a bit warm, though (in the mid 30s F) so the outdoor ice rink might melt a bit, I'm not sure how good the ice conditions will be. I'm going to just keep an eye on things (my city is good about posting online updates as to which outdoor rinks are open or closed and what the ice conditions are like). If I can't skate, I'll probably just do a stationary bike session. I'm also thinking I'll head to the big gym for weight with hubby on Weds and Fri evenings, and probably a rest day on Thurs. That's the plan for now.
 
Update 2/16/16: After two whole days of being off of the steroid suppositories, I'm right back on them. Ugh. Had a bad episode of d last night and I felt that old familiar pressure and pain in my rectum, plus some upper abdominal pain (which I seem to get when I have a hemorrhoid? No idea why). No bleeding yet but it was definitely headed in that direction. I emailed my GI to let him know I'm back on the steroids. Wish I could just get these stupid rectal issues cleared up, this has been going on for over a year now. Ugh.

So I'm not great today, but I'm determined to go ice skating anyway. My local rink is open, the weather looks okay, and I'm going to go skate on my lunch break. My rectum feels a bit better this morning than it did last night, so I'm encouraged.

Still planning to do weights tomorrow. However, hubby works (he's been on furlough for a couple weeks but he's finally going back tomorrow - he also is looking for a better job) so I'm going to hit the little gym on my lunch break and he's going to work out at home before he works (he doesn't go in until noon). I'm not sure what his work schedule will be the rest of the week - he's going to talk to his boss tomorrow and find out - so I'm not sure when we'll next get to go to the big gym together. We're still both doing our workouts though which is the important thing.
 
Another quick update for today: I went ice skating and that went really well. It was actually snowing quite a bit the whole time I was out, so when I got to the ice rink there was a thin layer of snow on the ice. That made me nervous, because I couldn't really see where the defects or bumps were in the ice (since it's an outdoor rink, there tends to be a lot more defects than an indoor rink with a zamboni would have). Fortunately though, the ice under the snow was nice and smooth, I only came across one little dip that made me lose my balance for a second, but I didn't fall. I felt really strong and good the whole time, I'm definitely getting more confidence on the ice. I even thought about trying some front crossovers today - I didn't, as I want to play it really safe (don't want to injure myself before I go to Japan in 5 weeks!) but I felt like I could have done it.

I forgot to mention this earlier but I'm getting a massage tonight. :) That will be nice. Hopefully it helps my intermittent pain - I've had some tightness and pain behind my left shoulder blade these past couple of weeks. It's not always there, but sometimes it definitely makes itself known. It feels like, there must be a tendon or ligament that runs alongside or behind the shoulderblade? It feels like that is really tight and that's what's causing the pain. So we'll see, hopefully the massage helps.
 
Update 2/17/18: I had a good massage last night. My massage therapist is also a family friend, so he makes house calls and charges a reduced rate which is awesome. Sometimes, though, the day after a massage, I feel very sore and tender like I've been beat up. Fortunately I feel fine today, no beat up feeling. And my shoulderblade feels fine too.

I hit the little gym on my lunch break today and that went fine. My left knee (the bad one) was giving me some pain last night after ice skating, I was even awoken once in the night with knee pain. But fortunately the knee feels fine today. And, I'm back on the steroid suppositories for at least a couple of months. I'm going to Japan for most of the month of April, and I expressed to my GI that I want to feel as well as possible during my trip. So I emailed him yesterday letting him know that I had a difficult time coming off of the steroid suppositories, and he said that I can stay on the suppositories until after I get back from my trip - then we'll re-assess. So that's great, that's the outcome I was hoping for. I feel much more confident now that I'll be well and relatively pain and symptom-free (and hemorrhoid-free!) through my trip. I kind of have a love-hate relationship with steroids (who doesn't?) because they make me gain weight and disrupt my sleep and all that, but honestly they've helped me so much and the pros definitely do outweigh the cons. Yay steroids! :)
 
Update 2/19/16: Wow, did I put the year as 18 on my last update? I am losing my mind. :p Just kidding, my mind was already lost years ago. ;)

Yesterday was a rest day. I had been halfway thinking about going ice skating again, but the weather has warmed up significantly (temps in the 40s/50s F) so my city has closed all the outdoor ice rinks "until further notice" and I'm guessing they won't reopen. The weather already feels like spring, it sure doesn't seem like we'll get more weather that's cold enough to sustain outdoor ice rinks. So my skating season is abruptly over, it seems.

Today I'm heading to the big gym with hubby after work for a weights session. Tomorrow, I'm thinking I'll take my dog on a walk - supposed to be more spring-like weather tomorrow. The dog park will surely be very muddy (what little snow we had is all melting now and everything is just one giant puddle outside). So we'll stick to walking on the bike path instead. I'm shifting my thoughts away from ice skating and towards bicycling, on that note. This probably won't happen, but I'm toying with the idea of riding my bike to the gym on Sunday for a bike-weights-bike session. It's very windy today and supposed to be windy tomorrow as well, but Sunday it looks like the wind will have died down a fair bit. So it's possible that I'll do a bike & gym session on Sunday, but the weather will have to be really nice for that to happen. Temps in the 40s still sounds a bit cold for a bike ride, but maybe if the sun was out... I don't know. At any rate, I'll definitely go to the gym on Sunday, just not sure if I'll be getting there by car or by bicycle.

On the health front, since being back on the steroid suppositories, I've had hardly any rectal pain. I've had a bit of loose stools but apparently that wasn't enough to trigger another hemmie. So, I'm doing okay for the most part. I'm a bit tired sometimes as the steroids are affecting my sleep somewhat, but that's fine, the side effects are well worth the healing that's going on and I'm happy to not bleed out my ass for awhile. I definitely can't complain - I'm functional and feeling like a human and doing okay. Taking my liquid iron supplement every day, I worked my way up to the full recommended dose of one tablespoon and that's going great, no stomach upset at all. So yeah, I'm doing okay! Life isn't quite such a struggle at the moment and sometimes that's all you can ask for.
 
Update 2/22/16: Well, I had a good weekend - up until Sunday evening. I hit the gym Friday night, had a great workout. Saturday I took the dog on a nice long walk. It was a bit too chilly and windy out to do a bike ride on the weekend, but hopefully it won't be too much longer now until I can get my bike out for a ride. Sunday, it was back to the gym for weights. I started off feeling a bit sluggish, but I eventually pepped up and hit my stride and had a good workout overall.

Sunday evening, my dad called me, and long story short, my grandpa might be dying (he might stop doing his dialysis treatments, in which case he'll die shortly). So that really stressed me out and upset me. Fortunately I have a very good coping tool, which is exercise. Today was going to be a rest day, but I'm going for a walk now instead. It's still a bit chilly outside, but I can walk on the treadmill for my entire lunch hour, so I'm going to do that. I need to do something active to try to take my mind off of this. So I'm just going to walk, walk, walk today. Tomorrow is weights, not sure which gym or whether hubby is coming. Wednesday I have a luncheon at work so I can't exercise during my lunch break, and it will probably be a rest day. By Wednesday I should have a much better idea of what's going on with my grandpa and what he's decided to do, so I'll at least know more and will be able to work on my emotions from there. If my grandpa does elect to stop dialysis, then there's a good chance I won't be at work that day anyway because I'll be going to say goodbye to my grandpa, so that may be a moot point. At any rate, I'm planning to do as much exercise as I can to deal with this stress and horribleness but I'm not setting firm plans beyond the next day or two because I don't know what's going to happen.
 
Another quick update for today: I did 45 minutes of walking on the treadmill and I feel a lot better now. Another good update is that, for the time being anyway, my grandpa is staying on dialysis. I don't know what tomorrow or next week or a month from now will bring, so that stress hasn't gone away, but it also can at least temporarily relinquish it's spot at the forefront of my mind for right now.

So yeah, doing better now than I was earlier, at any rate. Let the fitness plans commence! Tomorrow weights, Wednesday rest day, Thursday weights, Friday not sure yet. The local ice rinks *might* reopen at the weekend, so it's possible but unlikely that I'll be able to hit the ice for a skating session on Friday afternoon. If I can't skate, I'll probably just do the stationary bike for a cardio session that day.
 
Update 2/23/16: I'm tired today, feeling a bit wiped out. I'm still planning to do a weights workout, in the little gym on my lunch break. It's feeling like it's going to be a "fake it till you make it" kind of a day - I'm just going to push through my workout even though I'm feeling tired and not really excited about working out today. Sometimes you have to do that.

Tomorrow is a much-needed rest day. I'm looking forward to that. I'm having lunch with my department at work tomorrow and I'm already looking at menus to decide ahead of time what I want to order. I'm thinking salmon - I've been on a salmon kick lately (had salmon for dinner last night and am having the leftovers for lunch today!). I've been doing well with eating good-quality protein lately. I've been doing a lot of lamb, some venison, a fair bit of fish, and even occasionally some rabbit. Lots of eggs, too - I could eat eggs and salmon every day and not get bored of it.

Anyway, I read an article recently that suggested that meals should be given a lot of planning and forethought. And I thought, I plan out my workouts days in advance, but I don't really plan my eating in advance, and I know my diet needs work. So I'm starting to focus on that a bit more. So today's food plan is as follows - breakfast was rice pudding and a protein smoothie. Snack is oatmeal with chia seeds and cashew milk, with raspberries. Lunch is leftover salmon and avocado with couscous. Dinner will be venison. Tomorrow breakfast and snack will be the same as today, lunch will be salmon, dinner will likely be chicken (hubby works till 7 PM on Wednesdays, so we do a crock pot dinner those days and it's almost always chicken).
 
Update 2/25/16: Oh man. Today has been slightly brutal. Hopefully it's all worthwhile, though. I had an appointment with a colorectal surgeon today. Long story short, I've had ongoing issues with bleeding internal hemorrhoids for a year now and the bleeding has been bad at times, caused me to become anemic and to require iron infusions, etc. So, after consulting with the surgeon and going over my options, we decided to band my hemmies right there in the exam room. That was unpleasant to say the least. There is a LOT of rectal pressure and discomfort now.

The worst part is, she said I cannot lift weights for 2 weeks! :( She wants to make sure everything heals up first before I'm allowed back in the gym. I can do some gentle exercise like walking, but nothing involving weights and nothing intense. So, for now I have to focus on healing. The bands cut off the blood flow and the hemmies will fall off, there will be scabs where they were, the scabs will heal, and then I can go back to lifting weights. But for now, I have to take things really easy. I hate missing workouts, but I hope that this is all worthwhile and that this is the thing that gets me properly healed and not bleeding out my ass anymore.

So, there won't be a lot of fitness updates from me for a couple weeks. But hopefully this is all for the best and will have me feeling better than ever once all is said and done.
 
I don't really have any updates, but it feels weird to let this thread go quiet even if I'm the only one in here. :p I haven't done any exercise at all. It's starting to drive me crazy, I just want to sneak into the gym, but I know I should let myself heal.

On that note, it's been a week since the hemorrhoids were banded. I was told it takes about a week for them to die and fall off, so now I'm impatiently waiting for that to happen. I haven't noticed any hemorrhoids in the toilet (I was told I might not see them though, they might be mixed in with my stool) and it still feels like I have hemorrhoids (I've had some rectal pressure ever since they were banded), so I think they're still frustratingly hanging on. I just want them to go so that I can heal up inside and then get back to the gym.

I'd like to do a little bit of mild exercise. I think I'm going to walk my dog both weekend days if the weather allows (it may snow or rain). I also want to do some stretches because I can feel my arthritic hips starting to get angry with me. So that's the tentative plan. If everything goes okay and the stupid hemmies fall off soon, then I can be back in the gym next week Friday. I keep staring at that date on the calendar, trying to will it to hurry up and get here...
 
I walked my dog yesterday! It was warm-ish (upper 40s/low 50s F) but very windy so we didn't have as long of a walk as I'd have liked. Still, we walked which isn't nothing.

I'm going swimming tomorrow evening, too. I hardly ever get to swim (my gym doesn't have a pool). But I'm going out of town for a meeting, so work is putting me up in a hotel. Whenever I'm at a hotel, I try to get some swimming in. I don't ever get my head wet anymore, since it seemed like getting some water into my ear that I couldn't get out was what triggered my horrible bout of labyrinthitis (inner ear inflammation which causes horrendous vertigo) a couple years ago. I don't ever want to go through that again if I can avoid it, so I'm really careful with my ears now. But I can still swim, and I'm looking forward to it.
 
Update 3/14/16: It's been about 2.5 weeks now since the hemorrhoid banding. I was told it's okay to go back to the gym after 2 weeks, but I waited a bit longer to play it safe. And honestly, I think I'm still healing (had a teeny bit of rectal bleeding & slight discomfort yesterday) but I'm also sick of waiting. :p I'm going to work out at home tonight, I won't overdo things at all but I want to at least try a few exercises and see how I feel. If I continue to bleed and/or have discomfort then I'll stop and rest for a little while longer, but I have to at least try. I'm just going to do a few things with my weights & equipment at home and see how it goes. Wish me luck!
 
Ugh, that didn't go well. I worked out last night. Didn't push myself at all and didn't do any abdominal exercises. But afterwards, it felt like I had done a ton of ab work, and my guts are quite unhappy today. I think it's a combination of the workout and the fact that I'm super exhausted due to the daylight savings time change. That always throws me off, I hate DST! So I'm exhausted and my guts are unhappy, bleh.

No bleeding though so there's some good news with the bad. I've had a few episodes of d last night and this morning, but no blood. So yeah, maybe it's just the DST thing that's upsetting my guts (they always get unhappy when I don't get enough sleep).

So I think this is a little preview of things to come. In 2 weeks, I get on a plane and fly 13 hours to Japan. Talk about my sleep schedule being interrupted! :p I have a feeling my guts are going to be extremely upset about that. I'm definitely looking forward to the trip, just not so much the flight and the jet lag and the 14 hour time difference. Fortunately we don't have anything planned for the first couple of days, so I'm going to be recovering then.
 
Update 3/16/16: I hit the gym again today. This time it fortunately went much better! I think my timing was just really bad last time - my guts were unhappy with the lack of sleep from daylight savings time (they always get upset when my sleep pattern pattern is disturbed or if I get too little sleep). So I really should have waited for my guts to recover from that first before going back to the gym after a hiatus. Just bad timing and me being impatient to get back to the gym.

Today I hit the little gym for weights on my lunch break. I was fairly cautious, didn't do any abdominal exercises and didn't push myself too much. I feel good now, and my guts seem fine too. That's very encouraging. Since today went well, I'm hoping to go to the big gym after work with hubby on Friday.
 
Update 3/18/16: Ugh. I was hoping to go to the gym today but I don't think it's happening. I've had pain and pressure right inside the anal sphincter all day and it sure feels like a new hemorrhoid has formed. This is incredibly frustrating and depressing. I just had 3 hemmies in my rectum banded only 3 weeks ago, I was hoping to be hemmie-free for a little longer than this. Nope, my stupid broken body didn't get that memo. The new hemmie hasn't bled yet but it's definitely letting me know it's there.

I don't want to go back on steroid suppositories but I also don't know what else to do. For now I'm going to wait and see. If the hemmie starts bleeding then I'll probably have to go back on the suppositories. Ugh, the timing of this couldn't be worse. I'm going to Japan in less than 2 weeks. I was really, really hoping to have my health situation be okay but now I'm having to deal with new hemmies already and there's a 13 hour flight in my near future. Ugh.

So yeah, I'm having a pity party for myself today instead of going to the gym. Just going to try to heal this stupid thing and am really upset with my dumb body for being such a jerk, again. Don't want to make things worse so working out is on the backburner for now. Bleh.
 
I don't have much to update - the hemmie did start bleeding, and now seems to be healing although there is still some pain (it seems to have stopped bleeding, thank goodness). I'm heading to Japan soon for a long vacation, so I won't be on the forum for about a month. Hopefully once I get back, then I'll be back in the gym properly!
 
Update 4/25/16: I spent March 31 thru April 20 in Japan and have settled back into my home life now, with some mostly good updates. :)

We walked around in Japan a LOT. I had my fitbit with me and we probably averaged 8 to 10 miles per day. I ate a lot of good food but still lost about 5 lbs total on the trip, presumably from walking so much. The first couple days of the trip were rough, my body was stressed from the jet lag and time change so I was bleeding and nauseated and just not feeling well at all. But after the first couple days, I adjusted, and then I felt quite well for the rest of the trip. Firm, formed stools and very little in the way of gut issues. My body clearly likes Japanese food very much and I'm trying to incorporate more Japanese food into my diet now that I'm back home. More fish and rice and so on.

Coming home was also rough, I started bleeding again and I had a ton of gut cramps. It took me a bit longer to adjust coming home, but I think I'm okay now. The cramps and bleeding have stopped and I'm able to eat reasonably normally again although my appetite isn't huge.

Walking so much in Japan, I felt so well, and I'm trying to walk more now that I'm home. I took my dog on long walks both weekend days and that went quite well. I also took a long-ish (about 8 miles) bike ride yesterday and that also went well. It didn't aggravate my gut/rectal issues at all so that's very good.

I'm planning to hit the gym today for weights. Tomorrow I'd like to take another long walk, likely on my lunch hour. Wednesday will be weights again. I haven't planned much beyond that. I'm sort of easing back into a regular fitness routine now that I'm home and recovered from my trip, so not planning too far in advance just yet.
 
Update 4/26/16: I hit the gym yesterday for weights on my lunch break, then took the dog on a nice long walk in the evening after work. That went well and I feel pretty good today. I think my guts are still regulating themselves somewhat now that I'm home from my trip. I had cramps and d for the first few days after getting home, then yesterday I didn't poo at all. Today I had a couple large but formed & solid poos. So I think my digestive system is still somewhat getting used to being home and having American food again and getting over the jet lag and all that. No more bleeding though which is good.

Today is mostly a rest day. I'm going to walk around as much as possible but that's it. It's cold and misty/rainy outside, but I'd like to take a walk if the weather allows. If I can't walk outside, then I need to do a few errands anyway, so I'll walk around in stores as much as I can.
 
Update 4/27/16: I hit the little gym for weights. I was hoping to go to the big gym in the evening with hubby, but he's been working so much lately that he wants to relax at home rather than go to the gym. So, little gym on my lunch break it was. It went mostly fine. I'm on the first heavy flow day of my period, and I'm crampy and bloated and having some d, so I'm not feeling the best. But I was able to get through a workout without issue, so that's a definite win.

Tomorrow I am thinking will be a rest day. With how I'm feeling today, I'm thinking that resting is a better idea than trying to push myself. I'll still try to walk as much as I can, but won't do a formal workout.

Friday will be weights again. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to do weights in the little gym, at home, or in the big gym. It gets monotonous to just go to the little gym constantly, but the little gym is the most convenient during the work week since it's right in the same building. So I don't know. If I am feeling very ambitious then I'll go to the big gym after work on Friday, and if I'm feeling bored with the little gym but not overly ambitious then I'll just work out using my barbell and dumbbells at home after work that day.
 
Update 5/2/16: I didn't do a ton this weekend. I did hit the little gym on Friday for weights. Saturday was a lazy day, it was rainy and cold and I mostly just stayed indoors on the couch. Sunday was nicer outside so I did some yard work. I attempted to get out crappy old lawnmower to work but it just wouldn't (it was a manual reel push mower and the reel was jammed up and rusted to the point that it didn't want to spin without a lot of effort). So I did some other yard work and then bought a new, better lawnmower. :p I also took the dog on a nice long walk with our friends from the dog park - I socialize with the humans and my dog runs around with her dog friends, so we all get exercise and socialization, it's nice.

Today is a walk and weights day. It looks to be a really nice day (low 60s F and sunny) so I'm going to go out on my lunch hour and take a walk through the park. Then, after work, I'm going to do weights at home with my barbell & dumbbells. Tomorrow looks to be similarly nice weather, so I'm planning on another walk or maybe even 2 walks! I'll walk on my lunch break and maybe take a walk after work with my dog as well. I'm definitely making walking more of a priority ever since I walked so much in Japan and felt great the whole time.

The rest of the week has a vague plan - weights Wed, Fri, and Sun. Walking as much as I can and hopefully a bike ride in there as well - the weather looks like it'll be great both Sat & Sun, so I'm thinking either a bike-gym-bike session on Sunday, or a more leisurely bike ride on Saturday, or maybe I'll go crazy and do both. I'm feeling pretty well, my rectal bleeding stopped (although my anus was itching like crazy yesterday so I think I've still got an active hemorrhoid) and my stools have been pretty much perfect the past few days. So it's possible I'll be well enough to do 2 bike rides 2 days in a row.
 
Update 5/5/16: I slightly overdid things on Monday, I think. I took a long walk on my lunch hour, then lifted weights at home in the evening. I did more than I usually do in a day, and as a result I was pretty sore the next couple of days. I had been thinking of walking the dog on Tuesday, but the soreness combined with the weather (it had been sunny for awhile but then turned cloudy and cooler) meant that I stayed on the couch instead.

Yesterday I was still somewhat sore, but did weights in the little gym on my lunch hour anyway. That went fine, the soreness is gone today and I feel fine.

Today's just going to be a walking day - looks like nice weather, so I'll take a long walk through the park on my lunch hour again. Might walk the dog after work too depending on how I'm feeling. Tomorrow will be weights, I'm thinking at the big gym after work. Hubby is working late so it'll just be me, which is always slightly iffy. Going to the big gym by myself on a Friday night is like asking for creeps to follow me around (it's happened several times already in the past - I don't know why some guys feel that it's okay to follow around a woman they don't know, it's super creepy). However, I do have a natural form of creep repellant - with my GERD, I tend to belch a fair bit sometimes during workouts. So if I notice a guy staring or following me around the gym, I'll just let the belches fly, I won't hold them back or try to burp politely/silently. Let those belches out loud and proud! That usually does the trick! :p

Saturday, it looks like it might be rainy in the morning but nice the rest of the day. So I'm thinking that I'd love to take a nice bike ride on Saturday once the rain is done. Sunday, the weather looks to be nice all day, so I'm aiming to ride my bike to the gym - my favorite workout. Bike to the gym as my warm-up, lift weights at the gym, and bike home more slowly & leisurely as my cool-down. It's perfect and I'm looking forward to it.
 
Update 5/6/16: Well, my plans for today at least have been scrapped. I started having rectal bleeding again last night, and my stomach is pretty unsettled today, so I'm taking a rest day instead of going to the gym. Will re-assess tomorrow and see how I'm doing. Bleh! Stupid broken body.
 
Update 5/9/16: I rested Friday and Saturday. The bleeding stopped over the weekend and I gradually felt better. By Sunday I was doing fairly well and I did a lot that day. I took the dog on a long walk and then did a ton of yard work - pulled weeds, trimmed hedges, mowed the lawn. I definitely got my exercise in!

So I was thinking that today I might go to the gym for weights, but nope. The bleeding is fortunately still stopped, but I've come down with a cold. This cold's main feature is a nasty, persistent cough (my boss said her son has the exact same cold so it must be going around). I can't work out with a cough like this, so it's another rest day. Ho hum. Hopefully this cold will be over with soon because I'm starting to get bored with all these rest days.
 
Update 5/10/16: I feel about 80% better from my cold. There's still a bit of chest congestion lingering though, so today's another rest day as I know that I can't work out with chest congestion like this. Hopefully I'll be well enough to exercise tomorrow - I'll re-assess then.

I saw my GI yesterday, and in a nutshell, he can't do anything further for me for my recurrent bleeding hemorrhoid issues. I'm being referred to a new colorectal surgeon (supposedly the best one in the area) for a second opinion, and am just going to focus on taking care of myself while I await that appointment. I need to continue to sharpen my focus on my diet and I need to continue trying to walk as much as I possibly can, etc.

Aside from the bleeding hemmie issues and the lingering cold, things are pretty good right now. My hubby has a new job which is great. For the longest time he was working part-time only 1-2 days per week at a shop. He finally found a full-time temp job and has been working that for the past few months, but that job is ending at the end of this month. Well, fortunately he's already got a new permanent job lined up as a chef in a fancy new restaurant, so that will be great. We were so cash-strapped when he was barely working. Since he's had the temp job, we've had significantly more spending money and have been buying much better quality groceries. We stocked up our chest freezer with good things like lamb and salmon, and we've been buying a ton of produce each week too. I've had fruit basically every day and the only one that my body rejected was blackberries. I've also had small salads here and there without issue. So I'm going to continue to try to eat better and I'm really happy that we can afford to continue to eat better! And hopefully he can bring me home some food from his new job from time to time, too. I'm also going to make efforts to be a better cook myself. I've never been good at cooking and never really enjoyed it, but I do enjoy having high-quality ingredients so I'm going to try to channel that enjoyment into enjoyment of cooking with those nice ingredients.
 
Update 5/11/16: I still have a bit of a lingering cold. My guts aren't super great either, I've had at least 5 bowel movements today and I feel like I'm forming yet another new hemorrhoid. So I'm thinking that weight lifting is out today. But, I'm feeling antsy so I'm going to take a long walk. It's overcast and not super warm today, but the weather actually makes me a bit nostalgic for Japan, and I walked around a lot in Japan, so I may as well walk around today. It makes sense in my head anyway. :p
 
Update 5/12/16: Nope. :p I did take a walk yesterday, but it was so humid outside already that I got some gut cramps from it (my guts absolutely hate high heat and/or humidity). And then last night, my cold came back with a vengeance. I stayed home from work today, it's that bad. Very sore throat, very screwy sinuses, still coughing, my neck feels swollen, just total bleh. Sooo, no exercise for me for a couple more days at least, until I'm finally over this stupid cold for good.
 
Blerg, I still have a cold today. Still coughing, sniffling, snorky, sore throat, just bleh. I'm thinking it's going to be a weekend of resting. Stupid piece of garbage immune system.
 
Sorry for the lack of updates - my grandfather died on the morning of 5/14 so I was away from the forum for awhile. I did some exercise during that time. The first few days were focused solely on helping my grandmother (she's got dementia, plus they were high school sweethearts so she needed both emotional support and help with doing tasks and remembering things). So I sort of wore myself out quickly doing that, it's mentally exhausting dealing with a dementia patient. Tuesday was my last full day of helping her as my aunt came in on Wednesday and sort of took over grandma duty (which was a big relief for my dad and uncle and I as we 3 had been taking turns helping her up to that point).

On Wednesday, I decided that since I had a bit of time, I would work on caring for myself. I asked myself what I most needed to do, and my brain and body screamed at me that I desperately needed to go to the gym. So I did, and it felt great. Working out helps even out my usual emotions and gently chases away a lot of the depression, and going to the gym helped with the grief as well. I felt like I could breathe easier and like things weren't quite so grim. I did my favorite workout which is ride my bike to the gym, lift weights at the gym, and ride my bike home. It felt great. I did another bike-gym-bike session on Friday and that also felt great.

I didn't have time to work out over the weekend, as we had my grandpa's visitation on Saturday and his funeral on Sunday. I am planning to work out today. I'm thinking that I'm going to take a walk on my lunch break, and then lift weights at home in the evening. I'm still sort of shell-shocked so I am not planning workouts too far in advance. Just taking things a day at a time right now.
 
Update 5/24/16: The depression and the impact of my grandfather's death is affecting my energy levels pretty significantly (my iron and other vitamin levels are fine, and I'm in remission so it's nothing to do with IBD). Yesterday I ran out of steam after one lap of walking around the pond near my work, when usually I can do at least 2 laps. I also petered out pretty quickly when I tried to lift weights. I did all the weights I wanted to do, but I cut my stretching short because I was just done.

Today's a rest day because I'm feeling the same as yesterday, just tired and depressed. I'm trying to eat better and to get more sleep and to care for myself as best as I can. It's just a rough time and the grief is draining. I'm just going to listen to my body, take care of myself the best I can, and take things day by day. For today that means rest.
 
Update 5/25/16: I did manage to lift weights today. My emotions went slightly haywire earlier today and I had some misplaced anger, I felt so angry at a co-worker for a good chunk of the day over a minor comment she had made, but I recognized that my anger was the grief manifesting itself in a new way. And I knew that I could work on my emotions by doing a workout, so I hit the little gym on my lunch break. It felt great, I really needed that workout. I didn't feel as fatigued as I've been the past few days, I was definitely more energetic physically if not mentally (mentally I'm still sort of all over the board). And my workout did chase away the majority of the anger (I'm still slightly peeved but no longer boiling mad), so it was definitely worthwhile. Not that there's a workout that's not worthwhile, but you know what I mean. This workout was absolutely necessary today.

This evening we're supposed to have thunderstorms so I'll be holed up in my house with a good book and a mug of tea, watching the storm. Tomorrow though the weather is supposed to be nice, so I'm thinking I'll take a walk on my lunch hour. And if I have the energy, I'll either walk the dog or take a short bike ride tomorrow in the evening after work. I've felt a yearning lately to just ride my bike as much as I can and as fast as I can. I'm not sure if it's symbolic of me trying to get away from the grief or what. I have just really had a hankering for bike rides lately and not of the slow, leisurely sort. Like I just want to hop on my bike and escape for awhile. So I might do that tomorrow.

Friday I'm thinking I'll do weights again, presuming I'm feeling up to it. Saturday they're saying scattered thunderstorms, so depending on what the weather looks like that day I'll see what I'm feeling up to - I am already thinking bike ride, of course, but we'll see. Sunday is going to be a rest day because I'm heading out to visit my grandpa's grave, and am also going to my other grandfather's grave (my mom's father, who died long before I was born). I'm going to put flowers and flags on their graves since they were both veterans, which will be nice since Monday is Memorial Day. And I'll have lunch with my parents and maybe meet up with my grandma that day too. So that'll be a busy day as my grandfathers are both buried in different cities, each of which is about an hour away but in different directions, so I'll be in the car a lot.

Monday I'm off of work for the holiday, so probably I'll go lift weights then. I am pretty sure my gym is open, and if not, I'll just lift weights at home.
 
Update 5/26/16: I did take a walk on my lunch break. It is quite warm out though and I'm a little bit bloated & crampy (it's almost the start of my time of the month) so I didn't walk as far as I would have liked. I wanted to do 2 walking laps around a pond, but instead I did about 1 and 1/4th lap (I did a full lap, then walked a little ways to the area where the cute baby ducks and turtles are, watched them for a bit, then walked back).

It is still really warm out but I still want to hop on my bike when I get home shortly. I'm going to be wise and once again take it easy. Rather than get on my road bike and ride fast, I'm going to get on my cruiser bike and take a leisurely ride. That will be nice, I haven't ridden my cruiser bike yet this year so I'm looking forward to taking that bike out for a ride. I love my road bike, it's so sleek and fast, but I love my cruiser bike too. It's not as fast as my road bike but it's still a lot of fun to ride. It's more comfortable - the road bike, my stomach is sort of crunched over, but I sit much more upright and less crunched on my cruiser, and the seat is more comfortable too. Anyway, so yeah, I'm taking the cruiser out for a spin tonight and looking forward to that.
 
Update 5/31/16: Ugh, frustrated. I hit the gym on Friday, went there on my bike. I apparently overdid things between Thursday and Friday - with Thursday's ride on my cruiser bike and Friday's road bike trip to the gym, my quads felt super sore after all that. So I rested up both Saturday and Sunday, I felt like I needed an extra rest day after that amount of soreness. Yesterday, Monday, was a holiday, and I wanted to ride my bike to the gym that day as the soreness was finally gone.

So, I got myself ready. Made sure to eat 2 hours before I was to go to the gym, got my gym clothes laid out and made sure my bike had enough air in the tires and got all my stuff together. Started to get dressed to go to the gym, and my guts were like, nope! Out of nowhere, I got hit with some bad cramps and multiple trips to the bathroom with urgent watery d. I have no idea what set that off but it was not fun. And I ended up staying home with my heating pad on rather than go to the gym. Ugh.

Today I'm still not feeling great. I took enough zofran yesterday to slow down my digestive transit time, so there's no more d, but there is still some cramping and unsettledness. It's not a flare because I haven't had any chills, night sweats, joint pains, etc. I am thinking I must have eaten something that didn't agree with me although I'm not sure what (I ate pretty safe foods all weekend long). Either that or I caught a mild bug, not sure. At any rate, I guess I'll be resting until I'm recovered from whatever this is. I'm feeling frustrated and grumpy and just bleh. I hate that my guts can bring all my plans to a screeching halt. Although I guess the good news is that I wasn't on my bike when the urgency and d hit me. That's the silver lining.
 
Update 6/2/16: I'm still somewhat bleh but slowly improving. When I first had the watery urgent d, I immediately took a bunch of Zofran, as that tends to slow down my digestive system. It did stop the d, but I took a bit too much Zofran and ended up constipated. Didn't poop for about 2 days, but finally today things started moving again and I felt much relief as I was getting a bit uncomfortable! I'm still not 100%, I can tell things are still a bit unsettled and ever so slightly crampy in my lower abdomen, but I'm doing a lot better than I was a few days ago.

I haven't been to the gym yet. I'm still being a bit cautious. I have been feeling really down and unmotivated today, so I took myself shopping on my lunch break. Buying new workout clothes always makes me want to go work out, so I got a whole new workout outfit today. A neon green sports bra, neon green gym shorts, and a neon pink workout top. It's bright and happy (and will make me really visible when I'm riding my bike!) and I just love it and want to wear this outfit to the gym ASAP. So, I'm going to cautiously start working out again - I plan to walk the dog tonight, and if all goes well, tomorrow I might ride my bike to the gym after work. Hopefully my body has recovered from whatever it was that caused the d and urgency and will be okay with me doing some exercise.
 
Update 6/3/16: I took a walk yesterday with my dog and that was exhausting. I felt really wiped out afterwards. The good news is, I finally slept well last night. So, I'm taking things a bit more cautiously today. Not going to lift weights just yet. I had a bit of cramping earlier and I don't want to make my guts angry all over again. I did take a walk on my lunch break and that went okay, so I'm going to take another walk with my dog tonight. Will play things by ear in the next few days. Tomorrow my parents are coming down for the day, but I'm envisioning another walk or maybe a bike ride in the evening after my parents go home. I haven't thought ahead any further than that.
 
Update 6/6/16: Well, I did take a walk by myself on my lunch break, and also after work with the dog on Friday. Then, late Friday night, it felt like I was developing a UTI. Ugh, no fun. Saturday I called the on-call nurse and she was able to prescribe me some antibiotics for the UTI. Of course, the antibiotics wrecked my gut. I'm taking probiotics as well, but there's just no real mitigating how harsh antibiotics can be, even with probiotics. I'm also stressed, because my grandmother is being moved into a nursing home in a few days but she doesn't know it yet. It's going to be a rough week and I just wish it was over with already.

I was given my grandfather's old treadmill, which I got moved into my house yesterday. It's a great treadmill, gym-quality. It's a bit older but was barely used, as my grandfather had walking issues and ultimately ended up in a wheelchair for the last few years of his life. So it's in nearly-new condition and I really like it. I always enjoy getting new workout equipment, and I didn't have a treadmill until now, so this is a nice addition to my little home gym. Now I can take walks even on bad weather days. I was thinking ahead to winter, but honestly, they're saying it's going to be 95 degrees here on Saturday (!!!) so I might be getting some good use out of the treadmill during summer as well! I don't do so well in high heat & humidity, so to now be able to walk indoors without needing to leave my house to go to the gym, that's very nice. And it makes me happy that something of my grandfather's is going to be put to good use and not just thrown out. I took a quick half-mile walk on it this morning before work and it felt good, although my bad hip reminded me that it isn't such a fan of walking on treadmills. So I do need to be mindful of that and still walk outdoor as much as I can, and use the treadmill only when it's really needed.

I have no fitness plan this week. I'm just going to play it by ear and do what I can. Today is probably a rest day because I don't feel up to lifting weights. I might walk my dog this evening but they're saying 50% chance of thunderstorms tonight so that walk will be both weather-dependent and guts-dependent. If I'm feeling bad or if it's raining, I'll stay home and rest.
 
Update 6/13/16: I didn't do a lot last week. Did not lift weights, did not ride my bike. I mostly rested with a few walks here and there. My bladder was giving me issues most of the week although it's finally quieted down now. I'm taking a new bladder supplement called D-Mannose which supposedly works better than cranberry for keeping UTIs away. So far so good on the D-Mannose but I've only been taking it for a few days so still too early to tell for sure if it's helping.

The plan for this week is to get back to the gym. I'm not feeling great today, my guts aren't stellar and I'm quite tired. But, I'm going to go lift weights anyway. I won't push myself but I do want to get back to it. Life has been keeping me out of the gym lately, within the last month I've had a bad cold and then my grandpa died and then I got a UTI. I need to get past that stuff and work on my fitness properly again because I know regular workouts help me both mentally and physically. So that's the idea anyway, we'll see what I'm able to do this week fitness-wise. The tentative plan is, gym/weights today, walking tomorrow, gym Wednesday, doctor appointment on Thursday so that's likely a rest day, gym Friday, walking/bike ride Saturday, gym Sunday. Thursday might throw things off entirely - I'm seeing a new colorectal surgeon about my chronic/recurrent bleeding hemorrhoid issues. I don't really want surgery nor do I want more banding, but if he has a persuasive argument that banding the 2nd time works better (it didn't work the first time for me), then I might go that route. If I do have banding done then I know I'll have to stay out of the gym for a couple weeks while I heal up inside. I'm currently not leaning towards having more banding, though, I'm thinking this is going to be another dead end (my GI said he can't do anything further for my hemmie issues and I already saw one colorectal surgeon who was not super helpful, so this is basically my last-ditch effort to stop myself from bleeding out my ass and/or to get myself off of the steroid suppositories already as they are the only thing that helps even slightly). Soo, yeah. I have a plan but it may be derailed by the colorectal surgeon, we'll see.
 
Update 6/14/16: Nope. My guts started throwing some cramps at me and I had a few bathroom trips and it just seemed like a bad idea to go to the gym yesterday, so I didn't go after all. I didn't even walk the dog - when I got home from work, I gave my dog her dinner and let her out to potty. When she got back into the house, it was like she stepped wrong and suddenly she was limping. She's done that before a few times, it's either a strain or a sprain and it usually heals on its own within a few days. Still, this means several days of no dog walking either. Frustrated both with my own broken body and with my dog's (I know it's not her fault, but it's frustrating that this seems to happen periodically and always on the same leg, always her left front leg). Sooo. I don't really have a plan for today. If my guts are quiet then I'll see what I can do, and if not then I'll rest some more. I'm feeling pretty down lately and just bleh. Even if I'm not feeling too bad physically, mentally I'm exhausted and depressed and just not motivated to do anything. I know that a workout will help me feel better mentally so I do want to work out, but also a big part of me just wants to hibernate and eat chips and do nothing. Just feeling so bleh!
 
Update 6/15/16: I finally went to the gym, after something like 2 weeks away. Phew! It went well, fortunately. My guts have been iffy all week, with cramping and gas and the occasional pain. And my GERD has been more active lately too which can kill a workout in its tracks. Fortunately, my guts and GERD stayed quiet and allowed me to do a good workout. I feel quite well now.

We'll see what happens tomorrow as I see a new colorectal surgeon regarding my recurrent/chronic bleeding internal hemorrhoids. If I get more hemorrhoid banding done then I know I'll have to avoid weight lifting for another 2 weeks. I don't really want more banding though and I don't want surgery either so my guess is that this appointment is going to be a dead end. So I guess the silver lining is, even if the appointment is a waste of time, that means I can still go to the gym.
 
Update 6/16/16: I saw the new colorectal surgeon today. No banding done - I have one internal hemorrhoid right now, but it's not currently bleeding and it's in a bad spot for banding and apparently would hurt very much if he tried to band it. Also, he said that he's very hesitant to do anything like surgery or banding in people with IBD, since anything that causes scar tissue can lead to narrowing, plus us IBD'ers tend not to heal so quickly (that's definitely true for me). So no procedure was done and I can keep exercising.

He did take me off of the steroid suppositories for the time being. I'm supposed to call him right away if/when the bleeding comes back, particularly if it's bad. I'm hoping that the bleeding will stay away for awhile so that I can be off of the steroids for a bit and lose a bit of the steroid weight (I currently have about 10 lbs to lose so not too bad).

So, I'm just going to exercise as much as I can and eat as well as I can and drink a lot of water and make sure to have my psyllium every day and do everything I can to keep the hemmies & bleeding away. I'm not super optimistic, but we'll see what happens.

As for my fitness plans - it's a really nice day out today but I can't walk with my dog - she's sprained her leg again (she has an old injury on her front left leg that seems to get aggravated every so often), so she's been limping the past few days, and although her limp is definitely improving, she probably shouldn't go walkies for a bit. So, I might go on a bike ride tonight. My quads are a bit sore from yesterday's workout, so I won't ride too far, but I'd like to get out for a little bit on my road bike. Tomorrow I'm going to lift weights, but I haven't decided where. I could go to the little gym on my lunch break, I could work out at home with my dumbbells & barbell, or I could ride my bike to the big gym after work tomorrow. I guess it'll depend on the weather and how ambitious I'm feeling.

My weekend plans are up in the air because I had been hoping on Saturday to go visit my grandmother in her nursing home, but for some reason my dad told the staff at the nursing home that I could visit on Sunday instead. So I've asked him to tell them Saturday instead of Sunday. Hopefully Saturday is okay for me to visit, because Sunday I'd like to spend the day with hubby and go to the gym again. (Hubby just started a new job as a chef and he is working a lot of overtime, but so far he's had Sundays off, so that's our fun day together.)
 
Update 6/17/16: The hubby actually got home at a decent time yesterday (he's been working late most nights but he got home at 5 PM yesterday). So, since he was around, we decided to do something active together - he wasn't feeling like a bike ride, so we went and played tennis instead (there are some free public tennis courts about a block from our house). We are both super terrible at tennis, and sometimes playing tennis aggravates my joint pain (all that running around is hard on my bad hips and bad knee), or it makes my GERD really angry (all that bending over to pick up the ball can make me reflux like crazy). So as a result we don't play tennis very often. But we had fun anyway and definitely worked up a sweat! Prior to playing tennis, I had about 4,000 steps for the day on my fitbit. I racked up an additional 5,000+ steps just from playing tennis! And, my joints and my GERD were both quiet the whole time. I am still horrendously terrible at tennis (somehow it seems like my tennis skill deteriorates further the more I play, which makes no sense), but I had fun and got some good exercise.

Tonight the hubby is supposedly getting off of work at 5 PM again, so we're planning to ride bikes to the big gym after work. That's my favorite workout ever so I'm looking forward to it. And if hubby does end up having to stay late at work, then I'll still ride my bike to the gym by myself.
 
Once again I need to apologize for my absence in this thread. I have a good excuse, though. On 6/19 I was doing some yard work and I ended up cutting my finger badly on the moving blade of a hedge trimmer (seriously ouch). I had to go to the ER and get stitches. Since that injury, I haven't lifted weights - anything that put pressure on my stitches just meant awful pain, and even stretching hurt. I did take a few walks but that was it.

So I injured my finger on a Sunday. Then, on Thursday, I ended up having a 4-day long mini-flare which was caused by a supplement I had recently started taking (D-Mannose) which I stupidly didn't read the side effects for. It turns out that awful diarrhea, horrendous lower abdominal cramping, and vicious nausea are all side effects of that supplement, so I suffered for a few days. My appetite came back today but I'm eating low-res for a bit to be safe (I've had rice krispy treats and mac & cheese today, definitely not healthy but also not making things worse).

So yeah, I'm just hoping that this week is better than last. I'm still recovering from the mini flare AND my finger is still recovering - the stitches come out today. In the meantime, while I was dealing with finger pain and the mini-flare, I got myself some new exercise equipment. I got a 15 lb kettlebell (I already had a 10 lb kettlebell but it's just a bit too light, I needed something heavier) and I got a resistance band. I'm excited to use those and I'm getting a bit impatient to hurry up and heal & recover already. Am just going to play things by ear this week - will see what happens once my stitches come out, and will see how my body is feeling. I am a bit weak because I lost about 5 lbs thanks to the mini flare, so I'll be happy if I can do anything this week, even just take a walk. This is definitely a recovery week! But hey, that's better than whatever nonsense last week was. :p
 
Update 6/29/16: I was able to walk my dog last night and that went pretty well. My guts are basically back to normal, thankfully. I had a pretty normal bowel movement this morning, and just one instead of multiple bathroom trips. The cramps have gone and so has the nausea, this morning was the first time I've had an appetite in the morning for quite some time (lately it's just been nausea/no appetite in the mornings). So I'm doing really well guts-wise.

My finger isn't doing as great but it's slowly improving. It's still tender though and still somewhat swollen. So I'm still not sure if a weights workout or bicycle ride would be wise at this point (I don't know if I can work the brakes on my bike with my right hand what with my index finger being like this, and I don't know if I can grip weights properly either). I think I might just try a few exercises at home with weights or the resistance band and see how that goes. I definitely will keep up with walking, I can hold my dog's leash with my left hand and walking itself isn't a problem at all, so that's good at least. I can do *something*! I don't want to make my finger worse or make the wound open up/bleed again (my doctor said that I should be really careful not to bump my finger in a way that could cause it to open up/bleed). So, I'm just taking things easy and mostly walking for the time being. I might try some yoga as well as that hopefully shouldn't aggravate my finger too much (although I'm extremely unflexible and terrible at yoga). Just being a bit impatient while I'm waiting for my finger to heal, but at least my guts are doing okay now and I can do some things.
 
Update 6/30/16: I did walk my dog last night and that went fine. I don't think I'll be able to walk her tonight though because there are some thunderstorms moving through the area. Still, I can walk on my new (to me) treadmill, and I plan to do that for a bit if the storms keep me inside.

So my hubby got a full-time job and as a result I have a bit more spending money, so I've been buying my favorite thing, workout equipment. :) I just ordered a foam roller online, and I've been eyeballing a kayak that I want. We already have a two-person kayak, but with hubby working pretty much every weekend now (he's a chef so weekends are his busiest days), we can't take the kayak out. I need another person obviously since it's a 2-person kayak, plus my small car won't accommodate a kayak (too small inside and no rack on the roof). So I want my own single kayak to use by myself when hubby is working - and I found an inflatable kayak that looks really promising. Since it's inflatable, it fits into a duffel bag and will obviously therefore fit into my car, and it comes with a pump for inflating it quickly. I already have a paddle, and I just went out and got myself a new, better life jacket. I'm excited! I picked out my kayak, I just need to order it. I'm going to do that today.

My stupid finger still isn't healed, it heals a teeny tiny bit each day. It's slightly tender but mostly numb, which is disconcerting. It feels like I have a bandaid on it at all times even though I haven't had a bandaid on it for like 4 days now. I know there's still some feeling in there, because it can still feel pain. I whacked it against the faucet in the shower yesterday and ohhh, that hurt! Fortunately the wound didn't split open nor start bleeding again (my doctor said to be careful not to whack my finger into anything because that could happen). It really hurt though. So I know I still need to be really careful with my injured finger. So, I won't lift weights for awhile yet, not until it's healed more and I'm confident that I can grasp weights without exacerbating the injury.
 
Update: Kayak ordered! :D And I have amazon prime, so it's arriving on Saturday. Excited! I probably won't be able to use it this weekend - I'm going to help my parents clean their basement on Saturday, and I'm going to visit my grandmother on Sunday. And actually, Monday is a holiday, so hubby and I are both off of work, and we may just take out our 2-person kayak that day. :p I will definitely put my new kayak to good use soon though.
 
Update 7/5/16: We did take our big 2-person kayak out yesterday. That went fine for the most part. The part that didn't go fine was, my injured finger got pretty swollen even though I was trying not to use it at all. Paddling apparently put a lot of pressure on my finger and I had to ice it for about an hour afterwards.

I'm pretty sore today from kayaking. I had really felt it in my shoulders as we were paddling, but weirdly it's not my shoulders that are sore today - it's my quads. :p Whatever, my body is strange! At any rate, today is a rest day. My finger still is healing and somewhat swollen (it's been 2 weeks since I injured it) so I think, given what happened with the swelling after kayaking, I probably should still stay away from lifting weights for a bit longer. I am planning to go kayaking again (by myself in my new kayak) this coming weekend, so I'll see how that goes.

My guts are doing well, it's just my stupid finger at this point. I am impatient for it to heal up already. I did cut it pretty badly so I know I just have to be patient. I'll continue walking as much as I can.
 
Update 7/8/16: I've been walking as much as I can, but haven't done any further exercise. Yesterday evening I walked the dog, and afterwards for some reason my injured finger swelled up again. Hmph! I had to ice it again to get the swelling to go back down. It's always somewhat swollen, but it gets a bit painful when it becomes more swollen than usual.

If even walking made it swollen, that's discouraging. Still, I'm getting impatient. I think I'm going to try a brief weights session soon and just see how that goes. If it swells up again then I'll just ice it again. Hopefully the swelling isn't doing damage. It is healing, but verrrrrrry sloooooooowly. My immune system is garbage thanks to the IBD and also to the steroids that I was off and on for awhile (I was doing steroid suppositories off and on for over a year thanks to my recurrent bleeding internal hemorrhoid situation). So it's been almost 3 weeks and I feel like it still has a ways to go before it's healed. Ugh.

I have a friend at work who expressed interest in taking lunch hour walks with me - she's overweight and has some health issues and would like to start walking more. I told her sure, and it sounds like we're going for a walk this afternoon. Fortunately there's ice available at work, so if I need to ice my stupid finger again, I'll be able to.
 
Another update for today: My friend at work ended up not being able to walk, her kid is sick so she had to run home to attend to that situation. So, I decided screw it, I'm going to the gym. I went. It wasn't super easy. My finger definitely gave me some pain. It's a bit more swollen than usual but I don't think ice is needed just yet - I'm just keeping an eye on it. In the gym I was having some throbbing pain, but now that my workout is over the throbbing in my finger has gone, thankfully. Moral of the story: Don't ever cut yourself with a hedge trimmer, because even 3 weeks later it'll still be difficult to work out.

But, I did my workout and I feel really good aside from my finger. I really needed that. I was feeling stressed and anxious earlier, and now I'm not. Depending on what my finger feels like tonight/tomorrow, that'll determine my future workouts. I really would like to either take a bike ride or get my new kayak out on the water this weekend, so that's what I'm hoping for. I'm not sure if I can properly work the brakes on my bike with my messed up finger (it's my index finger on my right hand), and I know from last weekend that kayaking definitely made my finger not happy. So, will just play it by ear and see how it's feeling.
 
Update 7/11/16: I was quite active this weekend. As I said, I had hit the gym on Friday. On Saturday, I had a very stressful visit with my grandmother (long story short, she's got bad dementia/alzheimer's and she was in a mood and talking about how everybody wants her to die so they can take her money and she was alternating between yelling and crying). So I walked the dog that afternoon to de-stress.

Sunday was a very active day. I started the day by taking my new kayak for a test run. It's pretty good, the only issue is that it's a bit too light (it's an inflatable kayak). It got stuck in weeds very easily and also any current/wind could easily blow it off course. So it was a bit of a challenge because of those things. I will aim to find calmer, less weedier waters for next time.

After kayaking, I had lunch and then went grocery shopping. Then I walked the dog. And after that I did a bunch of cleaning - straightened up the house, did 3 loads of dishes, vaccuumed, bleached the sinks and the toilet, etc. My house is super clean now! And I was exhausted after doing all that.

Today my lower back feels a bit sore - I think I tweaked a muscle just a little bit when I was kayaking. My finger also isn't super happy, it's a bit more swollen and tender than usual. I think it's upset about the kayaking and maybe just the cumulative amount of stuff that I did yesterday. So today I'm taking it easier, it's probably a rest day although I may walk the dog if the weather allows (it's hot & humid and we might get thunderstorms). I'm hoping to work out tomorrow, probably at my home gym. I've got a bunch of new equipment (foam roller, resistance band, yoga block) that I'd like to try out. Will see how I'm feeling, particularly my back and my finger, and will go from there. Hubby's working late every evening Tues - Fri this week, so I'll be on my own as far as workouts go. So I can basically do whatever I want - if I want to take out my new kayak for an hour, or if I want to ride my bike to the gym, I can do that. So I'm hoping to have some good and varied workouts this week, assuming my body plays nice and allows me to do so.
 
Update 7/12/16: My back and finger are both feeling somewhat better today. Not stellar but not awful either. Definitely tolerable. So I'm giving myself the green light to do some exercise today.

I'm going to take a lunch break walk with my friend at work. She's in a different department though and I think she only gets a 30 min lunch (I usually take an hour lunch). So, at any rate, we'll do at least a half hour of walking today and I'll see if I can sneak her away from her department for an hour if possible.

This evening I'm hoping to do some weights in my home gym. I will of course listen to my body, and if my back or finger give me any trouble or pain then I'll stop doing that particular exercise and will ease up on my workout in general.

I'd kind of love to do a bike ride tomorrow evening. We might get thunderstorms again so I will just play it by ear. I think my finger is doing well enough that I'd be able to work the brakes on my road bike.

Speaking of biking, it's amazon prime day so I glanced at the deals to see if there was anything good. I didn't think I'd buy anything, but I saw a small upright exercise bike for a really decent price. My current exercise bike at home is huge and pretty clunky (I bought it secondhand). So I bought the small upright bike and am putting my old clunky recumbent exercise bike out on the curb. My home gym is a pretty small space anyway so anything that saves space is a bonus - I'm really excited about this new bike. I use an exercise bike for the majority of my cardio during the winter months when I can't get out on my actual bike. So this will keep me biking all winter long. I'm excited! :)
 
Update 7/13/16: Bleh. My friend cancelled on me yesterday so we didn't walk. And I did something to screw up my back - it's been aching since Sunday/Monday off and on. It was mostly okay yesterday up until about an hour before I went home from work - then it started really hurting. So instead of doing a workout, I went home and did some stretching and used my foam roller to try to get my back feeling better. I think that helped. It still hurts a bit, but not as much. I don't want to exacerbate it, so I think it's safest to not work out today. That's frustrating. Guess I'll see how it's feeling tomorrow and go from there.
 
Update 7/14/16: My back is still aching, but it's improving. It's not as bad as it's been the past few days. So that's encouraging. I've been putting my heating pad on it in the evenings, and I figured out how to sleep so as not to aggravate it (I usually sleep on my left side, but after sleeping on my left side I'd wake up with bad back pains, so last night I slept on my right side and for some reason felt far less pain this morning).

I ordered a new exercise bike online and it should be arriving today. I'm sure there'll be some assembly involved, but if I can figure out how to put it together myself (hubby is working late again tonight), then I'm going to test it out tonight. My hips have been aching a bit from the lack of exercise lately, and I know my hips are always fine with me biking. And I am hoping that a bit of gentle cardio will help my back, too. So that's the tentative plan, presuming that I can put the thing together by myself.
 
Update 7/15/16: My back is continuing to improve, just a little bit of pain first thing this morning and no pain currently. I walked the dog yesterday and that didn't aggravate it either. So that's encouraging. I'm thinking that I'll try doing some weights today and see how that goes. I won't push myself too hard or anything, but I think I can do it.

Amazon lied, my exercise bike didn't show up yesterday. It's still in transit, it mysteriously got delayed even though I have prime. Hmph. So I'll test it out whenever I receive the stupid thing.

Tomorrow I'm going to my grandma's old condo (she's in a nursing home now) to help my family clean it out so that we can sell the condo. My grandma has hoarding tendencies including she hoards food even if it's way past the expiration date (she'll keep rotting, moldy food in her fridge). So that's going to be a fun time, hah. But I will be getting my exercise in that way - hauling stuff to the dumpster, hauling stuff to the thrift store, and for the few things that are worth keeping, hauling that to the storage unit. So I'll be lifting and moving a lot of things out of the condo tomorrow. Possibly doing the same thing on Sunday as well, depending on how much progress we make tomorrow.
 
Update 7/18/16: I spent the weekend at my grandma's condo, both Saturday and Sunday. My grandma has been a lifelong hoarder so it's been a massive undertaking to clean and empty out the condo! I spent basically the whole weekend at the condo, lifting things, carrying things, moving and organizing things. My grandma had so much stuff and a lot of it was heavy - expired cans of food that I carried to the trash pile, books that I carried to the donate pile, etc. I definitely got both my walking and my weightlifting in, that's for sure.

Today I'm taking it easier, it's a rest day although I might walk the dog. Tomorrow I plan to lift weights. I did finally receive my new exercise bike, and I got rid of the old exercise bike (put it out on the curb and somebody took it, yay). It's supposed to get really hot and humid out at the end of this week (95+ F) so I'm thinking that indoor workouts are going to be the name of the game. So I'll probably be using my new exercise bike at some point this week. I can use my treadmill at home and of course I have weights at home too. So I'm pretty well set to do an indoor workout or two.
 
Update 7/20/16: I rested on Monday and did a good weights workout yesterday, as planned. It's been awhile since I've done a full, proper weights workout, so that took a lot out of me! I felt really good but really exhausted too. And after my workout, I tried doing laundry. :p I had such jelly legs that I nearly fell down the basement stairs carrying my laundry down! I was okay, but just really unsteady on my feet. Note to self, don't do anything that involves stairs immediately after a workout.

I feel quite good today. We're at the start of the heat wave, so I won't be walking my dog until maybe Sunday at the earliest. No outdoor exercise of any type, it's just going to be too hot. So, I'm thinking today's a rest day to recover from yesterday. Tomorrow I'm going to do weights again, in the little gym at work on my lunch break. Friday I will also go to the little gym on my lunch break, for a cardio/stretching day. I'll do a ride on the stationary bike and I'll do some good stretching as well. Saturday is probably a rest day - my parents are coming to town to celebrate my brother's birthday and then after that hubby and I have to go pick up his new car (new to us anyway, it's my grandma's car but it's in good shape with low miles). Sunday I am thinking I'll do another weights workout at home, or if the weather is okay I might ride my bike to the big gym for weights. I think they said the heat wave will finally start to be over on Sunday, so I'll just keep an eye on the weather and play it by ear. If it's still too hot I will stay at home and work out.

On the subject of working out at home, my home gym is really just about perfect now. I recently got some new gym equipment and I love it. I got a new upright stationary bike and I used that yesterday to warm up - I really like it! I also got a new TV for my home gym. :p I know, that doesn't quite count as gym equipment, but it's much nicer than my old TV. And it has a built in Roku box, so I think I can get some workout shows/channels on it. (Not that I tried yet, I watched 2 episodes of Forensic Files yesterday during my workout, ha ha.)
 
Great fitness blog you got going here Cat!! This is great. Glad to see things are going well for you :)


-an old friend
 
Update 7/21/16: I rested yesterday and hit the little gym today. I was not feeling great going into my workout - I've got a bit of a headache, and my lower abdomen was somewhat crampy. It stayed crampy throughout most of my workout, but it wasn't bad enough that it stopped me from working out. I'm still somewhat crampy now and still headachey as well. I think it's this crazy weather, we're in a bad heat wave with high temps & high humidity. High heat & humidity tend to cramp up my guts, and changes in the weather can give me headaches, so I'm presuming that's the cause of my current symptoms.
 
Update 7/25/16: In my last post, I had mentioned that my guts were a bit crampy during my workout last week Thurs. Well, by Friday it had turned into what I suspect is a flare - lots of cramps, lots of d, lots of nausea. Getting up in the night to go and I've lost about 4 lbs just from Friday through now. No chills nor night sweats yet so I have some but not all of my typical flare symptoms.

Sooo, I'm waiting for my GI's nurse to get back to me - I called this morning and explained the situation and requested to have a course of Entocort. The nurse was on board with the idea, she just has to run it by my GI to be sure. So I'm just waiting on the call back now to confirm that that's what they're going to prescribe for me.

In the meantime, exercise is not happening. I feel very weak (probably from the lack of appetite and the weight loss) and a bit light-headed and still crampy & nauseous too. I don't think lifting weights would go over very well right now. I know I need to rest and I'm going to rest as much as I can. I'm just hoping to get the Entocort script as soon as possible (hopefully today!) and get started on that. It usually takes a week or two to kick in for me, so the sooner I start it, the sooner I can start feeling better and then hopefully get back to exercising.
 
Another quick update for today: My GI put through the script for Entocort (actually the generic, Budesonide, but same thing). That's a huge relief. I really hope it kicks in quickly. There is a bicycling event that I'd love to go to on Sunday, so I'm hoping for the Entocort to have kicked in by then. Honestly, at this point, I'd just love to have an appetite - I've only eaten about 3 spoonfuls of mac & cheese and maybe 8 chips today and that's it. I don't have any appetite, and when I do eat it seems to go poorly. I'd lost about 4 lbs as of this morning and I've had 7 or 8 episodes of diarrhea plus eaten almost nothing all day, so I wouldn't be surprised if I've lost even more weight. The Entocort will help me heal and will give me my appetite back, and hopefully I can get back to the gym really soon too.
 
Update 7/28/16: I still don't have much appetite, but I've been eating somewhat more normally the past couple of days. I'm still having some diarrhea but it's down to only a few times a day (it was about 20 times in a day last week Friday). My weight is still down about 5 lbs. I haven't done any exercise yet but I'm hoping to soon. They're predicting thunderstorms off and on today, so if it's not raining tonight, I'd like to try and walk the dog. I think I can do it, and there are porta potties just outside the dog park if I have to make a run for it. So it just depends on the weather now. If not today, I'll aim for tomorrow. I just want to do something active, even if it's just walking, and the flare has improved enough that I feel like I can be okay on a walk.
 
Update 8/1/16: I tried walking the dog yesterday and unfortunately it went pretty badly. I felt quite light-headed and a few times I felt like I might pass out. I literally had to give myself a "don't pass out" pep talk. And I felt really unwell for a good chunk of the day after that walk. Seems like I tried to do too much, too soon.

The good news is, today it feels like the Entocort has finally kicked in. I actually have an appetite for the first time in a couple of weeks, I feel more energetic, and I feel much less unwell than I've been feeling. And I've only been to the bathroom once this morning rather than 5-10 times. So there's some definite improvement.

I'm thinking, after the disastrous walk yesterday, that I should give myself a few more days before I attempt any further exercise. I think that in a few days, I'll try a walk on my treadmill at home. That way, if I do pass out, at least I'll be at home and my husband can help me (he was at work when I walked the dog yesterday, so there was nobody then to help me). I'll see how that goes and take it from there. I know I need to heal from the flare first and foremost, but I want to incorporate fitness into that healing process as much as I can. So we'll see what happens, just going to take things a day at a time right now.
 
Update 8/8/16: Still flaring, haven't done any exercise. Still feeling weak and fatigued and a bit dizzy and just incapable of doing anything physically demanding right now. Very frustrated but trying my best to heal. Hopefully someday soon I can get back to the gym...
 
Update 8/10/16: Today's the first day that I feel like the Entocort has really started kicking in! My post from 8/1, that apparently was just a fluke. I felt okay for that one day but then went right back to feeling crappy again. Today, though, I not only feel significantly better, but I also have a headache. That is important - I always get bad headaches/migraines from Entocort. This time around, I haven't had a headache yet, but today I have one and it feels like a typical Entocort headache to me. That says to me that it's actually finally working.

I want to start slowly and not push myself too much. So I think I'm going to take a short walk on my treadmill tonight. Since I had such a difficult time trying to walk the dog the other week, I don't want to walk outside. On the treadmill, if I have an issue, I can just hit the "stop" button and go lie down for awhile or run for the bathroom or whatever. So that's the plan, just a short walk on my treadmill to see how I do. I'm not planning any workouts as I don't know what tomorrow will bring, I'm just going to take things day by day and do what I can do.
 
Update 8/11/16: I walked! I took a 30 min walk on the treadmill at 3 mph, so I did 1.5 miles. That felt really good! Although I was completely exhausted at the end of it. The steroids have given me some energy, but the flare has definitely sapped a bunch of my energy. So I felt quite tired at the end of 30 mins.

Today I feel a little worse than yesterday. Still headachey, and the sinus involvement with the headache has given me a bit of dizziness as well. My guts aren't great, either. And I still feel a bit drained energy-wise. So today I'm probably just going to rest, won't try to exercise at all today. Will see how I'm doing tomorrow and will go from there.
 
Update 8/12/16: I started feeling better as the day went on yesterday, and when I got home from work, the hubby and I decided to walk the dog. It was quite warm & humid out, which sometimes sends my guts into crazy cramps, but I was okay yesterday. We walked a bit too far and all of us were exhausted when we got home. Still, it felt good and I feel okay today as well. That's very encouraging.

I'm thinking, since I've been fine walking and since I feel okay today, I'm going to attempt a short weights session. I'm going to go to the little gym on my lunch break and just do a few things to see how it goes. Obviously I won't push myself too much, but I think I can do it. I know steroids always make me gain fat and lose muscle, so I want to be as proactive as possible about keeping fat off and muscle on. I think I can do it!
 
Another quick update for today: I hit the little gym on my lunch break. It was a fairly difficult workout - turns out I still don't have a lot of energy nor stamina. Pretty early on into the workout, I felt shaky all over (the "baby deer legs" feeling). I slowed down and took my time and made it through. Pretty proud of myself for that.

Earlier today my colon had been getting a little grumpy and pushing on my bladder, so I was peeing like every 15 minutes. The workout seemed to calm everything down, which is definitely good. My bladder and guts both feel better, although I can tell my guts still aren't super happy. In hindsight, it was probably reckless to hit the gym so early on. The steroids literally started taking effect on Wednesday and I'm in the gym on Friday, maybe I should have waited a bit longer. But I'm terrible at being patient! :p

I'll definitely take it easier tomorrow. I plan to go visit my grandma and I may walk the dog, but that's about all the activity I'm going to be doing. Other than that, I'll be resting and watching the Olympics.
 
Cat-a-Tonic said:
Another quick update for today: I hit the little gym on my lunch break. It was a fairly difficult workout - turns out I still don't have a lot of energy nor stamina. Pretty early on into the workout, I felt shaky all over (the "baby deer legs" feeling). I slowed down and took my time and made it through. Pretty proud of myself for that.

Earlier today my colon had been getting a little grumpy and pushing on my bladder, so I was peeing like every 15 minutes. The workout seemed to calm everything down, which is definitely good. My bladder and guts both feel better, although I can tell my guts still aren't super happy. In hindsight, it was probably reckless to hit the gym so early on. The steroids literally started taking effect on Wednesday and I'm in the gym on Friday, maybe I should have waited a bit longer. But I'm terrible at being patient! :p

I'll definitely take it easier tomorrow. I plan to go visit my grandma and I may walk the dog, but that's about all the activity I'm going to be doing. Other than that, I'll be resting and watching the Olympics.
Click to expand...

My mom and I have been binging on gymnastics. I love the Olympics for gymnastics and diving - that synchronized diving is so cool! :)
 
Yeah, I love watching the Olympics! Well, most of it. The golf is pretty boring. :p I love watching swimming, diving, track & field, cycling, gymnastics.

Fitness update 8/14/16: Ughhhhhh. I should not have gone to the gym on Friday. That evening, my hip arthritis was quite angry with me. Fortunately, with a soak in epsom salt and keeping my heating pad on it all evening, it was okay as of Saturday. My guts, however, were not okay. Things got really angry all over again on Saturday. Nausea, bathroom trips, urgency, sleep interruptions, and for some reason I'm also not able to control my body temp very well. Last night, I was okay at bedtime but woke up an hour or two later and was insanely hot. So I got up and turned on the AC. Woke up another couple hours later absolutely freezing. I felt chilled to the bone. So I got up and turned off the AC. I think it's a dehydration thing? I can tell I'm definitely dehydrated so I'm trying to sip as much water as I can.

I may end up going to urgent care for IV fluids and tests. My GI had ordered stool tests, but I didn't do them at first because I was on the steroids and thought they'd skew the results. Then I started feeling better. But now all bets are off, I guess I honestly don't know if this is a flare or if it's an infection or what. However, I've been to the bathroom so much that I'm feeling pretty empty now. I don't think I have anything in me to do a stool test with, and I'm not exactly keen on eating right now. So I don't know, if I can get myself rehydrated then I'll probably skip urgent care and will just pick up the stool test kit from my GI's lab tomorrow morning.

Obviously exercise is out for awhile longer. I have to learn to be patient and to let myself heal. I love the gym, it's my happy place and exercise chases the depression away, and I've definitely been depressed in this flare, so that's a big part of why I've been hankering to get back to working out. My body is yelling at me that I need to heal, though, so I will try to listen. It's really hard, though. I hate feeling like this and I hate not working out. Stupid broken body.
 
I'd love to do a fitness exercise but there's none to give. I'm still flaring, badly. I ended up at urgent care on Tuesday to get IV fluids, and I was in the ER today (Friday) also getting IV fluids. I feel like I'm getting worse instead of better.

Weirdly almost all my bloodwork and stool tests that I've done this week are normal. I don't have any bacterial infection, no c diff nor anything like that. CRP, ESR, and fecal calprotectin all normal (but that could be due to the fact that I've been on Entocort for nearly a month now). The only thing that came back abnormal was that my potassium was pretty low, which is likely due to the fact that I'm having a lot of diarrhea (10 - 20 episodes every day) and of course I've been dehydrated (hence the IV fluids). Other than that, on paper, I look like the picture of health. Well, aside from the fact that I've lost about 9 lbs now.

I see my GI on Monday and I'm going to beg, plead, cry for him to help me. I'm currently on Entocort and it's obviously not helping, so I'm going to ask to switch to pred as I'm hopeful that might work better on this stubborn flare. I'm also going to ask about doing EEN for a bit because food is just not my friend right now. Even very bland foods - literally today all I've eaten was a banana and an english muffin, but still I've been running to the bathroom with watery diarrhea many times. (Does that count as exercise? If so, I am apparently in training to win the IBD Olympics.)
 
Still flaring and spent a week in the hospital. Home now, very weak and doing EEN and prednisone (Entocort just wasn't working). Slooooooooooowly recovering but it's baby steps. At the hospital, they told me to walk/move around as much as I can, because lying/sitting all day will of course put me at increased risk of a blood clot. So, today, I tried walking on my treadmill just to see what my current capabilities are. It was pretty sad. I could walk at 1.2 mph, for one minute. That was my limit. Man, this flare is brutal. I'm still fighting though and I'm going to get back to working out someday, hopefully soon...
 
Slow but steady improvements. I've tapered from 40 to 35 to 30 mg of prednisone and doing okay on that front. Still on EEN, going to start introducing bland low-FODMAP foods (broth and jello to start with) tomorrow. That will be a big test, I've been on EEN for 2 weeks so I'm on pins and needles wondering how my body will react to food.

Walking-wise, I'm doing okay. I'm trying to walk as much as I can, even if it's just around a store or walking the dog around the block. Yesterday I got over 4,000 steps on my fitbit which is the most I've had in weeks, I felt pretty proud about that. I know walking helps my guts so I'm doing as much as I can (without overdoing things of course). Today it's very hot outside so I'm going to walk for a few minutes here and there on my treadmill.

So yeah, I'm slooooowly but steadily recovering from the flare and getting back to myself. It'll be awhile yet before I can properly work out, but I'm confident that I'll get there. Baby steps!
 
Not much new to report. I'm still slowly improving every day, but still also not well enough to go to the gym. I vacuumed my house yesterday and that took several hours because I needed to take a lot of breaks. My stamina, my energy, and my strength are all not where I'd like them to be. My weight is still down, too. I had lost 17 lbs and so far I've gained 3 lbs back, so I'm still down about 14 lbs from where I was before this flare. I'm sure that pred is also robbing me of muscle mass but not much I can do about that right now. I just need to continue to heal.

Walking is still going okay. The most I can do in a day is about 5,000 steps right now. Which isn't too bad. I'm trying to do more, but my body lets me know when it's had enough, and I try to listen very carefully to my body because I don't want to get worse again. Still doing the low-FODMAP diet. Jello ended up giving me watery diarrhea both times I ate it, so I stopped eating jello and have had solid stools ever since - I guess add gelatin to my list of trigger foods. It's apparently not sugar that was triggering me because I've had some candy and some gluten-free cookies and those sat fine with me (I am avoiding fructose because it's not allowed on low-FODMAP, so I've only had foods containing sugar and not fructose nor any sugar substitutes like xylitol nor sorbitol).

So yeah, I continue to take baby steps towards health. It's a little frustrating that it's taking so long, but on the other hand I'm very happy to be going in the right direction. I just gotta keep going!
 

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Hobbies and Interests
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Papantoine
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