Robert

Further information on my knees: The diagnosis is "patellofemoral pain syndrome" (which, translated to English means "knee pain") or "chondromalacia of the patella". Both knees. Basically, my knees hurt much of the time, and since the science on this issue is not good, this is "because" of any or all of the following: (1) I have thinned and possibly cracked cartilage around my knees, which is "normal wear and tear" even though I am only 30 years old and was never really into sports or exercise AT ALL until recently, (2) maybe there's a muscle imbalance?, (3) maybe my muscles aren't "strong enough" (and in particular the hamstring and/or quads), (4) maybe my leg muscles aren't flexible enough, (5) something else? Yes, I am seeing doctors for this. I went through two full bouts of physical therapy over the past few years, which my insurance will no longer cover for the moment. MRIs show "thin" cartilage with "signal abnormalities" all around my knees. Since it's both knees, it's unlikely to be trauma (and there's no real evidence of that anyway). I can't even do a lot of the physical therapy exercises that are supposed to help, since those actually exacerbate the problem. Examples: Step downs or leg extensions Ice helps with the pain, though. I have tried those supplements that aren't scientifically valid but everyone recommends, and no, they didn't help. I also tried acupuncture and reiki healing, which similarly didn't help. The next step medically is to try hyaluran injections, apparently, even though those do not have particularly good science behind them. I'm consulting a doctor about that in a few days.

Hi everyone! If I go up two or three flights of stairs in a day (even if not all at once), I'm in pretty bad pain for several days afterwards. My doctor also explicitly told me that I am in "maintenance mode" and that I should never jog, run, or jump again for the rest of my life, despite being 28 years old when I was told that. And I want to fix that, so I'd appreciate any help you can give! So the goals of my workout routine are: 1) Build leg strength in general 2) Build hamstring and quad strength in particular 3) Stretch my legs and improve flexibility 4) The more typical goal of "Generally build muscle" My current workout is: For each exercise, a warm-up set then 3 or 4 sets Mondays and Wednesdays: Stick-ups (upper-back exercise, done hoping to improve my posture because potentially that can contribute to the knee issues) - currently ~60 per set Wall sits (quad exercise) - currently <=60 seconds per set Calf raises (calf exercise) - currently 60 per set, no weights Walk ~3.6 miles (no steep hills or stairs; one day a week I go 6.6 miles instead) Tuesdays: Stool scoots (hamstring exercise; http://www.mavenlive.com/physical-therapy-exercises/stool-scoots.html) - currently ~5 laps of my workplace per set Pushups - currently ~30-35 per set (I'm working on progressing these to one-handed pushups) Crunches - currently ~30-40 per set Glute bridges (back and hamstrings) - currently ~60 sec per set Walk ~0.6 miles (from car to work and back) Straight leg lifts, side leg lifts, and various other related exercises - currently 15 per set with 8 lb ankle weights Thursdays: REST Straight leg lifts, side leg lifts, and various other related exercises Walk ~0.6 miles Fridays: Walk ~3.6 miles Pushups Crunches Glute bridges Saturday: Straight leg lifts, side leg lifts, and various other related exercises Triceps extensions - Currently ~10 per set with a 10 lb dumbbell Front raises - Currently ~7 per set with 10 lb dumbbells Sunday (I'm thinking of adding these but haven't yet; currently this is a rest day): Bent-over rows Bicep curls Obviously my focus has been on my legs, but I want to start working on everything else. So, any advice on what I should add that WILL NOT hurt my knees? Or advice on what I should progress or change in my current routine? The following definitely hurt me: Step ups, step downs, lunges, squats, burpees, leg extensions, walking up steps, walking up steep hills, kneeling, sitting for long periods, jumping In terms of equipment I only have access to dumbbells and adjustable ankle weights. Thanks!

So......... I totally bombed at #s 1, 2, and 3. I moved house (interstate) which has devastated my time, energy, and broken the good habits I had formed. Goal #4 is going well, though: 33 done (54%) 28/61 remaining So... Time to get back on the wagon. First step, I'm adding a few things back onto my to-do list, things involving forming new goals/habits (for example, I need to make a new workout plan that works with my current housing situation, which my old plan does not).

1. I will have flexible hamstrings A: Do all of my stretches every day, and avoid sitting for long periods of time [DEX + 3] B: Do 3 sets of hamstring stretches at least 3x/week [DEX + 2] C: Do hamstring stretches most days [DEX + 1] D: Do hamstring stretches at least 3x/week F: Sit all the time and don't do stretches 2. I follow my weekly exercise plan, with any necessary alterations due to injury A: Follow my COMPLETE exercise plan, altered as necessary [sTR +1 DEX + .5 STA + 1.5] B: Do 75% or more of my scheduled workouts, and/or fail to adjust for injuries once or twice [sTR + .5 DEX + 0.25 STA + 0.75] C: Do 50% or more of my scheduled workouts [sTA + 0.5] D: Walk but do little else, and hurt myself doing it F: Sleep through the winter 3. I WRITE (for work) every day A: At least four times per week. Much better than the current zero times per week. [WIS + 5] B: At least twice a week. [WIS + 2]D: Once a week 4: I do the stuff I need to do.A: >=75% of the stuff [WIS + 4]B: 50-75% [Wis +2]C: 25-50% [WIs +1]D: 10-25%F: <10% First thing to do: Make the list of things to do!

Nope, didn't finish strong. It turns out that on the 10th (when I said the longer wall sits were hurting my knees) I hurt my knees. They still hurt, and I'm still trying to recover from it. Hate these knees! Also, whenever my knees start to hurt badly, my mood crashes, and I stop doing a lot of other things too. 1. C: Do hamstring stretches most days [DEX + 1] 2. B: Do 75% or more of my scheduled workouts, and/or fail to adjust for injuries once or twice [sTR + 1 DEX + 1 STA + 2] 3. C: More than two lapses a week 4. B: Draw (or paint) 3x or 4x/week average [WIS + 1]

Somehow I missed a lot of pages on this thread, and thought the hat discussion was current, haha. Oops!

A hat discussion! Fantastic. I need to start wearing hats. Over the past few years I've started to get frequent migraines (every week or so) and I'm very sensitive to light... So I've been wearing caps and sun visors when I'm outside for a long time or when I'm riding on the train (the electric lights KILL me if I don't). The sun visors are dorky as hell, but I can fit them into my coat pocket easily, so that's a matter of convenience... But I really need a less dorky hat. I'm in New York / New Jersey, dress casual (usually jeans and a t-shirt, and often button down shirts). And I have the additional requirement that it NEEDS to have a wide brim (at least in the front) to block the light. That's half the point, really. Any ideas? Tarp hats sound okay, at least for when I'm outdoors exercising... I need to think about that. I should probably start dressing in a slightly nicer fashion, too, since I'm getting older... So... Something that can go casual or more dressy would be ideal. I am SO not used to wearing hats that I think they all look terrible on me, though they probably don't really. They just look weird to me since I never wear them. Also, in terms of hat etiquette, am I being terribly rude wearing mine on the train? That's KIND OF indoors... I mean, I'm going to do it either way, but it'd be good to know.

Glad to hear you're feeling better! Keep it up, you're doing good!

Thanks! Still doing good... I think I'm going to end up with Bs or B+s in everything, but I can still push for A-s! I think doing 3 sets of 30 sec wall sits is hurting my knees (not badly, but still...). So... Either I need to cut down on them and/or not try to push past that amount for a number of weeks. Sundays are normally a rest day for me, but I wanted to add some deltoid exercises to my weekly routine and I didn't get around to them yet... So today might be a good day to add them!

You have a great attitude about your wrist! Glad to hear you're working around it. Candlelight yoga sounds amazing. I'm jealous. You're doing great, keep it up!

You're doing great, keep it up! If you want to work yoga into your busy schedule, you could do some poses randomly throughout the day... Standing poses typically don't need a yoga mat, so you could do some while waiting for food to cook! It feels great to get in the habit of exercising during times that you'd otherwise just be standing there doing nothing. That's usually when I get my stretches in: Waiting for water to boil and that kind of thing. But that might just be because I'm an inefficient cook.

I'm joining in! Better late than never.

Yep! No, I don't think I was away from things long enough to change the flavor. I think I had quit soda for like three months before it started tasting weird. Quitting stuff for a week isn't really that long (heck, I could go that long without eating pizza if I went on vacation to somewhere that I didn't go to a pizzeria, or if I bought too much other stuff at the grocery store for the week). But yeah, being able to eat most things is definitely a perk. Now I don't have to make people feel weird when I go to their houses for dinner! Things are going good! Yay, a mini-challenge! Thanks for the heads-up... I'm definitely joining in! I kept looking for one, but I expected it to show up on a big bar at the top of the webpage alerting me to it. That's what happened last time... What is the right way to check if one is starting?

January's over, so I have a graphical summary! Nerd alert! X axes are the days of the month. Mild weight loss, that's fine, whatever. As long as the trendline is going in the right direction! I only sparsely sample my weight, which is why there are large gaps in measurements. The two vertical lines are when I started and ended the lamb-and-pears diet. So that was clearly impacting my weight faster than is healthy (I dropped like 4 lbs in 5 days). The thin dashed lines are the maximum and minimum weights to be in the "normal weight range" for someone my height. The darker dashed line is my eventual years-from-now ultimate goal weight (just below my ideal weight). These are most of the leg exercises my physical therapists assigned me (back when I was doing physical therapy), though I'm using much bigger ankle weights than they had me using. The important thing about this graph is that I'm doing the exercises (and getting better with them). I'm starting to do them fewer times a week now, as I change my workout routine to include more body parts than just my legs. Quad strength... Increasing! I'm only tracking "flights of stairs" so that I can tell how many flights I can go up in a day without injuring myself. Answer? Two. Hamstring strength (measured in number of stool scoots)...Increasing! The real improvement here is that I'm starting to try one-armed pushups (though I'm doing this with my hand at table-height, and eventually I'll work up to real ones). I added these to my routine half-way through the month, and I'm already seeing some progress. And I can do more crunches and longer bridges! Also, I met my bonus goal of doing 30 consecutive crunches (and have done so a bunch of times now!)

Still on track for stretching and doing my exercises! I've drawn about every other day, so that's not bad... I stopped doing the diet because I was feeling really nauseous nonstop and it wasn't helping my symptoms anyway. So, I probably don't have any significant food intolerances... Now I just have to eat the rest of the food I bought! Still not eating candy and cake, or drinking though! Basically you pull yourself around the room while sitting on a stool. http://www.livestrong.com/article/490189-what-are-stool-scoot-exercises/ It's apparently done a lot in rehab, for working the hamstrings.

Oh! And I'm stretching and doing my exercises. So, on track so far! Walking is hard at the moment, because it has been COLD out this week, but I've supplemented that with other exercises and it's supposed to get warmer tomorrow.

Thanks! I drew a little yesterday (while playing with my neice) and a little the day before that. Not as much as I'd like, but the point is really to just get in the habit of putting pencil to paper every day, so it counts. The detox is hard, and I'm a little nauseous. I don't know if that's because of withdrawal or just because I'm eating SO much of the same foods. I can only eat so much boiled cabbage before I start to feel a little sick! Other than that it's fine. I have lots of cravings, but I've stuck to it so far. Tomorrow I'm loosening up the diet some, so that should improve a bit. I'm adding chicken back in, and golden/red delicious apples, and a few other things. I can't really make it too varied until I am sure I've stopped having symptoms, though, and since I only get migraines once a week or so, I definitely have to stay on the strict part for at least that long. Though if I do get a few migraines while I'm on the strict diet, that means it's not food-related and I can add most things back in immediately... But not alcohol, candy, and cake!

Started the detox phase of my "diet" today! I also spent all afternoon and early evening cooking, so that I'll have food for the first half of the week. So far so good as far as that goes! Since I stuck to it today, that means I automatically met my alcohol/cake/candy goal for the day. Did all my stretches yesterday and today. Haven't drawn anything... Need to focus on doing that.

Aww! Welcome, and nice goals. Good luck!

I hadn't either, but my physical therapist told me to do them (there's stuff about the exercise here: http://www.livestrong.com/article/490189-what-are-stool-scoot-exercises/ ). My hamstrings are definitely sore if I do a lot of them, so it definitely targets the hamstrings! I look like an idiot while doing the exercise, though. The lamb wasn't that easy to get... Stop and Shop didn't carry lamb, and Trader Joe's only had already cooked processed lamb (which had soy in it, which I'm trying to avoid at this stage since that's a relatively common allergen). Then I remembered I pass a grocery store called "Meat Farms" on my way to work, and sure enough they had LOTS. I bought something like 14 lambchops and a shank, which was about half of what they had. Though there may have been more behind the butcher counter. I went to Waldbaums this morning for unrelated stuff, and checked while I was there: They had quite a bit too, though nothing bigger than chops. It's certainly not common, which is part of why it's on the diet: It's not a common allergy because Americans don't really eat it much.

Thanks! Yeah, graphs always make me feel like I'm actually making progress (at least, when I AM actually making progress, haha). Yesterday I broke a bicycle and didn't have the tool I needed to fix it, so I walked 2 miles instead. I also bought sporty new shoes for my longer walks (and discovered that I REALLY need to buy a new pair of regular sneakers too, so I'll probably do that sometime this week) and some hiking socks so I can try them out. Today is a rest day, although I'm going to do at least some stool scoots because I'm in the lab today and that's the only place that has both chairs with wheels and adequately short carpets. I also did all of the grocery shopping for my "diet"! Lamb (LOTS of lamb), three kinds of pears, fresh turnips, brussels sprouts, carrots, baby carrots, several kinds of wild rice, three kinds of quinoa, yellow squash, butternut squash, cabbage, red cabbage... YUM! I'm excited. I didn't draw anything today, yesterday, or the day before, so I have to get back on track with that. Everything else is going well, though.

The worst part is... I recognized it while eating the first one! My problem is that I don't think that junk food really tastes that good, and when I try to savor it I just feel worse that I'm eating something I don't really enjoy that much. As I said, these cupcakes weren't even good!! They were just THERE. I think I just ate them to have something to do. I need to start bringing my own snacks to parties, I think. Today was a good day, though! It was really nice outside (though humid), and since mondays are my "long walk" days, I really got to enjoy it. I walked 7.2 miles! That's the farthest I've gone on foot in well over a year, so I'm pretty happy. It looks like I got a couple blisters, though, which is not a problem I had with running... I guess maybe because walking takes so much longer I'm more prone to blisters this way? I need to look into buying specialized walking socks and shoes pretty soon, since I'm racking up the mileage. I also did more wall sits than ever before (3 sets of 15; up to now I've done sets of 10), used the heavier 8lb weights for my leg exercises (with no problem!), and did my stretches. I also set up a spreadsheet to track how I feel on the diet (and all of my symptoms), so that I'll hopefully be able to actually identify changes in the symptoms. And I started filling it in, so I have a baseline. I didn't draw yet, so I should go do that now... And I need to finalize my food shopping list tonight. Tomorrow is an easy or (if it's nice out and I can find a bicycle) crosstraining day.

Ate two cupcakes last night. They weren't even good, they were just there. :/ But! I had a very good core + upper body workout today. I started doing bent-over rows again (which I haven't done in a long time), added in a couple new exercises I've never done ("stick-ups", which were a lot harder than I expected but were also simple to do, and "dips" which I definitely feel sore after) and progressed on a few others. And I started making a food shopping list for my diet. And a food get-rid-of list. Which means I know what delicious things I already have that I should eat NOW! I'm also identifying other foods that I'm unlikely to be intolerant to (like nori, yellow squash, venison, etc.) so that I can have some more variety when I do start. And looking up recipes!

Yesterday was good, and today was good so far! Actually, I honestly can't remember what I did yesterday (oops) but I remember exercising, so I'm going to count that. Today I did two extra sets with my morning leg exercises (straight leg lifts and that kind of thing) to see if I should progress and add more weight, and progress I did! So next time I do them I'll be on 8 lbs. That made me feel pretty good, and extra energized, so I walked five miles today (with some added inclines). So... Today was a very successful lower-body workout. Upper body tomorrow! I've been drawing, and I haven't had any cake/alcohol/candy, so that's a success too. I'm going to a party tonight, so I have to watch the alcohol and cake, but there will be pizza and games to distract me. On the food note, I'm probably going to try an oligoantigen/elimination diet, to try to see if any food intolerances are contributing to my knee issues (and to my migraines, and sinus pain, and IBS, and fatigue, etc). I certainly have enough symptoms that could be food related! Plus, all of the problems started after I lost 120 lbs in college, and have continued since then... Since that was all due to changes in diet, I think there's a decent chance that I'm allergic/intolerant to some of the healthier foods I've been eating the last dozen years but didn't eat before. The basic idea is that I'll spend four days eating nothing but lamb, rice, brassica vegetables (except brocolli and cauliflower), and pears. Then adding in red and golden delicious apples, broccoli, cauliflower, chicken, turkey, and white potatoes, and keep eating that for another week or so (until I either stop having migraines etc. or not). If I still have symptoms, then it's probably not food-related. If I stop, then I'll be slowly (four days at a time) adding categories of food back in, and monitoring symptoms. That'll be really hard to do, crazy monotonous, but that would make avoiding alcohol, candy, and cake a breeze! Haha. .....Yeah, not sure if I'll be able to manage this one. But if it helped with all of the medical nonsense, it'd be worth it. Thanks! I've copied a few dragoart tutorials before, they were pretty fun (though everything there is definitely very stylized). Quitting alcohol is a lot easier after college, since outside of undergrads most people really don't care whether you drink or not, so I understand. It's definitely harder than I thought (I crave a drink whenever I'm bored, apparently), but definitely doable. I never realized I actually have cravings for alcohol until I stopped drinking, though, which is a little scary. I never even drank that much! Yep! I even turned down ice cream cake! Very happy so far.

So far so good! I've been stretching every day, doing my workouts, and I drew a little yesterday and the day before. So, as long as I do my stretches and draw some today, I'm right on schedule! I did have a drink the other day, though, so that's the first lapse. But I get one a week!