shutterpillar

Thank you, Big! Of course doctors orders come first. I was definitely going to talk with my gyn and doctor about it tomorrow during my appointment, but I thought there might be someone out there who had this particular heart condition and could give me their experiences. When I first learned about the heart condition, I was initially ok'd for running, I just needed to watch my body closely and make sure I stopped and rested when I needed to. Wearing a HRM was also recommended. I was told pretty much the same thing as far as my body weight exercises went. To sum it up - just a big "dont exert yourself too much" from the doctors. Thanks for the welcome back!

Things sure have changed a lot around here in the six months I have been gone... lots of new categories to explore! Lots of new members, too. Hopefully a handful of you might recognize me, though. I disappeared around March to go on vacation. The vacation ended up being great (we went to Disney World ) and I was in the best shape I have ever been in thanks to running and body weight exercises. But upon my arrival home, things began taking a turn for the worse. First, after freaking out over some very weird heart beats, I learned I had sinus tachycardia, which is where my heart beats irregularly and faster than normal (my resting heart rate is around 99-110). That alone caused me to greatly decrease my exercise time - particularly the intensity of my running. I decided to lay off of the NF forums until I got myself back on a good exercise schedule. I was still fairly new and figured no one would miss me anyway. Once I finally got into a good groove after learning about my heart condition, I was bombarded with a cancer scare. Around June I began feeling a rather large lump in my lower stomach between my hip bones. I went to the doctor and had an ultrasound done, where they discovered I had a grapefruit sized tumor on my left ovary, and a tennis ball sized tumor on my right ovary. My case was immediately given over to my amazing gynecologist and I was given a CT scan and blood work to determine whether or not these tumors were cancerous and to learn more about what they consisted of. I was told there was a good chance they would not be cancer, but would not know for sure until they were biopsied. I was also told that I would need surgery to remove not only the tumors, but my left ovary and fallopian tube, and potentially my right ovary and fallopian tube as well. Thank goodness my husband and I got having kids out of the way early, right?! I think if that were not the case, I would have been more upset about losing my reproductive organs. During the time I was waiting on my surgery date, I was told I was not allowed my usual exercises, so I freaked out and did not exercise at all for an entire month. It would have been bad news to have one of those tumors rupture, especially if they were cancerous. Turns out I only needed my left ovary and tube removed. I was able to keep righty. AND, neither of the tumors were cancerous. Now I am on the home stretch of recovering from laparoscopic surgery and I have a question. Keeping my sinus tachycardia in mind, how should I go about re-building my muscle that I have lost while waiting on surgery? Obviously I would like to take it slow... I have been walking and that has helped a lot. My post-op appointment is tomorrow and if I am given the ok by my GYN, I would like to resume my normal running and bodyweight routine, but of course very very slowly. Anyone have any tips on how to ease myself into that without hurting myself? I hope to hang around here more often, though I cannot guarantee I will be as active as I used to be. I've definitely fallen off the wagon a bit and need to get caught up! Edit to add - Fortunately, I have not gained any of my weight back as I have continued to eat healthily... I just lost a bunch of muscle. :/

Back from Disney.... and I gained 4 lbs! I have the feeling its mostly water weight... who gains 5 actual lbs of fat in less than a week? So I have been drinking gallons of water since we got back home last Friday and lost over half of the weight I gained. Now, to get back to business! I have a feeling I may have to hold back a little this week until I get back into the swing of things. Then its back into beast mode.

Good for you! For me, if they were Krispy Kreme then they would be a little harder to resist. especially if they were warm! lol.

Somehow, I have injured my ankle. Jumping jacks are a no-go today. Does anyone have any ideas for what to do instead? I was thinking of shadow boxing or something like that to get my heart rate up a little.

Thanks, Rik! good advice. And for the record, I did 2 miles (I know, I know.. short run) in about 20 minutes today.

Great job! keep it up!

You can do it! Most people trip up every now and then (lord knows I have, especially around the holidays... christmas cookies are NOT my friend!) I am so worried I am going to backslide in a couple weeks when we get home from vacation... we've made so many reservations at different restaurants and while I will try to make good decisions, I know i am not going to want to go back to my everyday lunches/dinners after sampling so much amazing food. Dust yourself off, and kick some ass! You got this.

If it were me, I would GLADLY take smelling bad and surviving over dieing a slow, agonizing death being ripped apart by zombies any day.

Ok, so it is SO gorgeous outside today and I just cannot justify staying inside and doing the bodyweight routine. I'm going out for a run.

That was amazing.. I have NO idea how I am going to wait until fall! I thought more people may die as well, but was kinda glad that they didn't. Actually, I hope they end up finding more people next season. And I am REALLY excited to get to know Michonne's character. She seems pretty bad ass with her zombies on chains and all.

Just checking in. Did the same thing i've been doing all week... feel good about advancing on Monday, I just don't know which things and how much to advance. I'll probably end up increasing the planks and pushups and leave the rest alone because I am still struggling with getting through them. If I can, I may lower the reps on the rows and increase the weight... of course that all depends on whether or not we can get some heavier dumbbells this weekend.

Creating and meeting my goals keeps me motivated.

I am addicted as well.... have been for months now. It is a beautiful song and a mesmerizing video. I say keep on listening to it. For me, it never gets old.

And hopefully I will have raised my kids well enough that they will know that sticking an alcohol-soaked tampon in your a** is just a bad idea in general.