Stressed out and got injured. Turn around time!

[Moralitea]

Well on my last challenge back in August I had stated I was pretty burnt out. Planning for a wedding with family members who actively try to pretend the others don't exist because of years old feuds is beyond exhausting and I pretty much fled all contact with anyone because I was so tired of it.

 

Just to get the negatives out of the way: I ended up injuring my back due to stress just before the honeymoon and didn't let myself heal properly before going on the hiking trip we took. I did not make a smart call with that, as I had minor back pain the whole time which grew to become unbearable on the flight back. By early November I ended up at the chiropractor three times a week for over two months for relief of a pinched sciatic nerve and almost bulged disc..I gained 20 lbs from the combination of the immediate cessation of any bike commuting and working out as well as letting myself slip in diet habits for the "comfort" foods.

 

Positive time! Well, I'm happy to say we survived it all. My wife has been a great and constant source of encouragement and keeping me from being depressed about it. She's changed a lot of her diet as well, which started my climb out of almost self loathing (It was so ridiculously hard going from biking 15 mi a day and just reaching some new PR's in my kettlebell work to absolutely nothing. I pretty much hated myself for it and sat in that without trying to fix anything). I finally got clearance from my doctor to start working out a couple weeks ago and last week completed my first full week of bike commuting again. I also have done a couple small bodyweight workouts to get myself started moving in the right direction. And the best thing, I've been eating a LOT healthier. I'm working on a solid gameplan with the MRS, who recently took up jigging again since she's worried I'm going to get back into better shape than her. I know I'll be back on here for the next 6 wk challenge. and I'm excited for it. I've missed a lot of the encouragement.

 

Pictures of wedding and honeymoon, for those interested. We had an amazing Honeymoon on a gorgeous mountainside outside of Aspen (all the glory, none of the cash!) and spent our time in a pretty freaking awesome hot spring:

 

 

Dr Who was a slight theme of ours:

 

 

Mr and Mrs Moralitea

 

 

My favorite skyline picture I think

 

The view from our tent door every morning:

 

The Hot Springs! 100 F water just soothes the skin. 

 

Another view. The first night there was a full moon and it rose right in the gap on the right. So gorgeous!

 

Hiking out:

[Elastigirl]

Sorry to hear about your back, that sounds miserable. Glad you are on the way to recovery now. Awesome pictures, what a lovely honeymoon.

[Kath]

Congrats on your marriage! I'm glad you hear you're recovering, and your wife sounds like an awesome source of support.  

 

BTW it looks like you honeymooned in Skyrim, haha! Beautiful shots. 

[WandererCorliss]

Grats on wedding and recovery, i am currently going through a very similar situation. i slipped a disk that is pinching a nerve, did it exactly 2 weeks before my wedding day  my doc has given permission to do light exercise but it doesn't seem like enough or the few things that i  do seem to cause my pain to flair up. do you have any advise on some of the exercises that you did outside of the doctors office?