Week 7

225.8/231.0

"Don't pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sun shines." - Satchel Paige

Progress, slow and steady, and my stomach still looks at me in the mirror with obstinate stubbornness. "I'm here for the long haul, friend," it says to me. It's getting smaller, and I feel more comfortable in some tighter T-shirts that I did 2 months ago, but I'm not quite at the point where I'd be comfortable going to the pool, or mowing my yard shirtless. Maybe next month.

I've still got problems with my left elbow, and I think I've found an exercise that will help strengthen those tendons, dumbbell presses using a Pilates ball for support. I haven't been able to bench press for about 7 years now. I seem to pinch a nerve between my right shoulder blade and my spine, and the pain stops me from being able to really put effort against the bar. With practice and gutting through the pain, I've managed to put up a measly 135 a few times lately, before the pain overwhelms me. On butterfly machines I do much better, and I found out Sunday afternoon that the extra support of the Pilates ball prevents the nerve pinch, so I've been doing dumbbell presses at home. Since I can work out with low weight/high repetition that way, I can toughen up my elbow tendons a little without the popping noise or next-day soreness I get from pushups.

I asked my roommate's mother, who taught aerobics until her 50s, about tendon and joint issues, and her immediate advice to me was simply "forgive your body the things it can't do any more." I think that's great advice, and I'm trying to resign myself to the fact that I've got a long road of rebuilding ahead of me, even after I hit my ideal weight. Swimming was her recommendation for conditioning, which brings me back to my ever-present stomach. I'll reevaluate in a few weeks, and work on swallowing my pride a little to help motivate me to do laps at the pool. I'm not young and sexy any more, and the quicker I get over what I used to look like, and the looks girls used to give me, the healthier I can make myself, mentally and physically.

On the brighter side, my latest day of lawnmowing + working out didn't kill me, and I'm able to last through 2 complete sets of DDR in workout mode, approximately 300 Calories, sans twisted ankles. I've also crossed the 2-stone mark, having lost over 28 pounds since I started.