I am pretty sore today... I have been pushing myself a little more each day and it is paying off but I am also paying the price of sore muscles and stiff joints. A dose of Aleve and a hot shower will do me a world of good. I had ankle injuries from playing sports years ago and sometimes they plague me too, but it's all for a good cause.
When I think back a short time ago I was in pain much of the time anyway, but of a different kind and certainly not caused by doing anything that was good for me. Some of it was from working as a painter and muralist climbing up and down ladders, etc., but a lot of it was what they tell me is physhcosomatic pain, which no it's NOT all in your head, it is real pain.
I found another picture that I took about a year ago, around the time that I posted that horribly depressing blog entry I shared yesterday.
This was one sad person here:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28836199@N06/5582455948/" title="october 2010 by auntiejan457, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5060/5582455948_472c4b1984_m.jpg" width="240" height="194" alt="october 2010"></a>
This is a pic I took a couple weeks ago, the one I've currently set as my profile pic:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28836199@N06/5581871045/" title="march 2011 by auntiejan457, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5091/5581871045_ac7f1b3047_m.jpg" width="226" height="240" alt="march 2011"></a>
Anyway I can safely say that most of that is subsiding and being replaced by basic muscle soreness. Doing proper stretching and warmup and cooldown has been key to keeping me going with my fitness program. My body is not a spring chicken anymore even though my spirit surely is!
Why I took that picture I don't know, why I kept it is even more of a mystery, but it's good I have something to look back on. Not only is it a visual reference for my weight loss progression, but it also reminds me of where my head was at the time.
Life can suck sometimes, but how you deal with the sucky parts really does have a big impact on your health... at least it did for me, anyway.
And yes I'm going back to the gym tomorrow... after I mow the yard today and finish the laundry. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment!
Onward.