Your age is just a number!

It has been 8 weeks since my surgery and time to get back in the gym. I have gone to my fitness classes twice a week for the last 2 weeks to try my foot out and just generally get back in the groove of exercising. Today was my first day back at my "real" gym that is a 20 mile drive one-way for me to get to. It is so worth the drive time and gas money!

It was crowded as it was late in the afternoon so the gym was full of college and high school aged guys. That lead to having to wait for the bench or barbells for my turn. I got spoiled by going during the day when the place is almost empty. Still not a lot of women lifting weights that I’ve seen but I don’t mind hanging with the guys!

It was a drag to see myself in the full length mirrors though. I’ve been literally sitting for several weeks, waiting for my foot to heal, so a few pounds creeped back on. It’s not horrible, just 5 pounds but I worked so hard all last year to lose those darn 30 pounds and I don’t want my fat to hang around very long. I feel better knowing I’m back on track to losing fat and gaining muscle!

Had surgery on my foot Dec. 5, 2008. I knew it would be a few weeks to heal but being in pain with a lot of swelling six weeks afterwards was not expected. I have had to live in my recliner with my foot up, wrapped in compression bandages with ice on it. Total bummer! I have been slower to heal than I wanted but a body has mind of its own when it comes to fixing the surgery invasion. I had part of my bone removed where there was a spur and the doc tightened up a ligament too. Glad to have it done but I’m going crazy sitting in the chair.

I have been able to attend my fitness classes last week without lots of pain. Used the elipitcal to "run" a couple of miles with success. At this rate, I should be back in the gym next week!

I still can’t get to my home gym in the basement so I found some exercise bands to use instead. It feels really good after sitting on my behind for a week to be moving around and using some muscle groups! I still can’t stand for very long without pain but I can do a few exercises than rest. I overdid yesterday and was in a lot of pain at the operation site by the end of the day so I’ll be a good girl and go easier today. I’m healing well and the doctor was pleased at my post-op visit yesterday. I’m hoping to get the OK to drive next week!

I am slower than a snail but I am up and walking without a cane today! YEAH! I am recovering fast and hope to get better every day. It has been hard to sit in the recliner, wanting to get up but as soon as I do, I remember why I have to sit and keep my foot up. I got around to wearing "real" clothes today instead of jammies or sweats so that is making me feel better too. Having to bath out of the sink is a drag but I can’t get my foot wet for several more weeks. Thank goodness I have lots of perfume LOL!

I had surgery on my foot at our local hospital on Dec. 5 (Friday). Nothing major but being wheeled into an operating room and have someone make you sleep is a little scary in my book! The surgery went well; my right foot needed removal of extra bone growth plus the doc tightened the ligaments in a few places. I have been living with foot pain for a few years now and finally got around to getting something done about it.

I am walking with a cane for a few weeks. Will probably not be able to drive for a month or longer so I can’t go visit my new gym… bummer! I will start doing some upper body workouts now that the worst of the surgery pain is over. Those first two days were hell! Thank goodness for pain meds!

And I’m a happy camper! My little weight bench at home just wasn’t enough anymore and the fitness center in my town had also been left in the dust. Not fun to work out when it is too easy and you are ready for more!

A new gym/fitness center opened up in a town nearby. It is only a 20 minute drive and the cost is $15.00 a month so I could afford both the membership and the gas since I drive a little VW beetle. I started this week and have been very pleased. Lots and lots of free weights, all kinds of machines and equipment and best of all, it’s all brand new! No rips in the benches, all the dumbbells are there, etc. When I’ve gone, the place has been kinda empty since it is in the middle of the day but I like it that way. No waiting around for what you want!

Here are a few pics I took with my phone:

I am a substitute fitness instructor at our community center. Since Halloween is tomorrow, I thought it would be fun to do something different than just lifting weights and cardio. I mess around with belly dancing at home and know how much of a workout it can be with no impact on the knees.

My class is mostly ladies who are over 60 so their eyes got big when I put on the music and got my hip scarf on. We did simple moves without worrying about dancing per se. I got them to do hip drops, hip circles, shimmy, some different arm movements, etc. I just wanted to give them an overview of how to do the basic moves. I tried to encourage them to combine what we learned and dance to the music I had brought but that was too much for them. They were good sports to try!
One of the staff of the fitness center said that maybe we should start a new class featuring belly dancing!

I was trying on jeans today as my current ones (size 6) are not fitting well anymore. Just for fun, I thought I would try the size 4 pair on. OMG… they fit… they fit awesome! I just bought size 6 jeans a couple of months ago so it is hard to believe that my body shape has changed that much so soon but I guess it did. And yes, I bought those size 4 jeans and I think I will leave the tags on so everyone will know what size I am wearing on my butt!

Since January, I have gone through the following US dress sizes: started at size 14, dropped down to 12, then 10, then 8, then 6 and am now wearing size 4. If you told me last January that I would be wearing this size in less than a year, I would have called you a liar. I really credit bodybuilding with my physique changes more than diet alone. I would have lost fat by dieting, sure, but I would have been flabby in all the wrong places and I know my dress size would not be where it is now.

I can’t wait to see what the next few months in this year hold for me… it can only get better!

Ben Weider, OC, bodybuilder and author, was born on February 1, 1923. He died on October 17, 2008, aged 85.
With his older brother Joe, Ben Weider was one of the important influences on the popularisation of bodybuilding as an international sport. The son of Polish immigrants who settled in Montreal, he and Joe began lifting weights as teenagers hoping to even things up in the street fights that were common in the largely French-Canadian Plateau-Mont-Royal district of their native city. Using discarded axles and wheels from railroad cars when conventional barbells proved impossible to find, the brothers soon found fewer challenges coming their way.

While still in his teens, Joe Weider entered and won several local competitions, leading other lifters to inquire about his training routine. When he tired of repeating himself, the brothers began producing a mimeographed newsletter, Your Physique. Within months, circulation had reached five figures.

The Second World War suspended their business activities but the brothers returned in earnest after the end of hostilities. They expanded their publishing activities and began offering nutritional supplements and exercise equipment.

They founded the International Federation of Body Building in 1946, Ben holding the presidency for the next 60 years. Originally representing physique athletes only from Canada and the US, the IFBB now oversees the activities of 170 national organisations.

Their name firmly established as body building’s dominant brand, the Weiders brought a young Austrian to the US, a move that made Arnold Schwarzenegger a household name, raised the sport’s profile and sent the Western world flocking to their gym.

Ben Weider’s financial success allowed him to indulge his lifelong interest in Napoleon Bonaparte. Immersing himself in Napleonic lore, Weider became convinced that he had not died of cancer, as universally acknowledged, but had actually succumbed to intentional arsenic poisoning. Written with the Swedish dentist Sten Forshufvud, Assassination at St Helena: The Poisoning of Napoleon Bonaparte was derided by historians when released in 1978, but it went on to sell more than a million copies in several languages. The founder and president of the International Napoleonic Society, in 1998 Weider endowed Florida State University’s Institute on Napoleon and the French Revolution.

Support for his theory that Napoleon was surreptitiously fed arsenic over an extended period leading up to his death in 1821 has increased significantly since it was first hypothesised. In 2000 France appointed Weider to the Légion d’Honneur. A member of the Order of Canada since 1975, he was advanced to officer (OC) in 2006.

A devout Jew, Weider donated gyms to numerous communities in the Middle East, with Jews, Arabs and Palestinians all benefiting from his generosity. Closer to home, he supported or built numerous community centres around his home town, without regard for the ethnic or religious affiliations of those who would make use of them.

Over the years Weider amassed the world’s largest collection of privately-held Napoleonic memorabilia, including a trademark bicorne hat from Bonaparte’s ill-fated Russian campaign of 1812, and several locks of hair. Three weeks ago it was announced that the entire 60-piece collection had been donated to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Weider published several other books on Napoleon, notably (with General Michel Franceschi) The Wars Against Napoleon (2007), whose thesis was that rather than merely pursuing a career of military glory, Napoleon fought a defensive struggle on behalf of an enlightened revolution against reactionary European regimes, among them that of Britain.

Benjamin Weider is survived by his wife, Huguette, whom he married in 1959, and by three sons.

–Source: The Times Online, Oct. 24, 2008

Body fat was something I just didn’t want to know earlier this year when I was weighing in at 165+ lbs and wearing a size 14 dress. I knew it was high but just like the scale, ignorance was bliss.

I finally decided to see where my current body fat is at. I used a web site that has a home body fat test based on age, gender, weight and body measurements. I used my current stats and found some from April this past year when I weighed in at 156 lbs.

April 2008, weigh 156 lbs, hips 40", upper thigh 24" — Body fat was 32%.

This equals to 49.9 Pounds of fat and 106.1 Pounds of lean (muscle, bone, body water).

October 2008, weigh 135 lbs, hips 37", upper thigh 20" — Body fat at 23%.

This equals to 31.1 Pounds of fat and 103.9 Pounds of lean (muscle, bone, body water).

I think I probably have more muscle and less fat than the web site shows. Muscle weighs in more than fat and I know from measurements that I have gained over 5 inches of muscle on my frame and have lost 4 dress sizes. I will ask my doctor when I see her next week if she has a way to measure my personal body fat more accurately than just weight, height and measurements. Overall, I know I’ve lost body fat and am pleased whatever the numbers are!