Improving Knee Pain Through Exercise

One of the things I’ve had problems with during my lifestyle change (besides sitting a lot more now that I’m writing full-time) is knee pain. I had surgery to fix one knee and working with a personal trainer really helped to improve my strength and end most of my knee pain. But a recent issue brought back the pain dramatically and I’ve been working through it. One of the ways that you can improve knee pain is by strengthening the muscles that support your knee! Here are some sites that have some good exercises for you to try, but always check with your doctor before trying any of them!

Knee Pain Exercises

Arthritis.org: https://bit.ly/3nnVKMA

Healthline: https://www.healthline.com/health/exercises-for-knee-pain

Ortho Info: https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/staying-healthy/knee-exercises

University of Rochester: https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/MediaLibraries/URMCMedia/hh/services-centers/evarts/documents/knee-exercises.pdf

WebMD: https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/top-exercises-knee-pain#1

caridad romance author knee pain

Igniting a New Transformation Journey

I haven’t shared all that much about my transformation since I posted about having lost 50 pounds. The first reason for that was that I was struggling to lose more weight and reach my goal. But then that reason changed since I gained back 30 pounds. Sigh. I can tell myself that it was the COVID pandemic. The Y shut down and I lost my trainer and ability to use the elliptical and assorted weights. I retired and found that I could no longer do the 20K plus steps that I did when was in an office. Or maybe it was that my husband discovered how to make the most amazing bread!

For months I’ve been in the doldrums about it, but I’ve dragged myself out of them by forgiving myself and looking at the positives. I didn’t gain all the weight back. I’m still relatively healthy. According to Fitbit, I’ve earned the Pole Badge which means I’ve walked 12,340 miles – the equivalent of walking from the North to South Poles. More importantly, I’ve refocused and have already lost three pounds this week. I’m eating better and eating more. I’m making sure to get in steps, even if it’s not 20K each day. So if you’re like me and have had your ups and downs, forgive yourself and ignite your transformation journey again. You can do it!
Caridad weight loss

#TransformationTuesday – Another milestone in my journey

It’s been close to nine months since I started my journey to a healthier lifestyle and I’ve just hit another milestone – 45 pounds lost. That means only 30 more pounds to go and then keeping all that weight off for good. The change has me feeling emotionally and physically better. I have less pain in my knees and am able to do all kinds of things I could not before. Because of that, I am enjoying new workouts, like Boxfit and Yoga. Plus I am eating healthier foods and it shows in things like my cholesterol levels and blood pressure. I am so happy I took that first step to get healthier and am determined to keep on going! If you’re on a similar journey, please take a moment to share how you’re doing.
Lifestyle Weight Loss Journey

#TransformationTuesday – Inspiration for the holidays and a lifetime

My transformation continues and I’m happy to say the scale keeps on going down. Ready to hit another milestone soon and go for another one. If you’re on your own journey, I hope it is going well for you, but if it isn’t going as you wish, just remember anything is possible. To help you with that thought I’m sharing this amazing inspirational video that was shared with me! This man’s transformation is amazing and if you don’t cry while watching this video . . .

Here is Arthur and his Incredible Transformation.

Arthur's Incredible Transformation! from Dallas Page on Vimeo.

#MotivationMonday – Forgiving Yourself

My wonderful friend Jayne came over this week to help me assemble some wedding favors and while we worked we talked about our respective struggles to lose weight. Jayne was an inspiration to me with all the weight she lost and when I mentioned a setback this week in my weight loss goals, she offered this pearl of wisdom she had learned from her weight loss group: You have to learn to forgive yourself when you suffer a setback like that.

Think about it. If someone does something you don’t like and you call them on it, but they apologize, you forgive them, right? You don’t beat them over the head over and over again about it (we hope).

So why do we do that to ourselves and not just about weight loss? We do it over our jobs, friendships, husbands, children, etc. We sometimes hold ourselves up to standards that are unreasonable and which may lead us to self-doubt or worse, self-loathing.

So today’s Motivation Monday is about being able to forgive yourself. If you’ve fallen down, dust yourself off, get up, and try again with a fresh slate thanks to forgiveness. I did and was able to get back on track!

#WisdomWednesday – You can lose a battle, but still win the war!

I did a video log about two weeks ago about how hard August was proving with my weight loss goals. Much harder than July which I expected to be far worse what with two conferences sandwiched in the middle of the month. August was a bear. Work, writing deadlines, and workout disruptions all had me barely losing anything in the first two weeks. It was truly depressing. Worse, I found myself slipping into that self-destructive mode I’ve experienced more than once and which usually leads to me gaining back all the weight I’ve lost. After wallowing in potato chips, baked potatoes, and bread, I decided that this time would be different. I might be losing the battle in August, but I was going to win the war in the end because I want to be healthier. Armed with that, I yanked myself out of that wallow and somehow managed to lose 3.2 pounds in August. Not the five pounds I wanted to lose, but not a weight gain either. I’m happy with that and determined to keep on going. I also had some good news since at my yearly physical I got great results with all my work-ups. I’m basically healthy as a horse and plan on getting even better! Thanks to all of you for following along on my lifestyle journey. If you’ve got news about your journey, please take a moment to share.

Original Dumbbell Image by Mac Kenzie from Pixabay

#TransformationTuesday – Goals Reached, New Goals Set

My goal was to lose another five pounds in June and I can happily say that I met that goal. Total weight loss since April 1 when I started this phase and began sharing it with you is 21.6 pounds. Very happy that I was able to accomplish that and along the way, I’m learning what things to eat to keep me full and satisfied. One good article I found that lists these foods was in the NY Post and can be found here: https://nyp.st/303tn83. The amazing thing is that I was intuitively eating many of these healthy foods instead of other less healthy choices. You’ll notice that I didn’t use the word “bad” because I don’t want to get into a mindset of what’s good and bad or whether my behavior was good or bad. Apparently, that’s not a helpful way to tackle eating issues. In any case, I’m pleased with meeting my goals and am setting another goal of losing another five pounds by the end of July. This may be hard since I’ll be at two different conferences in the middle of the month and that’s not only going to challenge me to keep eating healthy, but it will also change up what exercise I can do each day. I’m going to have to stay motivated and find ways to keep moving despite being at the conferences. I’ll share more soon on my journey to get healthier!
Transformation Tuesday Weight Loss Goals