Thirty to Thirty ... Comments Welcome

[Belle Ella]

Thanks to you, Jessica, I am starting three of my Jessica's-Thirty-to-Thirty-Inspired challenges today!! I am posting this not to hijack your journal, but just so you know that you truly have inspired me. My version is 50 by 50 (committing to be successful at 50 tasks for 50 days in a row before I turn 50). I have about 3 years to complete them and so will do 2 and sometimes 3 at a time. I think I will be able to do one that takes some time each day, and others that don't take time but are modifications. Using your/Jessica's structure, I feel excited and confident that I am going to accomplish them, daily, for the next 50 days! The first three are: Fifty minutes of exercise No soda -- you accomplished this one already! No food after 2 pm If I am able to practice these three things for 50 days in a row, I will be much healthier. And, I am hoping for long-standing healthy habits. Thanks, Jessica! I know you have another dental procedure tomorrow. I hope it goes smoothly, and that full recovery and pain-free eating are soon to follow.

Look at you go! I like that you found a way to make it fit you. Have you thought about creating your own journal, or maybe a blog or something to help you through?

Thanks for the tips earlier, I'll have to look into it. It is just now dawning on me how hard this is gonna be for me for awhile and I won't be able to eat like myself for months at least. My root canal last week was NOTHING compared to what I went through today. I am in PAIN right now. I'll explain more tomorrow, but I'm terrified of how much this whole journey will hurt. I hope it's worth it. Well, I know it is, but on this side of the fence it sure is doubtful.

So no running today for obvious reasons. I did squeeze in my 30 sit-ups before my appointment though, so at least it's something.

 

[Outonarun]

Look at you go! I like that you found a way to make it fit you. Have you thought about creating your own journal, or maybe a blog or something to help you through?

Thanks for the tips earlier, I'll have to look into it. It is just now dawning on me how hard this is gonna be for me for awhile and I won't be able to eat like myself for months at least. My root canal last week was NOTHING compared to what I went through today. I am in PAIN right now. I'll explain more tomorrow, but I'm terrified of how much this whole journey will hurt. I hope it's worth it. Well, I know it is, but on this side of the fence it sure is doubtful.

So no running today for obvious reasons. I did squeeze in my 30 sit-ups before my appointment though, so at least it's something.

I am so super sorry to hear of your pain Please take care and keep us posted.

 

[fairymum]

So sorry you are in pain. I am no stranger to dental work, pain management is huge! Thinking of you.

 

[Belle Ella]

Happy hump day! We've reached the middle point of the week so it's supposed to be smooth sailing from here, right?

I always tell everyone at my other job (job a, aka target) that your mind set is half the battle and can determine how your day is going to go. If you wake up with a smile and tell yourself it's going to be a good day you are far more likely to have a good day than waking up and showing off your #grumpyside so, this is me trying to look on the bright side, how am I doing so far?

For those who may just be joining or somehow missed this bit of information, I'm at the beginning of what is shaping up to be a long road of dental procedures because I put off going to the dentist for far too long. Last week I had my very first root canal which actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be - but that was just step one. I went back for a follow up appointment yesterday afternoon which is where the real fun began. And by fun let me be clear, I mean pain. Apparently there isn't enough tooth left to place a crown so to prep me for that I had to go through a crown lengthening procedure to expose more of my tooth. If you've never had to have this done, hope that you never do. To put it simply, they remove part of your gums and saw down some bone. When all is said and done and the numbness wears off it is painful. Ouch, ouch, ouch. But it is what it is, and I have to have this done. I'm just trying not to think of the fact that I still have a long road ahead of me with multiple more procedures. Next week I get the stitches out and then have to meet with an oral surgeon for a wisdom tooth extraction out before I can get the actual crown placed. And then we get to do the whole thing all over again on the other side of my mouth.

Now, did I mention that I'm in pain? Because I am - even with pain medication I'm not feeling too well. Add in the fact that I can't eat properly and I just don't have it in me to do a real, honest to goodness workout. Running is currently out of the picture, as is yoga meltdown. I can do simpler things like situps and pushups if I take it slowly enough, so I'm going to stick with that for awhile and anything else I can come up with that doesn't aggravate all of my symptoms.

Now, here's the breakdown from this past week:

6/12 • no exercise, dental procedure
6/13 • training run | 3 miles + 30 sit-ups
6/14 • yoga | 30 minutes + 30 sit-ups
6/15 • training run | 35 minutes + 30 situps
6/16 • training run | 2 miles + 30 sit-ups
6/17 • 30 sit-ups, dental procedure
6/18 • 30 sit-ups + 10 pushups + 10 squats​

Hopefully I can find a good balance in eating so that I am still getting my proper nutrition - I don't want to loose too much weight because I can't eat. I stocked up on things I think are soft enough for me to chew including some things I had previously cut out of my diet: like greek yogurt for breakfast, more fruits and almond milk to blend into smoothies, bell peppers and cucumbers to fry up, eggs, avocados, applesauce and soups. I tried a salad the other day but I just couldn't take it. Hopefully when my jaw is a little stronger I can make that work again. But tonight I'm going to try roasting an artichoke and seeing if I can manage that. Right now I'm doubtful. My jaw is tight and I can barely open it far enough for a spoon so I've kind of been sipping at applesauce so far. The struggle is real, folks!

I believe that's it for today. Short and sweet, or something like that. I'll end it with the actual weigh-in:

LW • 139.5
CW • 138.5​

 

[Outonarun]

Holy cow, you are really suffering... what a nightmare. I'm so sorry! Looking at your weekly activity list makes me think that you are a natural athlete. I am amazed that you were able to do any physical activity at all. Hang in there, Jessica. I hope your jaw is even slightly better than yesterday, and that you are on your way (though the path still has some bumps in it) to a pain-free mouth, and days of eating what you want and running when you want

 

[fairymum]

You are a rock star. I can't imagine how tough all this is but you sound like you are tackling it with a good attitude. Each step is closer to done. Hang in there!

 

[Belle Ella]

Thanks for the kind words! Just checking in while I can. Stitches come out tomorrow, but I'm not sure if anything else is happening at this appointment. It would be nice to get a week off from recovery so I can get some running in.

We shall see! I'll check back in on Wednesday.

 

[Outonarun]

...hoping your mouth is on the mend, and looking forward to your next update ...

 

[Belle Ella]

I had absolutely no time to check in yesterday! I woke up super early to run before work and then barely had time between jobs to eat and do another small workout circuit at home. I finally got home after midnight and went straight to sleep!

My schedule is pretty much like that for the rest of the week so I may do an extended recap next week. But good news is I am doing some ab, arm and leg workouts at home since I can't run as much as I would like.

I was supposed to get a 3 week dentist break but I had to make an appointment for today because my other problem tooth started throbbing painfully today. We weren't going to address it until everything on the right side of my mouth was done because I hadn't had any pain before. So no idea what will happen, but now that I've started going I am not going to brush the pain aside.

Last but not least, the number doesn't tell the whole story, but I am down to 135.5 as of this morning and things are fitting better. Hopefully soon I can start seeing some toning!

Anyway, typing on my iPad is hard so ttfn!

 

[Outonarun]

I had absolutely no time to check in yesterday! I woke up super early to run before work and then barely had time between jobs to eat and do another small workout circuit at home. I finally got home after midnight and went straight to sleep!

My schedule is pretty much like that for the rest of the week so I may do an extended recap next week. But good news is I am doing some ab, arm and leg workouts at home since I can't run as much as I would like.

I was supposed to get a 3 week dentist break but I had to make an appointment for today because my other problem tooth started throbbing painfully today. We weren't going to address it until everything on the right side of my mouth was done because I hadn't had any pain before. So no idea what will happen, but now that I've started going I am not going to brush the pain aside.

Last but not least, the number doesn't tell the whole story, but I am down to 135.5 as of this morning and things are fitting better. Hopefully soon I can start seeing some toning!

Anyway, typing on my iPad is hard so ttfn!

It sounds like everything is going in the right direction. That's great news I will be waiting (semi-patiently) for your next update My efforts (inspired 100% by you) are going very well, so, thank you, again, so much!

 

[Belle Ella]

Slowly, but surely it's going in the right direction. I'm emotionally having a hard time with the back to back to back to back dental procedures. It's just a lot of stress for me right now. I went back in this morning to continue the root canal on the right side of my mouth and I'm still numb from that but it's starting to wear off and the general throbbing is not fun. I go back again next week to have the crown lengthening procedure on this side as well (they take out some gum and bone from around the tooth) and I am terrified of that after last time. That HURT.

So the final word on last months challenge is that it was a good effort but with everything going on I just couldn't stick to the routine. But I've at least got exercise on the brain and that was kind of the whole point, so I was at least successful in what I could do.

This month my challenge is pretty simple: run 15 miles.

That's not all at once, but over the course of the month. Having the energy to run comes and goes depending on which day I had my dental procedures so I don't want to try to do too much. If I can do more than 15, I will be a happy camper but I would like to get at least up to 15 which could be as simple as 5 three mile runs which is just a little more than one a week.

I have to take this slowly right now or I'll overdo it!

And with that, I will do a quick weigh-in, but again it has more to do with the change in what I can eat than anything else which I'm not happy about. I wanted to work the pounds off. Not this, but I can't change it!

LW: 135.5
CW: 134