My road to recovery

[arctichacker]

Hi all,
I just started the SCD a couple of weeks ago at the advice of a relative of mine. So much of what's in the book resonated with me. Long have I questioned the traditional paradigm of weight loss and have often 'tinkered' with my own diet and exercise just to see what happens.
A bit of background. I'm a woman in my late 30's . For much of my life, I've been pretty active and have always been pretty good shape thanks to the constant activity.
However, a few years ago I was hit by a drunk driver .. I suffered countless broken bones, including to 3 broken vertebrae, internal damage and was stuck in a wheelchair for a good part of a year and was told that I would never be able to walk without a cane,let alone run, jump and play hard.
Well last summer, I went back to that doctor and gave him my cane and walked out on my own.
However, due to lack of activity and a bit too much of the wrong sort of food , I packed on a bit of weight. Not a huge amount but enough to piss me off and I want to get back to my lean, mean body.
Enter SCD. My cousin has been doing it and suggested it to me.
So here I am. I'm two weeks in and so far, I'm liking it.

Here's my numbers:
Height: 5'4"
Starting weight: 136lbs
waist : 29"
hips: 37"
biceps: L-10.25; R-10.50"
thighs:L-21.5; R-22"

I would estimate that my BF is ~25%.I would like to get down to the 18-20% BF.
I don't own a scale. I got my starting weight from my last medical check-up.

I am planning to monitor my TI to gauge progress and weigh in once a month when I go for my check-up.

I am walking and/or x-country ski everyday. I am still dealing with some injuries that prevent me from doing too much weights. Aim looking forward to starting kettle bells. For now, I'll focus on losing some fat and then later work on building up muscles.

I would appreciate any advice from others that are recovering from injuries.
Cheers!

[goatlady]

Your story is awesome, thanks for sharing and best of luck with it - but it sounds like you don't take no for an answer so you won't need much luck

I also was in a serious car accident, about 12 years ago, and like you I faced a pretty long recovery. The difference is that I had no clue what was going on and it took me years to figure out that the reason I was putting weight on while eating normally was that I had lost all my muscle tone. Doctors were no help, they just kept telling me I should take it slow and do lots of walking, when really they should have been telling me to hit the weights and push myself. So now I'm trying to undo a decade of damage. I wish I had been as smart as you!

[justhamade]

I would appreciate any advice from others that are recovering from injuries.

The Pre-hab chapter in the 4HB actually are what led me to find an ART practitioner and helped be get back to 100% from a bad knee injury playing football 11 years ago, and a silly hip/groin injury I suffered when I was a kid roller blading.

I now foam roll almost every day, this help a lot with my mobility and other pain issues.

I found a chiropractor that does ART and the FMS screen that tim talks about in the book with Gray Cook. I wrote about it on my blog here http://www.myfourhourbodydiary.com/2011 ... dvertised/
It is amazing how much you can 'fix' when you understand how weaknesses in one area affect another for a specific movement. Learning the my hips and groin are effected by the poor thoracic mobility in my back was an eye opener.

For now, I'll focus on losing some fat and then later work on building up muscles.

I hear people say this quite a bit, and I used to think this was a good idea but now that I understand it better these 2 things are very different and but it would be very beneficial to do them both at the same time.

That being said exercise is definitely not needed for fat loss, but helps a lot to for body composition (like waist to hip ratio)

My suggestion for you would be to start with a routine of exercises that are specific to your injury and addressing any weaknesses (if your not already). Body weight resistance might be all you need to start.

Then get into kettlebell stuff, I especially like the kiwi's full workout.

[arctichacker]

Thanks for the tips.
Right now I'm doing a series of exercises to maintain the muscle that I have and rebuild my back.

Due to a bunch of other events, I am now living in a fairly remote part of the country where there isn't a huge healthcare support system. Luckily, I did some rehab down in Vancouver at AMSMC (UBC sports med clinic) before coming up. I have a couple of pros that I've worked with for previous sports-related injuries and who are used to my pigheaded driv.
You're right. It's so important to have a holistic view of your body when dealing with injury. All too often, people just deal with the injury site and do not consider how the rest of the body is acting/reacting to it.

I've been going through the "reversing injuries" section of the book and adding some of those exercises to my regime.

[justhamade]

How remote are you? I'm not too far from Vancouver.

[arctichacker]

I've moved up to the NWT. Before that I was living in Squamish.

[arctichacker]

Week 3- I stalled. Got over it and kept at her.
Week 4- Down 2 inches total!
The last couple of Cheat Days have been grain free. I had been getting bad reactions to grains in the first two CDs. I had known that I had a wheat sensitivity for a while but this was the first time I could attribute cramps and other belly nastiness to cinnamon buns.

Cheat Day (Saturday) was awesome! For those that are wondering what a grain-free Cheat Day looks like:

Breakfast (8am): 1/2 litre iced water
3 egg shrimp and spinach omlette
coffee

Brunch:(11am) whole grapefruit (no unsweetened GF juice that wasn't from concentrate in this town ) and coffee
huge stack of coconut flour pancakes with ghee
homemade apple & cranberry compote
greek yogurt and pistachios and honey

Lunch: 1pm - Kale, moose sausage, bacon, butternut squash & other veggies mexican 'hash'
with guacamole, greek yogurt, salsa verde & cheese
-Big bowl of ice cream

(2 hour walk with dogs.)
Afternoon: Grazefest - candied salmon, Singapore style beef jerky, wine salami, chunk of 4 year old cheddar, Dagoba chocolate bar, Twizzlers, wasabi peas, few pieces of black bean brownies and more ice cream.

Dinner: 9pm - Roast beef with plate of sweet potato fries
-2 glasses of red wine
- one 'healthy' shot of Lagavulin

Over the course of the day I had 5 litres of water, 1 litre of green tea.
I did air squats and push-ups wheneven I went to the washroom.
I had a bit of bloating the next day (Sunday) but today most of it seems gone.

[arctichacker]

Here's my Week 9 update. For all those women, keep at it, it pays off in the end! It takes a bit slower than the boys but it works. It really works!

I am 38 year old female recovering from injuries from a car accident.
Here's my starting digits:

Height: 5'4"
Starting weight: 136lbs
waist : 29"
hips: 37"
biceps: L-10.25; R-10.50"
thighs:L-21.5; R-22"
BF: 28%
What my belly looked like when I started:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/76950675@N02/6900620241/

Week 9:
Weight: 129.2lbs
waist: 27 inches
hips: 35 inches
Both biceps: 10.5 inches
L Thigh: 20.5 inches
R Thigh: 21 inches
BF: around 19% based on fat calipers Wheeee!
I am solely tracking things by fat calipers at this point.

So far I`m thrilled with my progress.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/76950675@N02/6918426989/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/76950675@N02/6900552549/

I've pretty much hit my first set of goals. I'm now aiming to shave off a few more % of BF and to keep building strength.

Last weekend I got out for a 36km x-country ski. So far the longest ski I've done since the accident. I am aiming for a 60km ski weekend trip by end of April.

For the last few weeks this has been the plan:
Breakfast - 40-45gram protein breakfast (frittata or shrimp, spinach and edamame), iced water, Fat Coffee (Bulletproof)
Lunch - 1 cup ground meat or 4-5 oz meat/fish, 1/2 cup lentils/ edamame, 2 cups cooked veggies with ghee, 2 cups raw veggies, 1/2 avocado
Second Lunch (5pm) 1/2 avocado or handful of almonds or small piece of frittata & Bulletproof tea
Dinner (8-9pm)- 1 cup ground meat or 4-5 oz meat, 2 cups cooked veggies with ghee, 2 cups raw veggies

I drink 4 litres of water a day and buckets of green and yerba mate tea.

My exercise regime has been 2-3 x's week:
Abs & Posterior workout as outlined in the book
Kettlebells - 20lbs x 80 swings (I'm getting a heavier bell this week)
Planking ( 60-90 seconds on each side)
Push-ups, tricep dips - 10/10 cadence 12-15 reps
Reverse bicep curls - 5/5 cadence 15 reps with 15 lbs
Pistol Squats - I'm up to 8 on each side

Other notes:
-I do 10 days on SCD between Cheat Days. My Cheat Days are grain free but otherwise everything else is ok.
-I avoid all booze and sweeteners except for Cheat days.
-Almost all my veggies are either leafy greens or cruciferous veggies. I sometimes have spaghetti squash and snap peas if I want something sweeter.
-Occasionally I'll do a spoonful of almond butter before I go to bed.
-The only supplements I take are calcium, potassium and magnessium.
-If I'm hungry I eat more fat and protein. Avocado and coconut oil are my best friend.

[justhamade]

That is awesome.

Pistol Squats - I'm up to 8 on each side

I am super jealous ... still working on these

Roast beef with plate of sweet potato fries

Note to SCD people, yams/sweet potatoes are a great replace for beans, although Tim recommends against them.

Question for you if you don't mind, how much sleep do you get? Just want to emphasize how important sleep is (so hopefully you don't say 4 hours and this backfires on me LOL)

[arctichacker]

Regarding sleep:
Sleep??? Who's got time for sleep??? Just kidding
It's still a struggle to uninterrupted sleep some nights due pains and aches from my accident.
Over these last few weeks, my body seems to be less prone to phantom aches and pains. When I do wake up, I usually get back to sleep within minutes.
I aim for 9 hours but usually I get 7.5-8 hours.

Over the course of these last 9 weeks I have adjusted to waking earlier so I can fit in a breakfast before I head off to work.
I take my magnesium supplements with my dinner and have omitted wine for my regular week. I also drink most of my 4 litres of water before 6pm. I only have a small glass of mineral water or cup of herbal tea with dinner. This keeps me from waking up in the middle of night for a pee break.
These all helped me get a better sleep.

Regarding the sweet potatoes:
I am thinking for when I get to maintenance mode (hopefully soon) that I will be having starchy veggies in moderation. Until then, I will enjoy them in their full-roasted glory on Cheat Days!


Regarding pistol squats:This is how I progressed to doing unassisted pistol squats: http://www.powerathletesmag.com/pages/pistols.htm
It took me weeks to get to the point where I could do them assisted. Another few weeks where I didn't look like a flailing flamingo.