Pain Relief

It occurred to me this morning as I was frantically trying to make it out the door to the 6am class (making up for Wednesday), that something was missing from my morning routine.  

Recall that when I started this "journey to health" I was pretty out of shape.  Shin splints plagued me when I did almost any form of exercise, let alone running.  During the workouts sometimes the pain would be so intense that I couldn't complete an exercise.  Other times I'd simply grin and bear it because I knew I had to get it done. To minimize the pain I took 4 Advil every day before class, 4 around lunch time and 4 more before bed. I was taking 12 Advil a day almost on a daily basis!

No, I wasn't addicted to Advil, I was simply doing what I had to do at the time to get through.  Those Advil were as essential to my workout as my shoes and sports bra (you know how I feel about a good sports bra!).  If I forgot them I could kiss a good workout good-bye.

Today, however, I didn't take any Advil.  Somewhere along the way I stopped needing the relief those four little pills gave me because I no longer had any pain.  Amazing what losing 20+ pounds can do for your body!

I went to a specialist quite a few years ago about my shin splints when having trouble with them even while swimming.  They took X-rays, did a bone scan and all that good stuff only to come back to me with what I already knew - I had shin splints.  I clearly remember asking the doctor, "I've gained a significant amount of weight in the past few years, do you think losing it would help?"  "No," he said, "You'll just have to live with them."  Now I know my shin splints are not solely caused by my weight, but what a great moment that would've been for him to tell me - a moderately overweight, young woman - to take charge of her health, but instead he told me to "live with it".  

Well doc, I'm not going to live with that or any of the other physical or emotional pain my weight has caused me in the past.  I'm going to continue to take charge of my journey and change all of the negative outcomes it could've caused me.  Just watch & see!