Recovery diaries Log 1

For past two months I was unable to exercise. I kept walking my dog for 15~20 minutes in the morning, but after that I would be so tired I'd doze of on the couch for 4~6 hours in addition to long 9 hours night sleep.

So after the self loath, when I was completely sure I am just downright lazy came the worry that I might be really depressed. It runs in the family and to be honest, after becoming a freelancer I had just way too much time to think. I need to be busy. I love having few clients I can concentrate on. It brings awesome results, it gives me time to be with my husband, with my dog and it gives me time to study more to become better coach. But...I realized regular lifestyle is something that keeps me alert, hardworking. I am simply not a person to stay home and work random hours random days. So yeah, I thought I was becoming depressed.

I searched for a part time job. Something that would allow me to still continue my couching job yet gave the sense of responsibility routine. Is that even a word? I am not sure...

I knew something was wrong when even finding a part time job ( even though it hasn't started yet I expected the fact of being accepted kick me back to life) hasn't done any significant changes to my energy levels.

Long story short, I went to the hospital, and it was both hormonal and physical problem. I am ok now and it is time to recover.

What happened to my body when I was sleeping all days for over a month?

According to the 3rd part of study called Effects of bed rest, published on nursingtimes.net after 3~5 weeks of bed rest, up to 50% of your strength is gone. When muscles are immobile they shorten, if you don't use your joints for few weeks the mobility can decrease up to horrifying 41%.

Of course I wasn't on strict bed rest, so my numbers probably won't be as dramatic. I do feel the loss of the muscle mass very much. All my clothes are tighter as I gained some fat mass and lost the muscles to keep tight. I live on a hill and while during summer I was running up the hill with my dog, now I walk slowly and my thighs feel sore the next day.

Ligaments and tendons require movement to remain healthy. Tendons, the fibers connecting muscle onto the bone. In about 20 days of bed rest, the tendons increase in viscosity, meaning they become more of a bone than a tendon. Apparently, that reduces strength and energy levels significantly as well. Ligaments are connecting bone to other bone, their stiffness and load-bearing ability drop to 69% and 61% below normal.

It is very easy for a person of my age (30) to regain muscle mass. Connective tissues are much harder to recover. I am in for a good long recovery here...

Here is how I decided to get fit again.

If I wanted to look as I did before really fast, I could just run into the gym, grab the weights and be back in two months. But the more I learn from my job and continuing studies about effects such as those you've just heard, I can't do that anymore. I just couldn't. It's dangerous, it's painful, it brings more problems in the long run.

I will go back slowly.

My first 2 weeks, I will be starting with slow yoga flows (YIN YOGA). 30 minutes on Monday and Fridays. On Wednesday, I will get my suspensional trainer and do some slow supported body weight training. 30 minutes of full body exercise. To start loosing the redundant fat storage, I need some low cardio for the beginning. I have decided to go back to my empty stomach morning walks. 50 minutes of low intensity walk will have my body burning fat stores (due to the lack of carbs energy in the body) while I put almost no pressure on muscles. I will do that Monday, Wednesday, Friday and one weekend day. And as probably all of you know, everything starts with the healthy strong core. So I will do planks both in the morning and few before bed.

Also, I know the strict body building diet, I did it and I know how it works. Fast, definitely. But I can never bring myself to want my clients to go through the same thing. My clients are not body builders, they are not couches or models. So I will try to eat healthy, follow the macro balance rules I know and I will share my meals with you as well. Let's see how this will work out.

I will be back tomorrow with my measurements so I can keep track of my progress.

Today's breakfast was scrambled eggs (one whole, one egg white only), one slice of whole wheat bread with raisins (@Paris Baguette), perilla leaves, 2 slices of an apple and 4 cherry tomatoes. I have put a little of butter on the toast. Yum!

Your recovering,

Lenka Kim

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