Post bike crash update

I slept almost all day today. My body must be trying to repair the damage from my bike crash yesterday. My left hand and wrist are still very swollen, but the pain is more of a mild discomfort. As long as I don't try to use it for anything strenuous, I'm okay.<br /><br />I re-read this morning's post about my bike crash. Boy, was I ever dramatic! I think it was the Vicodin talking. It was pretty serious, and I could have broken some bones or if I hadn't had on a bike helmet, there's no telling what would have happened to my head when it hit the pavement. Even my biking gloves offered some protection, because one of them had a big rip in it after the crash. That could have been a rip in my hand.<br /><br />It's kind of funny because about ten minutes before I fell, I saw a guy riding without a helmet, with the wind blowing through his hair. I remembered when I was a kid and we never wore bike helmets. I even thought that the helmets are really for riding in traffic, in case you get hit by a car. My logic was that out on my trail, it's just bicyclists and pedestrians.What could happen to me out there that I would need a helmet for protection. I was really wrong about that one. I need protection from myself!<br /><br />By the way, just so you all don't think I have a drug habit or something, the Vicodin was left over from my root canal a couple months ago. My dentist insisted on giving me a prescription of 20 pills. I have no idea why he thought I needed them (other than he knows I'm a big baby when it comes to pain). I took one after the root canal, and threw up. The root canal didn't really even hurt much. On the other hand, my wrist hurt so bad last night that given the choice of throwing up or the pain, I'd take the chance on the throwing up. Luckily, the Vicodin didn't affect me like that this time.<br /><br />I'm still debating on going to the doctor in the morning. I guess I'll see how it feels. Typing still hurts, so I'm not sure how work will be since I type all day for my job.<br /><br />The reason for my accident was totally because I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing. I was being careless. When going downhill, rule # 1 is to keep both hands on the handlebars and both eyes on the road. Don't look down at your iPod, try to find the volume to adjust it with one hand, when traveling 15-20 mph going downhill and gaining speed. It's really not a good idea. <br /><br />Thanks for your kind words in my last post. I really am okay, and I didn't break anything so all is good.<br /><br />Roxie asked me a question about my BodyMedia, how does it know sleeping versus laying down. I haven't figured that out yet. This is what it says on the web site:<br /><br /><h3><i>How does the Armband measure my calories, activity, and sleep?</i></h3><i> </i><i>The Armband contains multiple sensors that measure motion, body heat, skin temperature, and conductivity. A proprietary algorithm "crunches" the collected information and the user's personal body parameters to deliver accurate information on calories, activity levels, steps, lying down, and sleep time.</i><br />  <br />A "proprietary algorithm", I'm not really sure if that's true, or if they're just making something up. I do know that it seems accurate. I notice the times I wake up during the night and looking at the chart the BodyMedia provides when I sync the data, it looks pretty correct. I can remember that I was definitely awake at the times it says I was awake (often 1 a.m., 2 a.m., 4 a.m., 5 a.m.). Even if I don't get up, I wake up and look at the clock. <br /><br />The other thing Roxie asked me about was about eating carbs in the evening. I've heard this off and on over the years, but never paid attention to it. I've always thought it doesn't matter that much what you eat, it's how much of it you're eating. Of course, healthy, whole foods are better for you, but if you want a sweet treat in the evening, it's okay as long as you count the calories (or Points). <br /><br />When I'm talking about a treat, for me that always meant a Weight Watchers frozen treat or a Dreyer's frozen juice bar, or some fresh fruit. Or maybe even frozen fruit with Greek yogurt.<br /><br />I watched a Netflix streaming video a few weeks ago that was about healthy eating and obesity. I actually watched several but I can't remember which one talked about the carb thing. They said you shouldn't eat a lot of carbs in the evening. They didn't say no carbs, just to limit your carb intake in the evening to help control cravings. Since I've never been a fan of low-carb diets, I chose to ignore that piece of advice.<br /><br />Then last week Gagan, the personal trainer, asked me why I thought I'd gained so much weight. I had told him I'd gained back 40 pounds in about a year and a half. I told him it was because I ate too much healthy food, especially in the evenings. I said I love fruit but I know too much of a good thing is bad. That's when he told me fruit is great for you, but it depends when you eat it. You shouldn't eat it in the evenings because it will cause cravings.<br /><br />I didn't ask where he'd learned this or the scientific reason for it. I do know he was 40 pounds overweight himself, and lost the weight and now competes in body building competitions. So although I have no explanation of why this would even work, I thought why not give it a shot. <br /><br />Today is day six without a binge (that's when I had my personal training session with Gagan and he told me about the fruit). It's also day five of using my BodyMedia and tracking all my food. I still eat fruit and carbs during the day, but I've changed my evening snacks to be fruit and carb free. Protein and low-carb vegetables are more of what I'm eating in the evening if I really feel hungry. Oddly, I haven't been hungry in the evenings this past week.<br /><br />Since I have a huge sweet tooth, this is a big change for me. I can really tell a difference in the cravings and feelings that I want to stuff my face in the evenings. They seem to have disappeared. I can't explain why this is happening, but I feel a sense of freedom when it comes to food. For the first time in, well, forever, I feel like I have some control over what and how much I'm eating.<br /><br />Maybe it is all in my head, but whether it's mental or physical, it's working and that's all I really care about. 

Post bike crash update

I slept almost all day today. My body must be trying to repair the damage from my bike crash yesterday. My left hand and wrist are still ver...

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Bike crash & BodyMedia update

Oh my God, I thought I had killed myself yesterday, and I am NOT kidding. I've had a few spills in the 50+ years I've been riding bicycles, but yesterday was the winner of my worst, most painful bike crash ever.<br /><br />It was a gorgeous day here in the Pacific Northwest. It was one of those days where you think maybe all those months of miserable, wet, cold weather was worth it. Sunshine, blue skies, 75 degrees, with a slight breeze that had just a hint of coolness. On a scale of 1-10, yesterday's weather was a 10.<br /><br />We had plans to go to the Seafair parade in downtown Seattle. It's a huge parade and my company is the biggest sponsor. It's called the "Alaska Airlines Seafair Torchlight Parade". Since I hate huge crowds and this event draws thousands of people, I've managed to avoid it for the 23 years we've lived here. Every year my husband asks me if we can go, and every year, being the selfish brat that I am, I say 'NO, you know I hate crowds and that's the last thing I want to do!". For some reason this year I agreed to go. I've had my way for 23 years, I figured it wouldn't kill me to go one year (never again, by the way!).<br /><br />Back to the bike ride....<br />I decided to ride down to the mall on the BPA trail, it's the one I do all the time because the trailhead is only 1/4 mile from my house. It's a 5-mile, one-way paved trail. It's a great cardio workout biking 10 miles with a few killer hills in there. Emphasis on "killer".  I got to the mall with no problems, bought a couple cute tops, one to wear to the parade, and then headed home.<br /><br />I was heading down one really steep hill, thinking how much I totally love biking. I especially like going down long, steep hills on my way home because I remember how tough they were going the other way. It's like my reward. I have slowed down quite a bit since they posted 20 mph signs on the trail, but I still go too fast.<br /><br />As I was starting down this one particular hill where I can see for at least 1/2 mile, I wanted to turn up the volume on my iPod. It was a great song (can't remember what it was, but a current favorite). I was probably going about 15 mph when I reached down to mess with the iPod's volume when I lost control of my bike.<br /><br />I can't remember exactly what happened, other than I literally flipped in the air with my right hand holding onto my bike, trying to get control. My head smacked against the pavement, I could hear and feel the plastic of my helmet hit the pavement hard. I remember thinking at that moment, I might die.<br /><br />I took my left hand and reached behind me to try andbreak my fall before my head hit, but with all my weight and the weight of the bike, my wrist couldn't stop it. After my head hit, my left shoulder and elbow hit. I was wearing a tank top and my skin was shaved off my shoulder and my left elbow.<br /><br />I still can't figure out what happened to my legs, they both got entangled in the bike. Both of them have terrible bruises.<br /><br />The only people were down at the opposite end of the hill. I don't know if they saw me, but no one came running to help. Now the funny thing. Even though I was in complete agony, my first thought (after "is anything broken?"), was my BodyMedia. It was on my left arm which hit the hardest: was it broken? It's not broken but it got scraped up pretty bad. Thankfully, it still works. <br /><br />My bike chain had come off, but I got it back on. My bike seat that was a special, nicely padded $40 bike seat is has a huge slice horizontal slice in it, so it needs to be replaced. My bike bell has the lever broken off and the odometer is missing. I guess it fell off but I didn't notice (this is the second one I've lost and at $30 a pop, I think I'm done with the odometers).<br /><br />I called my husband to come get me at the next street intersection, about a mile away. My wrist hurt so bad that I thought it might be broken. I managed to ride my bike to that street, although it was making a terrible clicking sound and my left wrist was killing me (I thought it might be broken).<br /><br />My husband met me within a few minutes of me getting to the street. He came with an ice pack and a towel for the blood I guess, but I really wasn't bleeding that bad. I guess when I called him I scared the crap out of him because I was crying and said I was in a lot of pain.<br /><br />After a inspecting my injuries, we decided I didn't need to go to the doctor. My wrist is sprained pretty bad, but it's not broken. We went to the parade where there were literally thousands of people on the streets waiting for the parade to start. Luckily we had been smart enough to purchase VIP bleacher seats so we didn't have to stand around with the masses. Just getting to the bleachers was agony as people kept bumping into my left shoulder and arm.<br /><br />We found a drugstore and bought a couple of those instant ice packs and a soft wrist brace. That and the two Vicodin I took got me through the agony of my throbbing wrist, while watching the parade. Actually, it wasn't that bad and my husband enjoyed it. We were sitting next to a really nice lady that was super excited that her 13-year old daughter's drill team was in the parade. It was 2 1/2 hours long, but it wasn't as awful as I expected. Personally, I think our little Golden Days parade in Fairbanks is a lot more fun, but then when I go to that one it's with all my family and we have a blast together.<br /><br />Anyway, I'm surviving. My wrist is still hurting and swollen up a lot, but the Vicodin is really helping. Typing hurts, so I don't know how work will go tomorrow. I guess weight lifting is out of the question for a while, and I'll probably delay joining my other gym for a week or so, or until my wrist heals. Oh well, such is life.<br /><br />BodyMedia Update<br />I LOVE my BodyMedia! This is the coolest thing I've ever bought to help with my weight loss. I could write about it for hours, singing it's praises, but I'm going to be brief because I'm quickly losing my ability to stay awake (Vicodin), and my wrist is killing me. The good news is that I'm down to 189. I credit this to a couple things, number one is my BodyMedia, and number two is the bit of nutrition advice my personal trainer gave me. He's not really "my" personal trainer. I just have him two sessions with him at my new gym.<br /><br />The nutrition advice that really seems to have made a difference is cutting out most carbs and all sugars (including fruit) after about 4pm. I can't believe how my body is reacting to this. I started doing this on Tuesday, when I had my training session  and got this tip, and it's five days later without a single binge. It hasn't even been hard. I just don't think much about it.<br /><br />I also gave up my thinwich, Canadian bacon,2% cheese, egg breakfast sandwich for a fruit/spinach protein shake after my morning workouts. As Gagan explained, the fat in that sandwich slowed down the absorption of the nutrients by my muscles. After a hard cardio workout I need to get the nutrients in my body as quickly as possible. I'm not sure if that's factual or not, but it makes snese. Since it's helping me lose weight, I'm going to keep on doing it. <br /><br />First, here's a picture of yesterday's stats from my BodyMedia:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2EvIax1hrns3xgkSDm4rJmRwylDJqeFxGy8p8Jg_jlxpaHP4VFa1RhjN-Di4ofSBdVuhINoNTEXIlyRPd25EOzz2x7FoITyowJ6Y6xs21vb4cxqwX3XaDzQzSiBUcTkPgYSkaMQlvS1QX/s1600/bm1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2EvIax1hrns3xgkSDm4rJmRwylDJqeFxGy8p8Jg_jlxpaHP4VFa1RhjN-Di4ofSBdVuhINoNTEXIlyRPd25EOzz2x7FoITyowJ6Y6xs21vb4cxqwX3XaDzQzSiBUcTkPgYSkaMQlvS1QX/s640/bm1.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />What's really cool is that each one of these items expand and you can view it in detail. Check out my sleep:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-FMUnslLZ3Q53JfVPZsf1pumgY9PN4yvjpVEWzjJO5cFKDJyZ2a5vaP6KKt1W04zvC-aEr9UpH4EegG2kliVi9BpbSru830EP3Aa058IQ6BcpTxBY7fr55vYuAJchq7MADx2dnJMkHS2d/s1600/sleep.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-FMUnslLZ3Q53JfVPZsf1pumgY9PN4yvjpVEWzjJO5cFKDJyZ2a5vaP6KKt1W04zvC-aEr9UpH4EegG2kliVi9BpbSru830EP3Aa058IQ6BcpTxBY7fr55vYuAJchq7MADx2dnJMkHS2d/s640/sleep.png" width="640" /></a></div>Remember how I said how I said I wasn't sleeping? Well, turns out I'm not sleeping very well at all. In fact, Friday night when I went to bed super early, and was in bed for ten hours, I only actually slept 6:08 hours! Thursday night was even worse, I as laying down for six hours and only slept 3:41 hours. My sleep efficiency is running around 60%, meaning I only sleep a little over half the time I'm in bed. I think this is actually pretty accurate, because I constantly feel sleep deprived.<br /><br />One more picture, of the meals section. Since I started using this three days ago I've added every bite I've eaten into their meal tracker. It's about 100 times easier to use than the Weight Watchers tracker. Plus, it breaks down all the nutrients you're eating, as well as the percentage of protein, carbs and fat. Points are okay I guess, but this has a lot more detail and it's a lot easier to use. I just love it!<br /><br />You'll notice I only had 983 calories yesterday. That's because of the bike accident. Normally I'm eating around 1300-1500. Considering I burned 3114 calories yesterday, that is definitely not enough food! <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHxL7rHZ89MORIk1Z5fDvt0z3Ub_Kziu2yqZiIcUvCMfaHG6jOUKhKxRFlp43HXySc_0szxWE80G_ljj0riEIKyKs6fPO332ztC5g9Me1lNxMqfY7qu86fpWiq-DJ4AAJegQN-mEED0V6M/s1600/meal.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHxL7rHZ89MORIk1Z5fDvt0z3Ub_Kziu2yqZiIcUvCMfaHG6jOUKhKxRFlp43HXySc_0szxWE80G_ljj0riEIKyKs6fPO332ztC5g9Me1lNxMqfY7qu86fpWiq-DJ4AAJegQN-mEED0V6M/s640/meal.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc63Vf8U-vQmircKrwYDhrF8o5jMf7bmwhM7z816adVLhUOPyXgL3zfp_JGCD69gL0ZWCHYk8SVlNmUPL8dmeHUpyalln0LLCNVe-xYEf6gN_mj1hOrKlyoC0tpB8Xs2u4zWfy0xJ78mrC/s1600/meal2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc63Vf8U-vQmircKrwYDhrF8o5jMf7bmwhM7z816adVLhUOPyXgL3zfp_JGCD69gL0ZWCHYk8SVlNmUPL8dmeHUpyalln0LLCNVe-xYEf6gN_mj1hOrKlyoC0tpB8Xs2u4zWfy0xJ78mrC/s640/meal2.png" width="640" /></a></div>I could literally go on and on about my BodyMedia, but I'm really fading fast. It's only 9am, but it was a rough night!<br /><br />One last picture, of one of my bruises from my bike crash. I can't believe I'm showing you all my fat thigh, but you've got to see this:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8HlYRabL1C22Y1B_CSJWR5_WdKxbzGKdv9QiGh3MxS2hmIiJRwpE2V14UOU3DVbAY3PGcFLsuT1mLEJNR2psE6j-3WiZKfEJlypl_d0u52PV0pm5DxrrXenS_7Dj97-KTsSwGtfjgjjB9/s1600/thigh.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8HlYRabL1C22Y1B_CSJWR5_WdKxbzGKdv9QiGh3MxS2hmIiJRwpE2V14UOU3DVbAY3PGcFLsuT1mLEJNR2psE6j-3WiZKfEJlypl_d0u52PV0pm5DxrrXenS_7Dj97-KTsSwGtfjgjjB9/s320/thigh.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />And my poor shoulder:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFFNOQ4Vcv6_aUKt2l0fb4LegxopIaWq9ycPea8Mo1sjnRao3c9aAI2e5SBqXbvUk-GvHQJraMTNO_n5ls5vB36u-h8uIK8LlVRd38lfbsOdPEl-Mxx5KHKMq-ZNx8Z3Vy-pYCSzNpi1Ul/s1600/shoulder.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFFNOQ4Vcv6_aUKt2l0fb4LegxopIaWq9ycPea8Mo1sjnRao3c9aAI2e5SBqXbvUk-GvHQJraMTNO_n5ls5vB36u-h8uIK8LlVRd38lfbsOdPEl-Mxx5KHKMq-ZNx8Z3Vy-pYCSzNpi1Ul/s320/shoulder.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiivVzstA2uVPiNDZBSyeXNIzKwuOYkWjPKvO7uY3WZhS25GL21ruL7S46RghsIU0u-kGptfJm34MdtQfmH6fZLHVMopfQEiig-kold0pj2DH3oFLQ6RINtabWF3fIaCxvToIMiw8igIMe/s1600/P1030275.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>

Bike crash & BodyMedia update

Oh my God, I thought I had killed myself yesterday, and I am NOT kidding. I've had a few spills in the 50+ years I've been riding bi...

Read more »