Family makeover diary: Month 10

Read about this family's wellness journey with Canadian Living magazine and a dream team of coaches.

Despina
Just when I was getting into the groove of things, I fall skiing and hurt myself pretty badly. I fall often enough but never with any serious repercussions. But this time I was going a little faster than usual, I caught an edge and couldn't maintain my balance, so I went down hard. My left knee is injured. The doctors are waiting for the swelling to go down so they can determine what the problem is.

The first week, although I had a fair bit of pain, I continued with my exercise activities, but it was at a reduced rate. I went to the gym twice and Sue and I did upper body workouts, no cardio workouts and no weight bearing exercises. Dr. Buchanan and Darren Vine, my physiotherapist, insisted that I not engage in any of the weight bearing exercises. I thought that my knee would heel quickly and I would be back to "normal" in no time. The accident happened on a Sunday and I planned to be skiing on Thursday because we had made plans to ski with friends. I was wrong. I was off work for three weeks.

The second week was a little more discouraging for me than the first. I was tired, my body was tired. I didn't want to go to the gym because my knee hurt. I was tired of staying home, resting my knee. Although there wasn't too much pain, I was still uncomfortable.

I learned something very interesting this month. Despite the injury, the good news for me was that I continued to lose weight. This was a bit of a surprise because I thought the exercise was the piece of the makeover that mattered the most for me. Although I didn't exercise as much this month, I continued to measure my food, and eat really well and I lost 6 pounds. It was a bit of an "ah ha" moment: eat properly, even though I had reduced activity and continue to lose weight.

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