Week 3 report

There really isn't a whole ton to add to this week's update. I'm still going strong and I'm still on pace for my weight goal. I weighed in at 174 even this morning (a 1.4 lb loss), which still puts me ahead of the curve for my 12-week goal.

This is almost identical to what I had done yesterday. Rather than getting the injection into my bursa sac again (like in this image), the doctor shot the cortisone down into my shoulder joint, which was much deeper and much more painful.

The nutrition has been going well, albeit not stellar. I maintained 36 percent of my calories from fat and 17 percent from protein, which is about the same as last week. No significant improvement there, but I stayed under my calorie intake goal for the week and it's obviously paying off on the scale.

In the fitness department, I basically rotated between cycling and running/hiking. One day, I'd knock out 30 vigorous minutes on the stationary bike, and the next I'd go for 40 minutes (one day I even did a full hour) on the treadmill, alternating 10 minutes of brisk walking on a heavy incline and 10 minutes of running at 5.5 miles per hour.

I haven't been able to do as much weight training as I wanted, due to ongoing shoulder issues, but I did do some, including a difficult ab workout session after the bike on Friday. I had an MRI done a few weeks back to see if there is an actual tear in my rotator cuff and thankfully, there isn't. However, there was some significant "fraying" throughout my tendons, and the doctor was unable to give me a straightforward solution as to what's next. Surgery to clean up the fraying is an option, but an expensive one that I cannot afford with the baby coming, and it's not even guaranteed to fix the problem.

So ... he filled up my joint with cortisone yesterday (different from the injection I got in my bursa sac well over a year ago) and told me to start doing the weight-bearing exercises on my rotator cuff religiously once the initial soreness of the shot wears off. That should limit any exercise-related pain while I strengthen the tendons as much as possible.

It may work ... it may not. I suppose only time will tell.