I used to lift weights. For fun. Also for:
1. Better bone density. Yes, weight training helps promote bone growth, not stunting growth or break your back if you do it correctly.
2. Improve my mood. Lifting heavy weights give me a confidence boost and it also helps promote concentration of the happy hormones in my brain.
3. Improve my health.
4. Grow bigger muscles so I would have to eat more to maintain the muscles and I loved to eat.
5. To be happy with how I look.
Ever since my back was out of commission because of the spinal fracture, I've been pretty much immobile. It got even worse when my hip was fractured and then recovering from the hip replacement surgery. For months, I was bedridden and wasn't able to move much. This made the muscles in my legs atrophy. It's crazy how short of a time it took for my muscles to atrophy. My legs got a lot smaller. My once tight pants now hang over my legs and buttocks like loose drapes on skeletons.
Needless to say, that made me really sad. I used to be so proud of my strength and muscle progress. But for a time, I was feeling like a bag of weak bones not capable of even picking up a cat. It was demeaning.
Ever since I was able to walk regularly again, the muscles in my legs are starting to grow back. They are no where near what they were before but they're growing back. My pants are getting tighter now. I'm working towards to doing more each day until I get back to doing some version of weight training that could help me grow muscles actively again.
To people, I look the same. Just a little bit shorter since I lost a few inches on my torso. To me, it's a huge difference. I am less than the person I was then physically and I'm struggling to deal with that psychologically everyday. I try to not let it bother me so much and just work hard at getting healthy again. I do realize that my body is healing at a much slower rate than my mind. According to my mind, I'm completely healed already but my body is saying "No, not yet. Slow down." It's a constant battle.
1. Better bone density. Yes, weight training helps promote bone growth, not stunting growth or break your back if you do it correctly.
2. Improve my mood. Lifting heavy weights give me a confidence boost and it also helps promote concentration of the happy hormones in my brain.
3. Improve my health.
4. Grow bigger muscles so I would have to eat more to maintain the muscles and I loved to eat.
5. To be happy with how I look.
Ever since my back was out of commission because of the spinal fracture, I've been pretty much immobile. It got even worse when my hip was fractured and then recovering from the hip replacement surgery. For months, I was bedridden and wasn't able to move much. This made the muscles in my legs atrophy. It's crazy how short of a time it took for my muscles to atrophy. My legs got a lot smaller. My once tight pants now hang over my legs and buttocks like loose drapes on skeletons.
Needless to say, that made me really sad. I used to be so proud of my strength and muscle progress. But for a time, I was feeling like a bag of weak bones not capable of even picking up a cat. It was demeaning.
Ever since I was able to walk regularly again, the muscles in my legs are starting to grow back. They are no where near what they were before but they're growing back. My pants are getting tighter now. I'm working towards to doing more each day until I get back to doing some version of weight training that could help me grow muscles actively again.
To people, I look the same. Just a little bit shorter since I lost a few inches on my torso. To me, it's a huge difference. I am less than the person I was then physically and I'm struggling to deal with that psychologically everyday. I try to not let it bother me so much and just work hard at getting healthy again. I do realize that my body is healing at a much slower rate than my mind. According to my mind, I'm completely healed already but my body is saying "No, not yet. Slow down." It's a constant battle.
This was me at my peak physical fitness on Jan 2017. I had the most muscles and least fat on my body then.
Below are photos of where I am now. Notice that my legs are a lot smaller. In fact, they're so skinny that I look like what is considered "attractive" by the skinny-obsessed people. I'm not happy with it. In fact, even though my legs are smaller, they have much more fat on them and not a lot of muscles.
You could also see that my torso have shrunk by a lot of the shape of my spine is lopsided now. It looks like it's all scrunched up and since there isn't anywhere for the spine to go, it also sits sideway like someone with scoliosis. It's painful for sure. That is the reason why I'm still in a lot of pain right now. It's because my spine is not of a normal shape so my muscles are thrown out of whack. Not only that, they pinch on my nerves causing a lot of tingling feelings and sharp pain.
Maybe one day, they could figure out a way to bring my spine back to its original height. For now, I have the posture of an old lady.
Cheers!
