Happy Thanksgiving!

The autoimmune protocol diet went off the rails a little this week.  I tried eggs over the weekend and felt horrible, so I know those are a potential issue.   I wanted to try a few other things, but instead of doing it one at a time like you are supposed to, it sort of went like this:

Um, yeah.

Needless to say, I don't feel so hot.  And the ache in my hip is way worse this week than it has been in a while - this is really interesting to me, because it was the reason why I really wanted to try this elimination diet in the first place.    I was just thinking the other day how I no longer was getting any groin pain or achy feeling... and then it reappeared, the same week my diet went off the rails.  Coincidence? Related?  Hmmm.

Because I was a dumb-dumb and failed to do the reintroduction right, I'm not really sure what might be making me feel like crap, but needless to say, it could be the fact that I ate everything.

In other news, I met with my trainer and we tweaked and adjusted a few things on my list of exercises.  Here is my current list.  I call it my Glutes of Steel plan.

Bridges - 3 variations: double leg, single leg, and single leg with rotation
Clam Shells
Cable Exercises
Side planks or leg raises (I was getting too much TFL activation with the side plank variation so we're backing down to side leg raises)
Monster walks side-to-side and back at a 45 degree angle

Single leg squats
Side lunges
Bird dip with band pull
Walking lunges with medicine ball rotation:

Hop to Balance - side to side and rotation (this is basically what it sounds like - hop side to side or with a 90 degree rotation and balance on the one-legged landing)
Single leg static hip rotation
Static lunges with weight
Squats

And....then waddle out of the gym to go sit on the couch and lament how your legs no longer function properly.

In other news, this happened.  Based on my Garmin data, I estimate I walked about 1-1.5miles, and ran the rest.  WHOO!

Week two of the AIP and Continuing Rehab

The second full week of the Autoimmune Protocol Diet is behind me!  This week, I made similar breakfasts/snacks/lunches as I did last week, but I did try a few new recipes, including:  Homemade Gummies, carob brownies and sweet potato/leek soup.  All were great!  For dinners, I made chicken piccata (minus the flour), grilled chicken, and burgers.  I also navigated going out to eat twice successfully!  Grilled salmon and steamed veggies for one and a burger and sweet potato fries for the other.

I am definitely feeling more energetic and my tummy hasn't had that "ugh, I ate something that disagreed with me" yucky feeling.  However, I really miss eggs as a quick and easy meal.  And spices!  Like cumin and pepper.  Oh, and chocolate.

My surgeon cleared me for all activities at my six month check-in.  He thinks my hip flexors are my main issue, and that time will help.  Because I am not patient and don't want to just "wait", I hired a trainer to work with me.  He specializes in injury prevention and rehabbing post-injury (perfect, right!).   We met and discussed my situation and he made some observations on my remaining weaknesses and compensations.  He gave me a two week plan to follow and then we'll meet again and assess my progress.

Here is the list of exercises, to be done three times/week:

PT-type exercises

Bridges (3 versions- regular, alt leg raises, leg raise with rotation)

Clam shells

Cable exercises

Side planks

Seated hip rotation with band/chair

Monster walks to the side and back at a 45 degree angle

Strength exercises

Single leg static hip rotation; 2 sets of 10-12 each leg

Hops to balance- side to side and rotation; 2 sets of 12-15 hops each way on each leg

Side lunge- 2 sets of 12-15 each way

Bird dip with band pull; 2 sets of 15 reps with max glute squeeze

Walking lunges forward; 1 set weightless of 12-15 reps on each leg

Static lunges forward with weight; 1-2 sets of 4-8 to build muscle or 12-15 to build endurance

Squats- 2 sets of at least 10 reps

I'm looking forward to seeing if a) I can get through all of these exercises three times a week and b) if it helps!

First real week of the AIP and 6 months post-op

So, OK, this first week of the Autoimmune Diet isn't exactly over, but I'm giving you a report on this week anyway. :)

Overall, I'm still not finding sticking to the diet to be very difficult.  Though trying to do this diet through the Halloween Candy Season was tough, in the end, I was able to avoid all candy and not die of deprivation (someone brought in SNICKERS to work!).   Planning enough food so you are never starving and making hungry choices is really important.

Breakfast
I had the sweet potato, apple and pancetta hash for breakfast this week.  Better than the smoothies in terms of staying full, but not by a ton.  It's really tasty though!

Lunch
Lunch was a mix of turkey deli meat rolled up with bacon, a big ass salad or fried bananas and ham.  Yep, fried bananas with ham!  It's something my dad used to make for us when we were little and is a great combination of salty and sweet.  He used to dip the bananas in egg and breadcrumbs before frying, but in my case, I just let them fry up nekkid.  Even if you don't like the ham part, fried bananas are super yum.

Yummmmmm

Dinner
I made grilled salmon with roasted veggies,  thai basil stir fry, and a roast chicken and vegetables.  A few were enough to have leftovers, too, which is always nice... but doesn't happen very often when you live with a marathoner.

Snacks
My snacks are mostly fruit and sometimes leftover vegetables.  Not terribly exciting.  I made plantain and apple fritters once and devoured the entire thing...yum.  And I splurged and bought a box of Jackson's Honest Sweet Potato chips (fried in coconut oil!).  They are way too good and probably should not have bought 6 bags all at once.

Six month Hipaversary
Next week is my 6-month check in with the surgeon.  He'll also be taking a look at the other hip as well.  I imagine he'll finally send me for an MRA on that hip and while I want answers as to what's going on there, part of me wants to just pretend that it's nothing and ignore it entirely.

I am not exactly where I thought I would be 6 months out, but I am not entirely disappointed either.  My hip is 100% better than it was before surgery and I am about 80% of where I was before I was injured at all (oh so long ago!).

Here's what I did this week:
Sunday: Run/walk (3:1) 30 minutes, spin bike 30 minutes
Monday: Squats/lunges followed up with aqua power aerobics class
Tuesday: Upper body lifting and core work
Wednesday: Run/walk (3:1) 30 minutes
Thursday: Pilates

Tomorrow will be a rest day, Saturday another run/walk and then Sunday either a spin bike workout or maybe a hike if the weather is nice!