Back in early March, J. and I went down to Marina del Rey –the Venice Beach area of Los Angeles — for another working vacation. He’d be working, I’d be taking another (much needed) vacation, complete with personal training, long walks to the beach and along the beach, and some spa time.

That was the plan.

What actually happened was that the two MRIs (P.S. I’m still clean, all is well) and the wretched airline seat combined to throw my back out, extremely painfully, right in the soft tissue all around the coccyx. I literally could not get out of bed on Th morning, and after John helped me up, I couldn’t walk better than a slow shuffle. Moving around helped, but not significantly. So I called the concierge and checked my insurance company’s website, and found a local-ish doc in my network, and I went as soon as they opened.

(Side note: if you’re going to be ill on vacation, the Ritz Carlton is a very good place to do it. They had their driver take me to the doctor, pick me up, take me to the pharmacy and then back. Complimentary. The concierge also made my appointment, let housekeeping know to call before bothering me, gave me a complimentary movie to watch in-room, and sent up a delicious bath fizz bomb labeled ‘muscle ache’.)

Turns out I was having classic muscle spasms, and a heavy duty pain reliever and muscle relaxant were the fix. There went my long walks and workouts. I went to the spa treatment, but it was a huge waste, the time I was spending on the table just made my back worse, and the rubbing wasn’t very relaxing. 🙁

Since then, I’ve been dealing with that. To be safe, I took a few weeks off of Pilates, but will be back again this Thursday. And I delayed the start of my Superslow program until this past week, also to be safe.

Superslow? you ask?

It’s an intensive strength training program that relies on specially designed equipment and a very slow lift/release sequence to bring your muscles to maximum fatigue. It is especially god for people with physical problems, because you very quickly build muscles, thereby supporting the skeletal system better. Many people report having long time problems (such as with knees) just disappear. You don’t really ‘bulk up,’ you just build muscle rapidly.

Which is my ‘secret weapon’ in trying to lose weight.

Losing weight is my big goal for this year. Last year it was surviving chemo with grace, and I believe i succeeded. But now I’m a woman in my 40s, in menopause, and taking tamoxifen — a negative trifecta that explains why I’ve been gaining weight steadily since early 2010, and why my attempts at losing have met with defeat.

I’m not one who accepts defeat, or takes it lightly when I fail. (No surprise, I know.)

But I’ve been joined by J. who has been making life changes and its really starting to show. The numbers on his scale are consistently going down, and he’s reached a new 5-year low. Me? I’ve actually lost 5 pounds in the last few weeks — the first loss I’ve seen in more than a year. (And note that the loss I had was because of surgery and attendant issues. Not sustainable. Since then — the lowest I’ve been since ~2005 — I’d gained 35lbs. I have a while to go before I reach that weight again.)

What are we doing? two things: we’re eating less (and its higher quality than before) and we’re moving more. That’s it. No pills, no special diets, no crazy gimmicks. Just eating fewer calories and using up more calories than before. We figure its the only way to make changes we can live with for the rest of our lives — and we do want to live very long (healthy) lives. I do have goals, both short and long term.

• Short: 2 lbs lost/ week. Do Superslow 2x week, Pilates 1x/week, and I’d like to add Aqua Aerobics 1x/week. Its a nice mix of exercise that builds me up, keeps me limber, and helps burn fat. J. and I would like to train Sasha to run on the leash while we bike, if we manage that, there will be weekly bike rides with her for 30, building to 60 minutes.
• medium: lose 40 lbs in 2011; when I do, I’ll be adding Muy Thai back into the mix — I loved that class, and I really miss it
• medium: lose 40 lbs in 2012 — that brings me to my goal weight.
• long: exercise enough so that I can eat what I want. That’s it.

Oh, here’s a link to info on SuperSlow.