Show of hands- who wants to smack Victoria for being a size 4?
Unfortunately I don't have the problem of my clothes falling off....

that was a sarcastic thanks...nobody wants to see my fentanyl patch falling off as my pants fall to my knees.....lol

LOL, hubby has the same problem because he refuses to wear a belt- he's had a few close calls when his denim shorts have almost come down....in the middle of a store....I would've just kept on walking....

so, since being diagnosed with TOS, who has changed their eating habits, started exercising regularly, and changed their desk ergonomics? The three Eeeeeeeeeez, as I see it. For me, over the past 4 years, that's been crucial. I don't smoke or drink soda or eat doritos or any junk food [very often ;-) ] ... I try and exercise for 15 minutes each morning, and then for 90 minutes once or twice a week. Ive also, and still am changing my desk around. I'm about to invest in one of those "balance ball" chairs and maybe a more natural keyboard. I had a kinesis keyboard for a few years which helped a ton with the arm symptoms, but, I ended up selling it because for some applications it was really ackward.

in high school, i was an athlete (2 sports) and in very good shape. Hurt lower back my senior year, so my activity slowed way down. Stayed active in college with intramural sports. After college, activity slowed again because I was working 2 jobs. 2 years after college I had my car accident w/ whiplash injury, and health has declined since then. less exercise, more weight, along with neck pain. but still helped hubby with remodeling house and landscaping yard. 3 years ago, developed numbness and pain in hands/arms, so exercise decreased again, and weight increased. I am the heaviest I have ever been right now, but this year i have done little more than housework. sx too exacerbated by anthing else. I did do yoga on and off, but had to stop a couple of months ago. I could walk, but i don't because it's very hot and humid right now in SC. now that surgery is over, i plan to get on the right track. with my rehab i hope will come a habit of more exercise and getting back into shape.

Desk is ergonomically good; eating habits good; just very little exercise.

Prior to the car accident, I was probably an 8 on the health scale. Cooked almost everything from scratch, exercised daily as well as had one job that required a lot of walking and another that required physical strength at times. Then I was in the car accident, had a work injury to the bottoms of my feet two months later, and everything was downhill from there. Just like Victoria, I was a size 4 and had finally come to a point in life where I was satisfied with my body. I gained some weight that first winter, but then it fell off due to long runs of prednisone. Now I'm probably between a size 4 and a 6, but I am super flabby and finally have discovered with cellulite is! Because of my bad feet, I have a hard time walking/standing, and the TOS as well as my damaged neck muscles make upper body strengthening incredibly difficult. In fact, I was doing a lot of upper body strengthening recovering from my car accident when the TOS hit. Push-ups, exercise bands, weights, the whole bit. Apparently my neck did not like that! Sigh, this is depressing... I'm thinking about all I was able to do just two years ago and what hell my life has turned into... who cares what size my body is when it screams in pain this often and doesn't let me do anything with it?!?!?

Melissa

Good thread!
I would say I'm about a 5.5 right now. Not obese, but need to drop 10-15 lbs I think. When I hurt my shoulder (7.5yrs ago), I would say I was an 8 or 9- 2 hours a day 6 days a week in the gym.... I did 30-45 min of cardio no problem, and had a good weightlifiting regiment. I weighed 160 and was bench pressing 245. And then I hurt my shoulder. Shouder injury + over-development of pec's led my shoulders to hunch forward drastically. Mis-diagnosis of shoulder injury for 6 yrs led me to change how I did anything to avoid tweaking my shoulder (that pain and my arm getting numb should have been a sign, huh??? dumb meathead ) Oh, add the fact that I have a "short" trunk, and everything was already compressed - I just added to it!

I currently do 20-30 min of cardio before work, 5 days a week. I do some limited weights - if and only if I feel I can. I used to have the mentality of no pain, no gain, and that I should work through the pain. Dumb idea, and probably increased my probelms. oh well.