The down side to weight loss and self esteem...

...can be false sense of invincibility!  

This weekend we started our annual spring cleanup and had a ton of stuff to buy and move and clean and fix and (it even sounds tiring).  On the up side I lost my BBQ to last winter's storms, so I get to snag a new one! I beautiful, gleaming, sexy stainless steel 6 burner with rotisserie and fish searing bar!  The guys did a great job loading it into my truck, but when I made it home I realized I hadn't thought it through.  Rather than calling for a hand like a sane person, I decided to just muscle it out myself. I mean why not?  I'm going to the gym these days and I feel awesome!

The BBQ is ok.  I successfully completed the lift. I also tweaked my back so badly that I can hardly move, much less go and perform a workout.  

As my loving bride reminded me as she gently slathered me in Ben Gay: I may be smaller, I may be stronger, but no man will ever be as small or as strong as their nearly middle age mind believes them to be.  This is one of the many reasons women will always live longer than men. 

Congrats on your new sexy BBQ! 

Try and alternate ice and heat on the back if possible and take some tylenol. If the pain is really bad, and you still have some painkillers left over from surgery, that may be helpful, too.

You know what I would love to read? A post from your wife's POV on the changes you are going through. Two words: Comedy Gold

Colleen 

On the one hand, yep I can only imagine what she'd say.  She's one of the most blunt, honest people I know (One of the reasons I so dearly love folks on these forums).  

On the other hand, she's fully exposed to all of my neuroses and obsessiveness and whatnot.  Being married to a workaholic tinkerer with rampaging ADHD means she both has seen about everything and knows too much for me to ever let her communicate with another person :) 

Hahahaa...you know, the more you talk about her, the more I like her! You've got yourself one awesome spouse 

In the meantime, rest that back..that sexy BBQ is waiting for you to recover so you can put her through her paces!

Colleen

Ouch!  Sorry about the back pain, Michael.  Hope you get back to feeling well real soon 

I did the same thing last year when I put together my new desk and thought I could lift a huge piece of glass for the top.  OMG I was in pain for weeks.  My cousin is a chiropractor so I went to him and got some relief...but it was quite painful.  I think I lived on muscle relaxers for a few weeks.  I soooo have been there, done that.  As for that sexy new BBQ... I love it!  I got myself a sexy bbq last year and I can't WAIT to use it.  It's supposed to be in the high 50's here tomorrow... I may just use it! :)  Hang in there and hope your back feels better soon...  I know what a pain that is :(

I fell off a chair thinking I could finish ceiling moulding with low BP...it's not just men lol

Sorry to hear about your back.  Welcome to middle age.  

I hope that you are on the mend quickly and that you remember this escapade.  I live with a knuckle head who injured his back last year by bending down and tying a knot at his job.  He regularly moves around 400 lb inflatable rafts and had never injured himself.  He might as well have been tying his shoes.  It was just the angle or whatever and it knocked him off his feet.

Three months of physical therapy eased some of the pain, but it hasn't gone away.  MRIs show normal arthritis and some narrowing, but not enough for permanent injury.  Now he's injured his wrist during a "confrontation" with a prowler we caught in lurking around our house.  Has he gone to the doctor?  NO.  His self-administered therapy is squeezing a hand ball that he bought at Sports Chalet. He tells me that he thinks it's actually making the pain worse.

Men.  I don't understand your ilk sometimes, but at least you take out the trash.

We're usually good for stuff on high shelves too, but other than comic relief, that's about it