Health and Fitness, April 2013

[Nancy]

I did mowing finished the last part of the lawn that they did not get mowed last week when their mower broke. Counting that for my exercise.
I seem to have a sore foot after this weekend's actives so I'm not doing quite as much. Glad I could do some things a bit of shopping and stroll with dgd on a 1/2 mi. walk counts as well.

[Ivy]

I have eaten healthy all day, walked 30 min. and put a reminder on my calendar to do ankle/knee/back PT exercises tomorrow, AFTER my walk! It's high time I take care of myself and those certain spots of my body, which hurt, when I don't take care of myself! I'll be sure to remember with my daily email to myself, too!

[Harriet]

Nancy, now that it has rained a deluge here just as the temps suddenly warm, our lawn mowing chores are going to be tough. Hope your foot gets better.

Smart reminder decisions, Ivy.

Hello out there to everyone! How's it going?

Yesterday, along with walking the mall with a teenager I did two of the intermediate half-hour T-Tapp workouts, Torso and Lower Body Standing, one before and one after the mall. Fast moving and a few new moves that are like surprises in there. The only part I really can't do, even with taking a break before it, is a very very difficult stretch at the end of one that eludes me in both balance and ability. I am neither double-jointed nor do I have that much strength, so I just watch for now. So 55 minutes, I suppose, of formal exercise yesterday, and 5 of educational video! There are some Form Tips included, so I'll check them today while I have a day off from any actual exercise. Maybe they will have clues.

[Nancy]

Thanks Harriet; my foot is better for the most part I'm being careful with it and trying not to over do. I did mow the back yd. for my exercise as it's raining and knew I'd not get to it tomorrow. I walk apx. 1/2 mi. pushing the baby stroller too.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Nancy How long does it take you to do 10 miles on the bike? I can do 6 miles in 24 minutes, 3 miles in 10. I hate, hate, hate, the bike because I can't read or use the computer on it. I have to keep my knees bent so my knee comes up and hits the laptop shelf, unlike dh who has his legs 2" back from me and hardly bent at all.

My physio is 5 minutes at top speed (which I do at 80 -85 rpms.) I do 10 minutes of that because my heart rate is up and doing 5 minutes of cardio isn't really helpful. If I'm staying on the bike longer, I up the resistance and drop the rpms to 60 so that slows my speed. I have about 25 minutes of reasonable bike music in my exercise playlist so I jump around, doing all the fast songs in the first 10 minutes and then mainly stirring songs for the remainder.

At physio she said I could do 20 minutes on the treadmill so today I did 20 on the bike and am in the middle of doing 20 on the treadmill. That will barely be a mile. But since my heart rate is up from the bike, all 20 minutes will be a good cardio workout. Can't do this every day since I have 30 minutes of stretches and icing after this, but today I'm taking the time.

[Nancy]

K in C thanks for asking. It takes me about 25 min. to do 10 mi. on the ex. bike. I put on a TV show that I like and crank up the volume a bit while I do it. For example today there is a gardening show that comes on Sat. mornings. I can also watch the kids while they watch their shows when I'm on it too or help dgson with his homework. Sometimes like you I just have music on or use it for my prayer time and I get the best ideas on it.

I did not enjoy it at first either but eventually got into a rhythm of it and have it worked into my routine now. One time I put it by the window in the bedroom so I could see the hens in the back yard.

Some days I just do 2.5 mi. and then 3 mi. in the afternoon and the rest in the evening in diff. sessions to change it up a bit, depending on my bs.

This week I'm SO grateful for it bc my foot was hurting. It was like it had popped out of joint or some thing. It's mostly better now yea! But I could not walk much and could still get my exercise in with the ex. bike.

It would be great to ready while I do it but P.B.S. or HGTV is a great distraction for me! Good luck with the things your are doing!

[Twins' Mom]

I'll start checking in here now that my "new life" has started. I'm also following in Kathryn's footsteps and trying the Fitbit. (Does OKay have one as well?) I'm particularly interested in the sleep stats since the sleep apnea is still untreated. Last night had ten hours thirty seven minutes in bed and 87% efficiency for almost 9 hours of sleep. I would have predicted much less sleep efficiency and less sleep - woke up very very achy. The chart doesn't show much extended sleep past 3 or 4 a.m. however, lots of up and down.

No particular goals set for now, need to think and recover a bit first. I do walk ddogs twice a day usually, and dh has suggested we join the Y that is less than a mile away from us.

[Harriet]

Did the Lower Body Standing again yesterday along with participating while watching the form tips for it, so about 35 minutes of formal exercise. I got a little closer to the floor on that stretch this time - I suppose that is progress. I'm wondering if I could do better when "fresh" rather than so winded at the end of the DVD. But I know I have to be careful to be warmed up.

I like these 30-minute sessions, even though they are tough, because I usually don't have to take breaks, and that makes me feel virtuous! Also, it fulfills the promise of staying fit even as the workout sessions take less time, and my life does need that.

Outdoors, I picked up fallen limbs and twigs for 20 minutes, lots of bending and stooping.

Today's a rest day and a low calorie day.

Oh, that's cool we'll see you around H and F more Twins' Mom.

[Ivy]

I didn't do formal exercise, nor did I eat healthy today. However, I spent about 45 min. reaching high and stooping, getting the eating bar full of items together for our ARC donation. I worked up a sweat, was so proud of myself, but when I checked the thermostat, because of the fireplace insert's vent pull being open, roaring the fire with the fan on, it was 80* in here! Then, I felt like perhaps I didn't work THAT much of a sweat up, from working after all, but from it being an extraordinarily warmer room.

I got out my Weight Watcher books, from a plan I did about 3 years ago, I think. I took my quiz and my daily points should be 20 points. I decided to try the old plan for awhile, to see what happens, trying also very hard to earn activity points, so I'm moving more. I have a corner kitchen basket with a handle on it, which is out of the way of view from the great room and dining room, where I can put my Weight Watchers books, the activity points finder, points finder for foods, etc... I just need to do a good sorting on that basket to decide what I need to keep, if so, where do I put it? It's amazing that in order to do X + Y sometimes it doesn't = Z, until a bit of elbow grease is put in order. I'll try to keep on the plan until 9/11 because on 9/11/12, I had my physical last year. So this year's physical needs to be a year and a day past that date, or it's not covered by insurance, if I go before 9/11. I have a buddy who is working with me, too, however, I don't believe she's doing W.W., but we haven't touched base on what she's doing now. She had surgery, a gastric sleeve, so she's excited she's now finally under 200 Lbs. She wants to weigh the same goal as I have in mind, too, and we each weigh nearly the same now, at our starting point.

What is Fitbit?

[Twins' Mom]

Ivy, the Fitbit is the size of a small pedometer and measures steps taken and distance climbed, sleep activity and syncs it all wirelessly to a computer. I got the Fitbit One, which I think is this link: http://www.fitbit.com/one

I was surprised yesterday that I got in 7000 steps w/o much effort - and I did do a lot of lying around the house yesterday. Had a decent walk with ddogs in a.m. but short in p.m. as it was raining.