Health and Fitness, March, 2011

[Harriet]

March is shaping up (oh, an unintentional pun! ) to be a "Just Do It" month for us. So many of us have new programs we're excited to follow, or re-commitment to programs that have worked for us in the past. Exercise equipment, ways-of-eating, exercise experts' interesting plans, ways-of-recording to embrace healthy habits, and more.

Do come in and tell us about your s, what's getting your blood pumping, what's helping you make friends with your bathroom scale again , and excitement about your new commitments!

Any frustrations? Here's the place to fuss! We're on your side.

Anyone getting those proactive medical whatsits accomplished? Getting a cavity filled or having that overdue eye exam? We're the ones who will cheer, so come in and brag anytime.

[Nancy]

Snow again ~sigh~ I saw a spinner type exercise bike at the thrift shop waiting to be processed been thinking about getting one of those for exercise in the winter months.
Would be better for getting my blood pumping than knitting!

So today I'll be walking in place and other floor exercises.

[Lynlee]

I've finally gotten myself to a regular doc. 3rd visit today. blood tests ok.
We've had discussions on osteoporosis drugs and I'm reluctant to do them. Restarted calciumcitrate today - its the C abot's brand with extras.
asked doc re dosage. Said finally I was doing yoga 2 x classes per most weeks. finally after a good year I can almost ballance on one leg in tree.
Theres still some ballance things are beyond me. (like rising to stand in high lunge.) Spoke to a lady there today who is making difficult come back from fractured spine. (Injured moving/wheeling a heavy bin to curb) This is my docs fear for me. I guess mine is falling in bath/shower and being unable to move to turn off taps or call for help.
Next is 2 wks hrt cream then thin prep/pap smear.
Also need get to optomitrist and find a dentist with hygenist. I forgot to ask for yearly breast clinic referal. they offered an earlier appointment froom the one made for April. I may leave it at that as I have other well overdue issues.
Not sure if shes wan'ting to do colonoscopy at some stage but that "sample/test" was ok.

Really trying to get my 2L water in, and keep eating well... thats what suits me. Weight is 51-53K range.
Needing to again wind in bed times.

Nancy - make sure any exercise equipment is safe with proper guards where needed. (my dd once got foot caught in chain/sproket doobies as a child) The gym ones I've used have adjustable resistance so you can make it suit your needs.

[Nancy]

Back from my walk did my regular route in 20 min. so I will be adding some time and distance
to this as warmer weather allows.

[Nancy]

For today's exercise:
I've done my walk plus gotten a flower bed cleaned out a bag and a half of leaves bagged up feels great to be outside again!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

My health routine while on the ship is the following:

1. Treadmill at least 30 minutes a day plus stretches.
2. When walking upstairs in casual clothes, I take the stairs two at a time. There are 16 stairs between decks, we are on deck 4, gym is deck 6, lunch is deck 7, our reading spot is deck 8, pool is deck 9, exercise track is deck 10, the observation lounge is deck 11 but we take the elevator to that!
3. I've given up most bread and baked goods for the trip. I'm having shredded wheat for breakfast, crackers with cheese now and again and the occasional whole wheat roll if my dinner didn't come with another starch and I need it to feel full. I also have 1 scone each day at teatime.
4. Drinking lots of water, diet drinks, avoiding juices so I'm not drinking my calories. I have milk in the cabin since the UHT milk is disgusting to me.
5. Eating lots of fresh veggies and fruit since it is available at all meals.
6. Trying to get enough rest.

I'm not used to the humidity so I'm not working out on the walking deck like dh is. But, despite there only being 4 treadmills for 400 passengers, I've never had trouble getting one.

My weight, in the morning, after my workout and 1 litre of water, dressed in light jean weight capris, t-shirt and light running shoes, is 173 according to the ship's scale. Of course that's mostly inaccurate due to the movement of the ship but it doesn't indicate that I'm gaining. My clothes are feeling and looking better on me but the capris might just be stretching with all the wear they are getting.

I feel great. Just wish I could walk up two decks without being winded.

[Harriet]

Great job getting something DONE while also exercising, Nancy. It's always great to accomplish two things at once.

Kathryn, I'm glad you are able to have your fav breakfast on the ship. You have learned that it's good for you (of course it seems to be an opposite thing for me and I don't react as well to wheat). I guess you are just not able to weigh first thing in the a.m.? Seems like you are opening yourself to disappointment if weighing after both water and exercise, but if the number makes you happy, maybe you will be even more pleased when you are back home with your own scale. Just keep doing a thing and you'll be less winded doing it.

Lynlee, you are so modest. Here you are, doing so well in yoga with only a few (difficult sounding) things you can't do, plus you only weigh about 115 pounds. You are doing GREAT. Tip from Dr Oz program on sleep was to allow only soft music to play for the 45 mins before bed as a kind of background sound, not tv or puter.

I had trouble getting out of bed yesterday morning (lower back pain) and was downright amused if not embarrassed to admit it to HRH. But I went back to T-Tapp rather than other exercise, with all it's spine-lengthening and stretching yesterday, and I got out of bed per usual today.

Good foods lately - salads, many-veggie-omelets (so much the omelet can hardly hold together!), adding mango to smoothies, spinich with beans for one-person lunches. Purchased Hardee's Sweet Potato Fries and truly enjoyed them - they cost a little more, of course, but a better choice than 90 percent of fast-food ideas.

I am optimistic, which is odd since I am over the weight that is my absolute stop-gap never-cross-that-line weight. Somehow I just know it will be fine. HRH makes me feel young lately, bless his heart. Trying to keep the continued concerns over my ddad, all my children's needs, etc., on a "back burner" that does not conflict with my day-to-day calm.

[Lynlee]

Kathryn... you looked smaller than I expected for all your mention of weight. I think you have more muscle than me and muscle is heavier. I am definately not a 2 stairs at a time person. thats great you can do it.

Harriet ... ty, I need to keep on doing things that gently add strength.Without overdoing it and sparking a FM/CFS type reaction and taking away what I had before.
I find it impossible to weigh more while being on gluten & sugar free... I automaticly lost weight .. every time I eat properly/ food that suits me and stabilise about the same level 50 - 54k max.

I walked 3k today.it'd been a while with wet weather , or walking at night just up my street and the next.
I need renew my willingness to start bedtime winddown appropriately. Only mindless tv. puta off. no "interesting radio" or reading book that catches my attention.
I still log bedtimes on my daily checklist. thats part of my bbr. the checklist.

ok.. time to get off puta or my mindless game addiction will be raging. lol

[Nancy]

I'm adding 20 min. of yard work on the nicer days to my healthy living routine.
Yesterday got the leaves out of the garden and bagged up.
So glad to have that done.
Took a walk after that.
One more flower bed to do so that's my goal this week.
It is exciting to know I can get the yard cleaned up and back into shape in 20 min. a day.
This week getting the rest of the lawn and patio furniture out of the shop is on my list.
That will be good exercise also.
Then there is spading up the garden spot.

[bittersweet]

I sure wish I could add yard work to MY exercise list, Nancy!! That's quite a ways away for me, though...there's still huge snow drifts and piles of snow everywhere

In light of the new doctor's orders (well..they're not really new, but I've been in enough pain for months, so maybe I'm ready to listen to her! ), we finally set up the new wireless sensor bar for the Wii!! We bought it..ummm...about 4 months ago DH also set the connections so it's got internet access. He really only did that so he could watch Netflix on the TV, but I may be able to make use of it. I know I'm going to be making use of the Wii yoga program!!