Health and Fitness, July, 2011

[Harriet]

Time to think Goals!

It's The Half-Point of the Year, 2011 !! I'm especially fond of this calendar moment each year, because if I haven't gotten what I wanted from my New Years Goals, here's another perfectly good, very valid, starting place. And if there are some things that have been going right I can see how to build on them.

If anybody's interested in goals that are calendar-oriented, here's a quick review of how many weeks we have to effect change before some meaningful shared dates when we might want to look our best or have renewed energy. Plug in your own personal dates to ponder.

Until Labor Day picnics – 9 weeks
Until Thanksgiving invitations – 21 weeks
Until the most likely Sat. party date in mid-Dec – 24 weeks
Until we ring in 2012 – 26 weeks

Whether you choose to see how many straight weeks you can keep up a healthy habit, or aim for a particular number goal (weight, health-marker, inch or mile) by a certain date, there is plenty of time to impress yourself! Pick out a favorite record-keeping method and have fun with it. Writing down “where we are” at memorable times of the year helps keep us on track long-term.

[Nancy]

54*-78* Is our temp. range here today. It is warming up here so I'm glad I did the following two items early. I am back from cleaning my foot was fine doing that and I did a one mi. walk not so great on the pavement so I cut back on that.

Trying to evaluate how I can be healthy drop the lbs. the doc. wants me to with out starving.
We are both skipping lunch at least part of the time to reduce calories.

I was thinking last night even if I was not diabetic I would still be dealing with the weigh issue due to age and other issues I think sigh! There is nothing wrong with my apatite or my taste buds and there will always be celebration times to deal with. Ack!

[Harriet]

Trying to evaluate how I can be healthy drop the lbs. the doc. wants me to with out starving.

LOL, Nancy, I know that feeling! Being "good" and holding the weight, a slip-up and the weight takes off! Have to be "good-er" if possible!

I have the good fortune of starting the higher thyroid dose exactly at the year's half-point, which I can remember. Unfortunately, I want to start some other plans at this same time, too, and the reason that bugs me is that if I'm helped I'll have a harder time figuring out what did it!

But I'm not going to let that stop me from doing the best I can.

I need my 14 healthy habits back close to my heart again ♥ which are basically checking off enough water, veggies/fruits, exercise, and remembering supplements. I start out well in the a.m., but as I race out the door or whatever, I neglect them, getting tired-er and slack-er, especially the further I am physically from my own kitchen/house. I've substituted quicker methods of record-keeping (or neglect). The results are discouraging. So I'm going to keep my 4x6 gridded Healthy Habit cards on the fridge again for the second half of 2011. They are the tried and true. And I'll report here what my daily totals are.

Thoughts:
I lost 3 pounds in June when I wanted to lose 5, and some of that is back as water weight - I need to retrieve those 3 and hang on to them.
DD12 wants to ride her bike in the a.m. and wants me to walk while she does that. It's a thought - if there aren't too many others out.
Enemy Number One is bread. Hate to say it, but it's gotta go.
Housework burns calories - win, win.

[Nancy]

I got an exercise bike at a yard sale for $5.oo and did 3 mi. on it in the living room took me ten min. It's an old clunker of one but some thing I can do as my foot heals up. I'm hoping this is a solution that I need. This was on my wish list!

I tried to walk today but only got about a half mi. in as it hurts my foot on the pavement.
Some day I think it would be nice to have one of those spinner bikes that has the arm things that move too.

Our son's wife said her dad lost something like 30 pounds over the winter with a foot pedal thingie that is the concept of an exercise bike. Now to get the cardio glide out of here bc I don't use it as it hurts my knee.

For lunch we ordered small salads and share a cookies and cream ice cream bar for our ann. meal. Had a bean burrito for dinner.

[Harriet]

Nancy, how can you go wrong with trying it out for such a great bargain. This way, you know if you like this type of workout without spending too much. Sorry the cardio glide isn't what you need anymore. Good job for ddil's father, but then men always benefit more from exercise! Sigh! I've got a knee that is not too happy sometimes with exercise. One thing I learned from T-Tapp to benefit knees is to remember to keep your weight mostly on the ball of the foot as you exercise, not putting weight on the big toe so much, because that is more aggravating to the knees. Now this next part is totally my own observation, but if I notice my knee is unhappy, I lift the big toe and it's like a mini-stretch that seems to make it feel better - nothing certain about this, just helps me.

I am tickled with my first-day sticktoitiveness and am sitting here drinking the cup of water that will bring me up to 14 healthy habits today! Yaaaay! It's a little late to be drinking water, but my body is craving it, actually, because I just finished a second 15-minutes of exercise (did the first this morning). This morning I did T-Tapp Basic for 15 and this evening I attempted the 20-minute Zumba video HRH found second-hand. I couldn't do it all, but I figure I did 3/4 of it. Dd12 did it with me.

I'm not sure if we want a new "log" thread. If anyone wants it, hey, just start-er-up and "if you start it... ...they will come".

Anyway, today I ate:
carrot salad
chicken sandwich on whole grain
sweet potato fries
rice/spinich/tomato Indian meal
dark chocolate mini-bar

[Nancy]

Yea Harriet cheering you on with your sticktoitiveness and for the drinking water reminder!

I got on the scales and am down #15 halfway to my goal from 178 to 163 so I am encouraged by that number today.

Breakfast
coffee black
cracklin' oat bran w/ 1% milk
one prune
Tea

Lunch
egg & cheese san.
w/ peanut butter
and some carrots
Diet soda

Ex. did 3 mi. on the ex. bike in the after noon.

Late supper
we will have grilled corn on the cob and sweet potatoe with pop can chicken
ice cream and one cookie

Thanks Harriet.

[Harriet]

Nancy, that is fantastic. You are doing so well.

I'm really ambitious right now. Wouldn't stop until I checked off 14 habits today, too. Again did 15 min of T-Tapp and 15 of Zumba later. Midsection muscles feeling it. In the late afternoons I think to myself, what could I do to get closer to 14 healthy habits for this one day.

Today I ate:
grapes
raspberry/soy/flaxseed oil/protein powder shake
turkey/lettuce/cheese sandwich toasted
leftover carrot salad
chicken breast
1 cup pepsi
big tossed salad

This was a close call on the God Made checkmark, but I'm looking for "nearly" God made, not perfect. I decided I'd been so close it was worth counting.

[Nancy]

That exercise bike is noisy so that is one thing to consider.
Some tread mills are too,
we de-cluttered one bc of the motor noise.

[Harriet]

I've had two days away from record-keeping because of a bad back strain that kept me from exercising since Sunday early. Other habits couldn't stay quite the same either, since I didn't need as much water and I needed to lie down a lot, couldn't cook much.

I'm now blaming myself about my back, for doing an "abs" workout when I wasn't ready. One of the Zumba videos was 20 minutes for abs and because it was all standing, I didn't think about how important it is to stretch before an abs workout and take it easy, work up to it. There's a lot of warning and stretching on the T-Tapp abs videos, but they are on the floor. You're warned not to do them at all unless you have been regularly doing the standing ones, and then you work up to it. There was no warning and no stretching on the Zumba one, but then these were second-hand and may not have come with all the paperwork or even all the videos that they do when you purchase from the company.

Anyway, I'm back to healthy habits and hoping for normalcy. I'd gotten 14 for each of 2 days so far this month, so I'm very hopeful.

[Lilac]

Harriet, I have been on thyroid meds for over 34 years. Until 8 years ago, the bottle didn't say to take your pill one hour before breakfast. I was having a problem with anemia, so I took my iron pill then, too. I kept going downhill and could tell my thyroid was way out of whack. After doing some research I found out that if you take iron with your thyroid meds, that it just cancels the thyroid meds out. Anyway when I went to see the dr. and mentioned this, he acted very annoyed that I even brought it up. That is when I realized that drs., even good ones don't want to be one upped by a patient. Anyway I always tell anyone that I know on thyroid meds, so that they don't have to unnecessarily have to learn the hard way, like I did.

I go to the dr. next Monday. I have not lost any of the 10 lbs. that I wanted to lose. Also I scheduled my pap test with my diabetes 3 month checkup. I HATE pap tests and would rather have a mammogram any day of the week over that. But I am way overdue and it needs done. I keep thinking how relieved I always am when it is over.