Health and Fitness, November 2011

[Harriet]

Wow, Lisa, that looks like both fun and serious results. I hope it turns out to be ideal for you. You'll have to let us know the kinds of adventures you are having! I don't get many adventures, so I'll be very interested to hear about yours!

The last few days have not made sense for me - yesterday after a lot of household upset, neighbors arrived bringing trays of homemade brownies and Halloween cookies, plus HRH worked out his own nerves by creating a spaghetti that was so aromatic. It's almost as if I have to hide from carbohydrates that stalk me, and not the good kind either. I did get in a salad last night and a veggie omelet for breakfast yesterday.

Today by 1:00 I've had an apple and a berry/almond milk/protein powder smoothie, plus 2 pints of water.

Water - OKay, when I mentioned here that I'd recently read water 1-cup-at-a-time was supposed to be best you said you'd never get your water in that way. I've discovered that you have a point. When I fill my pint glass I tend to finish it, even if I may set it down for short times. When I pour a cup, I forget/neglect any more for much too long. So I am back to pint-at-a-time pouring, at least.

[Nancy]

I'm figuring out how to add some wts. in my winter work out routines,
on the ex. bike and free weights so this is a good thing.
My arms are going to get better I am determined!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

For water, if I start the day on the treadmill, there's a 4 cup bottle waiting for me there (I fill it the night before and leave it on the treadmill.) I drink at least 3 cups of that. My decaf tea in the morning is worth another 3 cups.

Then a glass or two through the day, a full glass before bed to take my supplements, plus my milk (2 cups) and I'm easily there.

On days when I don't get on the treadmill, I have to be more conscious of what I'm drinking. I still start the day with 4 cups of liquid in me (3 of tea, one milk) but then I have to work harder, taking a water bottle with me, drinking hot water at choir practice, and I have 20 oz tumblers that I fill and put next to my computer. Obviously, 2 of those is good for another 5 cups of water so that's my goal on the days when I skipped the treadmill.

I got my water in yesterday and wrote down all that I ate (and it was a lot!) but I didn't exercise at all. Also didn't remember to get on the scale. So I'm not sure if yesterday was a good day or not. I was in discomfort or pain for most of the day which explains the eating. And it rained so we skipped our walk for the mail (which I had been counting on.)

I feel a bit better today so am back on the treadmill. Since dh is planning a movie in the city with ds, I know we won't get our walk for the mail today, either so I'll stay on the treadmill a bit longer.

[Harriet]

Nancy is chatting about toning arms - good luck with that, Nancy.

Makes me remember there's a trick to easily measuring an upper arm when you're by yourself and only have one hand to work with. You take a cheap dressmaker's circular tape measure and pull it out about 2 feet. Then you hold your arm out to the side and drape the tip/end of the tape measure over the back of it, while still holding the heavy circle part at the front. You catch the end and then you can let go of the circle, which will hang taut for you. Pull the end around and up from underneath to find the measurement. Regular straight tape measures will work but won't have the weight to keep them taut for you, so it can take some dexterity! Some people are very intent on perfect bicep measurement, of course, so they find a freckle or even make a dot with a Sharpie marker themselves to be sure they are measuring at the same place every time. For most of us here, we'd be hoping the measurement would go down!!! For men, perhaps, or bodybuilders, the point may be to see if the bicep is increasing.

I had a good day yesterday, exercised, ate only one slice of grain bread, and got in 10 of my potential 13 Healthy Habits for the day (only expecting 1 exercise checkmark, so not 14 these days).
4.5 veggies/fruits
3.5 pints water
1 for exercising 15 minutes
1 for taking vitamins
Still, I guess I am not yet over the weekend, because I am still in "fluctuation territory". Oh, well, I have 4 days until Tuesday to bring myself even and see a change.

[Nancy]

I can tell I've worked my upper body today not really sore but I can feel it in the tops of my shoulders and biceps. Drink more water is on my list today. Did an abbreviated walk today. Figured out I could have a soft bean burrito w/ lettuce and tomato instead of the fried one well duh! LOL!

[OKay]

I ordered this tape to measure my body (hips, waist, bust, etc) and simply love it. Brilliant design and is so simple to use (IMHO)

I am one lb lighter so am on my way to meeting this months goal.

I don't do any weight lifting exercises. I probably should to be sure all the muscle groups are being used. I am hopefully my daily chores take care of it that need. I lift LO (50 lbs) several times through out the day..... usually use high pressure washer (1400 psi) for about 30 minutes daily......and spend some time on the end of a shovel almost everyday. Since I started regularly washing MPB walls, my tendency to have corporal tunnel symptoms has disappeared. I guess gripping the high pressure hose is good exercise for the wrist. Win-win.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Yesterday's foray to Tim Horton's (a coffee shop that is Canada's second largest server of fast food meals) wasn't great since I had not checked nutrition info before leaving home.

The lasagna I didn't get was 1 point less than the chili I had but the kicker was the tea biscuit which was almost the same number of calories as the bowl of chili.

On the other hand, the chili was very filling so I ended up the day well on-program. But I need to check out fast food restaurant menus and figure out the WW points for the soft foods I can eat at them so I'll be better prepared in the future. I know the points of all the sandwiches, etc. but that does me no good when I can't eat those items.

Knowing how high the tea biscuit is may not deter me from having it in the future (it was wonderful!) but I need to plan for it in the future. I thought chili was only 2 points (that's what I recall from a WW meeting years ago) and it turned out to be 7.

My weight is down a bit to 168.5. So I'm heading in the right direction and that motivates me to keep up this program. My jaw is healing so I need to work on counting points carefully as I add more foods into my diet.

In other news, I'm trying to not drag my foot when I walk (nerve pinching by the disc creates a drop foot situation for me.) I'm normally fine, stumbling over my foot only a couple of times a week but on the treadmill I can hear the squeak of my shoe's sole along the rubber tread so I'm working on not hearing that squeak at all. I'm also working at 1% grade now instead of zero so I have to lift my foot more.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Well, yesterday was certainly an active day for me. Walked 4.25 miles in all, plus two hours of steady heavy house/yard work. I was sore when I went to bed but sleep renewed me.

I'm on the treadmill for about 30 minutes because we have between 4 and 5 hours in the car today. We are meeting up with friends we met on the ship last March. They are in Montreal, which is only 2 hours from here so we'll drive down to meet them for an afternoon visit and early dinner.

[Cowinkie]

Nancy.. Remember to work out major muscles every other day or upper body one day, lower body next. Your muscles need this time to recover, plus your body burns calories from weightlifting workout for 24-36hrs. This one reason trainers are so insistent about adding weights to workouts. Even 2lbs handweights will do. You can find plenty of easy workouts on YouTube. When I first started I could hardly lift the 5lbs weights now I use 10 to 12.5 lbs and I'm almost 62...yikes how did that happen!

I relaxed my eating for awhile. Was getting bored with what I was eating and that is a danger sign for me. Weight went up 2lbs but it was worth it. I am back on track and ready to go again. Yesterdays shopping served as a great motivator for me. I bought a sassy red form fitting dress that fits but would look even more smashing if were about 7 lbs lighter. I tried on pair of pants that were a little loose, but bought it down a size. By loosing another 7lbs the pants would be too big

I am going home for Xmas and no one has seen me this thin in a long time. While walking in the mall yesterday inept catching my reflection in the windows. It was nice to like what I saw; it's been a long while

[lucylee]

I think I can count yesterday's 15 min. scrubbing shower as exercise. It was certainly an upper-body workout, and I broke a sweat.