Health and Fitness September, 2012

[Harriet]

I credit Indiana for helping me come up with a fridge-front tracking system that was more fun. We drew a simple coloring-book-style image (my favorite was a daisy with stem, 2 leaves, center, and 10 petals) and colored it in through the day, one part per habit, to visualize how close we were to a perfect day. That seems silly, but when you burn out on record-keeping it can jump-start you with the whimsy of it. And nobody knows why you are coloring in a picture on your refrigerator.

SHEM - "Life is good." - Indiana

[Ivy]

Hi! I try to walk 30 minutes a day, doctor's orders and he said I can have 1 day off per week.

In 1992 I weighed 280 Lbs. and this morning I was 171.3 Lbs. I'm in a size 16, on my way to a 14.

I follow the guidelines of a diet from my ophthalmologist. I have dry form macular degeneration. Studies showed that eating at least 3 fruits daily, dark green and/or leafy vegetables 5 times a week, taking fish oil capsules or eating fish twice a week can help your vision. I ate Greek yogurt for breakfast, which had fruit in it and then I ate a large banana. DH cut up some melon last night and I have some canned peaches in the refrigerator.

People ask me how I lost the weight. I lost 109 Lbs. from walking more, doing housework more, cutting out watching 4 or so soap operas, cut out long naps, cut out mounds of ice cream on large slices of cakes and binging on cookies, etc... I still "allow" myself to have sweets occasionally so I don't get into the diet mentality, get obsessed, then rebel and go binge. I write my food down daily in a notebook, too. I also write down how many minutes I've walked.

I feel more energy, less osteoarthritis pain and I feel better about myself, inside my mind and heart. When you're obese, other people can be cruel, I remember that, so I respect my obese friends and give them encouragement, too. Pounds can sneak up on anybody and it's sad that in today's society, being overweight is so frowned upon in a mean way. I give anyone credit who is on a weight loss journey and a journey to healthier eating, too.

Good Luck to you All!

[Harriet]

That's a great success, Ivy. Excellent diet, too, and interesting that it is the one recommended by an eye doctor. You may already know about the supplement, Astaxanthin, here's a link, which is supposed to be good for helping macular degeneration. It's available in pink seafood in trace amounts, too. There are no side effects. I agree some people can be very critical of someone who is overweight.

[OKay]

Harriet - Thank you for sharing the picture concept for tracking. I love the idea of creating a flower by doing healthy habits each day.

Ivy - your success is amazing! Congratulations!

[Nancy]

Walked today in two parts first part got a tour of a chicken pen made my day to talk with a gal as excited about them as I am!

This afternoon it was hot 88* and felt like ninety when I finished up the last ten min of my walk for today.

Then we did some shopping after dinner and I did a lap around the w-mart for good measure.

[Nancy]

Mowing and a long walk was my ex. today.

[Harriet]

Guys, remember you may still have time in your area (in the western hemisphere) to get some vitamin D-producing sunshine. The US Naval Observatory gives a site that computes for you the sun azimuth by degrees so that you can see what times of day the sun is at an angle that allows our skin to make its own vitamin D (50 degrees or greater).

USNO Sun and Moon Azimuth Table

You just put in state and town, OR for places outside the US, fill in longitude and latitude in section "B". Hit the link to compute your table, then read down the middle "altitude" list to find degrees above 50. The times are on the left. For instance, I can see that for my area, from 10:40 through 14:00 (2:00) the sun will be at 50 degrees or higher today. But my window of opportunity will slowly continue to close to nothing by sometime in very early October - table shows about October 5 here.

Have done the Basic workout yesterday and today.

[Twins' Mom]

Thanks for the reminder, Harriet, when I had bloodwork last Nov or Dec my vitamin D was low. I've taken a supplement since. I know I do get some exposure most days here in the summer, but after skin cancer I don't need additional purposeful exposure. Even tho I was at the beach week before last, I use very strong sunscreen and am mostly under an umbrella. I also get some Vitamin D from milk, but apparently not enough.

[Nancy]

Walked at the farm for my exercise today.
It's not so smokey here now.
Hardly any at the farm that was good.

[Dove]

Hi everyone. I'm not sure if this was already mentioned in PWYC, but the last few days I've read some articles about a link between taking OTC Rx like Advil & hearing loss. Here's a link to one of the articles:

http://www.everydayhealth.com/pain-mana ... d%3D205845