Health and Fitness September, 2012

[Harriet]

Thanks, Dove. HRH doesn't have hearing loss but ringing in the ears, and it's been suggested to him that he shouldn't take many antiinflammatory meds, because they might aggravate it. I wonder if the greater strength pain meds that are prescription are actually worse?

Tonight I did about 25 minutes of the Total workout.

[Harriet]

Loved this comic yesterday! So true.

The Smart Trip to the Pharmacy

[Nancy]

Waited for the smoke to clear out yesterday it never really did so I finally took a med. long walk at dusk with my big walking stick.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Hi all!

Back on the treadmill. No heart rate monitor attached, for now I will just try and move. Moving to lose weight will come much later.

I'm going 2.3 mph (compared to my usual 3.3) and only 1% incline instead of 2 - 5 (and 5 - 10 for my elevation workout song.)

Ivy: you and I sound the same height. I'm currently a 14 and weigh 164. Was a 16 at 170 - 180. I'm 5'4.5" Congrats on your weight loss. I'm just down from 181 but that was 2 years ago. I'm taking the slow loss route! My goal stated goal weight is 140 but my secret-in-my-head weight is 132. At that weight I actually start to feel slim and can see it on myself.

Harriet I checked out that sun altitude website. My days of making Vitamin D outside are now over (today the most it got to was 45 between 4:40 and 5:10. At least that was the time of day I was out walking yesterday. No sun today. I'm going to have to decide it I'm going to up my Vitamin D. I get at least 1500 a day between supplements and diet. I could add another 500 at bedtime.

Still haven't started the probiotics but will now that my insides seem to have settled down (I was crampy and gassy when I bought them, then discovered a side affect is that it can make a person crampy and gassy so put off starting them.)

I'm up to 19 minutes and have only walked .7 miles. My doctor will be pleased, she didn't want me pushing myself and finally thought to ask me how long it took me to walk a kilometer when I went out. My answer 15 - 20 minutes, let her know I was taking it easy so she said I could try walking. That was 2 weeks ago and I've only been out once since then (plus this morning.)

[Ivy]

Kathryn, You're 1" shorter than me. In 2009 I was about 218 Lbs. at the end of the year, so when 2010 came around, I started rotator cuff problems. It's a very, very long story, but was in PT for 11 months, had surgery on 11-9-10 and my "goal" was to get under 200 Lbs. before my surgery. I worked really hard and the day of surgery, they weigh you in your hospital gown. Their scales said 196.8 Lbs. I'll never forget it, although I had anesthesia after that! I just felt so proud to finally make it.

After that, my goal was to get to 175 Lbs., which I did earlier this year, but now I'm s-t-u-c-k between 168 - 172 Lbs. I know I've come a long way, have not too far to go, but want to, like you, go slow. When I've been doing the Epsons salts heat pack on my ear for 15-20 min., I've been walking during those times, which helps to deal with this predicament I'm in. Might as well earn endorphins, right?

Oh! Does probiotics make everybody crampy and gassy? My dr. told me to double up because of the antibiotics.

How is your hip doing, Kathryn, when you walk?

Nancy, I'm glad you walked! Do you ever do in-house walking? I do now because there's a cougar in our woods. I'm a wimp. I'm scared. So I don't go on long walks in the woods or away from the house now. Better to be safe.

Harriet, ringing in the ears is called Tinnitus. I have that and sorry that HRH has it. I read that it's true that anti-inflammatory drugs cause it and so does caffeine and stress. I read that if you listen to music, it helps the ear listen to the music, rather than the noise in the ear. TV helps, too. Some people do meditation to music to help it, too. I know, sometimes, I've seen ads for supplements to help it, but I don't know if they truly do.

I walked 30 min., plus extra that was uncounted. I am glad I did because of endorphins. I read once that endorphins meant "natural morphine" that was made in the brain and endorphins help control pain. I read that if you have hip, knee or ankle osteoarthritis, if you walk, the endorphins help control the pain. Boy, it's hard sometimes to get to the get up and "go" point though. Especially if you're tired and it's a cold morning. It seems, for me, the first 1 - 1 1/2 hours is the "challenge" time for me. After that, I'm okay, pretty much. Had to go off baby aspirin and arthritis medication because it caused painful gastritis, so just use Acetaminophen now. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. I feel better for it though. The side effects of the arthritis med said it could cause stomach bleeding, ulcers, stroke and death. I was so scared of all that, so now I'm glad I don't take them and just need a hot shower, stretching, and walking around to help. Isn't it remarkable how all of our bodies are different and we all have something? We're different, yet we're the same.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

The hip was no worse or better with the treadmill yesterday and is only a little better today. I'm on the treadmill again.

Downloaded a pedometer program for my smart phone and walked 820 steps yesterday. Hmmmm, that gives you all an idea of how much I'm off my 'normal.' Of course, that didn't include my treadmill in the morning (or getting ready.) I don't have a holder for the phone so I can't easily carry it with me all the time. Plus it eats battery badly so I'll probably spent the $$ and get a pedometer when I'm out today. Then I'll be including my treadmill walking in my daily step count.

I also downloaded a WW point tracker program and set it up. Didn't bother to count points for the day (by the time breakfast was over, I had 9 points left for the day!) Slowly, I'll get back to using it regularly and that might restart weight loss.

In the meantime, the goal is to recover my muscle mass and endurance. I have my heart rate monitor on and it shows that my rate is 130 - 155 bpm even though I'm only walking 2.4 mph. I have a slight 'glow' but am not perspiring. I'll have to remember to ask the doctor about this although I'll experiment more with the HRM since the transmitter doesn't seem to be working properly (it only is working with my wrist band, not the reader on the treadmill, and even then, my arm has to be in front of my heart.)

[Lynlee]

Kathryn - my dd was in US late June early July - a week each at NY, Boston, San Francisco. And has been sick ever since - and her liver is acting up - no cause found as yet. (though her liver was affected 20 yrs ago with glandular fever to need hospitalisation) Very anemic despite iron sups and meat meals. bit flu-y with it that keeps kicking back in. Fatigue. Can't do the gym/pilates that normally keeps her back ok.
Wondering if you both have a similar bug.

[Nancy]

I have to go down stairs to rotate eggs so that will be some walking and
helping w/ h. putting wire on the chicken run. I did 1 mi. yesterday out side. I can tell I'm not walking as much but it's SO smokey. I HAVE to get on the ex. bike!

[Ivy]

I need to get back into the habit of walking 30 min. a day and not having more than 1 healthy snack in the evening; or just go without the evening snack altogether. I need to get back into the habit of having 3 fruits a day, for my eye health, too. Ophthalmologist said the study showed 3 fruits daily, dark green veggies or leafy dark green veggies, fish oil capsules daily or fish 2 - 3 times weekly are good, too. I have dry form age-related macular degeneration, so take special eye vitamins and follow this diet. Weight loss has been good for my eyes, too, because it means blood circulates through the eyes better, too. I don't smoke, which is bad for the eyes, too. Soon, I'll get the verdict if my dry form has turned to wet form or not. Hopefully it's not turned yet, but if it has, there are eye injections, which help preserve the eye sight. I'm glad of that. Eye sight is such a true blessing.

[Nancy]

I got a walk in this morning the smoke had cleared out to a light haze.