Health and Fitness, March 2013

[Harriet]

I am thrilled to hear the liver enzymes are ordinary and I hope they stay so boring you and doctors yawn when speaking of them.

Happy for your loss.

Pizza - even two slices - on the day before a high weight, is suspicious as the dickens. At this stage in my life, I've never loved pizza more, and never been negatively affected by it more. Immediate water retention. I smell pizza, I inflate.

Thyroid - My Gen Practitioner prescribed Armour Thyroid for me after seeing 2 straight blood readings at 3.5 TSH, because his lab's reference range goes from .3 to 3. I'm not shocked by numbers over 5, Kathryn, because one of my readings was, too. Bloodwork done by the hormone doctor was once over 5 during that time, but since my Gen Prac had already prescribed, the hormone doctor was fine with the 30 mg dosage. That dosage reduced my TSH number to the 1 or 1.5 range, which was acceptable. The only reason the hormone dr later advised increasing the dosage to 60 mg was because of his suspicions that hypothyroidism was still affecting my ability to keep my weight from see-sawing. Now I am routinely under 1, at .7 or .8, which of course is as normal according to the ranges as when I was between 1 and 1.5. Like most sufferers of hypothyroidism, I cannot report that weight control became easy. We can only report we've corrected one problem that was holding us back, not all of them.

My Manually Operated Scale Flag right now is a German Shepard on a white ground. He's upside down but should be righted after a (hopefully) swift correction. So far, nobody pays him any attention but me, lol.

[Nancy]

I've done 10 mi. on the ex. bike today.

[OKay]

With the sharing of TSH and weight loss combination, I found myself almost hoping that might be causing my weight gain. Nope. I just looked at previous blood work results and my RSH results are within limits (1.6)

Well. Drat. That means my weight gain comes from eating too much and/or not exercising enough.

On the other hand - how DARE I be disappointed that no medical condition is causing it.

I am a healthy 57 year old with all the tools available to change my weight.

[Harriet]

OKay, I'm thinking that RSH was a typo, and you meant TSH, or is that actually a different test? Assuming TSH, I'm happy for you that that's one thing you don't have to think about.

However, even though you do indeed have all the tools needed to change your weight, remember that it's well proven that it's much more difficult to maintain healthy body weight now than it was in the past, and don't beat yourself up. Toxins have changed things, as have never-before-encountered foodstuffs like high fructose corn syrup and grains that are substantially changed from those our parents ate. This doesn't even take into account the current "portion sizes" (deliberate) confusion when we eat out. I heard an interview with Dr. Richard Johnsin, the doctor who wrote the new book Fat Switch, and he was telling how processed food manufacturers add HFCS to items whose recipes would never normally contain a sweetener, because in taste tests it would get people, in confusion, to think that product tasted better, somehow, than its competitors.

Well, yesterday I had to think very carefully before checking off the "Mostly God Made" square on my Healthy Habits card. I had a serving of ice cream that was a little too large for comfort. But since the rest of the day was all God-Made and a lot of it fresh/raw, I decided I made it by the skin of my teeth. Need to watch that.

Nancy, I hope you're feeling better. Good for you keeping up with miles on the bike. I'm still trying to get an accurate heart rate from the elliptical. You can't get a heart rate reading until you remove your hands from the "ski" moving handholds and place your thumbs on the heart rate pads, then wait, until it cycles through info to heart rate. So that by the time you get a number, it's probably not accurate any more! Also it alternates with other info, with only a tiny asterisk to show the difference and it's tough to see. At this point, I probably need dd to stand with me and look at the instructions and help me learn/see it.

Yesterday I did work out on the elliptical, the day before that Zumba. Should be T-Tapp today.

[Nancy]

I've done a couple mi. on the ex. bike this morning. Will finish that set in a bit.

[Ivy]

I just ordered a hardcover book on Zumba with an accompanying beginner's Zumba DVD. I thought I'd give it a try, since I've heard very good things about Zumba.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

On the treadmill today. Skipped anything on Tuesday because I wanted to not stress the knees too much and yesterday because of my physio appointment. I figure I have the tools for the knees now so want to see if they'll help correct any setback from the treadmill.

She wasn't too impressed with my three exercise choices because swimming would be best but I have three machines at home and, as I've said before, I don't swim as much as 'not drown.' So to drive 30 minutes to the nearest pool, undress out of all my clothes, swim, s2s in a grungy environment, dry and style my hair in an unfamiliar environment, and then put on coat and boots and drive 30 minutes home is not a winning form of exercise, when I can simply put on my heart rate monitor, shoes, and pedometer and walk into the next room (1 minute) and workout in my PJs while on the computer, and then s2s in my own bathroom which is far from grungy and far more private. I get a better workout in just the time it takes to drive to/from a pool.

Once I move to the apartment, I'll have to go downstairs anyway to work out so using the pool vs their machines isn't as big a deal (and there is an indoor passage to the pool complex so I don't have worry about doing a full shower if I just want to rinse off and shower at home.)

Anyway, I'm working on how to add 3 rounds of physio to my daily routine since icing for 10 minutes is part of that (so I have to sit still). Last night I swapped stretching and icing since I've been icing as I go to sleep anyway. Today, I'm working out, will do my regular stretches, then ice for 10 minutes and do the knee stretches.

[OKay]

POTB to the Zumba participates!

RSH was a typo. I really need to read over what I write before hitting submit. I'm sorry for the confusion.

So many knowledgeable people recommend to not weigh everyday. After seeing that recommendation over and over I decided to try to. So I quit weighing every day and once again discovered that it is a huge mistake for me. I weighed yesterday and was not happy with what the scales said. Today's weight was 2.6 lbs less. Which one is a blooper? When i weigh everyday I know. Lesson learned. I need to weigh everyday. I have to weigh everyday. I want to weigh everyday.

[Nancy]

I finished my ex. bike miles last evening for yesterday.
Today I've done half of it will be heading in to do more of that in a bit.

[Ivy]

Kathryn, I'm not a swimming pool, dressing room, showers in public sort of person myself. You're not alone on that front.

I walked 30 min. on the phone today, quickly. My weight's been the same for 3 days, which was down 1.1 Lbs. since 4 days ago. I'm satisfied with this.

Tomorrow, I plan on doing some housework for some of my activity and walk, too. I need to slowly build up on the recumbent bike. My podiatrist and PT said to do 5 min. a day for a week, then 10 min. for week #2, 15 min. for week #3, etc.... I'd love ♥ to build up to a full half hour daily or every other day.

I was thinking of this sort of plan:
Daily: Stretches, walking 30 min. (It's my dr.'s orders.)
Every other day: Do Zumba beginner tape
Every other day: Do biking 1/2 hour
And get back into the habit of occasionally doing my Tapp Core routine, sit-down hoe-downs, and my Pilates/Yoga DVD for 20 min.
It's a good goal to have before my 43rd wedding anniversary on Sept. 5. I enjoy using milestone dates, as goal dates, because I'm better able to remember them.