Health and Fitness, March 2013

[Harriet]

Making March Measure Up

Measurement - how do "measurements" of one kind or another impact your care for your health and fitness?

As we measure the year, we are 1/6th through already, which is almost hard to believe.

As we all measure the temperatures outside we'll find that some more temperate days for outdoor activities will be coming up before this month is through.

We may measure ourselves outwardly in various ways.

We may measure "inside" with tracking of bloodwork or other numbers or just keeping a note of how we feel.

We may measure what goes into our mouths, or how far our feet may carry us, or perhaps even how heavy a weight we lift.

We may measure the calendar time until a goal moment, or days of forming a Healthy Habit.

What have you measured lately? And do you have a good way to keep track of that measure?
What measureing habit will you decide to take up?

[Ivy]

I walked 30 min., but DH bought jumbo muffins and I ate one. I can counteract that, with healthy eating the rest of today and perhaps actively doing some housework.

[Harriet]

February report for me - the first half was good, the second half better. The last 12 days of the month were perfect on my checkoff chart of 14 Healthy Habits, so my refrigerator looks NICE. Not taking that card down for a while either.

March goal is ... drumroll... keep doing that.

I do measure myself, literally. I did that this morning, because it is a sixth of the way through the year. Actually, tomorrow morning or the next would work for that mark, too, since Feb is such a short month.

My doctor's office will measure me inside later this month with bloodwork. I don't really do any diary-ing to measure how I feel, but I know it's a smart idea. This elliptical thing measures heart rate but so far I can't figure out where you read it. Gotta look at the instructions.

Sometimes I measure what goes into my mouth, lol. Not with a food scale or anything so exacting. But I do write down what I eat and count veggies/fruits. In trying to learn from Dr. Sears' plan recently I've been considering protein-to-carb ratios. (His preferred ratio to ease inflammation is 9 carb grams for every 7 grams of protein, so 18 to 14, and 27 to 21)

Measuring how long on the calendar until a Calendar Event is something I like, because it gives a goal. The doctor's appt might be one for me this month, also a bridal shower with dfirstinlaws. (oh, yuck, just dawns on me that that will probably be a socially competitive moment. downer.)

If anyone wants to have a Calendar Event Goal that will just be for personal fun, consider that 36 days from now is Friday the 5th of April, National Take a Chance Day in the US. Maybe fun to build up stamina enough to take a chance on a new physical challenge. Or maybe fun to shape up enough in 36 days to wear something in the closet that's been out of the comfort zone a while.

[Nancy]

I need to make a measurable difference in my water intake that's my goal!

[Harmony]

I need to make a measurable difference by the end of May dr. appt. I am starting out back up I quit weighing every day, learned that was a BAD mistake.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

I'm here. Showing up.

The knees went out 3 weeks ago and I've not exercised much since then. A few times on the Nordic trak (therefore not posting here because I don't to use my computer there.) One walk to the general store, on Friday, which my knees let me know was a bad idea but they didn't completely fail like they did when I climbed the pile of snow.

I weighed myself a few times. Towards the end of the month the weight started to rise because the less activity I did, the worse my diet got. No reason for that at all. I wasn't in enough pain to be eating to calm my tummy, it was just that with the loss of one good habit the rest went by the wayside.

There may be something wrong with me since I'm getting multiple signs something is wrong but I'm not sick with anything common if I am sick. Just strange smelling urine and exhaustion again. I will go for blood work after choir tomorrow.

I'm on the treadmill today. It is hard to walk fast enough to keep my heart rate up without hurting my knees.

[Nancy]

Yesterday my exercise was yard work. Mild weather cloudy not much sun did not hold me back, today is very windy so glad I did that yd. work when I did!

[Harriet]

I was going to reply about anxiety.

In checking the net to make sure I had my facts straight on the B vitamins, I ran across this article that is so clear and extensive it beats anything I would have said. Amen to the Vitamin D part. It is by the author of this book, The Antianxiety Food Solution, which seems to be very well thought of, with impressive remarks from other noted authors, doctors, etc.

Kathryn, I'm so sorry you're not feeling up to par. Thinking of your kidneys in case it is anything about them that is causing the odor, drinking plenty of water will flush them of course, and celery is supposed to be so good for the kidneys. Azo or other brand test strips would keep you apprised in case a UTI were starting.

Nancy, how are you doing on your water?

Harmony, I've just given up on anything except minding the morning daily weigh-in. Without it, upward trends can happen. And in very little time, too!

I still haven't invented the Automatic Scale Alarm for maintaining weight. Well, I've invented it, I just don't have the technological skill to implement it. I did invent the Manually Operated Scale Flag. Some who have watched Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory will remember that he designed a flag with a rampant lion on it for the apartment, which is mounted on the refrigerator. When the apartment is in distress, he turns the flag upside-down. My invention would have a flag mounted either on the fridge or at the eye-height above the scale, depending upon how private you wanted your Scale Flag to be. If the scale tells you your weight has risen above the goal or goal range, the flag has to be turned upside-down and can't be turned right again until the distress is over. So if you made a flag with the image of a cute puppy dog picture and put it on your refrigerator, you'd have to answer for it when you turned it upside down.

"Why is this cute puppy dog upside down?" your friends or family would say, turning it over. "Sorry", you'd have to answer, "But he can't sit up straight until I get this weight back off." I figure it could be pretty motivating. Anything or anybody that bugs you while upside-down would make a great image for your Scale Flag. A vase of flowers, a hot air balloon, a watering can, a giraffe, Johnny Depp.

[Nancy]

Have water sipping while I post I"m trying out the new kind of crystal lite liquid water additives only I'm getting the ones with vits. & minerals.

No exercise for me yesterday first day in a long time I did not do that. It was SO windy I did not got outside much. I got groc. so a bit of walking and shopping I suppose.

No ex. bike I was not feeling all that well.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

I love the Manual Scale Alarm. Considering implementing it here.

I have an old-fashioned, new, scale. I wanted the one like the doctor's offices have but 1) they are hard to get and 2) they cost a fortune. But I ditched the electronic scale when I discovered that it's tolerance was under 2 lbs. So if the weight of the person getting on the scale was within two pounds of the weight of previous user (be it you or someone else), it would display the same weight again. (It displayed 5ths of a pound so I had no idea I wasn't getting an accurate reading but if I was 165.2 one day and 166.4 the next, it would display 165.2 because the gain was under 2 lbs.)

I was frustrated with how I had only 'big' jumps/drops with it but I was doing WW so thought my weight was moving in large increments. Then dh started to use the scale and suddenly, my weight was EXACTLY the same as his! Suspicious, we did some experiments and learned that since he was within 2 lbs of me, as long as we stayed that close in weight, the scale would register the same. To get my own weight, I had to get on the scale carrying over 2lbs of weights (so my 1 pound hand weights weren't enough), get off, put the weights down, and reweigh myself.

The new scale has a giant round dial. Around the edges are coloured tabs and you can use a tab for each person (providing their weights are quite different) or, in my case, I have three tabs, one for high water mark, one for goal, one for actual. They slide around the outside of the dial giving me a visual indication of where I'm heading. I only move the tab if there is a big jump, my daily (or every few day) readings are on a calendar on the wall above the scale.

Big drop in weight this morning. After working out on Sunday, I weighed myself and was 173. This morning, I was 168 (three times!) FWIW, I had pizza on Saturday for dinner (but only 2 of the three slices bought for me.) Oh, and some onion rings.

Since Sunday morning I've made the following changes:

1. green tea, at least 16 oz, each morning.
2. cut gluten back
3. drink more water (and I have to drink way more because my green tea has caffeine so doesn't count towards my water numbers like decaf tea does.)
4. exercised Sunday and Monday.

All of these were significant but I found when I wasn't exercising, I wasn't drinking "water" (decaf drinks) so was only getting 8 glasses a day, 3 of decaf tea, 2 - 3 of milk, and 2 of plain water. When I exercise, I tend to have 4 glasses of plain water before I even have my tea or milk in the morning.

Skipped exercising today because of my knees. Did drink 2 glasses of water before my green tea.

On the Measuring for March theme: I did blood work yesterday. I've been worried about how tired I am. My liver enzymes are normal. My TSH is out of range at 5.09 mIU/L. Upper limit is 5.0 according to our lab but since 2002 the recommendation is the upper limit be 3 so I'm showing indications of hypothyroidism. This is not the first time it was out of range but when I asked the doctor "How is my thyroid?" she said it was fine (she forgot that I have copies of my blood work so knew bloody well it wasn't 'fine'.) I didn't press her then because I was dealing with liver stuff but I will start pressing her now. I've been blaming the exhaustion on my hepatitis, but it might be the thyroid.