Health and Fitness, August 2013

[Harriet]

I think changing to different types of bras for different days is wise. I am so spoiled by my cross-in-the-back-strap bras that keep me from having to think about falling straps, but I realize they are not always the most comfortable in other ways.

Very happy for my dd33, who is sticking with an alternating way-of-eating and 15 mins of T-Tapp. She is wildly busy with her work, 3 kiddos and her home. But she seems to be doing so well.

I have not been able to focus on health and fitness well since my ddad's death. There always seem to be so many other priorities that doing things for myself or my health seem trivial. Always a deadline coming up, that sort of thing. I keep starting. Maybe one of the "starts" will "take".

[Nancy]

I've done my time on the ex. bike today heading out in a bit.

[Ivy]

Walked 15 - 20 minutes, then was so very, very busy while DD was here, putting books away, etc... Am in so much pain this evening, don't know why, but got up with 1 achy leg, but then it was fine all day, the guys got home from Oregon and my pain started in. I may have been "stressed" while they were gone several hours on a long drive and stress = pain in FM.

[Harriet]

Baby-stepping tomorrow with rubber-bands around my drinking glass again to count pints one by one. An apple for breakfast. A smoothie with berries for brunch so that I can easily take vitamins then. Maybe if we have occasion to go out (and grocery is likely), a fast-food sandwich well chosen, trying to stay at 300 calories. That would be 500 calories, allowing me to choose something wise for supper and stay within a modest limit.

I've had tomato sandwiches a lot. That is a good thing. With family here, we have actually run out of sandwich bread and Duke's mayo, both vital.

Internet dependency thoughts -

At this point, my online nutrition counter of all these years, My Calorie Counter at Everyday Health, has still never recovered from their attempt to "improve". The best I can figure, any previous information of mine is completely lost, and it is unable to make a new set of pages for me. I see no evidence anyone else is able to access old or new pages either, unless some may be just giving up and starting over with new accounts. I stated my problem - among several others' same posts - in their "help and support" area and none of us ever got any response. Also no one contacted me privately. I made another post noting that we needed a response from one of the "Community Managers" because no help was coming, and it was quietly deleted. So I would say that the site - which was highly thought-of for years - has turned into a place I need to say, AVOID. Right now I'm not in the market for a new site anyway. I've learned a lot about estimation and I'll just use one-item look-up when I need it and simplify.

Another site I had found helpful announced they were going to glean old info from before Jan, 2010. They gave no effective date for the gleaning. Within a few days, though, they changed their minds and just deleted everything before Aug 2012, so that everyone lost an additional 1 year 8 months of record-keeping, info, etc. Lousy moderation - really thoughtless.

So I'm taking these two events as a sign that I need to stop relying on the internet for nutrition or health record-keeping or any calculating. The T-Tapp site still seems to be well moderated for all kinds of exercise and fitness questions and has lost very little data for a decade, so I'm happy for them.

[Lynlee]

Harriet - I'll join you in attempting to up my water intake. I have lost the plot on this over the last 2 months.
So sorry about the failure of online record keeping sites.

[Nancy]

I kept track of meal time foods this weekend and was able to get enough fruit & veggies & fiber so that was great for me [us].

[Ivy]

I stretched and walked 15 min. in the house, but kitty cat was lying on the rug partially hidden by the dining room table, so I accidentally stepped on her paw. She meowed and is now shy of me. She's walking just fine, let me pet her and she seems okay, but with my eyes.... ....... occasionally I ran amiss and step on the cat. I'll try to be more careful from now on. She was in the shade, too, I was in the sunshine coming in through the window, so I was sort of blinded by that, and I feel SO BAD!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Back on treadmill after taking time off over the weekend. Biked first because it was warm enough (yesterday was in the 40s - no thank you!)

Saturday was energetic and I finished the rest of the housework started on Friday. Sunday was Sunday - two services with a lunch in between.

Yesterday was a holiday in Ontario so I took a day mostly off. Did cook (I don't always do that!) but worked on planning a trip instead of the stuff I should have done.

Ds is proposing a movie on Thursday so I need to write two sermons by then which means a lot more sitting.

[Harriet]

I improved my water-memory. I only improved on rubber-band memory a little bit, so I'm still not positive of my intake, but I think it was 4 pints.

I improved my veggie-fruit intake. 1/2 large apple. a few berries. broccoli. navy beans. toss salad. = 5

Vitamin and supplement intake is a little better.

Still exercise eluded me. Obviously this is mental. I am having a half-thought run through my mind when I consider exercising that is very negative. Something about guilt that there is so much to do otherwise that I "should" spend my time otherwise - vaguely to do with my parents' estates/possessions. Also some kind of feeling that I haven't exercised in a while so why start now. As I said, negative yet also doesn't make good common sense.

We discussed something like this on January 22, 2013. This was what I said then.

What an interesting chat you started, Harmony.

Kathryn, you did a good job of describing that "major focus/back burner" see-saw. I do feel it's a recurring theme in my life, too. I recognize a need and rightly turn my attention toward it. However, I'm a busy woman. That turn of attention takes its toll, and some other areas of life "slip". You were able to point to specific moments very well. I can look back at a roller-coaster of my parents' health that took my weight along with it - slimming down when eldercare calmed or when there was an immediate crisis, putting on the pounds during long, hard hauls like my mother's radiation treatments or downward cognitive spirals for my ddad.

I think it's the actual quantity of time to think, but also the quality of the thinking. I can't (or is it that I won't) give my best thinking to anything on that "back burner" when I perceive something important (or just immediate) as a "major focus".

I give up on trying to remember where I have been with weight at different times recently (I weigh and forget to record). I know that I was at 154.5 one day not long before my ddad's death, and considered that okay, having not hit my "alarm mark" of 155, although I would like to see it closer to 150. At that time, I remember I was trying to cut myself some slack about it because there had been a lot of stress about my ddad's well-being even then. Well, believe me, it shot up. Today 161.5, a gain of 7 more. So the alarm on my scale has been going off like crazy and I've been too preoccupied to hear it. Well, I guess I've heard it. I can't seem to listen.

So the answer to how fast I can gain weight is 7 pounds in about a month. I'm sure you guys remember the answer to how fast I can lose - 8 months to lose that 10 pounds in 2012. I realize some of this is probably water weight, plus I shouldn't take a weight so soon after a big social/sleepover weekend so seriously.

Dstepson dropped by after work yesterday for a very sensible reason and stayed to watch one television program with his ddad. This completely stopped me from healthy habits and I have no idea why. He is no trouble, a very calm visitor.

[Nancy]

Back on track today I did a med. long walk this morning.