Health and Fitness June 2014

[Cowinkie]

Everything seems to be stuck including my weight. Made an appointment for tomorrow to visit my nutritionist. I'm working way too hard not to see better results that what my wacky scale is showing.

At least I can get my vitamin B12 shots started up again. This is the gal that helped me with my hormonal imbalance last year. The doc's office that she worked in last year closed down after 22 years due to Obmacare, so she is now working in the medical spa side of the business. She knows my history so I don't have to start all over trying to figure things out.

Did not go to the gym today...too much I wanted to do in the house, so will do my own thing here. Staying on my plan although I did cheat yesterday. Are a cup of rice, was over my limit on almonds and drank 3 real diet sodas...plus I ate more chicken than I should. Weird kind of cheat hunnn??? Oh, and I only drank 48 ozs of water. Worked outside for close to 5 hours...swam 3 times...and thats what I'm counting as exercise....Sunday is my rest day anyway

[Ivy]

I BLEW MY FOOD PLAN YESTERDAY!!!!

I think it was because:
1- It was my very last day, counting calories in my 10-week-long Calorie King Food & Exercise Journal.
2- DGS is here, so his & DH's food is the "indulging" type.
3- I did not count any calories yesterday.
4- I ate the wrong foods for me, too much of them, & too often.

I was bloated last night, have been running to use the restroom all day, my ankle hurts, & I'VE TURNED IT AROUND TODAY! YEAH!!!

So, I'm starting OVER as of this a.m., am keeping track of foods/drinks/calories. I know this was a little setback- or "celebration"? Ten weeks of counting, 1 day off, seems to not be a horrid thing. BECAUSE I got back on track & will STAY there! Hoping, the last day in THIS book, I'll not take that day off, too!

[Harriet]

I'm working way too hard not to see better results

Cowinkie, take a day off. I know, it's just an awful thought. I know, you may spend the whole day wishing for exercise. You may feel so lazy, plus it's counter-intuitive. But working 5 hours outside and going for a swim 3 times is not a day off. So take a critical look and look back through your days - how long since you rested for a full day without an activity your body assumed was continued workouts? No, really, when was it? Give your muscles the full cycle, don't be stingy with them. Give them the rest part of their cycle, too.

There is such a thing as visible swelling because of the moisture surrounding the muscle tissue while it recuperates - I'm not making this up! This is why measurements taken the morning after evening exercise can be disappointing. This is why exercisers are often surprised to hear more compliments following some rest days than during consecutive days of training when they thought they would really shape up. They are shaping up, but their fatigued muscles just won't let the body show it for awhile.

A rule of thumb for measuring after my type of workouts is to work out one morning, take at least the next day completely off, and measure just before the next workout. Some trainers suggest an extra day in there, even, to get the best chance of recording change accurately. I've seen the difference myself.

Glad you'll have a chance at starting B-12. Check out the sublingual tablets after the initial shot, too, unless it is just easier for you to get a shot a month than to remember tablets. HRH is just NOT a shot person so the sublingual has been great for him and his level is back to ideal.

[Harriet]

A joke is on me! I did the same workout tonight. Is is not 40 minutes - it is an hour and 20 minutes! Good gravy! Just because I had read online a post in which another exerciser mentioned the 40 minutes, I believed it! Tonight it was so obvious that it was more and so I checked. So that begs the question - where was my brain yesterday? :lol: I guess because dd was exercising with me part of the time yesterday I was distracted. No wonder she dropped out on me - she must have thought I was a meanie. Also I guess you have to do so much thinking with this one - so much instruction to take in - that I had a high interest level in it.

Or... ... perhaps I am ditsy!

I have recently upped my water now that the heat is such a big part of our days.
Noticing my face is very soft - yay.

[Cowinkie]

Harriet ... I never work the upper and lower parts of my body on the same day ... I always alternate as my trainer taught me to do a while back. Not a problem with cardio which I limit twosome degree depending on my day.

I took yesterday as a rest day. I like my classes but not sure a favorite will be offered on Wednesdays so that maybe my natural day off As well.

I need to add some fiber to what I am eating and adding an apple a day is a good idea for me. Sometimes dairy will stall me out so I will limit what I use in my coffee and and more by a supplement.

Went to see my gal today... Her comment to me is I was ten lbs lighter than last year which pleased her. Among other things she does at the med spa is to offer the newest in weight loss programs. She reviewed the newest program with me and much to her surprise and mine I might add I was already earning just like it including the salad dressing that is recommended. I had to laugh cause the program cost around $400 so I am way ahead of the game in many ways.

She does want me to have some routine lab testa which I am glad to do and I am now back on my B shots. There's something else that natural in them that may help increase my metabolism, but for now I am just going to make the above adjustments and see what happens. I really love this gal... She is smart, compassionate and very understanding.

Also discovered that the women wellness gal that I loved from the clinic that closed is now working at my gen PA office. How cool is that ... I am a happy camper

[Ivy]

When I blew my food plan the other day, it caused Gastritis to become nearly impossible to live with. I ate real good on the Gastritis diet today, called my Dr., will see him later in the week & I know I'm doing something proactive for this acid, belching, pain, gas, etc... In the wee a.m. hours, I had acid reflux & threw up a bit on my nightie (TMI!!!) in the bathroom. Anyway, I'm a bit scared about what's going to be done to me, especially when I get referred to the Gastric Dr. b/c tests looking down into the stomach aren't fun. BUT thank God for medications they give us patients nowadays, for the compassionate health care workers, & bless their hearts. It cannot be a fun job for them either, day in & day out. But these people who administer tests are so sweet & awesome to patients who are scared. The Gastric Dr.'s in our area are super. Been to 3 locally over the past several years, since 2002. So, I'm glad they are the types of people they are, putting patients' fears to rest. I feel like I'm in good hands.

I just want to be healthy again, feel good, & not have these terrible symptoms. It's making my walking & exercise program go down the tubes, b/c I feel so bad a lot of the time. So dishes, laundry & housework have become my activity for the day. At least I get 1 hour in, of which I'm grateful, too.

Yes, I've lost weight, but this is NOT the fun way to do it. The strained Greek plain yogurt from Costco is the greatest one for me right now. I feel better after eating it. I can't believe tomorrow's Wed.! Good luck on your health & fitness, Everyone!

[Cowinkie]

Ivy... I would imagine if eating foods that are so hard on your body that that in its self would keep you from eating them... Course if it were me I might be tempted to try them from time to time. Bread doesn't make me sick, but it certainly makes my scale turn upwards. I know this but still do it.

I am down today what I've been up. Drinking my coffee this morning without the dairy. There was a time I drank my coffee black so it's not too hard to do. I have my grapefruit prepared and waiting for me.

Did 2.5 miles on my gazelle and floor exercises yesterday. Drank 60 ozs of water too. Today is my easy day. Don't know how the diet bet will go... It will be close that's for sure. Won't play during the month of July because I'll be traveling and on vacation. I get home on a Thur and the following Thur I leave to visit my son in Dallas.

Neither my mom or son know what I am doing so I am sure they will be surprised and pleased with my results.

[Ivy]

I did "Sit & Be Fit" PBS workout this a.m. for 1/2 hour. The standing part seemed to go well on my ankles w/o those ankle braces. She's very gentle in what she presents to viewers to do. Used soup cans for weights, as suggested by my P. T. b/c of the shoulder surgery, & did standing push-ups, calf & leg stretches, etc...., too. It was a Very Good workout. I used to do it years ago, when I was obese & over-medicated. At least I did that, along with a lot of other exercising, although I was still obese. I never gave up the exercise, regardless if a boy driving by would see me and yell, "What a big fat ugly B_ _ _ ch!" Anyway, I'm glad that never happened again. When it happened, I just said a quick prayer for him, then let it "go". It's sad how others judge the obese, even when they're out walking & trying the best they can! It's a good thing to move & if someone's obese & is moving, all the more POWER TO THEM!

I'm going to look up to see if I can find the "Sit & Be Fit" newsletter on-line. It was advertised on TV, but I didn't write the snail mail address down. If it's available via email, it'll be GR8!

Anyway, I feel good for moving, am glad my ankles held up, too.

Yes, Cowinkie, staying away from "bad" foods is a good thing, however, I'm still having problems regardless of how healthy & good my diet it. Something's going "on", be it stress, bacteria or whatever, I just don't know yet. Was up at 3:15 a.m., with acid, belching, burping, on the verge of throwing up, so got up to take Generic Zantac & thyroid pill. This generic Z. doesn't have calcium in it & the pharmacist said I can mix it with the thyroid med. So when I get up 4 hours later, I get to have yogurt, which has calcium in it. It soothes my stomach so much!

[Cowinkie]

Ivy...
A long time ago I met a woman walking up a street while I was headed the other way.. At that time speed walking was my form of exercise. I don't know why we got to talking, but we did.

At the end of the street where her drive way met the road sat two buckets. One bucket was empty and the other was filled with rocks about the size of nickels. These buckets were so out of place that I asked the woman what they were doing there. She told me the rocks in the bucket were her counters and then went on to tell me about her bucket of rocks.

When the woman first decided to started walking, she was so obese she could hardly walk from the front step of her house to the end of her driveway. Her goal she said was to be able to walk to the end of the street and back again. My guess is the road about 100 feet long.

Once she met that goal, she made another. This time it was to walk to the end of the street and back twice. As time went on the gal increased the number times she would walk her lap. She told me once she began doing multiple laps she would sometimes loose count of how many laps she had done for the day. She mentioned the problem to one of her sons and he came up with an easy solution.

He gave her two coffee mugs...one with rocks and one without and every time she finished a lap she removed one from the mug with rocks and put it in the empty one. That way she could set up a goal of 20 laps, put the rocks in the coffee mug and set sail walking back and forth without having to mentally count the laps.

Over time she outgrew her coffee mugs and started filling coffee cans. I said, "thats a lot of rocks to move in one day." She just smiled at me. She said many of her friends and family members would sit on her front stoop and talked to her as she walked back and forth up and down the street. Sometimes they wanted to joined her, but she told them she preferred to make this journey alone. I asked her what her neighbors thought about seeing a woman walking up and down the same street over and over again. She said some thought she was crazy, while others made fun of her and called her names... but she walked anyway.

Her story was so interesting I ended up walking with her up and down the street. And just as she said, at the end of each lap, she would take the rock from one bucket and put it in the other. I asked her how long it had taken her to get to this point and she said a little over a year. She said she walked every day in rain or cold or heat. And in doing so had lost well over a hundred pounds.

While we were talking it occurred to me that she must have moved a lot of rocks over the year, and I wondered out loud where she had gotten the rocks. Apparently her sons would bring her a new pile of rocks every Sunday. Then when I asked her what she had done with all the rocks she had moved, she just smiled and pointed to her driveway...There were all the rocks, a two lane driveway filled with them; from the front of the her house, down the driveway to the beginning of the the street.

I was simple astounded...then she looked at me and started giggling. "I'm not done yet", she said, "I still have a walkway in the back I need to finish."

[Cowinkie]

My scale is on a downward trend again. So happy for that. Ate my grapefruit for breakfast along with my black coffee. Got in about 60 ozs of water yesterday.

Did 2.5 miles on my gazelle yesterday and abt to use it again while I watch the rest of the soccer game.