Health and Fitness, August 2014

[Harriet]

I bought this vegetable transformer today. LOL. From WMart. Some friends rave about it, and say they basically like to saute in olive oil and then add whatever sauce is easy - pesto, marinara, Thai peanut, Alfredo, etc. So I put it through the dishwasher tonight and hope to try it as soon as I can get out and buy some zucchini, or get some from HRH's uncle's garden.

[LadyMaverick]

Yesterday I set up a digital wi-fi scale (Withings) and configured it to automatically send my weight to FitBit, MyFitnessPal, Libra and Google calendar. I have probably maxed out computerizing the simple act of recording & tracking weight.

Weight is down 2.7 lbs this morning but the trend is still headed the wrong direction (UP) because of weight gain this past week. My goal is to consistently keep that trend headed in downward direction. One day of losing weight is an okay and I'm happy about it, but I'm looking for long term trend success.

Tracking treadmill speed/time/incline is adding a fun factor for me. I enjoy reviewing how I'm doing and making the decision how I'm going to improve today. Improvements are teeny-tiny each day. I'm on the bottom rung of treadmill walking. Today I took my basic warm up speed from 2.0 to 2.1 mph.

[FelineFriend]

My weight had gone up to 179.9 Lbs. I decided to take my thyroid pill at bedtime, because if I take it in the morning, I cannot eat yogurt for 4 hours, after I've had my thyroid pill. It takes too long to break down and do its job in the body when calcium is introduced to the stomach within 4 hours.

Also, the good thing, for me, about taking my thyroid pill at bedtime, is how I need to take it on an empty stomach. So after dinner, I cannot do nighttime snacking all night! I have to get my stomach empty for my pill. I take Generic Zantac in the morning, (Dr.'s orders 2 x daily) and wait 30 - 60 minutes to eat. I like the strained plain Greek non-fat yogurt from Costco, which is called "Fage," pronounced something like "FE-YEH". I stir 2 tsp. of Optifiber into it, for fiber, which helps me so much, whereas IBS is concerned. This is another reason I love starting my day out with Fage.

I find that when IBS acts up, if I double up on probiotics, I feel better quicker, even though I take pills to help calm my intestines.

My weight was 178.1 Lbs. this morning. I know it's not a "huge drop", but it's a drop. The delight is how I'm not snacking all night. I see the Dr. mid-Sept. for a physical. I'd love to get down to 175 Lbs. even. Or even 173 Lbs. by my scales. I'm motivated by my weigh-in upcoming. Eating healthier makes me feel better, too.

I'm having a "problem" getting in my 30-minutes time walking in. I've decided to continue to get up and move around, do housework, laundry, putter, stretch, do yoga stretches, (like I did at 3:10 - 6 a.m. yesterday a.m. on and off), and just use my timer. If I set my timer for 10 or 15 minutes, walk, add up my tally for the day, I can get in 60 - 90 minutes by bedtime, too. I need to be more proactive with my walking, as my Dr. wants me to walk to help with the deep restorative sleep, so the muscle-nerve pain of Fibromyalgia's at bay. I sleep much better on nights, when I've been active during the day, too. It's wonderful, in fact, to fall asleep quickly and wake up refreshed and not in FM pain.

I plan on keeping on track all week, counting my calories, and will TRY to post here more often because you Dear Ladies keep me accountable, just by being here, as you post your own journeys. I thank you for that. You're candid and very helpful.

[Harriet]

The Fage is so good - very creamy - but I have stopped all yogurt because it starts up acid reflux for me.

Which probiotic do you take, FFriend? I still take the one my dr recommends, PB8. But I have read it might be good to change around.

I am a little discouraged because I had no way of counting anything - calories/sodium/sugars - today at supper. HRH wanted Thai restaurant food. I know exactly what brunch and snack were, but dinner could have taken me over a limit (or two), for sure.

Our scale was low on batteries so I bought those today. I think HRH changed them out already - hope so. I hope it doesn't mess up the balance of the thing to have been turned upside down and worked on. The previous one we had was so temperamental. I would move it while helping my ddad weigh, and then it would obviously be changed from normal for a while.

HRH went out to grocery for us today and right before he left he reminded himself of cat litter and I reminded him of zucchini. Guess which two things he came back without? It dawns on me to drop by after the school run in the morning and just handle it. I would like tomorrow to be a very light eating day, and trying out the zucchini idea might help. But it seems as though we are forever in some store!

[Nancy]

I walked with my friend tonight.

[LadyMaverick]

I eat a spoon full of plain Greek yogurt most days. When smoothies are made I always drop a big spoonful of yogurt into the blender. DH doesn't care for yogurt so adding it to smoothies gets those good bugs into him with minimum effort.

Weight is down a pound today but better than that is the trend is finally headed downward! The trend shows a .3 lb drop. I am THRILLED to finally be going in the right direction.

I added an another minute (3) to walking @ my top speed on the treadmill. It will be probably be months before I feel like I'm really doing the right amount of cardio. However, I'm content to keep slowly increasing and more important to me is to keep it consistent and enjoyable.

[Harriet]

LadyM, I was wondering why you didn't think the trend was downward yet, if you had a loss that a.m. I guess that number was not down from your start number, or a bounce.

My weight always bounces if I alternate calories, of course, but consider the weight AFTER the lower cal day to be reality! The weight after a higher calorie day is a fluctuation! I bounced up 1.4 this a.m. but that is a normal bounce that will leave today, so I'm pleased that my no-counting supper last evening didn't make a mess of things. I did feel that I had some water retention this morning, but fingers look much better now.

I like this thought/quote:

"Hunger is not an emergency."

How true. So often we respond to a half-thought about hunger with rushed snacking, as though it were a reason to become desperate. We should wait and eat the correct meal that we have planned.

Spare yourself hundreds of calories by remembering one word: postpone. If you're craving a snack and you know you're not truly hungry, wait 20 minutes and revisit that urge. You'd be surprised at how a distraction can not only stall off a snack, but perhaps unseat the need to eat. - Bonnie Taub-Dix, MA, RD, CDN

[Nancy]

The back from not getting my blood work done for got and had coffee today. try this again later did a store run on the way home for chocolate so the trip was not a total waste. Doing laundry dry up and down stairs is getting. My heart rate up today! Walked with my friend tonight did my regular walk.

[Harriet]

Verdict on the spiral-cut veggies is positive for my first recipe. This adds another vegetable - zucchini - to my diet, really, because I never cared for it otherwise. I made one medium-sized zucchini's worth of noodles, 2 cups raw, keeping them about the length of spaghetti. Fun to make.

Sauteed in a bit of olive oil for 4 or 5 mins. For this time I mixed in a heaping teaspoon of ready-made pesto sauce from the grocery and sprinkled with a tbsp parmesan cheese and fresh diced tomatoes. One serving, with zucchini reduced in bulk to about a cup and a quarter, is about 130 calories, no sugar except a natural smidgen in the veggies, and I really enjoyed it. Carbs were 8. If it were actual spaghetti, carbs would be 46.

It's very satisfying that the zucchini wraps around the fork just like spaghetti does. You have the feeling you are having a treat.

I've also bought a "light" Alfredo sauce and will try that next time. I'll also try just microwaving to see how that does, although really the olive oil is a healthy fat and I do want some healthy fat, even on light days.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Today was OK eating, considering, but only moved 3800 steps, the last 900 was me doing two loops around the hotel. It was high 80s when we stopped for gas and I was dressed for the 60s when I left this morning, so there was no walk at that point. It is back in the 70s now and there's good a/c for sleeping.

Had a breakfast before leaving at 8:30, had 'lunch' at 11 (the rest of them had brunch) and then dinner at 8. There were snacks in between but a lot of them were healthy or at least not as bad as they could be.

I did have 3 sodas but that's because the caffeine and sugar makes me feel better and the bubbles soothe my sore throat. I had salad with both lunch and dinner instead of fried options so am giving myself a gold star for that!

Off to bed now. Tomorrow I should feel even worse if this cold progresses as it did with ds and dh.