Healthy & Fitness - September 2014

Share healthy living habits.
User avatar
FelineFriend
Member
Posts: 1528
Joined: Mon Jun 30, 2014 11:06 pm
Location: Western WA State

Re: Healthy & Fitness - September 2014

Postby FelineFriend » Sun Sep 28, 2014 12:22 am

I've eaten healthy today, haven't snacked tonight and it's 9:12 p.m., so I don't "feel" like snacking this late now.

I did not time myself and walk, but I was doing housework and LOL today and worked up a sweat.

I am not eating healthy tomorrow. We have red velvet cake and vanilla ice cream. We're celebrating 1 b-day early; possibly 2. :) I RARELY eat cake, this type of cake actually agrees with me, and since we're going to enjoy ourselves tomorrow, while DD and DGS are here, I'm going to indulge right along with them. However, I'll look forward to a timed walk. :idea: Sometimes I take Sundays "off" from counting calories, because it's my weekly 'official' weigh-in in my calorie counting book. Then, I start all over on Monday morning. :mrgreen:

Kathryn, I'll be thinking about you over the next 3 days of stress eating temptations. :idea:

Twins' Mom, The foods you described sure sound delicious. :) The nice thing is, how we can have "do-overs". :) And start anew.

Nancy, I hope you'll be able to find a way, to remember on the weekends, too, about your blood sugar, etc.. I like that idea about a watch with a timer. You can also email yourself on your phone or tablet inbox, from a calendar reminder. :idea: NOW if you had a CLONE- the CLONE could come to you and remind you! :lol: (Not making light of a serious health problem! Just am laughing at the clone idea.) :!:

(((LM)))

Cute poem, RR! Thanks so much for putting a laugh in my heart tonight! :P
"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." ~ Arthur Ashe

User avatar
LadyMaverick
Member
Posts: 10936
Joined: Sat Jun 28, 2014 2:40 pm
Contact:

Re: Healthy & Fitness - September 2014

Postby LadyMaverick » Sun Sep 28, 2014 8:35 am

Cautiously optimistic ......Yesterday i stayed aware of healthy habits. This morning the scales took a different direction than the past 4 days. *PHEW* I'm greatly relieved to have made this turn. It was miserable to feel so stressed.

I have continued to ponder the gym membership options. I am sooo very tempted to do the gym thing with friends. It comes down to time constraints and priorities. Taking care of myself is a huge priority. I am willing to commit 1 hour daily to exercise. Going to the gym included travel time and I don't want to spend that exercise time on travel. After much thought I have come to this conclusion -
** I have decided that I am going to stay with my morning treadmill time. My time on the treadmill is slow, but I know I can fit this exercise in every day. I am on my 2nd month of effort building this treadmill habit and I want to continue it. I am doing 20 minutes a day now with the goal of reaching 30 minutes daily by end of next month. I can 30 minutes exercise consistently.
** I have decided that I am going to continue with early morning stretches and squats. I can feel a tiny bit of soreness in my muscles that are being used. That is the result I want. Not so sore that I have a hard time using them, but sore enough that I know the exercises are successful. This is slow progress - adding a teeny bit every few days and a new exercise every couple of weeks.
** I have decided that the joy I get from being outdoors in the garden & yard and be incorporated into exercise time. I need to be mindful to make sure I do maximum physical effort during that time and not lollygagging. :)

Sleep/stress observation - last week when my stress level went up, then my sleep time dropped. Or maybe it was the other way around? Less sleep resulted in high stress? There was 4 days that I slept less than 7 hours. I was just estimating my sleep time and I am fairly confident it was less than that. I knew I had to make a change.
** First I need to have accurate data. Before I can make a improvement I need a way to track it.
** I considered a couple of ways to capture my sleep data and settled on using the Fitbit. The downside to the Fitbit was I have to go to the fitbit website or app on smart phone and manually retrieve the sleep data then analyze it. That takes 3-5 minutes of time each day.
** A couple days ago I set up a better way to track my sleep time. I am now using a IFTTT recipe to grab the Fitbit sleep data and send it to OneNote. Now my sleep information is readily available without having to manually retrieve it from FitBit website.
1. Know what you want.
2. Go after it relentlessly.

User avatar
Ramblinrose
Member
Posts: 4187
Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2014 12:43 pm
Location: Sunshine St

Re: Healthy & Fitness - September 2014

Postby Ramblinrose » Sun Sep 28, 2014 6:58 pm

LM...sounds like you've got a good plan going. I bet you could increase your walking speed on your treadmill a little be faster than you think without really feeling it.

Going to the gym with your friends has other advantages besides the physical part. You do so much for everyone else that I suspect you might enjoy some friend fun time. Instead of committing to a five days of gym classes, why not think about going M, W, F or even every t + TH. You might gain more from the laughter and foolishness with your friends than you think. Gym classes are usually set up in a way that its not necessary to attend every day in order to keep up with everyone. Even if your friends do go every day there is nothing that says you have to as well. It just might be good for your soul :D I go hit and miss to the guy and I usually don't know any one there LOL The key is just to go to have fun...plus you never know who you might meet in a class that might just become a new friend.

One of the reasons I enjoy going to the gym is because it has helped me to reconnect to me. I'm not a wife, mom or teacher when I'm huffing away in the class. Its just me, the thoughts that run through my head and the instructor trying to get my body moving. At first it was sort of strange...I was doing classes I had never thought nor dreamed about doing. I can't do those step-classes because I am beyond uncoordinated...two left feet doesn't begin to describe it.

Then I tried kickboxing, something I never thought I would like, and I fell in love with it. Did I look clutzy...you bet. Did I get frustrated cause I zigged when everyone else zagged...think Baby on the bridge in Dirty Dancing. However something very freeing within my soul occured as I shadow boxed and attacked my imaginary opponate. And after a while I didn't care what I looked like, I just laughed and had fun. Those who were good at the class choose to stand in the front while the rest of us fools....this class held about 75 people...just pushed on, encouraged and laughed with each other.

I think most people just think about going to the gym and exercising, but what is often forgotten is the joy of just having pure fun. Its so good for my soul and I always leave smilin...and usually sore from laughing not from the sit ups.
Live Boldly, Take Risks, No Regrets...Jilliam Michaels

User avatar
Kathryn-in-Canada
Administrator
Posts: 21391
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 5:15 pm
Location: 60 minutes north of Ogdensburg NY

Re: Healthy & Fitness - September 2014

Postby Kathryn-in-Canada » Mon Sep 29, 2014 7:21 am

Weight is down again this morning despite three or four days in a row being between 50 and 100% over my calories goal for the day. I suspect it will be like LM's and weight gain will hit when the stress is over but we'll see.

Healthy snacks are packed for the day with lots of soda water so I'll be less tempted to buy a soda or juice while out. My meals are not packed but are planned. Subway when in dd's neighbourhood (there's one a block from her) and ds is cooking chicken stir fry for dinner.

Tonight is my class (with the coffee break) and I'll take a licorice tea bag for myself (so I won't have to have caffeine unless I really need it to get through the second class.) As for cookies, I'm going to bless myself with a few. I'm sure my physical actions today will allow some extra calories and if not, tough.

Tomorrow, I will go to the gym and join. Not because it will help me lose weight but because it is another healthy action to take (plus I save $50 if I do it tomorrow!)

Still carrying Drop Dead Healthy around with me because it has short chapters that also have breaks so I can dip into it for a few minutes here or there, giving my mind a mini-Sabbath from the stress of the day. It is also a hardcover book so counts as weight lifting!

User avatar
Nancy
Member
Posts: 23444
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:52 pm
Location: Washington state in the Pacific Northwestern part of the USA.
Contact:

Re: Healthy & Fitness - September 2014

Postby Nancy » Mon Sep 29, 2014 9:05 am

On track with my meds. Today yea!

User avatar
Ramblinrose
Member
Posts: 4187
Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2014 12:43 pm
Location: Sunshine St

Re: Healthy & Fitness - September 2014

Postby Ramblinrose » Mon Sep 29, 2014 2:01 pm

Wow Kathryn...you're really doing good with your food planning. Good for you :D

And YEAH Nancy that you are finally getting good readings with your BS. Little by little you seem to be understanding what you need to be doing and your're getting good results. Won't be long till you get it all down pat.

I haven't gotten on the scales in a few days, but have continued to stay on plan and have been eating clean. When the rain began and the temperatue dropped I got cold. I wanted to put on a pair of jeans, but remembered I gave all of them away and hadn't pulled out my smaller sizes...its on the list to do today. Then I remembered seeing a pair of smaller size chino pants stuck in the way-back part of my closet.

I pulled them out noticing the size and brand of the pants. Figured they wouldn't fit, but thought oh well lets see how much more I needed to loose to wear them. Slid them over my feet, pulled them up and yup, you guessed it..they fit!!! Oh happy days...I haven't been able to wear them in 8 years. Boy life is good at the moment.

I still see myself as "fat" and haven't gotten used to what is real. To be honest, I am more amazed at myself for sticking to a plan over the course of 5 going on 6 months than I am at the amount of weight I have lost. For me, that's the biggest achievement. Never thought I could do this...and the best part is I did it for myself, and not for any other reason. :D
Live Boldly, Take Risks, No Regrets...Jilliam Michaels

User avatar
Nancy
Member
Posts: 23444
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:52 pm
Location: Washington state in the Pacific Northwestern part of the USA.
Contact:

Re: Healthy & Fitness - September 2014

Postby Nancy » Mon Sep 29, 2014 3:44 pm

Nope not good readings today I am just on track with remembering my meds on time. One step at a time. I cannot increase the long term dose because of the lows so it is what it is. I just have to stay on top of it and do corrective doses with day time dosages. I am just at a place that am accepting this. Poo!

User avatar
Kathryn-in-Canada
Administrator
Posts: 21391
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 5:15 pm
Location: 60 minutes north of Ogdensburg NY

Re: Healthy & Fitness - September 2014

Postby Kathryn-in-Canada » Mon Sep 29, 2014 10:57 pm

Not quite ready for bed yet, but have done 16K steps so far today. Over 4K of them were bank and forth from the elevator to the apartment in the morning, and about 2K of that in the afternoon.

Didn't walk to school tonight!

User avatar
LadyMaverick
Member
Posts: 10936
Joined: Sat Jun 28, 2014 2:40 pm
Contact:

Re: Healthy & Fitness - September 2014

Postby LadyMaverick » Tue Sep 30, 2014 7:10 am

So many SWEET SUCCESSES being posted. WOW!

This is end of month so I'm looking back over my progress -

September was the first full month that I tracked treadmill data. I walked 24.657 miles. I was a bit disappointed it wasn't more, but I'm reminded myself that I wasn't doing ANY treadmill before so just getting started is a HUGE success.

I was shocked to discover I averaged 7 hours 23 minutes of sleep during September. I am VERY pleased if that is correct. I double checked my spreadsheet formula and it is right. I just need to increase the accuracy of my data which I started doing a couple days ago. It will be interesting (to me) to see how (if) it changes during the next month.

Data = knowledge = reason to improve
1. Know what you want.
2. Go after it relentlessly.

User avatar
Harriet
Moderator
Posts: 16506
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:48 am
Location: The Carolinas

Re: Healthy & Fitness - September 2014

Postby Harriet » Tue Sep 30, 2014 9:21 am

Actually, LadyM, since September's 30 days, and Thurs works out a little better for me this week, I've calendared my record-keeping for the morning of the 2nd.

I'm glad that I will have monthly "snapshot" records for the second half of this year. That's a good thing. I know that one moment in time like that doesn't tell the whole story. But it keeps me motivated to have improvements each month if I can.

Sounds like a good sleep average, LadyM.

Ramblin' congratulations on pants success. As 3-dimensional beings, we probably learn more from the fit of a known pair of jeans/slacks than we do from a tape measure.

Nancy, you are managing this difficulty well, though. Can you make notes to yourself each morning about what you think you'd need that afternoon?


Return to “Healthy Habits”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 19 guests