Healthy & Fitness - October 2014

[Nancy]

Remembered meds on time! Yea! Took a med. Lenght walk today seems hot out to me.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Feel like I'm coming down with something.

Had too much sugar today. Could feel it and was repulsed by sugar later in the day.

Should be in bed but didn't log into MyFitnessPal today so wanted to do that. I'm all about streaks!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Did a swim today. Might do a class tomorrow. The ladies seemed very friendly.

On the leaderboard for my fitbit group, I'm #64 for distance but #75 for steps. Last month I ended up in the 90's for steps (have dropped to 108 at one point) so I'm very pleased with that position. It will be interesting to see if my numbers go up or down since I'm traveling next week.

Still am not sleeping well. On the other hand, I'm still having way too much sugar. I really need to cut that back. Yesterday I over-sugared, something I didn't think was possible so there's more evidence that my body is slowly being weaned off sugar.

In the pool today a woman was telling me she was on a 17 day low, low, carb diet (just for 17 days.) At day 11 she was down 7 pounds. Not bad but not worth it to me! She is already frustrated with the limitations. She's been losing weight slowly with other programs but wanted to stir things up a bit. Hopefully her progress will not disappear when she goes back to other eating plans.

My weight continues to drop, 7.5 pounds gone over 30 days or so. 42.5 lbs to go. Since I'm eating out almost daily there's room to improve on the weight loss rate but this is fast enough to make me happy.

[Ramblinrose]

Way to go Kathryn.... That is a great loss for a month. And I am impressed with your swimming too.

I know the diet your swimming friend was talking about. In fact I think I still have the book Didn't work for me either.

I think the reason I have done so well for so long is I am enjoying what I eat. Just clean, plain and simple. I like all kinds of veggies, plus my meat. I eat chicken most nights and fish several times a week. I don't eat much beef, but when I get a yeaning for it, I eat either a steak or burger without the bun.

And because I'm not trying to loose 20 lbs in one month I can occasionally eat a veggie that usually isn't on most diets...I'm thinking fresh corn and some squashes. Slow and steady is winning this race for me but to be honest I've never really used this approach before.

What has been my greatest incentive is my diet better. I know it sounds silly, but for some reason it is working for me. They set my goal and it is easy for me to reach. My reward are lost weight and money in the bank, and I think the winning and rewards part is what is motivating me. It something for me to "push" for.

Instead of just plain water, I am now drinking a concoction that is suppose to improve the function of your kidneys, liver and adrenal system. Got to say iI'm lovin it. I find it's much easier for me to drink than just plain water.

Its really easy, natural and seems to be working. 60 OZ of distilled or bottled water, 1 Tbsp of pure 100% cranberry juice...its suppose to be sugar free, but I couldn't find it...besides 8 ozs has 70 calories so a Tbsp can't have that much sugar in it.... 2 Tbsp of lemon juice and 1 dandelion root tea bag.

Using 8ozs of water from the 60 oz, make the dandelion tea, add it and all the other ingredients to the water and drink it through the day. Because I use bottled water, I mix everthing up in a two quart container and then pour it back into my empty bottled water bottles.

I can't really describe the taste cause really it doesn't have one, but I do like it much better than plain water.

My scales says I'm down today. And to win my diet bet this month I need to loose at least 5.2 lbs. I'm trying to aim for 2 lbs per week, at least thats my person goal...and if I don't think about it and scare myself, I will be one lbs from my ultimate goal. I say that because I have learn over the years that sometimes the thought of really succeeding scares me.

I've come to believe that happens because the closer I get to a big goal the more negative thinking increases. Too many voices from the past telling me I can't or won't do it. This journey has become such a mental brain game for me...something I hadn't antcipated, but to be honest, I didn't think I would really achieve what I have. Just goes to show that loosing weight is really all about what goes on between your ears and not what goes in your mouth

[Nancy]

Wt. Is about the same.
Fighting ear thing bs was up a bit today.
Walked today the longest portion of my route on the way back packed home a branch for a walking stick
or______ ? Other fun wood working project!

[Ramblinrose]

Nancy.. your creative thinking just amazes me. I love the mental vision of you sitting and spinning at your wheel. Repunzel comes to mind...must be your beautiful hair

[Nancy]

Gee thanks RR. Finished my walk pushing the toddler in the stroller the last half mi. Took 2 mags. To drop off to my summer walking buddy she was glad to get those.

Sketched the branch. Pruned the excess branches off. Drew around it. Marked where to cut it up.

Worked on pma.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Did my first aquafit class which was mostly stretching. Which I needed. I don't do a lot of stretching and limberness is an issue with me so I'll stick with this class for a while. I'll always make sure I go early, though, so I can get a short swim in before the class.

Didn't log into MyFitnessPal yesterday so restarted my streak this morning. Sigh.... I even figured out that I just have to comment or update weight, I don't have to log all the food. But yesterday evening our guest left at 9:15 and I put together a grocery list after cleaning up the kitchen and headed over to the store to get the sale items. When I got home, dh was asleep and I was tired so I just went to bed, forgetting to update at all.

[Ramblinrose]

I've been trying to add some complex carbs to my eating plan with little success, so I'm back to my old ways of eating again.

I've joined up with a group in the Phoenix area that is concentration on weight loss and learning how to appreciate their interselves, and because of this, I have made many new friends. Its difficult to explain what this foundation does in just a few lines so I have posted a link that you might find interesting.

http://beyourbestaz.com/archives/sectio ... foundation

Many of the people within this group have lost tons of weight...its very inspiring to interact with people who have lost 50, 80, or more than 100 lbs. Plus there are many who are just starting their journey.

And I am finding people who are very like-thinking as me as well. One of the gals has talked me into rejoining my kickboxing classes. Went to last Thur 7:30pm night class and then again at 5:00AM the following morning She also has lost 80lbs and just did her first small tri-atholon race...ran/walked 5K, swam 400 meters and biked 12 miles...Sat morning.

Many are encouraged to think and act outside the box. When some people began posting about wanting to do small hikes in my area, I volunteered to set up a easy one for this past Sat morning. Five women showed up and several had never hiked before. All were at least 50 lbs over weight so I had to take that into consideration when deciding where to go. I wanted this to be a fun outing, not a test of endurance. It turned out to be a great experience for them. What I hadn't counted on was a person's fear of heights...now that makes me think of Kathryn and high heights....this gal was afraid of getting off the ground.

We encountered a gully wash which meant walking down a rocky path to the bottom of the wash, crossing it and hiking up the other side...perhaps an elevation change of 40 feet or less. This really challenged the gal, but with support and encouragement from us all, was willing to try.

I coached her on where to focus and made her talk to me while hiking down the trail. When we reached the bottom I made her stop, look up to where we had come from and take a moment to enjoy her achievement. Then we repeated the same thing once we had reached the top of the other trail. She was so proud of herself and told me she wants to do more. I am setting up another hike in the following weeks just for her.

I see some interesting challenges in the months to come. I've met with several other women, who like myself enjoy hiking. We all have a to-do hike on our list which will physically challenge us. I'm excited because its hard for me to find other women who want to "play" with me. This particular hike needs to be done in the cooler weather for obvious reasons. I will need to get my legs in better shape and work on my upper body strength. I am not worried about the endurance part because the hike is only 11 miles long...It is along the top of the Superstition's ridge and something I've wanted to do for a long time.

http://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=126

There is a slide show of the trail if you click on the photo on the left side of the
site.

[Harriet]

Ramblin' when you do get to go, I hope you have a wonderful time. I think it's great that you and your companions are being very honest with yourselves and supportive of each other about difficulties of various trails. I once had friends tell me a trail they wanted to hike in the Smokies was about the same as this one up to the top of Linville Falls, with which I was already familiar. Instead, we were slipping and sliding down leafy embankments and hanging on to trees for dear life! They had either done zero research or just didn't want to admit they really needed to change their plans! So I commend you for your research before you take your friends out to hike! Good job.

I helped HRH change the batteries in the elliptical today. Unfortunately, when he hopped on it again it wasn't giving the right info any more. Hmmm... ... We don't really need all that info, but if it's getting the fancier things wrong I wonder if we can even trust it to time correctly or do distance. We'll see.