Health and Fitness July, 2015

[Harriet]

We hope you'll come in and post with us. We chat here about all things relating to our own health and fitness, and that of those around us. Getting our medical tests or check-ups done, exercise equipment, ways-of-eating, experts' interesting plans, ways-of-recording to embrace healthy habits, and more.

"We can, and must, develop dialogue and relatedness with our body because it’s talking to us all the time."
Joshua Rosenthal

"You have to be a mindful eater.
There has to be intention in what you do in your life
if you're going to be happy and authentic.
Food isn't supposed to be entertainment
in the way that your kids, your work and your relationship are."
Jorge Cruise

[Ramblinrose]

Well last night I did not go to my fitness class. There were big storms about and I had a ways to travel to get there.

So instead I watched EWL while on my glider. Got in 5 miles so figured that was good. That means yesterday altogether I walked 7 miles, ran the bleachers and ate clean....the results on my scale....0000000...nothing, didn't budge not even a tenth of a pound. Good Golly Miss Molly what's a girl to do

Not gonna take it personal and keep on keeping on.

Last night while on my gliders some past thoughts came to mind. I remembered a time long ago when I lost 40 lbs and in a flash I was back at a K-mart store. The vision was crystal clear and I could see myself standing at a clothes round looking at black jeans. I remember the event like it was yesterday, right down to where I was standing within the store. That day I picked up a pair of black jeans in a size 5. It was a happy time because those jeans represented all the hard work and changes in my life.

I was back in school, divorced and had finally found myself again. I also remember going home....my house was tiny only 750 sq feet, but it was mine ) slipping on those jeans and looking at myself in the mirror. I literally pranced around the room, I was beyond happy.

And as I remembered it last night I realized that I was again experiencing the same feelings. I hopped off my gazelle, found Sweetie and quickly hugged and kissed him. Then I thanked him for helping me. He was really puzzled about that. But I explained he hasn't complained, not once about the time and efforts I've been putting in during this journey. In the past I would never go out at night after dinner...now I am gone three nights out of the week. That cuts into "our time". Nor does he say a thing when the alarm goes off at 4:15 and I am out the door now 5 days a week. He doesn't understand why his support is such a big deal to me, but it is.

I woke up this morning happy... simply because I was reminded of the girl in the mirror a long time ago and know she's back again staring back at me.... so for me life is good

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

A new month. I have an aggressive goal for this month, to lose 6 pounds. Last month I lost quickly at the end but the net for the month over May's end weight was only 4 pounds.

I am moving much more freely now, balance is better, average step count up.

Sleep was better but is worse again. OTOH, I stopped doing the protein right before bed.

[Nancy]

I did some shopping and took a walk today for exercise.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Had 10g of cashews and a half glass of milk before bed at 10:30. Except then someone came to visit and stayed until 11:30 and bed was at 12. My sleep quality last night, was 79%. So that's strengthens the link that protein before bed is helping (although there were a lot of carbs too.)

[DeeClutter]

Smiling at your thoughts, RR.

Thought I'd come here in my effort to get healthier. Like, Kathryn, I need to work on steps and balance, especially after the fall I took. Just went out for my second walk of the day. I was ambitious and tried to make it around the small loop from our RV. Couldn't make it and ended up cutting through a little ways down our road (through other people's lawns -not supposed to do that -will have to get permission from a couple of people.) My aim is to be able to walk around the pond which would be about a mile & a 1/3 by the summer's end. Right now I need to get my step count up and it's already that for today (I'm at 2,500 steps). My count hasn't been very high since my fall, but I feel I need to do it in order to get better. My left leg is still quite troublesome and manages to swell. It kept me awake for a couple of hours last night. I usually have to take acetaminophen before bed and again in the morning. Otherwise I seem to be a little off yet. I awoke about 11 for a couple of hours and then again at 5:30. Dh and I 'passed in the night' as we was getting up. I slept again until about 7:30. But my leg wouldn't let me go past that.

It is now 5:15 and I've gotten in 4,000 steps. Not as many as I want but it's an improvement and there's still 'day' left.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Dee, if you can afford it, I'd recommend a physio therapist (I think you call them something different in the US.) In 2 - 3 sessions, you can get simple exercises that make a world of difference.

For instance, one of my stretches is called the "4". I lie on my back, knees bent, rest one ankle on the knee of the other leg and gently push down. When I'm doing my left leg, it looks like a 4. Actually, it should look like a 4 but my left leg is more vertical (from my viewpoint on the floor) because my hip wouldn't let it move to the horizontal. I hold that, gently pushing, for 2 minutes. That's it. It hurts along the side of my bad leg from middle of the thigh to middle of my calf but the hurt ends when the stretch ends. Then the leg feels better. When I do the right leg, the leg is more horizontal and I feel a stretch but no hurt.

What can such a simple stretch do? Well, putting on my shoes and socks while seated is much easier now. Since I can barely bend my knee more than 90 degrees, before I had to sit down, bend over my legs from the waist and put my shoes on, or pull up the leg so it was across my knee and cry in pain while putting the shoes on. I feel the stretch now but don't cry in pain. (My tummy got in the way of bending over my legs so it was hard on my back to put socks on the other way.)

As well, if I get a pebble in my sandal while out walking (something that happens at least 2x per week) I can lift up my foot, take my sandal off and shake out the pebble if I'm leaning on dh or a lamp post. Sometimes, I can do it simply balanced on one foot!

So quality of life has improved greatly, all from a simple 2 minute stretch.

There are number of exercises that are aimed at my hips and I'm starting to stand more upright and swing my hips a bit more when I move now. It is nice to feel the motion return after a winter of stiff legged waddling.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Hmmm, not sure what to do about fat in my diet.

I'm so used to going for low fat that even with the upped protein, my fat percentage is low. Last night I had the 30g of nuts before bed (shooting for protein plus increasing the fat numbers with a healthy fat) and ended up with 1) poor sleep because 2) too much to eat before bed and I felt icky. Probably too much fat as well (since high fat food makes me feel ill since my gall bladder removal.)

So, I'm thinking I'll focus on protein as 25% of my diet, and let the carbs and fat work themselves out between healthy carbs (i.e. carbs from soda/baked goods/processed food are bad but carbs from moderate amount of dairy, whole grains, nuts, seeds, fruit and veggies are good.) I find I've been minimizing 'healthy' fat foods (i.e. seeds) because I'm worried about their carbs.

I've also got to think about cooking veggies in olive oil instead of steaming them. I don't have salad dressing so don't get healthy oils that way with my veggies and steam veggies, so miss out on the oil from sauteing.

I know newer editions of the WW diet require you to get about 1 tbsp of oil a day because their diet encouraged too low fat a way of eating. It is one thing to discourage people from eating potato chips and movie-house popcorn. It is another to make them avoid all sources of one of the basic nutrients required for good health.

[Ramblinrose]

Yup Kathryn you're right about needing fats for your body. Keeps your organs oiled as well as keeping your skin, which is your largest organ healthy. I use butter, because it is natural, on my steamed veggies. I like doing that because I can control the amount better. I also eat a tbsp of coconut oil every morning for the same reason.

Last night I went to my new fitness group class. I ran, without stopping I might add, 1/2 mile, plus stretching afterwards...did that before the running. Then we worked out non-stop for 30 minutes with a 20 second rest between each exercise.

10 pull ups, knees to chest while hanging from a bar
5 push ups. Had to learn a different way to do this
10 squats

repeat 10 times!!!

Then we stretched afterwards.

I went to class early so I could talk to Jason, who is my trainer. I wanted to let him know a little about me so he could design some specific exercises that I could do during my off days.

I know from experience that people often under estimate my age and this is an important element to training. I said to him, I was probably the oldest person he had ever trained. He said he didn't think so because he had trained so many older people from the show (Extreme Weight Loss TV) that he thought were older than me... So I asked him... how old were they and he told me 55. I laughed and told him Thank You...but I am way older them them. When I told him I was 65 he about fell over. He said besides the fact that I didn't look my age, he was impressed that my body was as strong as it is.

I told him I wanted to become his "Poster Child" of what 65 could look like, and that it might bring in many new clients. He liked the idea and said I might regret that request LOL We shall see. I just want to be able to open that DANG pickle jar.

[helia]

That's inspiring, RR. I want to be like you at age 65!
WTG on your weight loss Kathryn!

I am not exercising today because I got distracted decluttering my inbox and didn't have time once I resurfaced. I'm planning on joining dh tomorrow morning. He's running long tomorrow and I'll try that too - just a different length of "long.' LOL! I'll try for 2.75 or 3 miles, depending on how I feel at 2.75 miles. Dh will probably run around 12 miles.

Yes, WW requires fat in your diet. We cook so much with olive oil, that I don't explicitly add any oil to any of my food. We use olive oil when we roast veggies, which we do a fair bit. Dh pretty well drenches them if he's cooking, but I do it more lightly. MY WW teacher recently recommended a bit of butter when one eats bread, which I thought was interesting. You don't have to smother the bread to get the benefits, just use a dab. I guess it helps in digesting the bread or something?

WW said I was down 0.7 lb. this week. I've jogged 5x since the last meeting, and I'm amazed at just how slowly the weight is coming off. So, this means I lost all of 2.4 lbs in June. That's like only 1 kilo. OTOH, I can tell by the way my clothes fit that I am losing. And I am becoming stronger too. I should probably think about some weight training or something too. . ..