Health and Fitness, April 2016

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Kathryn-in-Canada
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Re: Health and Fitness, April 2016

Postby Kathryn-in-Canada » Mon Apr 18, 2016 8:18 pm

Well then, this is where I should be.

Just spent some time looking for a spreadsheet. Should have known LadyM or someone else would post something useful. It is nice I didn't have to ask, though. Thank you for anticipating my needs!

Came here to tell you something cool I learned today.

If you have an Android phone/tablet, you can download an app that tracks stuff like heart-rate, oxygen level, BP. I didn't know my free, super-cheap even if one pays for it, phone had that capability, I thought you had to have a fancy phone.

Don't know what's available for iPhone people.

Anyway, now that more data is available to me, I was looking for a spreadsheet to track stuff.

BTW: there are dozens of trackers, I downloaded one called iCare Oxygen.

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Harmony
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Re: Health and Fitness, April 2016

Postby Harmony » Tue Apr 19, 2016 10:24 pm

I am keeping track of some lab values, weight, bp, the old fashioned way, made a spreadsheet (I must have a gazillion of them by now) and I have all the lab sheets the dr. gives me in order in a 3-ring. Very easy to check something.

Looking around for another way to make an electrolyte drink, I found lots of them on the web. Most are just fresh squeezed fruit juices with a little salt and some honey mixed in. Some use coconut water, some use maple syrup (the real stuff) some use stevia (yay!). I read one suggestion of using an herbal tea instead of plain water, and that sounds like a great idea... and I thought why not real tea for a little caffeine when I need/want it?

But this was the best website by far. This gal scientifically went through the ingredients in Gatorade and the recommendations by WHO and came up with a great recipe. This one uses 7 cups of water, so a batch would last longer than those made by the glassful (who has time for that?). I am off asap to get powdered stevia extract and Himalayan salt. Here is a link to her website, and it's an worthwhile read, with a printable recipe at the end.

http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2013/ ... sweetened/

Sorry that link is so long, I hope it doesn't cause anyone problems. Wow, how did it automatically get shortened? That's great and I tried it, takes us right to the page.

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Nancy
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Re: Health and Fitness, April 2016

Postby Nancy » Wed Apr 20, 2016 11:30 pm

Took a walk this evening.

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Nancy
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Re: Health and Fitness, April 2016

Postby Nancy » Mon Apr 25, 2016 9:50 am

Yesterday I did staits doing laundry. And gardening gave me some exercise, plus a walk w ddog. I do tug a war w ddog for arms! Milder temps here this week.

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Kathryn-in-Canada
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Re: Health and Fitness, April 2016

Postby Kathryn-in-Canada » Mon Apr 25, 2016 3:22 pm

This is my post from 361 days ago (you can read the full post on April 30, 2015 H&F thread):

Kathryn-in-Canada wrote:I'm restarting.

I've set a Freedom 55 goal.....

By my 55th birthday (in September, i.e. 18 weeks away) I want the following:

1. Freedom from obesity. I can't make my goal weight which is 49 pounds away as of this morning. But I should be easily able to get below 174 which is the cutoff for obesity. The line between normal and overweight is 145 for me, which is still too aggressive a goal (almost 2.5 pounds per week.)

2. Freedom from knee/joint pain. I've been in pain for far too long, basically since moving here. I had bouts of pain at the old house but I also had long stretches of minor discomfort. Losing weight is key to reducing pain but I also have increase my flexibility. So I'll be tracking the days I do my physio.

3. Freedom from poor body image. I'm assuming as my pain level reduces and my body gets closer to a normal size, my poor body image will improve. But I'll be working at continuing to make the little changes that help (dress better, attention to eyebrows, finger and toe nails, etc.)

To achieve these goals, I will do the following:

1. restart food tracking using MyFitnessPal. ....

2. use all the tracking capability of the fitbit website. I've added a physio tracker and bike ride tracker, for instance, and am entering my weight. Food info and activity levels transfers automatically between MyFitnessPal and fitbit.

3. reduce the goals on fitbit. I've dropped my daily steps to 7K from 10K. I've lowered the number of staircases as well. This will give me more 'green' on my daily dashboard and more positive reinforcement compared to the negative I've been feeling.


So I need to restart again.

I achieved those Freedom 55 goals. Since then I read a book that stressed systems not goals. I understand the thinking but the current system I have isn't working and when I used goals I did better. So it is back to goals.

I'm still not obese again, but I have gained a few pounds since December. And tried to turn things around at least twice with no luck.

So, drumroll please....

Before Becoming a Grandmother Goals (in 23+/- 2 weeks since babies are unreliable)


1. No longer overweight. For that goal, I have to lose, on average, just over 1 pound a week. I did it before, I can do it again.

2. Logging food daily - Tracking food on MFP keeps me more honest. While the scale may not reflect any individual few days in a row, it does reflect trends and if I'm constantly trending over, then I'm constantly gaining, or at least not losing. In the past year, I've learned to think of 1200 calories as my base for the day, instead of 1800, so now when I trend over, it doesn't automatically add weight to me unless I do it for months on end.

3. Start tracking other things on a spreadsheet. Not sure what to track but # of steps will be one item. Trendlines are important, those are visible when you have data.

4. Start using Rewire. I downloaded it last week, but apparently I have to use it too! I'll track days I meet my habits of water, tracking food, non-step exercise (stretches/biking/swimming)

Oh, and I'm starting tomorrow! It will take that long to get the tracking elements functioning....

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Harriet
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Re: Health and Fitness, April 2016

Postby Harriet » Mon Apr 25, 2016 5:05 pm

I think it's great how you have hung onto trends and stayed close to hopes, though, Kathryn, all during this time. Very true that the time allotted to planning and getting ready to keep records is time well spent.

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Nancy
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Re: Health and Fitness, April 2016

Postby Nancy » Mon Apr 25, 2016 8:03 pm

I walked w ddog & totN today for my exercise and some gardening.

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Kathryn-in-Canada
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Re: Health and Fitness, April 2016

Postby Kathryn-in-Canada » Mon Apr 25, 2016 10:42 pm

I did track my food for the day. Was way over my calorie goal but still, for a 'bad' day, it was under 2K calories, so that's not all that bad.

Got Rewire set up to try and build habits in non-step exercise, filling in MFP and weighing myself.

Filled in a spreadsheet with my weekly step average, sleep average and weight. Still need to learn how to make all three appear on the same graph so I can watch for trends.

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Kathryn-in-Canada
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Re: Health and Fitness, April 2016

Postby Kathryn-in-Canada » Tue Apr 26, 2016 10:59 am

Weighed myself this morning (one of my Rewire habits) and was up a pound from last time. Given the pizza, I'm not sweating this, but I'm looking at 26 pounds to lose to meet my goal, and 31 to get to my goal weight.

My main focus will always be on strength and mobility, though, not weight. The reason for that is that my goal is to be an effective, engaged, grandmother and if I'm skinny but out of shape, I won't meet my goal.

I realize this goal means I need to start some sort of out-of-the-house fitness program (weight lifting, yoga, or both) which is going to be a major stumbling block for me. I hate the idea of doing something outside the house. I hate the idea of classes. I'm afraid of weights due to my back and knee issues.

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Nancy
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Re: Health and Fitness, April 2016

Postby Nancy » Tue Apr 26, 2016 11:17 am

Took Ella to the field last evening was surprised my knee was good enough to do that ddog was happy she got her first gopher!


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