Health and Fitness January, 2022

[Twins' Mom]

The scale dropped 1.6 lbs for me LadyM, too, 2 Jan weight, which was higher than 1 Jan.

I know how to eat, just need to do it!

[Harriet]

My scale batteries died! It's okay. They are on order. We'll get around to it.

The lady who sends me a t-tapp calendar each month-and-a-half from goodness of her heart was 3 days late. Also, okay.

So far, the habit tracker sheet is working fine. The checkmarks, which are a familiar way to me and don't take any different writing instruments than pens, will be less colorful than folks who use bright markers, I can tell. Also, okay.

That's nice ya'll have some scale movement. Very good.

[LadyMaverick]

I didn't do my best with recording everything I ate yesterday. I ate from memory what I thought would be okay. This is not a habit that I want to have....yet. Maybe someday I will be able to do that but for now, I need to see in black/white what I am eating so I don't fool myself.

Today I want to do better.

A couple of years ago I created a monthly spreadsheet for DH that shows the following data - Temperature, Blood Sugar, Pulse rate, Oxygen level, and Blood Pressure. I print this spreadsheet for him every month and he is very faithful to filling it out each day. Having this information about his normal stats has been priceless. When DH starts feeling sick we can monitor these stats and know how far they are from his normal. It brings great relief to us both to have hard facts about how his body is coping with being sick.

[Harmony]

I couldn't keep up tracking like that. I tried once.

But I do keep a weight calendar and log in weight every day. What I can see is that I'm down 3+ lbs. from what I was at the beginning of 2021. However, in the middle of the year I was 6 lbs. higher which persisted for half the year. So, happy I came down off that high and am down for the year. Feel like I'm finally under control. If I keep going.

Gave up a lot of bad habits. Quit munching on the way back from the supermarket. Did it one time and felt awful. Nice to have that memory to remember.

I logged the lab values I keep on a chart. Looked at the trends. Some a bit better, others not. Actually not bad for having labs drawn 2 days after Christmas. Dr. said everybody gets a pass this time of year. Well, I will keep trying. Cholesterol is better. I do have some goals.

Focus on exercise this year. And eating healthier.

Office Visit paperwork came to my patient portal, found it last night. Will send an email back asking about the note: abnormal EKG what's that about, she didn't mention it to me. Also noted my BP was a whole lot better than it has been for a long while.

[Harriet]

Amused to hear that Harmony had a bad experience snacking on the way home and is happy to have that memory to remind her! Harmony, I'm always told right then what my bp is, by nurse taking it. Glad yours was good. If dr didn't mention the odd part of the report, maybe it wasn't really an important thing, but it would be better to talk about it since you were going to get a confusing statement to try to figure out.

Cooking more again, which is often the way it goes when I stick tightly to healthy meals and variety. Today I cooked a big pot of brown rice and made a variety of greens. Didn't have to cook beans only because we had some left over. That will be tomorrow and I have that choice of dry beans set out already. Pots are kept humming the more I try to eat very well. Now that we are in a smaller kitchen with a smaller fridge, no dishwasher, and less counter space, it takes more attention to planning.

[Lynlee]

Yesterday I bought a week at a view diary for my food meds sleep records.
It took a while to find the size and writing space I wanted.

I have almost finished the 'treats' I bought before Christmas, and new year.
I need to seriously do the no added sugar thing again. Treats are no treat really.
My still mostly swollen belly proclaims me a sitting duck for diabetes as I was warned about all those decades ago when first pregnant.

I've kept up the daily walk, taking a hill as I have no stairs.
Touch wood - getting better at going to bed earlier, not always to sleep better.
Progress in getting away from LR earlier, and lights off there.
daily writing a page,
another smaller page listing tadas
better contact with others, aiming for daily.
Some stretches, aim for daily.
check list for all the year - its having additions as I think of them

Yoga starts again next week. I need timely getting up to get there. I've been working on that.

[LadyMaverick]

it is good to read others' efforts and accomplishments.

After taking a break, I assumed I would be able to just jump back into tracking everything I eat. I was successful doing it for over 200 days in a row last year so the process is very familiar to me. I was wrong that I could just snap my fingers and restart. I am having difficulty getting myself back into that routine. Note to self....Just because I am finding it difficult to restart doesn't mean I should quit trying.

One thing I found interesting. I was updating my health spreadsheets and noticed last week many of my health markers went wonky. My breathing rate, sleeping, stress level, resting heart rate, etc all were out of my normal. Traveling and having an extra teenage boy here for a week was a wonderful experience but my body metrics did show that it has some repercussions. Thankfully my numbers have all returned to my normal this week.

[Twins' Mom]

The cold weather and focus on my portfolio has taken me out on the walking front for the moment. I'm not restarting today, however.

[Harriet]

After a week of T-Tapp I'm back to Zumba today. Was winded after pushing through T to the finish I wanted Sunday so I took yesterday off (which I might normally have done on a Sunday anyway, so not really off schedule). Days are just different, of course, but I did kind of "watch myself" yesterday and get plenty of water. Z today seemed effortless for some reason, even though brain just barely kept up with new directions.

It's dawned on me that beans I cook down on the stove will still be a great idea in burritos, etc. even if they are not classic black beans. Also, large batches of brown rice can partly participate in a burrito! Burrito participation by fridge leftovers - win, win. HRH looks at this suspiciously. LOL He likes everything to stay in a well-known lane. Since he's still on his stew-perfecting kick, he's happy when my lunches don't intrude on the stove much.

The circular habit tracker is working fine. I use 4 colors of pens and that helps keep on the right lines as I travel through the month around the circle, farther away from the words.

So far, staying at 20 habits or more per day in the New Year. When I miss a day, I won't beat myself up. Days are just different.

[LadyMaverick]

Harriet - BWTG on being consistent in doing your Healthy tracker.

I am still in struggle mode but getting there. I found myself resisting tracking food using the spreadsheet so I switched to using FitBit to track food. With that change, my resistance faded away. It is still difficult to see the truth on some days. Yesterday I ate 1912 calories which was too much but I made the decision before the luncheon with friends that I wasn't going to stress about what I was eating and just enjoy the moment. The scales didn't budge this morning so I'm counting it as a win for that day and turning my thoughts to a bigger time frame.

I switch exercise methods when I get bored. Currently, I am enjoying doing a U-tube walking type video because of the way it is structured. Every 30 seconds it switches to something different. I can do almost anything for 30 seconds. BTW - the 10k step title in this video has not been my experience with it, but I am still enjoying it for a quick way to get some steps in.