Health and Fitness, October 2022

[Harriet]

How is your health journey going? Have you had any successes, learned about your needs and how your body works?

What are the new plans, the goals, the schedules you are paying attention to for October?

Are you changing up how you keep records, for inspiration?

Do you have a calendar event coming up, which may inspire you to greater fitness?

We'd love to hear and encourage!

[Nancy]

Not healthy or fit.
I thought i was dying I googled my symptoms
turns out I have a nose cold & not dying after all!
Moan...
no fever but still not feeling like doing much so went back to bed to rest.

Yesterday I did this to take care of myself
walked around the block
laundry included several trips up and down the stairs
sheets are clean & back on the bed good sleep last nite
hydrated
hot beverages & soup

15 on stat bike.
Dishes steam helped
clean bathrooms water tasks help.
Took Rx & vits.
used cough drops.

Filled in a form before my dr. apt for yearly wellness exam. mailed it today.

[Harriet]

Thrilled to hear that you will not die from your cold, Nancy, but I certainly know how they can feel. Yuck. My goodness you are dedicated, to get up on the exercise bike when you feel sick. Yes, please include plenty of rest (good news on better sleep).

Washing dishes does do some healthy things for us. Yes, steam. Warmth to the hands can help a headache. And maybe most important, those of us who are the dish washers in life get our hands clean most often.

Went to my yearly ob-gyn exam and a mammogram. She wants me to get my first bone scan. Scheduled that but had to cancel it because of a conflict. It's not urgent.

I had a frustrating argument with the scale and made a plan to get through with that. Finished getting back to a number I approve. Have been watching the scale like a hawk, so I don't think it's going to start that trash-talk again. This is not a chart's ideal, of course, just okay with me.

Report on the plan to start eating at noon -
that's probably been a help in staying at a better weight. It also lets me relax about the thyroid pill in the morning, because there will be time before I eat, without any particular planning. Sometimes I remember to stop eating at 7, sometimes I don't. Usually, I eat small meals if eating late, though. So, I am a noon-to-7 eater now, but not perfect at all.

Having lost the old tv screen in the bedroom has made it harder to exercise mindfully, since a VCR sitting there with no screen is useless. (HRH used that tv to replace another that died, and I didn't realize how much I would miss my video workouts.) I'm doing t-tapp from memory or sometimes watch youtube inconveniently in office. I think I'll ask him why not buy something inexpensive and give me back the old one.

[Nancy]

I am maybe 75% better now after ten days ugh.
I walked did dishes went outside cleaned a pumpkin today.
Having leftovers instead of take out.

[LadyMaverick]

I'm frustrated.

Many of my friends are doing prepackaged diet plans and are having amazing awesome results. They are posting pictures of themselves holding bags of ice, or multiple pumpkins, or bags of sugar representing the weight they have lost. 20 lbs. 30 lbs. 40 lbs and over 100lb weight loss and these friends look so happy and healthy. As I see their results, I am soooo tempted to join because I want to lose weight and be one of the cool kids.

There are two weight loss coaches in our little town doing different plans. One plan is Optiva and the other is Arbonne. Each of these weight loss coaches have several of my friends doing the plans. Both of these plans are geared toward buying their packaged shakes and bars for all but one meal a day. That one meal is to be a protein & green food.

It looks so easy.

However, when I look a little closer, I hesitate and talk myself out of it. They are only eating 800 - 1000 calories a day. They are not learning how to eat real food but are only eating prepackaged bars/shakes. What happens to their weight when they come off the prepackaged plan and return to eating real food?

I am having a whiny moment. Apparently, I want to lose weight without making any changes or sacrifices.

[Nancy]

I walked today.
Not coughing very much at all.
Some energy is returning.
I am trying to get on track with a sensible routine.
More sitting with yarn crafts than is healthy I suppose but still on the mend a bit.

[Harriet]

LadyM, since I am not a "joiner" or even come close to enjoying extroversion, I have never done anything "meal"-wise except a disappointing foray into Nutri Systen with HRH, and have never approached a coach or group. I have felt as though if I wanted to limit calories, I could do that myself privately. So, I am not the good advice-giver I'd like to be for you. I don't know either of those names. You want real food because you are a real person. That's a good thing!

If you're able to talk to one of these friends who is happy, and whose thinking you trust, maybe try for a while. When I hear "protein", as you know, I think of a large plate of beans and whole grains. Lots of fiber and likely not what they're thinking. A question I would have would be about things like constipation if someone really was having no fruits and limited fresh veggies. Best wishes to you whatever you do - you're a smart cookie and you'll take care of yourself with it.

Nancy, so glad to hear you are feeling well.

[Nancy]

I shopped & walked today.

[LadyMaverick]

Where there is a will...there is a way.

I didn't like the feeling of being left out, so I kept searching for a way to do similar eating plans like several of my DFriends are doing (and having such success!).

I might have found my solution. I found an online group called 5&1 Real Food. Today is day #3 of testing it. The group has massive amounts of free documentation for real food to eat in the correct portions. They also have prepackage recommendations in the recommended portion sizes for when you don't have access to real food.

Similar parts of the different plans that DFriends and I am doing =
** eating 5-6 times a day.
** 5 times a day the recommended amount to eat is 115 calories, <15 carbs, <5 fat grams, 10-15 protein grams. This sounded hard to me at first but once I started pairing my real food together to match the macros, then it started making sense.
** 1 time a day eating a bigger amount - under 400 calories, >25g protein,<25g carbs, <15g fat
** Using the Eatwise app. It is a free app that does one thing - it reminds you to eat every 2-3 hours (you set it to the amount of time you want).

Difference in our plans -
** EASY - They do prepackaged foods 5 times a day. I want to mostly eat real food.
** COST - their plan is around $3 for each pre-packaged item. I haven't figured out the cost for real food but I'm guessing it is around $1. For example my first time eating today I ate plain Greek yogurt & blueberries. My second time eating it was hardboiled egg & sauteed squash.
** TIME - I spend more time preparing real food instead of just grabbing a prepackage bar/shake/bag. I tend to prepare several at the same time, so the time isn't such a big commitment.
** COACH -Their plan comes with a coach to check on you frequently. I'm okay not having that because I like researching, tracking, documenting everything myself.
** CALORIES - They stay within 800-1000 calories a day. I prefer to eat more if needed and don't want to feel bad if I'm eating around 1200 calories.

ANYway, I'm not feeling left out anymore and feel like one of the cool kids to be doing a similar eating plan. (Even though I'm not cool....or a kid)

[Nancy]

I walked & mowed yesterday.
Today I walked.