Health and Fitness January, 2025

[Lady Maverick]

Posting for accountability to keep my focus on TAKING BETTER CARE OF MYSELF.

My posts in H&F are aaaaallllll about ME.

I spend much of my time and focus on taking care of others.

It is vital that I also focus on taking care of myself.
Every day.

[Lady Maverick]

Daily
Focus on
Taking Best Care
Of Myself

My mental health has a HUGE effect on other areas of my life. I am dabbling in learning how to take the best care of my mental health. Becoming aware of what I am feeling is a start. A feeling wheel puts words to feelings and into categories.

There is a free & indepth google worksheet that tracks feelings over time and gives charts and feedback.

Am I on the right track to improve my mental health? I don't know. I am just starting with expectations that I will learn and adjust as I go along.

[Lady Maverick]

My body is so predictable now that I have learned some of what it likes and dislikes. Documenting what I eat has been helpful beyond my imagination to bring awareness. I started tracking my food because I wanted to lose weight but the benefits of understanding the cause/effect of what I eat are immeasurably greater.

Yesterday I found myself in a situation where I didn't plan well. I was away from home and had low blood sugar symptoms. ANYway, I bought a fast food chicken sandwich. 540 calories. I congratulated myself on finding the lowest calorie item on the menu. What my body did after I ate that sandwich surprised me.
** Burping. Like a dozen times! It was embarrassing. My body couldn't of complained louder.
** Pain. I woke up in the middle of the night with joint pain. I rarely have that kind of pain.......except after i eat processed bread. I already knew this but I was hopeful my body had changed, and I could occasionally eat it without consequence. Nope.
Our bodies are different and what affects one will not affect another body the same way. My body is consistent in its response to commercially produced bread with lots of ingredients. I just did a search on ingredients in the bread -
INGREDIENTS: Enriched Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Soybean Oil, Yeast, Contains 2% or less of the following: Sesame Seeds, Wheat Gluten, Salt, Dough Conditioners (Monoglycerides, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Ascorbic Acid, Calcium Peroxide, Enzymes), Calcium Propionate (Preservative), Yeast Nutrients (Monocalcium Phosphate, Calcium Sulfate, Ammonium Sulfate).

It seems impossible to narrow down which one of these ingredients affects my body causing gastro upset and joint pain. It is just easier to stay away from commercially processed bread products with over 5 ingredients.

[Ramblinrose]

I’ve been having stomach issues again so I am being very careful of what I am eating. Soup,crackers and cottage cheese. Trying to drink water but for some reason it bothers my stomach. Been drinking peppermint tea with sips of water in between. So I will buy some yogurt … my vanillia protein shakes don’t bother me so I need to buy some more of those too.

[Ramblinrose]

I ate yogurt with some strawberries and a protein shake yesterday. Still having a problem with water which can affect my stomach. Beginning to think the way I swallow it might be a problem. I drink it out of its bottle. Gonna try putting it in my thermos and drinking it through a straw. I get terrible hiccups …they are very strong and once they start I get them through out the day. I have found if I drink water though a straw they stop… must’ve the muscles involved used to swallow ..so I’m going to do that with water today to see if that same principle applies. I can drink my tea and coffee in a wide mouth mug without any problems

[Twins' Mom]

Rose, wise to see what works for you, sipping more slowly may help. I use a cute tumbler (from here: https://www.swiglife.com/collections/in ... TGEALw_wcB ) with a stainless steel straw for my water. I added the soft plastic tip on the end for comfort. I use mine only for water, rinse it daily, and just fill with ice and water as needed. I take it almost everywhere - on the go I try to fill with ice and water before heading out, then use water bottles to refill as needed.

[Lady Maverick]

Confession....I rarely drink plain water. We have well water with a reverse osmosis system that makes great tasting water which I use as the basis for my other drinks.
I easily drink over 100oz of coffee and tea a day. My home brew coffee & tea is not strong like purchased drinks. I don't add anything to my drinks (no sweetener, creamer, or flavor enhancers).
I know this isn't recommended by many, but it works for me. I have been doing this for decades with no problems so I will continue doing it.
Caffeine doesn't affect my sleep. I go to sleep within a couple minutes of getting into bed each night. This month I am averaging over 9 hours of sleep with a high sleep score.
Drinks that bother my body are carbonated. I try to stay away from them, but I do go through phases of having a daily diet coke. It has been a couple of months since I have had a diet drink, but that will probably change when winter is over. I enjoy a big glass of pebble ice with diet coke when the weather is hot. When eating out I tend to order a diet drink because city treated water tastes different than what I am used to.

I am trying to be content with the super slow weight loss. If I were just looking at the speed of change on the scale I would get discouraged and quit.
I am seeing benefits in my body shape. Over the past 6 months I went from wearing XL to M pants. I am considering going to S size but want to get more wear from the pants I currently have.

[Nancy]

LM I resemble that statement on fluid intake.

Got nearly 10K steps in yesterday / no stairs to the basement logged on my phone.

[Ramblinrose]

Hurray it worked. I was able to drink 80ozs of water plus 24 ozs of coffee. I also walked over 7 miles/

Twins…. I have a tumbler and straw just like yours. I ate mostly yogurt and a bit of chicken yesterday.