Health and Fitness March 2025

[Twins' Mom]

LadyM the slightly earlier bedtime will serve you well with the time change this Sunday too. It's hard for me to get up so the time change in the spring always seems to throw me for a loop.

LadyM, did the morning mile become boring after awhile? I'm thinking that the morning walk with ddog is easier because there's usually not so many dogs out - will be nice when it's hot and the morning walk becomes the easier one.

[Ramblinrose]

Yesterday was a bust do to a mid day sinus headache. I did go to class and made 8K steps before I crashed. Didn’t eat much either, but tried to get in my water.

Sunday was cherry! 111 grams protein and all my water.

Need to work on my steps today.

Twins in my community early morning walking around here brings outs the dogs and many owners have more than one.

[Lady Maverick]

I have lost that morning mile walking habit. I quit doing it first thing because I thought it could be done later in the day. And DH would sometimes join me so I would wait to see if that happened. ***Blink*** **Blink*** and the habit is gone.
I need to reestablish that habit. I started doing it by going out the door as soon as I got out of bed. That was working and it felt WONDERFUL.

I don't understand the connection between drinking a yogurt/protein powder drink and losing weight. When I have the drink then I lose weight. When I stop drinking it daily then I plateau. It can't be that simple. Maybe it is a coincidence? The drink is 201 calories with 35 grams of protein.

Takeaways - Do things that work for my body.
** Go for mile walk first thing of the day
** Enjoy a yogurt/protein powder drink daily

[Twins' Mom]

LadyM, I think it's the extra protein? A friend has taken one of the weight-loss meds and lost 35 lbs last year. She indicated that eating a lot of protein and drinking a lot of water was helpful.

RR, there may be more dogs here early morning, like before working hours here, but I tend to walk nine or ten a.m. In the summer, need to be out by nine anyway. I'm just trying to stay away from dogs that might cause her to react badly.

[Lady Maverick]

I went looking for a clue in my data collected over the past 244 days of recording in Cronometer. The month I lost the most was October 2024. What was different about that month compared to the other months? I compared protein, carbs, fat and calories. The differences I found are minimum except calories. I was eating about 77 calories a day less during the month of October.

1135 was my average calories Oct 1 - 31st.
1212 is my average calories over the past 4 weeks.
So, I need to drop my calories if I want to lose weight. I am not going for anything drastic because it must be sustainable.

I am staying consistent with achieving 100% of RDA for vitamin & minerals. I won't compromise that goal in order to drop calories. I will need to be wise & methodical to do both.

I held my first cup of coffee as a hostage this morning until I walked that morning mile. I was reluctant to do it until I got started and then it turned into an enjoyable experience. The reward of coffee was very satisfying.

[Twins' Mom]

LadyM, I can't carry on a conversation before morning coffee, never mind walking. Great idea tho! Step off yesterday, feeling poorly and cold/windy out. Of course, I had over 10K the day before so an off day was okay but meant to get more than that.

I probably need to reduce calories to lose weight too. I'm not tracking what I'm eating unfortunately. I've only been successful doing that in one period of my life, but it was WW points, not calories. I ate poorly yesterday honestly.

[Lady Maverick]

I resisted going for a morning walk first thing this morning. It was an hour before sunrise and I just didn't have any desire to walk in the dark. The vehicles don't expect someone to be walking on the road in the dark. It feels like it would defeat the purpose of walking for health to get hit by a vehicle! So I drank some coffee while waiting for sunrise and then didn't feel any mental resistance to doing the mile walk.

I tweaked Cronometer to automatically log my repeat foods. As I change foods the repeat list needs updating. Keeping what I eat on repeat current cuts logging time down drastically.
Protein repeats - Collagen, Greek Yogurt, whey protein powder, eggs, ham, cheese
Vegetable repeats - Potato, onion, bell peppers, tomatoes, spinach, beets, cabbage, cauliflower, corn on cob

Today is the 7th day of the month so I did a review of first week of March. I am happy with the results. If I kept this up for the entire month, I would be ecstatic.

[Harriet]

LadyM, a reflective garment or any top onto which you wouldn't mind putting reflective tape, or simply planning to cover up with a large white shirt as you leave - all these might help you feel more confident. There is a walker near us who has reflective shoes - very eye-catching and makes you recognize the obvious walking gait of a person. I have seen one of those headband/hat lights used by mechanics. One walker turned theirs around so it faced backward and bounced along being obvious. How will the time change affect the timing of your walks?

Talking out my derriere discomfort... .. skippable

I've decided to take some OTC pain reliever that includes aspirin, for my hip and leg. The awkward bobble is what I blame the actual discomfort on (funniest home videos was not there to film my sort of slide-bump, thank goodness). But then, why did I surprise myself with such a bobble anyway, completely unexpected? Not sure if weakness, then, came first and discomfort is different, pulled muscles as a result of the awkward movement. Sister-in-law mentioned sciatic nerve being mad, maybe. Anyway, I have the impression my tailbone is not happy when I sit without thinking to be gentle. And my sitz bone (the one upon which, the joke goes, one sits) on the left side is not happy. Outside of left hip seems tender but not too bothersome. Always in the past, time would heal something like this and OTC would help. We'll see. My doctor, who always asks, and has already listened about the muscle weakness, has such a list of complaints at this point that I think this would just go into the middle of the list with the usual "How 'bout that." response. They care, they write it all down, but they don't venture opinion about time to get over things, etc.

Ramblin', I hope the sinus trouble won't be something that bothers you through the spring with pollen, etc. My doctor laughed with HRH that if we look out and the cars are coated yellow or green, stay inside.

[Nancy]

We have walked.
Harriet I have one leg a tag bit shorter so I'm familiar with that walking gait.
When I set too long it bothers me, I get a knot in a muscle laying down and streteches help,
as well as a rolled up tea towel under lower back.

[Lady Maverick]

When I set too long it bothers me

This!!
I am coming to realize that, for my body, frequent movement is most important to prevent stiffness and keep my body parts moving easily. If I stay still for an hour or so, my body becomes stiff for a few minutes until all my body parts shift into place. That isn’t the best description, but all I know is that I need to stand and remain still for about five seconds for everything to settle and work without pain.

The focus on taking care of myself continues to dominate my thoughts and actions.

I went for morning walk but didn't do the entire mile. I am not giving myself a pass on this and left my walking coat/gloves out to remind me to finish later today. I stopped partway through the walk because it was starting to rain.