Healthy & Fitness - October 2014

[Ramblinrose]

LadyM...your shins may be hurting because they need to be stretched, or the shoes you are using are causing the problem. You can google shin exercises that will help. And you may need to wear or buy different shoes. They really do make a difference.

Nancy....I might have some exercises for your back...I'l have to look. Oh and thanks for telling my about your coffee. Looks like there's a grocery trip in my near future.

Harriet..I know absolutely nothing about blood sugar machines and I hope to keep it that way

Drank my gallon of water yesterday. Ate out and stayed on plan. Brought my True Lemon stick, which is like a Crystal Lite only made with stevia, with me when I ate out. That way I can just added it to water and it tastes really good. This is their raspberry lemonade flavor.

Did my squats and pushup challenge. And did a mile when walking doggies. Now I need to do it for today. I have a Mistfit Flash which I ordered with my dietbet winnings. Its one of those monitors that you wear. Got it a few days ago but haven't figured out how to use it. That's next on my to-do list.

Had two great compliments in the past few days...my mom saw my facebook profile picture and said...gee you look like you used to in high school. That from a mom who would know...

And Sweetie said to me the other night...I can really tell you've lost weight, especially when we're walking the dogs and I am behind you.......Hummm, wonder what I looked like before

[Ramblinrose]

Forgot to add..

Have discovered two really important things while doing my body combat class Thur night...

One... I really, really need a new sports bra. The ones I have are now too big and the poor "sisters" are feeling the effects.

Two...I need new workout shoes, my old ones are shot

[Harriet]

Ramblin' the move that I think can really be hard on shoes is lunges. The lunge sequence I do is somewhat long - 3 types, and there's a change between the stances without coming out of the lunge. I can feel slipping, especially sideways, and I know it's not good for the shoes, ripping the side stitching. So I sometimes change shoes before those to preserve my best workout shoes longer. I've found lunges (and also runner's stretch) need a snug shoe and good traction, but will really rip those stitches and mess up otherwise good shoes. I will first notice something going wrong with shoes when I wear them into wet grass.

Yep, we have enjoyed not having to know much about blood sugar monitors and now are finding a lot of respect for those who must keep up with this knowledge. Last evening after several stabs at this through the day (pun intended, lol), I actually looked at the sponge at my sink at Evening Daily Card time and didn't want to put my fingertips on it! In my mind, my fingers had "injuries" and shouldn't touch anything germ-y! That is something I never thought of before. I understood fingertip pain concept, but never thought of spots of blood. I put 2 and 2 together and can see it ain't easy, for day-to-day life. It's very good alternate-site supplies were invented.

Nancy and Lynlee, thank you so much for the input. HRH is determined to experiment and figure out what he does right and wrong. He is (like many, I suppose) just convinced fruit can't be so bad. So he has had some disappointment there. Also when he had a chicken breast for lunch (BUT it was fried, with a coating) he was disappointed not to have some great reading later. He wanted to be complimented for NOT having bread or dessert, I suppose, and that is just not going to happen with a machine. LOL. Right, Lynlee, he is among the "bs challenged". Pharmacist wanted him to buy the store's brand specifically because supplies would be cheaper. Nancy, thanks for suggesting testing after exercise. He hadn't thought that far ahead.

FFriend will be amused at HRH's reaction to me suggesting hoe-downs as an exercise that is known to reduce a blood sugar reading. People say it can be quite interesting to experiment with them. He looked at me as though I were crazy - he's convinced T-Tapp is "for women". I guess there have been too many women doing it in my house (me and 2 girls).

LadyM, your trend is so consistently positive. Great record keeping. I would say the sleep management is good for every area of life. Lynlee calls it "before bed routine", I believe, getting ready and taking it seriously every evening. I need some remedial work on it myself.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Feline: you mentioned probiotics before and I failed to comment (probably because I felt so sick, I remember thinking I should.) I asked specifically and my doctor said to check with the pharmacist but studies show that the benefit isn't all that the marketing claims and the science isn't there yet.

I don't quite accept that so have started to eat yogurt. I hate yogurt so went for the Greek stuff since everyone raves about it. First day I had a full glass of water with it, second, half a class, today I didn't bother with the water. I'm sort of, maybe, liking it. Since I don't have any yogurt or probiotics regularly, I figure one a day is a good enough starting point (plus I'm getting real sugar in mine since I'm avoiding the sugar free ones.)

Today I bought 'Balkan style' plain yogurt and will try mixing in fresh fruit with it. That will cut the sugar a bit and up the fiber. I'm hoping the Balkans are close enough to Greece that I'll like this yogurt too! Worst comes to worst, I'll go back to washing it down with water.

My acidophilus in the fridge is long expired and I'm too cheap to buy more if I can solve this stomach issue without it. I've never had an issue with antibiotics before - I have a heart valve issue that requires me to take them more often than 'normal' people and this is so unexpected to me and the fact that I still have 15 more days of this before the course is over is also upsetting since normally the run is 7 - 10 days.

In other news, my weight is down a bit right now. According to MyFitnessPal I had an extra 1000 calories yesterday but my scale hasn't caught on to that yet!

[Twins' Mom]

My massage therapist suggests kefir as an alternative to probiotics or yogurt. Something else to experiment with!

[Ramblinrose]

I decided to step on the scale this morning instead of tomorrow because my most recently bought shorts are falling off of me and made me curious.

I weigh the same...however I pulled out the tape measure to see what that might reveal. My chest above my "sisters" is an inch smaller, so is the measurement for the girls. Wasb't surprised because all my bras have gotten too big.

Waist was the same...drats!!!!...however my stomach had lost an inch...hurray there is hope Down one inch on my hips and 1/2 inch of each thigh...also my calves are smaller.

So now I need to rethink what I am doing. My cardo is working, but its time to add floor work...and as far as my diet goes, I may need to add some food, though I think it will only be an extra helping of veggies at each meal.

At least I know I am on the right track...what I am proudest of is my ability to stay focused and remain on plan for the past almost 7 months...what that tells me is I have REALLY made some life changes, which is what I wanted to achieve.

[FelineFriend]

Kathryn , I didn't know that. I was just following Dr.'s orders & notice if I'm having Gastritis probs again, if I double-up on the probiotics, I feel better.

Twins' Mom , I've never heard of Kefer. It's nice to know about it though. Thanks!

Harriet , That's so funny about HRH & the Hoe-Downs! Girls' business!

Just a quick C. I. so am waving at everybody else.

I lost 2.9 Lbs. this week, have been working hard to log in exercise at The President's Challenge. This tool of tracking my activities is working like a charm for me. It's so motivating. I'm into my skinny jeans, my waist measurement's down, but not as much as I'd like it to be. But being able to fit my skinny jeans again is very nice.

Have a great day, Everybody!

[Ramblinrose]

Way to Go FF... Skinny Jeans yah, yah, yah... No droopy drawers for you

[FelineFriend]

I bought my undies in 1 size too large for me, but sometimes, if I bloat up, I need non-confining waistbands. It because things that dig in, tend to "hurt" people with Fibromyalgia. I bought my size of undies that I always wear, but I guess I'd lost weight & didn't know it. But I DO need looser ones on hand for "those" days. Like the day AFTER Thanksgiving!

I ate healthy today. I did stretching & yoga for 10 minutes, did 25-minutes of race-walking, some light housework, & right now, it's 6:11 p.m. here & my pedometer says I've gone 8,369 steps. I've been pretty active today. I'm hoping for 10,000 steps or more by bedtime, like I've done for the past 3 nights.

In November OR December, I'll "see" if Sears has some bootleg Levis on hand. I need to "see" if I'm ready for the next size down or not, by then. It'll be after Thanksgiving or the beginning of January. I'd love to "reward" myself with a new pair.

We're eating an oven dinner, I'll have applesauce (unsweetened) & sweet potato with Molly McButter Duds on it. (Cannot have margarine/butter b/c of Gastritis). I won't eat Sara Lee Whole Wheat Bread with it b/c I ate 2 slices (45 calories each) with Nutella, in a nice sandwich. It was tasty & not too high in calories. It was so yummy!!!!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

In the next week I need to empty my closets and analyse what clothes I have.

Unlike some of you, there will be no moving to a smaller sizes yet. I have lost 8 pounds but that just means my clothes aren't as badly stretched on me or as tight in the waist as they were.

The underwear I bought last winter is wearing out so I need to do some major mending on them and toss a few that have 'runs' in them rather than seams that went. Then I have to make a decision about buying new or holding on until I go down a size (within another 8 pounds.)

And then there's the whole "don't dress fat" and "don't dress old" information that I need to work into my wardrobe.

But mainly, I need to rearrange the contents of my closets and drawers in order to find what I own. The desperate search for black pants on Friday located only one pair of my 'fat' pants and I know I have another. The pair I found need to be tossed because they have many pulls in the fabric, not sure why, but they are beyond saving if I want to look well put together (which is part of the "don't dress old" goal.)

After all that is done, I'll giveaway the clothes that are no longer required (I suspect many of my smaller sized clothes fall into the "don't dress old" category so shouldn't be saved) and shop at thrift and consignment stores for new stuff. This neighbourhood has two excellent consignment stores. I got the dress I wore to dd's wedding from one of them. So it is a chance for me to buy classic, designer/high-end label clothing at prices that won't make me choke.

I'm really looking forward to clearing out my clothes more since I hate the stuffed closet but nothing to wear feeling I have these days.