Health and Fitness, April 2015

[Harmony]

Was fun during my decluttering the other day to come across my old weight journal from WW. I was surprised to see I'd started at a higher weight than I'd remembered, and did not get down to as low as I'd thought, either. This was probably 13-15 years ago.

Much thought about all this. I know the sticking point to me is that I'm stubborn about change. I'm sure if I make the right changes my weight will come down. What annoys me is that these changes have to be PERMANENT and I can never go back to current habits. I guess I do not have the self-assurance that I'll be able to forever alter the way I do things. So that is where my resistance comes from.

My cousin who's been writing me from Arizona tells me she's lost 70 pounds! How wonderful for her. I didn't tell her I've probably lost 70 pounds too, the same 10 pounds over and over and over....

Yesterday I got on the eliptical and I was thinking how hard it was...and after my 5 minutes I figured out how to adjust the strength and discovered it was on 8 instead of 1! Was surprised I could even do it!

[RunKitty]

Yay for getting back to exercise, Harriet. The HIT concept is interesting. I've used it in my running and it certainly makes it more fun.
Nancy, you are so faithful in your daily exercise.
Harmony, I keep a weight log in my running log and am usually surprised when I look back over the years.

[Nancy]

Thanks runkitty !

[Harriet]

Harmony, how has your cousin lost the weight? That is very commendable.

Old records - there can be some discouragement along with those, when your old numbers that you thought were so bad don't look so bad any more! Even so, very worthwhile to record.

In dr Mercola newsletter today I read again how valuable it can be to spend some time in a fasted state. I never liked the idea of spending too much time food-less, lol, which is why I would do the low-cal/high-cal days instead, getting some of the fasting benefits.

What he does is to eat only during a window of 8 hours each day. That does seem do-able. Like from 10 am to 6 pm. Several years back there was a book (The Fast 5 Diet) written about just a 5-hour window of eating daily. I think that was too strict, like deprivation. I remember reading that some people would unknowingly ruin their plans by eating huge meals. But 8 hours of eating/16 not, without having to think any further seems easy to remember, and starting with a breakfast at 10 and planning supper at 5:30 or 5:45 doesn't sound food-less.

I also got on the elliptical yesterday.

[Harmony]

I can't go that long without food. Mentally not possible. I get in panic mode. And then overeat.

I don't know how dcousin lost her 70 lbs. We're just getting to know each other.

Eliptical at #1 resistance is easier, but brisker. I get more aerobics out of it this way. When it gets easier and I can do it longer I will tweak the resistance. I can feel the muscles on my legs getting a work out, and that's what I need.

[Nancy]

Shopping and rock collecting & gardening was some of today's exercise.

[lucylee]

I have tried the 16-hour fast and had some slight success with it. (Enough success that I quickly got lazy and inconsistent with it.) But I think it works, and it is really good for me, b/c with the hours we keep around here, I can easily put off "breakfast" until 11:00 or even noon, and then I can eat until 7:00 or 8:00 p.m.
I really should work on making that a more conscious effort for myself.

Exercise here has been nonexistent this week b/c Monday I felt sooo sooo terrible. I literally stayed in bed all day long, except for bathroom breaks, until around 7:00 p.m. Tuesday was still a little iffy, and today I've just been so busy I haven't taken time to exercise. And my stomach IS still rumbling a little bit more than usual. Maybe I will count 30 minutes vacuuming as exercise today.

[RunKitty]

Ate pizza and an ice cream cone yesterday. Was afraid to step on the scale this morning, but found I had lost a pound. Hmmm. Could this be a new way to lose weight? Probably not, but it was a nice surprise.

[RunKitty]

The pizza and ice cream diet wasn't actually successful in the long run, so I will go back to a more reasonable strategy.

[Nancy]

Gardening, shopping yesterday's exercise. More gardening and walking for today's ex. Opportunities.