Health and Fitness May, 2012

[Harriet]

Long mall walking was my exercise today.

I often caught a glimpse of myself in various mirrored surfaces, and I may look slightly slimmer, but 8 pounds worth? I don't see it. And if I see it anywhere, it's through the ribcage, not the rest of the torso. Oh well, just keep swimming.

HRH was amused at my bragging on red bell peppers and said after all, they are not a different variety, they are an older pepper from the same bush. (Still, they are appetizing!!)

Lynlee, I think that article is mostly about the writer's political point that we shouldn't let Dr. Lustig's findings affect politics, such as deciding to have a "sugar tax".

[Harmony]

Oooh I love red bell pepper. They are sweet compared to the green, and I would swear they have less acid. Today I took one of my garden bells and sauteed it and added to leftover zucchini yw squash tomato mix I had left over in the freezer. Wow was that ever good. I am loving my vegetables now. I'm eating twice as many as I used to.

I always thought bananas stopped up the works, but recently read that nicely ripe ones move things along, where the ones still a little green slow it down. I've found that to be true and am happy to add bananas back into my diet.

Unfortunately, I am up in weight and appear not to be coming down this time. It's only a few pounds, but gee, I'm only adding more veggies to my diet...and maybe a chip or two when I pack lunches. I need to stop that. Today I had a sub for lunch. Yes. A 2" sub. Something that small can't be that bad, can it?

[Twins' Mom]

I also love the red bell peppers, you can also get them roasted and packed in water. Drained and blotted they are a nice addition to a sandwich or wrap, and the roasting seems to mellow them as well.

[Nancy]

My foot was quite a bit better by yesterday afternoon and when I put on lace up tennis shoes that helped a lot I was able to get in 1/2 mi. walk more like a stroll and pushed stroller that I could lean on if needed. Had grand kids help with chairs setting up for family dinner and such.
By evening I was fine and after they left got a nice brisk walk in after it cooled down from the 90* that it had been earlier in the day.

Today [Tues.] more of the same type temps. so I walked at like 6 a.m. got up when h.'s alarm went off and putzed finishing up some things that I did not do yesterday up and down the stairs a couple of times helped get my heart rate up!

Wed. my ex. was a walk most in the afternoon finished up the last 1/2 mi. in the evening.

[Harriet]

"Something I ate" sick day Monday played havoc with eating plans. I was quite unwell and needed to eat to feel better, not to count calories. I've had to nap quite a bit since then but I think I'm past it. Maybe tomorrow I can get back to normal thought patterns on that. Like Harmony, I've actually "found" a few pounds, which is discouraging as a set-back.

A trip to the healthy food store is overdue here. Maybe I can accomplish that tomorrow. Coconut oil and dd13's new favorite flavor Kefir in children-friendly small packaging are on the list. Like her father and his entire maternal family, she needs a little extra attention to digestive health.

Twins' Mom, I thought of your comments when I noticed a combo-package of 3 colors of peppers at our regular grocery! Have already cut into all.

Harmony, for subs I would think the Sub way site nutrition chart page would help determine the calories and other nutrition of homemade subs. No, such a small one shouldn't bother a thing.

Glad the foot is better, Nancy.

HRH and Sammie are enjoying their morning walks. I got him one of those hanging personal mosquito repellent thingies to loop through belt loop in case that becomes a problem.

[Harriet]

Tonight I was trying to work UP some excitement over work OUTS, lol. Went online and noticed that Tarjay has a lot of positive reviews of their workout wear, so I jotted down a few notes and may check that out. It's been years since I bought any clothing specifically thinking about exercise. I usually wear a large cotton t-shirt and some seriously ugly shorts.

Then I stopped by the T-Tapp site and there was a new post by a tapper who is having good results tapping for 15 mins then switching to Zumba for another 15, counting on the T-Tapp to strengthen and protect against any stress of the Zumba. So I tried that tonight to be different. I rested in between and couldn't have gone another minute, lol. Not exactly a slow and steady pace, but happy, for sure. HRH got these Zumba tapes for me second-hand and one is messing up. Don't know if I would replace it, but it does happen to be the one specifically for the tummy, which you would think I'd like. Hmmm... ...

Nancy, is your daughter still enjoying Zumba? She was good enough to lead classes, I remember.

[Nancy]

Yes dd is still going to Zumba as time allows.

I got in a long walk in today enjoyed seeing the banty chickens in a lovely garden.

[Harriet]

Yesterday I bought new workout shorts.

Last evening I did T-Tapp Arms video of 30 minutes.

This evening I did first half of that video, then floorwork video for total of 30 minutes. I was going to do Arms again, but my arms turned out to be much more sore from the first time than I knew until I started exercising, so they need more down time after that one. That's a good thing.

Arms looked bad to me in that fitting room mirror, so anything that gives them a good workout/recovery is fine by me.

Enjoyed a Morning Star garden vegetable patty today. They are a little high in sodium, but very good. Unlike other pre-packaged veggie patties, the first ingredient actually IS "vegetables" with a parenthesis list of them. Most of the competing brands have the first ingredient of soy, and only minor parts are what we're really looking for in a veggie serving.

[Nancy]

I too have had some thing I ate upset my tummy so I"m being careful with chili and other similar foods these days.

My exercise yesterday [Sat.] was long walk to a yard sale and lifting a bag on with each arm multiple times on the home for my arm workout.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Ok, back on the treadmill and thus posting here.

Despite the lack of exercise in Atlanta (I walked 2+ miles a day but too slowly to elevate heart rate to exercise mode) and the southern/dining-out food and eating a whole large bag of Baked cheetos when I got home, my weight is only up 1 pound to 169.

Yesterday's treadmill was too difficult for me, so I stopped at 30 minutes/1.5 miles. I could not get my heart rate up even though I was gasping for air so my guess is allergies are starting to play a role. Today I've swapped the order of the songs to try and put my spurt song at the 11 minute mark to see if that helps get my rate up (I'm not loosened up enough to do it earlier in the playlist.)

Dh stinks. Literally. Really bad. Enough that I don't actually want to be in here with him. He has a UTI (supposedly but of course no tests have been done) and he simply smells awful. I gagged on Saturday night, made him shower yesterday, took away his clothes part way through the day (he was lying out so had nothing on) and have taken all pants he had with him in Boston and put them in a bag for the dry cleaners. (All his Hong-Kong pants are dry-clean only - in the old days I only bought washable wool for him.) It is a long weekend here so those pants don't go in until tomorrow morning and won't be back until Thursday (no one-day cleaners out here.) He leaves on Sunday so I can't forget to do this tomorrow.

I think we'll have to find an open pharmacy (stat holiday here, everything is shut by law but a few are allowed to stay open for emergencies) and get the script filled for antibiotics since he doesn't seem any better after 48 hours of my making him drink water, cranberry juice and mega doses of Vitamin C. The script was only to be used if things got worse to avoid a trip to hospital but not-better is driving me mad. I'm actually worried that it is something other than a UTI since I don't recall stinking this bad when I've had them.

The fact that he heads out on a 10-day trip to Europe in just 6 days doesn't help put my mind at rest either.