Health and Fitness, March 2013

[Nancy]

I felt puny this weekend on Sun. I did not get my ex. bike time done all in one segment but broke it up in to smaller ones and was still able to accomplish my miles goal plus a short 1 mi. prayer walk.

[Ivy]

My knee's acting up on me, which it rarely does, but when I took PT for it in 2003, my PT said, "Sometimes a knee just acts like a knee. That's what they do!" I wore my knee brace this a.m., took it off about 2 p.m. and occasionally get up to work on puttering. I'll be unable to do a 1/2 hour timed walk today.

In the a.m., if the knee's better, I might time three or more 10-min. walks, so I get my activity in.

[Nancy]

Got my miles done this morning in one session I was feeling better. Then did some yard work in sessions one early one mid-day and another after school. Feeling better because of the warmer weather today too.

[Harmony]

I took myself in hand and got on the elliptical. I'm up from 5 minutes to 8 now. Discovered that I can get the pedals going backwards like stepping backwards while walking, and that felt funny, but seemed to stress different muscles. Don't know if that's a benefit or not. Anyway, I need to work that up a bit, 8 minutes isn't much, for sure, but it's better than nothing.

[Nancy]

Gardening is such great exercise I got lots of it yesterday! Today hoping to do it again.

[Ivy]

I ended up walking 40 min. while on the phone last night with DD and did 30 min. standing and walking-in-place decluttering on the basket, putting things away, things to recycle or to burn. So I was on my feet for 70 min. in the evening.

[Nancy]

Did my miles on the ex. bike today and some work outside also.

[Ivy]

I ate healthy all day. I need to eat 1 more fruit, then I'll have my total for the day, as per recommended by an eyes study my ophthalmologist told me about. 3 fruits a day, fish or fish oil capsules or both, leafy green veggies, eye vitamins, all for age-related macular degeneration. It's really nice, too, because it's a healthy diet, too.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Arghh, just lost an 8 minute post.

On the treadmill. Wrecked my glutes or back yesterday and decided to try treadmill today to gently work out the stiffness. Slept badly.

Weight is up again to 171 thanks to my period returning a whole 10 days after it stopped earlier this month. Ten days is enough time to lose the weight gain from it. No wonder I'm not losing any extra weight but bouncing back and forth between 168 and 174 (which is what I've been doing since the end of December.) I've had 5 periods since Jan 1. Sigh.

Got a new, super cheap, pedometer to last me for now until I get a better solution. I'll have to mail the broken, quality, one back to the US to get a replacement. I also ordered a Fitbit and will try that. It is my Easter present to myself. Because it supposedly works if attached to my body, I should be able to use it in my bra once summer comes and I don't have a waist band for the pedometer's clip. It also can be worn through the night to track how restless one is during sleep.

[Harriet]

Ouch, sorry about the back/glutes, Kathryn, and the frustrating hormonal calendar. You never know, the cheap pedometer may last a long time.

Ivy, that sounds like me - I'll decide I should have had one more veggie/fruit for the day and will snack on baby carrots while washing the evening dishes.

Harmony, I hope I've been clear that when I was going over 5 to 8 minutes on the ellipitical I was breaking that up into more than one session! You sound like you are doing great to me.

Gardening is one of those 2-for-1 deals in exercise, Nancy. When you finish you've left behind a record of how well you did!

My every-other-day exercise is going well. Alternating opposite lower-calorie days allows little bits of weight loss pretty painlessly, even while increasing exercise.

1/2 pound to go to best weight range again. Maintenance gets tedious, but thank heaven for it, really. I'll try to scoot further into range before I relax much. Need to secure the flag.