Health and Fitness May, 2012

[Harriet]

OKay, you're on my mind! I know you are concerned about eating out so much. Your PWYC posts sound like you have a good attitude about it.

Harmony, the lifestyle changes for esophagus health have done so much more for me than anything else. One new thing with me - remember I would say that Fage yogurt didn't bother me the way other yogurts did? Well, I finally decided that perhaps ZERO yogurt would be even better, because I started worrying that even though yogurt is generally good for the digestive tract, maybe it isn't the best for my particular problems and I deserve the best. Anyway, so far I think it may have been a good decision. Also the decisions to eat no later than 8, to try to catch myself and separate a large meal into 2 parts, recognize enemies (like Doritos-type tastes/snacks) and keep them out of the house, to limit breads/carbs - all these help. I really worry about those who are on proton pump inhibitors for too long and start to get health problems. Have you seen the talk about pneumonia ( !!!! ) (near bottom of this article)
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/233272.php

Kathryn, I thought of your mention of feeding hens "stuff" as I watched Hoshi dig up a variety of bugs on her foraging round this evening. She was delighted with her "finds" so I figure this can only be good, right? If she "supplements" her diet according to her own innate knowledge, all's well. Earthworms, beware, for you may be on your way to Harriet's omelet .. ....

Excellent healthy habit day here. I have some ground to make up. Hopefully by the end of the month I'll have a little more weight loss. We'll see.

apple
omelet w/veggies
coconut milk/protein powder shake
salmon with roll and salad

Arms Work Out of 30 minutes.

4 pints of water

[OKay]

Posting here first. Keeping on.

I wish I had some other news rather than another 1/2 lb gain.

Why did I gain weight yesterday? My activity level was good including spending 3+ hours horseback.
Breakfast = scrambled eggs with avocadoes, sausage, peppers. Few fried potato chunks, 1/2 slice of freshly baked bread with butter.
Lunch = Steak, grapes, strawberry
Supper = Hawaiian pizza
I also had 4 varieties of wine at wine tasting experience plus one glass during the trail ride.
Hum......Seeing it written out, I guess I should be glad I ONLY gained 1/2 lb.

What could I have done differently that would have been healthier?
Breakfast - leave the fried potatoes on my plate. No bread/butter
Lunch - no change that I can think of
Supper - Eat 1 slice of pizza instead of 3
Wine - no change. I rarely drink (1-2 times a year) and the visit to the winery was part of my Mothers Day gift. This experience was worth the calories

So in hindsight - leaving off the fried potato chunks and bread/butter at breakfast and forgoing 2 slices of pizza at supper would have probably kept my weight stable. Reminding myself.....Little changes make a BIG difference.

[Twins' Mom]

OKay, the pizza was probably high in sodium and that has contributed to the 1/2 water weight. You know you didn't eat enough to gain 1/2 in real weight. Drink lots of water to flush it back out!

I actually ate reasonably yesterday - no fast food. Breakfast was usual cereal w banana and skim milk, lunch was two hot dogs, one on a bun and supper was a wrap with roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, hummus, grilled chicken and basil leaves. Not enough veggies, fruit, etc. but at least no "blow out the calories" meals.

[Harmony]

Harriet, I read that article, it is scary. I was on a generic tagamet, which I don't know if that's a PPI. I do know that it was cold turkey, awful, when I decided to get off it. The rebound was terrible. Every time I'd miss a dose I'd get awful rebound. sigh...I still have massive symptoms all the time. It appears my morning cereal is causing reflux now..... if I ate nothing that bothered me it'd probably have nothing but maybe vegetables to eat.

[Nancy]

I have walked .5 mi. and raked the yard leaves twigs etc. blew down from the wind yesterday counting that as some of my exercise. Planted one plant watered as well so gardening also.

[Indiana]

OKay like Twins said - not enough eaten in bulk to give you the 1/2 pound increase. I agree with Twins - pizza has lots of sodium and sausage has sodium. The think what you ate was great. I wouldn't remove the potatoes. Just decrease the number of slices of pizza and if you could have had a different topping pizza that would have helped.

Go for the potassium rich foods to counter the sodium.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Can't get my heart rate up today on the treadmill. Also have bad indigestion and am wondering if there is a link (queue scary music.)

Anyway, I don't see any reason to suffer on the treadmill if I'm not getting the full value of the workout so will quit early today (at 30-40 minutes, instead of 50+ minutes which is what I do when I'm having fun.)

[OKay]

Posting here first. DETERMINED to not give up on health efforts......no matter how much I am failing in the short term.

Another .2 gain today.

Yesterday -
Breakfast = omelet (mushrooms, onions, bell pepper, ham & cheese)
Lunch - Clam chowder soup. Baked fish, onion rings (3), green beans, huge helping of turnip greens. Couple bites of carrot cake and banana pudding
Supper = Bacon & tomato sandwich on skinny bread.
Snack = chocolate covered raisins (one hand full)
Liquid = coffee (black), water, water, coffee (black), water, iced coffee (about 50 calories), water

What I could have done differently-
Breakfast - no change. DH cooked it for me and nothing but compliments is coming from me about his efforts!!!
Lunch - Hum..... that could have been 2 meals. The soup could have been a meal alone instead of treating it as an appetizer.
Supper - Skip the bacon and just have tomato sandwich (I actually LIKE that). I would have had a green salad but don't have fresh lettuce available right now.
Snack - Count em'!! Pick a number and only eat that many of them....Next time have 7 chocolate covered raisins and enjoy each and every one of them!
Liquid - no change

I've read that lack of sleep is a biggie in weight management. Maybe I need to get more sleep? i'll boost it up to 8 hours and see if that makes a difference. I got a good start on this effort because last night I slept 10 hours!

[Harriet]

Hi!

Kathryn, are you sure the gadget knows what it's talking about? Do you mean you don't feel well (indigestion), so you don't think you are moving as fast?

Harmony, maybe the one you took was not a PPI like the one they put me on - when I look it up it's not clear to me... ... it sounds like it works by a similar method, but it is not called one. But I suppose no matter which kind, the rebound when you try to stop can be terrible. You and I certainly had twin experiences there. Maybe the one they put you on doesn't have all these scary side-effects coming out in the news about it, so that's good. The mentions of pneumonia, of course, when I know for sure mine was a PPI, hit way too close to home for me.

OKay, you have several bright folks telling you smart stuff! Point 2? Point 2 is not a gain. Point 2 is a butterfly landing on your shoulder. You are doing GREAT. Yes, sleep 8 hours unless you honestly wake up earlier without the desire for more, which is very possible. When I have a good night (Ha) my eyes will open at 7.5 hours and not close again. (Been hard to prove lately)

Isn't sodium a sneaky rascal to change the scale when the calories are good? Noticing sausage mentioned, I myself had livermush yesterday morning for breakfast and had to input it into my online nutrition counter myself, because the counter had not heard of it. (Imagine that! Not knowing all about Livermush? LOL I suppose it is not a southern gadget/app!) Anyway, just a 2-oz small portion of Neese'sLiver Pudding (1/8th of a package) has 300 mg sodium. That alone would give me pause. But I'd also added a packaged instant item (Quaker) grits and found out from the counter that it put another 300 mg sodium on my plate, for 600 mg for a mini plate of breakfast! That's not fair! (Of me to myself.)

If I'm going to talk about others' diets I should admit to mine.

Yesterday was my "up" day and the scale was up overnight, but sort of meant to be, striving for 1,900 calories
livermush and grits
spaghetti with meat sauce (homemade), salad
Greek souvlaki with pita
veggie sticks during the day
ice cream with hot fudge

Today I'll aim for 600, so I'll be boring.

I like this pattern right now (and remember I'm going by a doctor's plan, lest any visitor think I'm advocating anarchy). My bad experience of the food poisoning, and several days of just trying to feel better, still took their toll at the scale. But I'm back in the swing now and getting rid of that gain.

Last evening I managed 30 minutes of the "Ladybug" T-Tapp floor workout. This is the one that Smile Lee breezes through on her easy days, but it leaves me resembling a ladybug who is flailing about, upside-down. There are definitely parts I don't do well, and at least one part I don't think my body was meant to do. But I try. It's a graceful workout when others do it, pilates-like I believe, although I'm not a pilates expert. And Lynlee would recognize some yoga - well, she might not recognize it when I do it. I won't try the same workout again for a week or so, to be sure my back is okay with it.

Tougher exercise may slow my weight loss by the scale, but now that I have encountered the fitting room Me and had a chat, I know we need it.

[Indiana]

OKay more sodium:

clam chowder if canned or made with a powder chicken base, onion rings if frozen, green beans if canned, banana pudding and bacon.

Can you get away from sodium for a while? And not weigh yourself daily.

Yes sleep does help with losing pounds.