Healthy Habits Check-in 5.14

Isabel

I hope that all the moms had a great mother's day !

I had a mixed week. I ate a lot more junk than I would have liked to..as well as having some soda. The interesting news was that I didn't really enjoy the junk all that much ( except for the chocolate ! ) Maybe I am just not used to it so much any more - it just felt really heavy and overwhelming.

I did have a great "movement" week. I had 3 good, long workout sessions and had good energy to get through the week and weekend ( though I am wiped today, lol ). I haven't been back on the climbing wall, but I hope to get there again this week. I am not losing weight, I would like to, but that is not my goal. I am not sure that my meds will allow for that. I am feeling much stronger. A friend dropped off her sleeping 9 year old early on Saturday morning and I actually carried the child through the house to put her down. I surprised the heck out of both me and my friend ! I have been such a weakling for the last 2 1/2 years. It felt particularly great because today is the 1st anniversary of my second surgery for my breast cancer...so I thought it was a great way to celebrate by lifting an 80 lb child !!! LOL !

13 years ago

General

12 replies

Latest reply was from Elly

anne

Veteran

Isabel - some great news there - wonderful to hear of your expanding strength (and changing taste buds!!

My good news is that I completed a half marathon.

My bad news is that I really fell off the dietary wagon in the last week or two. About a month ago I started a rather strict diet, and lost about 3 pounds in a couple of weeks, I was gradually easing off in maintenance mood and then hit my PM week and I just went haywire! Now I am up about 2 of those pounds and not even daring to measure my waistline.

13 years ago

Isabel

Veteran

Anne, I saw that you had completed the HM ! YAYYYYYYY !!! That must be the most incredible feeling, CONGRATULATIONS !

The eating thing is hard. I think that you are right in stating that the hormones can wreak havoc. But if you have been training for a marathon, I would think that would make you hungrier and crave things. At this point, I think that the fact you ran and finished a HM is really the best news and overshadows the rest !!!

13 years ago

Elly

Veteran

I've finally got myself on the right track again. My HR monitor came in the mail, it is working, and Wed. I went to our local community rec center and went for a workout. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do in the long term since I've lost access to my gym, but I've procrastinated long enough. The two local facilities I have to choose from have exactly 3 of the pieces of cardio equipment that make exercising the best for me, but they are often filled.

Going hiking tomorrow--- the person I'm going with suggested a 10 miler that climbs to 12,000 feet, but we'll have to see about that. He might be a little touched in the head.

13 years ago

Isabel

Veteran

Elly, LOL !! We are always so aspirational when we start out...that is a heck of a climb, it's not even a hike.

I am glad you got your HR. Can you do anything with rubber bands or on stairs at the mall or an apartment building to compensate for the machines ? DO you have a YMCA near by ? The ones around here have fab machines and quite a few of them.

Keep us updated on your "hike" which is really an ascension !

13 years ago

Elly

Veteran

That is what I'm trying to figure out Isabel (congrats on the strength thing-- that is huge!). My issue is with my heart. My doc encourages a lot of cardio, but standing cardio is more difficult than swimming or using a recumbent bike or rowing machine. Just standing raises my heart rate a bunch (blood pressure issues), and can make it hard to keep it at a safe level when exercising. I also get dizzy (par for the course when standing for me) and it makes it really hard to exercise on a treadmill or other moving machine that requires coordination. Unfortunately, we don't have a local pool (ours are 30 minutes away) our local community rec center is 15 minutes away and has two recumbent bikes and no rowing machine, and the local gym (the only one, no Y) has only one recumbent and no rowing machine. I don't particularly like the atmosphere at the local gym, but every time I'm at the rec center the bikes are in use. In a few weeks it will be too hot for me to workout outdoors (and problematic for me to do that alone anyway) without driving to the mountains.

I will let you know if I have to shoot my hiking partner for trying to kill me!

13 years ago

Isabel

Veteran

Thanks Elly !

Yeah, that really is a tough thing to figure out.

What about either an exercise ball or a chair with a rubber band in the door that you pull back in a rowing motion ? It is an alternative to the rowing machine.

You take an exercise band ( that you can get at Target ) and knot it once or twice in the middle. You put it in a door way at about shoulder height in your sitting position. You shut the door on the band. Make sure you are in the opposite direction of the door opening up. Then you sit and pull the two ends of the band toward your shoulders, the band will be in a V shape emanating from the doorway. It simulates rowing and is a great workout.

Also, do you own a bike ? You might consider an indoor training block for it. I think that you can get them on ebay.

I will ask my two LiveStrong trainers for suggestion for you. They do this kind of stuff all the time for people who have all kinds of health issues.

13 years ago

Elly

Veteran

Awesome, I appreciate it-- those are great ideas if I can't work something else out! Sitting is better than standing, although neither of those would be quite as good because most of my body is still hanging down a long ways below my heart vs. on a recumbent bike or rowing machine where my legs are elevated and much closer to heart level (same with swimming).

I'm so glad you have the Livestrong program available-- I'm a huge fan of livestrong and would loved to have done a cardiac rehab after I was diagnosed-- unfortunately I got turned away from the one that our hospital runs because I was "too young" and not a heart attack or stroke patient.

13 years ago

(website)

Veteran

The good - went for a 3.5 mile run and doing push ups and ab work every other night or so.

The bad - wine, wine and more wine. Birthday's over, time to get back in line. Oh, and I stopped logging my food about a week back and need to get logging again asap!

13 years ago

christieanne

Veteran

Isabel - such a victory for you! You seem to be getting stronger day by day and it is inspiring.

My lessons from you all today so far (I love that I can learn so much from YLF!) is to know and respect your limits without giving up (Elly) and enjoy guilt free special treats and then get back on track (Mo).
I especially needed Mo's lesson today - last week we had several special events and I didn't plan in advance as well as I should have. Ate red meat three times (guess there are worse things) and not balanced with as much vegetables as I would have liked (I should have offered to bring a side dish to parties). Also, a few more carbs and desserts. Tempted at parties and special occasions - they just all happened to be in one week.

I think I hit a plateau of losing 5 lbs - can't seem to tip the scale down after last week. Good thing is my DH told me he thought I had lost 20 lbs! I guess if it looks like more then that's good lol.

13 years ago

Isabel

Veteran

Christieanne, how funny that your husband thought you lost 20 lbs ! Men are just hysterical that way. At least he works the opposite of my husband who once told someone that I was a size 10 ( I was actually a 2 at the time ). He did foretell the future , LOL !

It is hard around special events because we are at other's mercy...just like when you travel. I do really like your thoughts on how to deal with it, though.

13 years ago

cheryle (Dianthus)

(website)

Veteran

Isabel, congratulation on keeping to your plan and your 1 year anniversary.

Anne, congratulations on the half. That is a great accomplishment.

Elly, are you able to ride a regular bike? That might be a good option and would cost less than a membership at a gym. You could vary the intensity by changing gears, doing hills, or just going slower.

Mo, sounds like you had a great run. We all need to take a break from tracking and monitoring once in a while and it makes it easier to keep going.

Christianne, great job on the weight loss. It is hard to plan around parties.

I did quite well for food for a few weeks but we went to friends' house for lunch yesterday and I ate carbs (was following a paleo type of diet). Then I went to my parents' place and had cookies with chocolate chunks. I figured I had blown it anyway so had pizza for supper. This morning my feet were puffy and I suspect the rest of me was too. I drank hot water with lemon throughout the day.

On the plus side, I have been running either at the gym or outside three times per week. We were doing 2 minute intervals of run/walk for 40 minutes and walking another 30 minutes and stretching. This week we starting doing 3 minutes run and 2 walk and increased the total run time from 20 minute to 24 minutes. Today I finished with a 5 minutes run. It doesn't sound like much but I am finding it hard to get any stamina this time.

We also went golfing yesterday. It was a short 9 hole course but the first round of golf in over two years. It was fun and we are going again next weekend.

13 years ago

Elly

Veteran

The hike went fairly well. Instead of the 10 miler we chose to do a 6 miler with a 1,500 ft elevation change . . . it rained in the higher country and we didn't want to be caught above treeline in a storm. The destination was a beautiful waterfall that was still surrounded by snow at 9,800 feet. I did very well getting into the falls, but had a bit of a harder time getting out (heading downhill) because I wasn't climbing and using my muscles enough to keep my blood pressure up and that was taxing. Sure enough, we stopped at the trailhead (the area is part of the largest wilderness area in CO-- over 1/2 a million acres and they try to track who packs in) to sign out of the backcountry and my blood pressure tanked and I passed out . We had a good time though.

I think I'm going to go give the rec center another try tomorrow, if I can bring myself to put my blistered heels into sneakers.

13 years ago

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