Healthy Habits Week of March 16 - YouLookFab Forum

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Healthy Habits Week of March 16

Kristin L

Veteran

Hi everyone. How was last week?

I had a bit of a backslide. We celebrated Pie Day/my last day at my job and there was lots of wonderful pie involved. But, I figure we are all allowed a day like that every so often, so I walked for an extra 30 minutes yesterday along with doing a few more ab reps. I'm planning on doing the same today.

Next week I hope to be able to stay calm and not get too overwhelmed at my new job. And hopefully I can find a few ways to get more walking/stairs in.

What are your goals for the week?

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17 replies

Latest reply was from anne

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Onward and upward! One day of pie won't ruin an overall healthy lifestyle
This is what I need to be telling myself after yesterday's nosedive into a bottle of chardonnay and all the little leftovers in the house I 'cleaned up'. Ahem.
I did get in some good 5 mile runs but only one gym stop for weights. Would like to do 2 each week. Going in today with BF. So I should go back again Wed. Running Mon. and Thurs. then a long weekend away where I might not fit in any workouts. We do have the gym in the house there in Tahoe, though, so I could certainly do 10 min. of weights a few mornings, even if I don't manage a run.
Food and wine could be improved. Too much take out food and not enough fresh fruits or vegetables. Wine was quite good, until yesterday. At least it's not as caloric as beer or margaritas or whatever. Silver lining, always look for the silver lining

MsMaven

Veteran

Did pretty well last week. After 6 months of doing my physical therapy exercises I am stronger and while I haven't lost a lot of weight, what is still there is--how shall I say it?--smoothed out instead of lumpy. I did get carried away by the spring weather and went out to do a bit of garden clean up, and then discovered I am not universally strong and "cured." A bit of Sunday morning gardener's backache.

I have found another positive result though--I can sit in front of the computer for long hours and not get the neck and shoulder aches I used to get.

Next week I will continue with the exercises and healthy diet. I've added back some of the yoga stretches--not sure why I ever stopped. After just a bit over a week I already find that I am a lot more limber. I intend to proceed with caution, though.

Karie

(website)

Veteran

Not a great week for me. I was sidelined with a nasty head cold, started feeling better mid-week only to miss Pilates due to a snow/ice storm, then just when I thought the head cold was leaving it turned into a sinus infection. I did make it to a Restorative Yoga class on Fri. (the night before the sinus infection hit), and I managed to get to the store to purchase spinach and fresh fruit for the Nutribullet.

Hopefully I'll throw off this sinus infection fast and can get back to Pilates this week.

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

I am doing so bad since the holidays. I can't get back on track. I gained five pounds over the holidays. I did lose two of them, but recently put those back on plus one more. I want to get down actually 10 pounds from my current weight. My jeans are tight and give me muffin top.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Anna, do you have time to hit the gym again? If not, even just push ups and sit ups at home every other night could help. Sometimes I just have to think small like that to get myself back in gear.

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

I need to start being more organized and pack a gym bag at night to take the next day. If I take a different bus home, it takes me straight to the gym. Then from the gym it's a twenty minute walk home up a big hill, so that's built in cardio.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

sounds like a plan!

citygirldc

(website)

Veteran

I too had a nasty head cold, but managed to get about 4 days of exercise with a 9 mille long run on Saturday. I'm home today due to the snow so I'm trying to keep busy and not head to the fridge.

anne

Veteran

Another girl with a cold here! I didn't do any exercise all last week save my walk to the bus (4km a day max) Prior to that I'd hurt my leg on the treadmill

Now I have recovered. On Sun I went for my first outdoor run since I moved (oh how I have slipped!) Took it very gently and did about 3 or 4 km. Today I went back to doing 5km on the treadmill at at the gym and managed to do it in 30:20, which isn't too bad considering all the time off and that I was trying to spend more time warming up in order not to hurt my leg again.

My weight continued to go down, and had reached the bottom of my normal range until yesterday, when I woke up to discovered I was a whole kg up. I decided to try the 5:2 diet again, inspired by Imogen at Inside out style who has recently lost quite a bit of weight with it. She did it by saving all her calories on the fast days for the evening so I thought I'd try that again. WHAT a mistake!!
I just couldn't manage it. By evening I had actually ingested 135cals (2tsp of cottage cheese and several cups of milky tea) but I felt dreadful with a terrible headache. I was too weak to do many weights at the gym and gave up. I didn't feel I could think straight and work at my best. I will NOT be doing that again! (I came home and ate a normally)

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Oh, Anne, that sounds awful. I prefer the overnight fast. Eat dinner earlier and then delay breakfast. It still gives your body the time for the hormones to kick in and do their thing but you are asleep for most of it. (14 hr overnight for women is generally a safe recommended time for IF). For instance, I ate at 9:30 when BF came home with a sandwich from work. It is 11:15 and I will be having breakfast in a few minutes. 14 hrs. Easy peasy. Ideally it's more like 8pm dinner and 10am breakfast, but I'm off work so I can adjust as needed pretty easily. I do have my coffee when I first get up, and find I can easily wait an hour or two until breakfast.

Kristin L

Veteran

I hope everyone gets feeling better!

Good job citygirldc on your run.

It sounds like you have a great plan Anna! And I like your thought about using the walk to the gym as part of your workout.

Don't try to push yourself too hard Karie. You don't want to make a sinus infection worse.

And yay for being able to sit at a computer and not have as much pain and headaches Maven. What are you doing in PT for that? I'm sitting in front a computer a lot for work and I'd love some ideas on how to prevent future problems.

There's nothing wrong with looking for the silver lining Mo. You also got some good antioxidants in from the wine.

I'm very excited because some of meditation is paying off. Last night I was having a hard time getting comfortable. I realized I was still really tense from the day, so I told myself to relax and I felt all the tension vanish. It was wonderful!

Minnie

Can I join?
I need accountability as I seem to have very little self-control.
I want to lose 15 - 20 pounds.
Recently I was diagnosed with celiac disease and several food sensitivities and I have Hashimoto's. All that makes weight loss very slow and frustrating.
The last two days I gained weight, but I'm pretty sure I ingested gluten somewhere, because my joints feel swollen. So that weight gain may be inflammation response not fat.

karymk

Veteran

I ate so much corned beef on Monday that I literally could not sleep all night. I felt awful on Tuesday STILL, so today I am doing a juice cleanse for the first time and I am so friggin hungry I 'm going to eat my right arm. The juices by Press Brothers are delicious, and you get 7 16oz. bottles plus an almond milk before bed. But still, I wanna CHEW! I cheated with a few chocolate almonds and a handful of kettle corn. But will soldier on...

Are juice fasts overrated you think?

Mo

(website)

Veteran

I have tried to not let the scale be my guide, and am happy with my bodyfat and waist measurements. My latest issue is trying to better moderate my wine, with more wine free days each week.
Read an interesting article about 1 or 2 weight sessions per week being pretty sufficient for the average person looking to get stronger and firm up. There seem to be diminishing returns after 3 workouts per week, in relation to the time input and the strength gains. Good news for those who might only see 20 or 30 minutes once or twice a week as reality in their schedules. I, for one, feel stronger and leaner with avg. 1.5 strength workouts per week.
As for the juice fast, I could never. 14 hrs, or at the most 16 hrs, overnight fast is much more manageable for me. (I'm asleep for half of it, afterall!)

anne

Veteran

I can't find my tape measure since the move!! And I must confess to hardly ever using the bodyfat measurement on my scales

Mo, thanks for your suggestion re IF. I've been thinking about it since you wrote it. I definitely think it'd be easier that what I tried today, but am still worried I'd find it too hard!! I think the main sticking point is whether I could include tea _with milk_. 2 mugs of that in the morning around 6:30am and I'd be set to have a much later breakfast (I quite often take it in and eat it later at work anyway. Black tea just doesn't help nearly as much (I tried that on Mon)
The other thing that might be hard is that we eat our evening meal around 6:15-30. Sometimes I have something extra around 8ish and then almost always a mug of warm milk later on so I feel full before bed. I find that really helpful in getting to sleep and wonder if I'd have have eat more at the meal to compensate.
I like your mention of one weight sessiona week possibly being enough! Makes me feel better about not going that often.

Minnie of course you can join. We have something in common as I have recently been diagnosed with celiac disease too, though I don't share your other issues, which sound challenging. I am not overweight, but am trying to make sure I maintain on the new diet, and wouldn't mind going down a few pounds to get to what is supposed to be my best running weight. (but I'm not holding my breath about that happening!)

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Ooh, Anne, from what I've read (I'm no expert, just a voracious researcher ;)) up to 50 calories including milk or what not in your morning beverage is not enough to physiologically 'break' your fast. I have coffee with an ounce or two of 2% milk within a half hour of waking, and then delay the breakfast an hour or two.
I hear you on the after dinner settling in habits. I find if I just ignore the initial craving and tell myself I'm sated, I'll be asleep in a couple hours. I'm fine. Interestingly, if I stop eating too far before bed (like 6 hours) I get restless and it's hard to fall asleep. 4 or 5 hours seems to work for me. Of course, your mileage may vary. Some say 12 hours overnight might be fine as a start for many women. I have read that 16 could be too much, as women's hormones behave differently than mens. Lots out there to digest (no pun intended ha!)

anne

Veteran

Mo, thanks for letting me know about that research. I think if I get my strong milky tea in the morning, and have my milk earlier I might be able to manage 14 hours (8pm to 10am) I don't want to have breakfast too late as I go to the gym at lunch several days a week.
Remind me again, what have the benefits been - for you personally I mean.?

On the exercise front, I was pretty happy to do 5km in 27:42 on the treadmill yesterday. I was not so chuffed to get blisters on the soles of both my feet as a result of forgetting to bring socks! I hope they heal soon as I am planning to do a 5k fun run on Sunday, though it is no big deal as one of the advantages of living in a big metro area is that there are races around quite a lot (including low key, less attended ones, which I prefer)