Archive Page 2
July 8th, 2008 by Cynthia
OK... I'm not avoiding y'all... but the BIKE arrived yesterday!
Sitting at the computer writing a post vs. unpacking a BIG EXCITING BOX. Hmmm... the box won that battle handily. Can you blame me?
The bike, she is beautiful! Only the frame is clearly too large for me. I have not yet been successful getting on the bike. Well, I can, but only with the aid of my couch and only with the seat in the very lowest position, which probably would not be the ideal position for my legs to pedal in.
I have to take it to the bike shop anyway, as though I was able to successfully assemble most of the stuff that needed assembly with the included tools, I have not been able to connect the front brakes, a sort of essential item. So maybe they can teach me how to get on. More later... I took pix while I was unpacking.
Monday's weigh-in sucked. 230.6 pounds.
Exercise... well, I did two sessions on the Nordic Track Sunday, each lasting about fifteen minutes.
Yesterday, given I needed to stick around to receive the bike, I missed water aerobics. But I did get up early AM and skiied 20 minutes on the Nordic Track. All other exercise involved bike assembly and attempts to get on. So at least I'm starting to get back in a bit of an exercise groove. My feet hurt this morning, so I will have to ice tonight.
I had a smoothie this morning and am going to eat a Jack in the Box salad hubby brought me last night. Then it's bike shop errand time!
July 6th, 2008 by Cynthia
Well, I had a nearly perfect day last Wednesday, but then slipped right back into old habits. This sure isn't getting me anywhere! At least I managed to weigh myself on Thursday and Friday... forgot to Saturday and then did do it today. I dread doing it tomorrow, but I know that I have to face it.
I woke early today... and started thinking that I *should* get back to exercising more, thinking yeah, I'll do that Monday. And then my common sense kicked in and I installed the needed new batteries in the Nordic Track computer and put on my shoes and my heart rate monitor, turned on the music and did 15 minutes. I told myself I only had to do 10 minutes but once going, I felt I could do 15 minutes.
I did feel my left ankle badly at first, then it settled down and things were fine. I could feel my feet a bit, so I didn't push it after fifteen minutes. I just want to get the habit back first. Otherwise, I'm just going to hurt and get discouraged. Which I think is often a trend I have, I push too hard, feel crappy and then back off of exercise entirely.
Anyway, according to the heart rate monitor, I burned a hundred calories.
The new bike should, if UPS tracking is correct, arrive tomorrow. I'm hoping it will get here early, otherwise, I may have to miss water aerobics to be here to receive it. It's not something I want sitting in full view on the porch! Anyway, the plan is to hope that I can make class and be ready for that. And if not, do at least something for exercise tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I've been thinking of places I can learn to ride and I think I have a couple ideas. And I also registered on BikeForums.net the other day for help and advice and inspiration. They actually have a whole forum for people who are of larger size, called Clydesdales/Athenas.
Hope everyone had a good 4th of July... I was quiet here, hubby was working and evening shift at that. We did watch some TV fireworks together when he got home.
July 2nd, 2008 by Cynthia
Well, I'm afraid I continued my backward slide last week, painful as that is to admit. I got busy preparing for a trip out of town and just didn't have time or inclination to eat properly. No exercise to speak of either, other than a little yard work. I'd meant to post that I was busy, but was so busy I never got to do it.
No logging, no real weighing and that's always a bad sign. When I don't weigh, that's when things will run out of control, there's something about seeing the number every day that helps remind me of what I'm doing and what my goals are. Not seeing it lets me hide my head in the sand.
Well, my head is out of the sand.
I've gained 4.2 pounds since my last official weigh-in.
229.2 pounds. Ugh.
It's time to get seriously back to my good habits. The old habits of skipping meals, snacking too much, not exercising and overeating obviously get me the old results. Which I don't want. For one thing, while preparing for the trip, I was up and down the basement stairs more than usual and my bad right knee was really getting painful. I can see a possible need for knee surgery in the future... and I sure don't want to be this heavy while doing that and the subsequent recovery!
So I'm going to try and make today a better day.
There is some good news though... I came home to a UPS Ship notification email for the bike I won! It should be arriving early next week.
June 20th, 2008 by Cynthia
Seriously. I have just been all over the place. Hubby brought home chocolate from his Seattle trip... EATEN. Snacks... partook. Pizza... yep, done that too. Mexican food last night at the new place in town... which turned out to be, somewhat unfortunately, VERY GOOD! I'm not sure it's a good thing to know there is a *good* affordable restaurant around, sigh... we'll have to be careful.
And logging... ah, haven't done any of that.
Weighing... well, I have done that some and it's been quite unpleasant. As you know I skipped the unpleasant Monday weigh-in, but I think, to stay accountable and get back on track, I'll have to post this Monday's truth. Don't expect it to be a happy truth.
Exercise... what exercise? I got caught up in the US Open golf thing last week while waiting on the phone repair, so I skipped water aerobics to watch the 19 hole playoff. Wednesday, I got up, downloaded email and got involved in a discussion and lost track of the time and missed again. Today, gym bag is loaded and I am going. Period.
Feet... well, I did something I'd been procrastinating on, cleaned up the bed half of the bedroom and installed the folding bookshelves we are going to use for bedside night stands. Mind you, I bought these back at CHRISTMAS TIME! I must say, it feels good to have them in place and all the cordage taken care of around hubby's stuff so all looks neat and tidy. I did find cat fluff stuck in the grooves of the fake wood paneling walls though. Can't believe I vacuumed the WALLS!
But... naturally, my feet were again toast after a day of housework. I suspect I've got myself to blame this time, not enough icing lately, and not good healthy eating. Healthy eating helps the fight against inflammation, bad eating does the opposite. I've had one PN shake this morning, will have another before exercise and I am back taking my fish oils.
What a slump. I can't believe I've just let things go like this. I feel stressed, there is much to be done around here, task that require being on my feet. Somehow, I've got to manage, even if it is a little bit at a time. But I have to manage the exercise, at least the water aerobics if not more. And I've got to get the eating back under control. Fast.
June 15th, 2008 by Cynthia
Well, sorry I haven't been around... our phone line went out Thursday. Called for repair immediately, set up appointment for Friday, sequestered the poor cats for hours and no one showed. Called... they said no repair order had been filed. Yeah, right.
Sigh. Set up another appointment and this time, got someone out Saturday. But for two days, no phone and therefore no internet since we are dial-up. Thank goodness for the Tracfone.
I felt rather stressed over it, since hubby was going out of town and the timing was bad. And I was stressed also because after my first session out hacking at bushes, my feet AND arms were pretty bad off. So no further gardening has gotten done and that too, is a stressor.
Anyway, I ended up waiting around for the phone guy for a long time Friday (had to miss water aerobics as my repair appointment window included that time) and got involved in watching the US Open Golf tournament. Riveting! Sitting with my feet up or on ice was good for them... but I got into an eating jag. Not a huge problem at first, because there wasn't anything junky in the house. But then, I got cravings for junk food and went and bought some. Chips, ice cream and a candy bar. All of which got eaten in a couple days. And I also overdid on dried fruits and nuts and cheese.
I was mostly back on track Sunday... but I'm not sure I want to weigh in and I may just skip it. I don't want to feel worse than I already do.
I got a lot of housework done today... but my feet are feeling it, even though much of it was actually done sitting... i.e. de-fuzzing all the assorted cat beds while I watched golf. That's a quite a job, actually, involving a lot of arm work to brush off the cat fuzz with my pet hair magnet and vacuum as needed. It's done for the present though.
June 11th, 2008 by Cynthia
OK... this Monday's weigh-in was better than last week's, but I can't say I was happy with going from 225.8 to only 225.0! I really have to do better if I'm going to meet my goal of getting under 200 pounds by the end of the year. I've got to get the exercise in and I've got to keep the eating reined in!
At least TODAY I am at a better weight of 223.2.
We ate dinner out Sunday, so that probably did affect things adversely, but still! I had been doing fairly well on the eating, most slips involved not getting veggies with a meal or something like that. I know I have not gotten enough exercise. That's been a sticky point, I just don't even feel like trying when my feet hurt, but I think I'm going to have to suck it up and get something done anyway.
I've also noticed that nights icing my feet on the couch are weak points. I'm trying to stave off the snack problem with veggies and a couple tablespoons of hummus, instead of eating cheese and/or peanut butter.
This week, so far, I've at least extended my pool workouts, and am hoping that will help. I've been good on the eating since Monday as well, no going over calories, no 10% meals, lots of liquids and today has also gone well.
I'm about to eat another meal, then go out and lop on a couple roses that I want to dig out. They are diseased looking, in a shady spot and just not doing well. They are also hard to get to to take care of, being somewhat under a tree. I figure I might as well dig while the ground is soft after the recent rains!
Meal 1 = Dover sole and assorted vegetables, pan-fried with minimal spritz of olive oil.
Meal 2 = PN Blueberry Madness smoothie
Workout = 90 minutes followed by a serving of protein powder in water
Grocery Shopping
Meal 3 = PN Apricot Yogurt smoothie with spinach
Hit my gallon of water after this point... I swear, I must sweat out tons in the pool! I admit, I was pumping it today... not only worked hard in water aerobics class, but swam a bit harder after.
Meal 4 = Ground bison and assorted veggies and hemp seed.
You can see where I was pretty spotty with exercise and 10% meals.
MUST DO BETTER! I've got to focus!
June 5th, 2008 by Cynthia
I'm not feeling up to tons of posting right now... getting my feet flared up meant I did a lot of sitting at the computer the past couple weeks, with the result that my chronic tendinitis in my arms is a bit flared as well! Particularly my right arm. Ugh. Pain makes it lots less fun to be typing and posting.
I did try a new workout DVD today... Power 90 by Tony Horton. (Bought off eBay to save a few $$.) It arrived right at the point I had my workout gear on... so instead of getting on the Nordic Track for some semi-fasted morning cardio, I put the DVD in the player instead. I did the Sweat 1-2 cardio workout. Well, the power yoga portion didn't go so well, I obviously need to learn those moves separately before trying to put it all together! That's OK... I have a couple new yoga DVDs to try out, so those might help me.
But the rest or the workout was simple enough, though tiring. I had to substitute non-impact moves like marching in place and side- stepping for some of the high impact moves done in the video. Very do-able, no problem. And I was able to keep pace with the DVD quite well. Moves were simple, no fancy choreography. Knee raises (w/arms), running in place, jumping jacks, fast feet, boxing, kicks, stuff like that.
Oddly... it's not my heart that was worked hard, just the muscles for doing the moves. My heart rate stayed around 58-65%... nothing much for me. What they call fat burning zone. But that's exactly what I want for semi-fasted cardio, so it worked out well. The workout was a half hour and that also is a good length for me at present.
Unfortunately... I'm not sure my feet are ready yet for being on them so much. They were hurting after. Of course, they also do that after a pool workout, just not quite as much. I may have to put the DVDs off for a bit, do more pool work and such. At any rate, I ate after and then sat down to ice my feet. I'm going to try and ice twice a day and see if that helps. Maybe even start soaking my feet in a bucket of ice water. Something has gotta get them calmed down before I go nuts! I watched the Sculpt 1-2 portion of the DVD while icing. Looks do-able... sorta. I'm guessing I am going to have some trouble with the pushups and dips.
I think, once my feet are calmer, these will be good DVDs for me.
I really, really wish the weather would improve... it's raining again. I wanted to be gardening today. Sigh.
