2014 TypeC Health and Exercise Challenge

[kyuuei]

Just set that reminder- thanks [MENTION=4939]kyuuei[/MENTION]. I had a streak of 165 days, from January to July, and I was perhaps more upset about breaking it than I should have been. :/

Oh man I'd be punching a bag for like 10 minutes straight at least if I messed up a streak that long! That sucks!!

 

[kyuuei]

The Move That Will Make You a Pullup Powerhouse | Men's Health

For all of you who want to try pull ups but don't have equipment.. if you have a semi-slippery hard floor, you can do this!

Just lay on your tummy, and slide yourself forward using just your arms, and back again. The video on here is really good for demonstration. Bonus: you can make it easier and harder, no risk of falling or hurting your girly hands hanging from the bar.

 

[kyuuei]

Went bike riding for about an hour or an hour and a half yesterday I'm pretty sore today, totally worth it.

 

[INTJMom]

All I have been doing is walking around either campus or near where I live. I measured it with a pedometer on Friday, and it was close to 8 miles in a day. While I walk I tended to do it with my relatively heavy laptop and books (between 8 to 12 lbs), and cutting my calorie intake (espeacially from carbs).

I run about a 400 calorie deficit a day according to myfitnesspal. I think the low carb metabolic advantage is working for me, because, on a non-ketogenic diet, it is supposed to take 3500 calories to lose a pound. But I am averaging about 3 lbs a week with a 2800 calorie deficit. I suspect this will slow down a lot, now that my BMI and body far percentage is close to healthy.

I've lost twenty six pounds is 8 weeks. For my height, that is a lot. Because of this, my fasting blood glucose has dropped from 125 mg/dL to 95 mg/dL, my blood pressure (both systolic and diastolic) have dropped by 20 mmHg, and I was able to discontinue hydrochlorothiazide.

I was forced to by new pants and new belt because the old ones would not stay on. I'll get new shirts once I finish losing weight. I have about another 10 lbs to reach my goal.

Oh, and I started weight training again today (not trying to build because that can backfire on a diet). Calorie deficit when close to healthy weight can make us loose a lot of muscle, and that is not a good way to lose weight. So far, my 26 pounds have consisted of about two pounds of muscle, 22 lbs of fat, and 2 lbs of water.

Fantastic!

 

[INTJMom]

I did some traveling this weekend, so I missed my ab crunches on Friday and Saturday and missed my Sunday morning workout.
But I have today off, so I did my workout this morning, and boy am I glad I did! It was a little easier than last week... meaning, I am getting stronger. Yay!

I just weighed in at 158.6... 38.7% fat... 25% muscle... 3.1% bone... 46.6% water

 

[kyuuei]

Working out on vacation?! You bet!!

Went bike riding for about an hour total all through the small city I'm in, including biking with a bunch of bicycling enthusiasts to music through the whole city. It was really fun!

Also, yesterday I went on a run. A hash run! Basically, and apparently, you drink beer at stopping points and before, and you run on scavenger hunts to find the check points in between. It was really fun, even though I got lost since it was my first one I probably ran about a mile or a mile and a half by the time it was over, and walked another mile back to the start when I found out I was dead lost. Everyone was celebrating two members of the group getting married so EVERYONE, guys and gals, were in white dresses. We got lots of thumbs ups from viewers in the neighborhoods we were running through.

No weight lifting yet, but this has been a great start to the fall semester. My eating habits and hydration have been ALL wrong, which is to be expected considering I haven't drank alcohol in months and I'm quasi-celebrating/vacationing, but I do need to drink more water on this trip for sure.

 

[Ivy]

I've never heard of a hash run, but it sounds a lot like an alleycat race (bike messenger race- you get a list of stops and have to find the best route between them and perform some kind of a challenge at each stop). My roller derby team has put one on several years in a row- I think beer was only involved in maybe one or two of the checkpoints, though. Glad you're having a nice vacation.

 

[Coriolis]

Went bike riding for about an hour or an hour and a half yesterday I'm pretty sore today, totally worth it.

I am envious. Haven't had a bike ride in almost a month, due to lots of travel. Did quite a bit of walking and the occasional cardio machines at hotels, but not the same. Thanks for the pullup link. I worked my way into pullups before Air Force camp via flexed arm hangs on my closet clothes rod.

Overall I've fallen off the exercise wagon due to the aforementioned travel, but the one thing I know now is that I will be able to get right back on, because I have done so several times before.

 

[kyuuei]

I've never heard of a hash run, but it sounds a lot like an alleycat race (bike messenger race- you get a list of stops and have to find the best route between them and perform some kind of a challenge at each stop). My roller derby team has put one on several years in a row- I think beer was only involved in maybe one or two of the checkpoints, though. Glad you're having a nice vacation.

Sounds similar except on foot and with lots more beer. The slogan of the group is "A drinking group with a running problem." Alleycat racing sounds pretty cool though

I am envious. Haven't had a bike ride in almost a month, due to lots of travel. Did quite a bit of walking and the occasional cardio machines at hotels, but not the same. Thanks for the pullup link. I worked my way into pullups before Air Force camp via flexed arm hangs on my closet clothes rod.

Overall I've fallen off the exercise wagon due to the aforementioned travel, but the one thing I know now is that I will be able to get right back on, because I have done so several times before.

I feel the same way, I don't really workout on vacations and travel expeditions either--I try to incorporate what I'm doing with exercising (taking stairs, walking to destinations, geocaching while I'm in an area, etc.) but it's a very passive route that isn't nearly enough to keep up form.

The cool things they invent for work out travel just aren't reasonable at all. I mean, seriously, who is going to spend money on that for the 2-14 days every couple months they travel?

Eventually I'll put together a body-weight workout that's about 20 minutes long that I actually enjoy and just do that while I'm out on travel. Eventually. Until then I'll just be satisfied with being lazy on vacation, because similar to yourself I don't have a problem getting back into the groove of things. It was well instilled into me.

 

[Randomnity]

^^ yeah, I was so happy to get back on my bike when I got back after a month away! Bikes are awesome, especially if you're somewhere with good bike paths.

I didn't do any exercise while I was away, but I did walk a freaking ton, so I didn't feel too guilty. I thought about keeping up with some of the body weight stuff but I'm just too self conscious to do it in a hostel or outdoors. But, two people have asked me if I lost weight while away, and I did lose a couple pounds and feel a bit thinner (maybe already regained them though - around 140 when I left, down to a consistent 136 after returning, but I've been bouncing between 136 and 140 in the last week, more recently 138-140...my scale is terrible, plus I think I've been randomly bloating sometimes). Probably more diet than exercise anyway. Much less boredom-snacking while travelling, and that's a huge problem for me. Could also be lost muscle mass from not exercising, although I hope not!

Anyway, came here because I just remembered I never posted last week's update - I did ok. I did miss one day (of 3) but missed it because I was so sore from a weekend of a few hours of volleyball plus ~2h of biking plus a casual yoga session that included some similar movements as my bodyweight routine...so I'll call that a wash.

I already missed my first day of bodyweight stuff this week, for basically the same reason, minus the volleyball and yoga - I felt really beat up after a longer bike ride (~3h including breaks), my legs were tired from that and my knees and wrists were both hurting from the stress...whoops. Also managed to roll my bad ankle really badly last Fri and it still feels pretty crappy...awesome. I think I'll be OK to play volleyball tonight but I'll wear my brace. Like I should have been doing when I rolled my ankle....

I'll get back on track with my routine tonight - I'd still like to be doing it 3x/week but I feel mostly OK with substituting a day of biking sometimes - summer won't last forever, and good weather has been rare here recently!

 

[ygolo]

Wow. You guys are really quite encouraging. [MENTION=4939]kyuuei[/MENTION] , in particular, could be a personal trainer!

^ holy moly you're on fire Ygolo!

400 calorie deficit from the baseline? Or from your goal intake? I noticed mfp really lets you choose the calorie options you one.. I set it at 1200 calories because I don't log in many of the things I take in (1-2 bites of anything, drinks, vegetables that are plain just the dressings, etc.) and I just wanted to make sure I was getting decent calories of the things I really screw up on (like eating tons of sugar in a day and none the next to see if that could cause my headaches, etc.) only.

From baseline, but thinking about it, I enter "walking" for exercise even though, what I do is somewhere between walking and hiking.

I am almost at my goal weight. 10 straight weeks, I have been loosing weight. I have now lost 32 in 10 weeks. I didn't do the breakdown of muscle,fat, and water yet, I will likely do that either next week or when I reach my goal weight (which would be in about 2 weeks if the trend continues). I have, no doubt lost both muscle mass and water weight, but I think I can recover the muscle when I am no longer running a calorie deficit.

The better news is that I met with my doctor today, and he said he wanted me to stop all my blood pressure and blood glucose medication. (There was a weird thing in my lab work that showed that the percentage of my blood that is made of red blood cells is low and significantly lower than they have been, so I just redid some of the labs today. Could be nothing. Could be my Crohn's or Ulcerative Colitis acting up, though I feel fine and have not noticed any blood loss. Who knows?)

 

[Coriolis]

Eventually I'll put together a body-weight workout that's about 20 minutes long that I actually enjoy and just do that while I'm out on travel. Eventually. Until then I'll just be satisfied with being lazy on vacation, because similar to yourself I don't have a problem getting back into the groove of things. It was well instilled into me.

I keep my favorite workout videos on my laptop, a thera-band in my briefcase (fits in an envelope), and make sure I have sneakers and exercise clothes. It's enough to keep up, and takes negligible room. I do really enjoy walking in the areas I visit. I like getting to see the local area in that way. On my last trip, I went on a ~5 mile walk on local footpaths, which turned into about 7.5 mi due to taking a wrong turn! My feet were sore afterwards, but no regrets.

 

[INTJMom]

I keep my favorite workout videos on my laptop...

Great idea!

 

[INTJMom]

I did my exercise program this morning!
It's a full body workout designed for ladies age 50 and older.
A lady at work - not much older than I - fell down this week and cracked her hip and had to have surgery.
The workout I do helps to increase bone density in the hip area.
Hopefully the investment I am making now will help someday, if that ever happens to me.

My eating improved a bit.

 

[kyuuei]

I climbed all the way to the top of Chimney rock... Halfway there there were another 150 stairs to the top. I said that was the most expensive stair master I ever rented.

More bike riding, and exploring around. It has NOT been a productive trip food wise, but a great trip exercise wise. I'm ready to go home prepped and set for the fall semester and my commitment to biking to school.

Here Are 10 Pictures of Your Daily Recommended Servings of Fruits & Vegetables

Also I saw this on a site today and I thought it was a great thing to check out. The veggies/fruits servings thing doesn't seem so intimidating with these layouts.

 

[Evo]

Here Are 10 Pictures of Your Daily Recommended Servings of Fruits & Vegetables

Also I saw this on a site today and I thought it was a great thing to check out. The veggies/fruits servings thing doesn't seem so intimidating with these layouts.

Wow, yes. This is great!

 

[Ivy]

That link rules! Thanks for posting it [MENTION=4939]kyuuei[/MENTION].

 

[Riva]

Hmm I think I signed up for this challenge too.

I've gained 4Kgs.

My purpose is to gain weight/muscle mass.

However some of that 4Kgs is most probably fat though my waist size hasn't increased.

Not in a position to post a pic in the man chest/shoulder appreciation thread yet though.



Currently 85Kgs at 6 feet (183.5cm).

 

[kyuuei]

Back on track with drinking water regularly and eating better. I get a free loaner bike on Friday, pretty excited to start using that thing.

On the menu for the week:
- Power O's cereal, my favorite way to start the morning lately. It has all the benefits of eating beans without the GI distress of eating them in a meal
- Wild rice mix with seaweed seasoning
- Chocolate hazelnut milk
- Power greens and broccoli slaw salad with yogurt ranch dressing
- Ginger lime coleslaw with wasabi-soy almonds
- Watermelon basil smoothies
- Flattened oven-fried panko chicken breasts with spicy homemade marinara via fire-roasted tomatoes


Anyone have favorite "healthy swap" stuff? Mine are:
- Vegetable ketchup via Krazy Ketchup. 20 calories per Tbsp, 0 fat, and tastes pretty damn good as far as vegetable swaps go.
- Flourless brownies. I love this site, but these particularly tasted quite amazing with some dark chocolate chips: Amazing Flour-less Brownies | Skinnytaste The secret ingredient is black beans and while I wouldn't say they're the same as regular brownies.. for 144 calories and a bit of wholesome fiber you can't beat it.
- Cauliflower. It's great ground up in a food processor and takes the shape of rice.. or potatoes in healthier potato salad.
- Sour cream instead of mayo on sandwiches and in potato salads and coleslaw
- Yogurt dressings. I'll never go back to regular dressing again!
- Powdered milk. It tends to have a ton more calcium for some reason, so I tend to use it in my cereal in the mornings.. and when I'm too lazy to heat up milk because I can dissolve it in already-hot water for hot chocolate. I keep it on hand when I run out of milk and I'm too lazy, but when I have a kitchen of my own I'll actually buy it in bulk because it tastes just as good if you get a high quality.

 

[Randomnity]

Report for last week: definitely not the greatest. I had a really ridiculously shitty week for many reasons. Actually the one day I did manage to work out, it really boosted my mood a lot. But I missed 2/3 days completely.

This week is going a lot better mood-wise and otherwise, and while Sunday did get swallowed into the black hole of despair (and bonus ankle injury, hurr-fucking-ay), I got back on track Tues and plan to do my regular Thurs workout tonight. The last few weeks have been pretty spotty so I'm aiming to get more consistent in the next few weeks. Still, I'm pretty happy that I haven't bailed on the exercise routine entirely after missing so many days - in the past this has always been the signal that I'm about to give up on it entirely, but this time I keep holding on by the tips of my fingers.

On the plus side, I've been doing pretty decently with food recently even with the crazy stress of the past week. Eating a bit more than I probably should (not tracking, just a guess) but nothing too outrageously unhealthy, and an acceptable amount of veggies. It helps that the easiest grocery store for me to bike to is farm boy, which doesn't really sell packaged junk food, and usually has pretty high quality produce, if a bit more expensive than I'd like. I'm getting the impulse to start tracking again so I might do that.

Last time I tracked food, I did it for 4 weeks and the calorie count went down consistently every week despite not intentionally restricting it (and a pretty big difference - from 1850 week 1 avg to 1550 week 4 avg). I think the main reason was that it cut down on the "binges" where I eat a ton at once out of boredom and/or tastiness, or the slow version where I eat snacks non-stop for hours (mostly boredom again). I wasn't any hungrier on 1550 calories, I was just stuffing myself to the gills less often. There was definitely a reluctance to enter ridiculous things I used to eat regularly, like 6 200-calorie hash browns at once (heh) even though I'm only accountable to myself. It also helped a lot with being conscious of which foods are super high-calorie so I don't go too crazy with them. Like the afore-mentioned hashbrowns, a major weakness for me! A lot of that mindset is still with me, but I think I could use a refresher course. Maintaining the exercise routine is still my priority, though.