2015 Health and Fitness Challenge!

[kyuuei]

[MENTION=4515]wolfy[/MENTION] Hey it felt good for a minute though didn't it!!

I got one of those veggie noodle maker things a month or two ago, too, but I haven't tried it yet. I think because I'm not 100% sure what to do after I spiralize the veggies.

Oh man! I've only done a few things so far.. pasta salad with small spiral-y noodles, making a prettier cucumber onion salad, spaghetti of course, and making cool curly things in salads. Still, it is pretty quick and fun to use. It gives a nice touch to things to make the homemade meal look cooler. And the noodles do work great in that spaghetti.

 

[wolfy]

[MENTION=4515]wolfy[/MENTION] Hey it felt good for a minute though didn't it!!

It was actually half a day, lol. Hahahaha.

 

[INTJMom]

I just finished my Sunday morning exercise routine.
I didn't do Wednesday's and I haven't been doing the ab crunches,
though I did them this morning without pain in my groin.
My only problem now is feeling secure that my flea problem is settled and it's ok to lie on the floor.

I got on the exercise bike a couple of times.
Once I did 10 minutes on *2*.
Yesterday I did 10 minutes on *2* then I did an additional 5 on *3*!
I survived it; I think my knees are ok... so that's a good thing!

 

[kyuuei]

Ran through the woods on the 4th of July it was fun!

I feel a little more on track, I'm taking bite-sized nibbles out of getting my routine back. I've been doing a lot of self-hating and not-caring because of personal issues going on back at home, and it put a real damper on my motivation. Luckily, I have messed up hips and backs that remind me that I'm stupid and don't get a choice in maintaining my body, so that helped push me back into moving around.

I'm doing a 5 day challenge with Fitness Blender (I really like their work out routines), and my yoga days still. I still intend on completing my 30 day fitness challenge from betty rocker, but I think I'll use them as work-out-in-a-rush days instead.

I have been eating one meal a day that makes me feel good afterwards (adequate vegetable and protein content, good flavor, home cooked entirely, and not so heavy that I feel full and useless afterwards) and sometimes more than that, and now I'm starting to reign in on my snacking better. I started tracking my water intake again, and I think with this new place the easiest thing for me to do is to get a big 64oz glass, fill it up first thing in the morning, and carry it around with me--pouring some into my smaller water bottle when I go out of the house.

 

[INTJMom]

Self-hate does the same thing to me.
Why do we do that to ourselves.

 

[INTJMom]

I'm going to be out of town on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so I won't be able to do my usual routine.
I just did only part of my Wednesday program.
I should try to get in 10 minutes on the bike.

See ya next week!

 

[kyuuei]

^ Have fun!!

I skipped working out and stretching two days in a row. I really need to break the habit of doing-everything-at-once, because the days I don't work out I'm also not stretching which is far far more mandatory for me.

Today was day 3 of the 5 day 1-hour-long work outs, it was a really good one. I was sweating like crazy. Ate something, let my body cool off, then I'm stretching for about 20 minutes. I'm gonna cool off on the yoga until I regain my flexibility again in my legs.. I really need to focus on that. I noticed my butterfly stretch today was not nearly as deep as I've been able to do in the past, which is worrisome for me.

Cooking for one is really hard!! I know I used to do it back in the day, but it's been a loooong time since I did that. And we get a lot of really nice, fresh, FREE food that just goes to waste in our fridge! I'm cooking and freezing some potato+onion+corn medley we got, and making freezer packages of some stuff, but maaaaan is it difficult watching good food go to waste. We only have a tiny freezer, so I can't preserve everything. @_@

Still enjoying lots of watermelon juice and banana ice cream. soon it's going to be too cold to eat ice cream for breakfast.

 

[kyuuei]

So, I used to think my old house didn't really foster health and fitness--but it absolutely did. Home cooked meals with rotated cooks on the daily, opportunities to play and exercise, grocery stores that had endless cheap options, and the space and time to get shit done with people who wanted to work out with you.

Jeezus here it's like I'm on a teeny tiny island. I live with one person, and he doesn't give a flying fuck about working out for the sake of it alone (though he gets work outs in naturally with what he does for work) and eats garbage all the time and has literally snubbed his nose at homecooked food in exchange for a jamacian hot pocket. Fuuu...

On the bright side, I found a really awesome stretching routine on youtube that I super like. Not TOO long, hits a lot of major points. If I can find a few more like this one I'll be on the right track.

Anyways, on to numbers! 6/13 days this month so far I've worked out, 13/52 (4x a day) of my meals have been what I consider to be healthy, and I properly hydrated 2 days this month so far (using 6 8oz glasses of water + 2 glasses of another beverage and adding a glass of water if I drink alcohol or a super-sugary drink). The diary I'm using now is far simpler but more useful for me than myfitnesspal.

Not a really great track record, less than half of my days are work out days, 25% of my meals are healthy, and 15% of my days have adequate water intake.

I'm going to start improving the water intake (the easiest to improve) and the meal intake. I'm naturally getting more into a work out groove, and alternating 1 day of 1 hr stretching, 1 30 minute zone-specific work out + 30 minutes of stretching, and 1 day of 1 hr work out + 20-30 minutes of stretching is working pretty good for me. It's not perfect, but that groove is getting in there. My zones so far: Running, lifting, climbing, hoola-hooping, sports-style hand-eye coordination. I'm going to slowly incorporate these into my day-2 routines one at a time. Running was first and I am keeping up with that pretty well. Hoola-hooping is next since I have those materials as well. Then I'll get a big rope for practicing climbing and attach it to a tree.

 

[kyuuei]

Ohhh man I just made an amazing slaw.

1 head lettuce chopped up and wilted with salt/pepper
2 packets sahale almond snacks

(I used the yellow and green packets)
4 sweet mini-bell peppers
2 bell peppers
1 stalk celery
1 onion
1 inch ginger
1 tbsp horseradish
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup cilantro avocado yogurt ranch dressing
1 tbsp of 21 seasoning salute + smoked paprika + valentina fruit seasoning
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar


... Yup.

 

[kyuuei]

More coleslaw from yesterday and I'm using the leftover corn-on-the-cob kernels, onions, potatoes, bell peppers, and pork sausage to make a decent little shepard's pie, so shepard's pie + coleslaw for lunch. I also used a sweet butternut squash and apple soup to make a pumpkin pie out of instant pumpkin pudding + the soup in some graham cracker crust.

Work next week means I'm going to make a whole week's worth of lunches in an assembly line and shove them in tupperwares ready to go.

I'm gonna go ahead and saaayy...
Cereal + milk for breakfast
1 piece of coconut pineapple bread for midday snack
Sandwich, pickle, coleslaw, fruit (probably apples), and chocolate chips and pudding for 2 lunches and shepard's pie, bread and coleslaw with fruit and pie for 2 lunches with one day of grocery store sushi and seaweed salad with pie
Bottle of water to refill at the training center, they have water fountains there, so pretty much just a lot of water during the day time

And for dinner I'll probably heat up frozen souffle's or a quick broccoli-soup that's frozen with veggies and a hard boiled egg on the side while I work out.. Light meals, quick and I don't need to deal with them while I'm working out.

My body's been changing a lot the past almost two months. I definitely gained a decent amount of weight, which I didn't really do the right way (i.e. I was definitely not building muscles), and I wanna say I'm probably at the 130-133 mark right now based on past experience. But I like the way I look. My work outs are telling me I'm still pretty weak, but I'm happy my legs look broader and my arms aren't so thin anymore. Building muscle is hard but I didn't even realize how few calories I ate when I was in nursing school. I mean.. I was STRUGGLING to make 1200-1500. Pretty crazy.. Here? Food is so easy to get and no fear of someone snatching it all up that I have no problem making 1800-2000 calories happen.

 

[INTJMom]

I did my Wed and Sun full body workouts.
I didn't do daily ab crunches, but I did get on the bike a couple of times.

Next week I start a 16 week program of having to write down everything I eat.
I think that will help me keep better track of my calorie intake.

 

[kyuuei]

At this rate, I'll have numbers hovering somewhere around the 1 workout for every 2 days time frame, with stretching being even to that, and physical therapy almost non-existent, and meals? I'll wait to tally up at the end of the month and rank them simply as overall what I felt was healthy eating (good portions, even distribution of macros, homemade vs store bought, etc.) or unhealthy eating (none at all, over eating, total junk food, etc.) and distribute them that way. It will be a good baseline to improve upon in August.

On the bright side, even though I lack a foam roller I did discover my rolling pin and while that hurts like crazy it does help loosen up that IT band. I stretch my feet out and my IT band and hamstrings get a good rolling out despite how painful it is. I feel like the reality is I will never ever keep up with the physical therapy my therapist gave me unless I just do 2 things each day. I can keep up with the feet and rolling on the daily I think, but I really need to just pick two things and do them each day so that it isn't so overwhelmingly boring and drawn out for me. There's no reason to NOT do those things everyday, but I just can't do it.

 

[INTJMom]

... There's no reason to NOT do those things everyday, but I just can't do it.

Yeah... I have trouble with that too.

What's the matter with your feet... do you have plantar fasciitis?
I need one of those foam rollers too, but they're so expensive!

 

[INTJMom]

I did my 2 full body workouts this week.
I had to change the Wednesday to Thursday because
I am now attending a group meeting after work. on Wed.
It's a Diabetes Prevention weight loss class.
The goal is for everyone to lose 7% of the weight by the end of a year.

In addition, for the next 16 weeks, I have to write down everything I eat or drink
write down the calories and fat grams, stay under my fat gram budget,
and work toward incorporating 150 per week of brisk exercise per week into my life style.
It's the "BRISK" part that's gonna kill me.

The workouts add up to 90 minutes per week.
If I can just add 60 minutes per week of the exercise bike to that, I would be happy with that.


http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/15/the-right-dose-of-exercise-for-a-longer-life/

What’s the minimum (and maximum) exercise to improve health? : Science-Based Running

American Heart Association Recommendations for Physical Activity in Adults
AHA Recommendation

For Overall Cardiovascular Health:
•At least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity at least 5 days per week for a total of 150

OR
•At least 25 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity at least 3 days per week for a total of 75 minutes; or a combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity aerobic activity

AND
•Moderate- to high-intensity muscle-strengthening activity at least 2 days per week for additional health benefits.

For Lowering Blood Pressure and Cholesterol
•An average 40 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity aerobic activity 3 or 4 times per week


__________________________________________________________________________________


So I am wrong... the 150 minutes in in ADDITION to working out with weights twice a week. Oh good.

I got on the exercise bike thinking I would pedal for 30 minutes.
Ten minutes into it I got a sharp pain in my left hip, like a cramp.
It hurt to stand up and straighten myself.
I'm going to ask my doctor what it might be.

So yesterday I just marched in place for 24 minutes while watching MASH.

 

[kyuuei]

Yeah... I have trouble with that too.

What's the matter with your feet... do you have plantar fasciitis?
I need one of those foam rollers too, but they're so expensive!

I think they just bother me because my hamstrings and IT bands are tight in general. Foam rollers ARE expensive. Cheaper options: Those foam cylinders from Michael's or other craft stores that are pretty sturdy and wrapping it in electrical tape/duct tape... Or get a big PVC pipe piece cut from a hardware store, and cover it in the pipe insulation that fits around it and tape it in place. Right now I'm using a rolling pin made for baking and stuff and it is working alright. Really cheap version of the muscle-rollers I see in the stores.

 

[kyuuei]

Alright! July health diary numbers are in (just now, I calculated them tired and sometimes I didn't log things so the math isn't an exact science here)

I worked out 15/31 days (I might have been active other days, but I didn't do those activities with training or fitness in mind)

I recorded 55 meals I considered healthy out of 113. "Meh" meals where some aspects were healthy but others weren't were 22. Totally definitely not healthy for me meals or meals where even if it was healthy I ate it in an unhealthy way (like overeating) came out to 36. So overall I am eating mostly or definitely healthy meals and in healthy portions, but the meals I am eating in an unhealthy fashion are still numerous enough to probably cause some of the sluggish issues I've been having lately as well as the improper weight gain.

I hydrated properly 16/30 days, with one day unrecorded. This one honestly made me a little sad to see because I really do drink water a lot.. it's my favorite beverage. And I know for a fact once upon a time in the not-so-distant past I definitely hydrated properly each and every day without fail. My hydration markers are 5 cups of water (or 4 cups + an unsweetened tea like the mint tea I make in the fridge, etc.) + two cups of another beverage like coffee or milk.. and I add a cup if I have something crazy like an alcoholic drink or a sweet-dessert-like-drink.

So I think my eating habits are probably going to stay the same throughout the next month (with slightly less partying.. lots of birthdays and holiday-like-events in July means more home cooked meals naturally) but I can definitely try to break that 50% mark on the exercising with some run days and I can also start pushing the hydration tab into the every day section. I think August I want to focus on my 3-mile-running goal.

Also, cool stuff: my work pays me to be healthy. So as long as I log in what exercises I do and I wear this device that records my steps, I get paid $75 each quarter. Yay!

 

[INTJMom]

I did my Wednesday and Sunday full body workouts.

I did 40 minutes in 2 days of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (aiming for 150 in 5 days).

What's really nice is to see how far I have come!
I used to be such a perfectionist that anything less than perfection meant I was a failure and I would give up.
Thank goodness it finally registered in my soul that there is no such thing as perfect.
It's ok to fall short of a goal.
Doing something is better than doing nothing!

 

[INTJMom]

No tv and defective computer so I had no place to play the dvd I exercise to.
Totally bad week last week.
I did get some moderate aerobic exercise on Saturday for at least a half hour while I vacuumed.

 

[kyuuei]

The other day I struggled to get 30 minutes of movement. Like I had the time, I was right there, but I couldn't make it through the hour.

Today, though. I did. And I dId better than last time. It felt really good. Great way to end my 4 day vacation.

 

[Unkindloving]

I've been getting back into my health/fitness side of life after way too long.
Thus far, I'm not yet focusing on my food intake. I'm just tracking on Sparkpeople to get a good idea of what I could be doing differently, and what any given day's caloric and macronutrient range looks.

I've also been backwards from how I was two+ years ago regarding my workout routine. I started with strength training instead of starting with cardio, and I am working up my cardio from the ground up.
Otherwise, I tend to go to the gym to at least 5x or more a week to strength train for 45-60minutes (and sometimes 20+ minutes of cardio).
A fun note: I have approximately 10 gym buddies in total to pick and choose from/bother to join me. It makes it a really good experience when we can aid in one another's motivation.