Well-Trained Bodies- July

[Jenny in Florida]

Well, I am on track to finish my week up a little in weight. Again, not panicking, but not happy about it.

Otherwise, it's been a decent week in terms of food and exercise. I've stayed within my calorie range every day, although there have been a couple of days when I haven't made the wisest choices about what I'm eating. I've met my step/mileage goal every day this week--despite some uncooperative weather--and did my strength exercises all three days. 

Having finished the Hadrian's Wall walk, I felt a little bereft and decided to sign up for another virtual challenge from the same site. I actually ended up getting their "starter pack," which is three challenges. I'm doing the shorter ones first, because I am also putting together a team at work to tackle one of the longer ones. I do not plan to double count mileage, so I think once the longer one gets rolling I will count my regular morning 3+ miles towards that one and then any other outdoor walking I do in a day towards my personal challenge. At the moment, I'm walking the Inca Trail towards Machu Picchu. 

Yesterday, I spent some time cleaning and straightening my craft room/office, which has also been serving as my fitness area. I've decided to put down some temporary flooring (we are renters) over the carpet to make the space more comfortable for working out while wearing shoes. I'm also getting rid of the futon that takes up a ton of space in an already small room and replacing it with a comfy armchair or something similar.  Shopping for supplies is my project for today.

Oh, for those who might be curious -- I've decided to do the Space Mountain 5K indoors (since the weather has been too unpredictable to make it appealing to actually drive anywhere interesting to walk). Last night, I ordered myself a mini-trampoline, which I have been wanting anyway.  The idea is to inaugurate the new equipment by using it to bounce through at least a portion of that challenge. I was joking about renting a space walk/bounce house for my personal use when I remembered I had been thinking about just buying a mini-trampoline. And the ideas converged. So, the plan is bouncing/jumping/walking on the trampoline while listening to space-themed podcasts and perhaps running space videos on my computer monitors.

After that, it's on to the Haunted Mansion walk in August, for which I already have a plan, and then the Save the Manatees, for which I think I will drive out to the state park where the manatees congregate in cold weather. Obviously, there won't be any manatees in the water right now (or in September), but it's a gorgeous park, anyway, with a lovely, long boardwalk. And my entry fee will support a good cause. I might even budget enough to buy myself a manatee-themed souvenir in the gift shop.

Edited July 11, 2020 by Jenny in Florida

[Ali in OR]

Cat got me up early, which I don't mind too much as I like being up before everyone else. I did two more Foundations of Yoga videos--Warrior 2 and The Bridge. My big challenge today is managing my eating. It's one dd's birthday, and I'm definitely having some chocolate cake and ice cream. I also have a delivery scheduled from Great Harvest which is a bread chain in a few western states. I have a couple of marionberry scones coming (a little birthday treat) and a loaf of bread. Then dd has picked take-out from our favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner, and my usual chicken tostada isn't too bad health-wise. So I'm trying to manage today with two meals, plus my morning mocha that I just finished. I would like to have eggs and toast from the delivered bread, but that probably won't get here until after 1:00. Can I make it that long? If not, I'll have a little yogurt parfait--3 oz Fage plain yogurt with frozen blueberries and some granola. And I'll allow myself some fresh blueberries too. I'm just trying to not gain this weekend, then next week (when the pie and cake are gone!) I'll focus on eating to lose weight.

We finally have sun in the morning today, so it should warm up nicely (like 80°). I think I'm going to try to take disabled dd to the neighborhood pool. This is mostly a weight lifting workout for me, not a swimming workout!

[wintermom]

2 hours ago, Ali in OR said:

Cat got me up early, which I don't mind too much as I like being up before everyone else. I did two more Foundations of Yoga videos--Warrior 2 and The Bridge. My big challenge today is managing my eating. It's one dd's birthday, and I'm definitely having some chocolate cake and ice cream. I also have a delivery scheduled from Great Harvest which is a bread chain in a few western states. I have a couple of marionberry scones coming (a little birthday treat) and a loaf of bread. Then dd has picked take-out from our favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner, and my usual chicken tostada isn't too bad health-wise. So I'm trying to manage today with two meals, plus my morning mocha that I just finished. I would like to have eggs and toast from the delivered bread, but that probably won't get here until after 1:00. Can I make it that long? If not, I'll have a little yogurt parfait--3 oz Fage plain yogurt with frozen blueberries and some granola. And I'll allow myself some fresh blueberries too. I'm just trying to not gain this weekend, then next week (when the pie and cake are gone!) I'll focus on eating to lose weight.

We finally have sun in the morning today, so it should warm up nicely (like 80°). I think I'm going to try to take disabled dd to the neighborhood pool. This is mostly a weight lifting workout for me, not a swimming workout!

Happy birthday to your dd! Hope you have a really nice day. 😀

[Matryoshka]

I thought I posted what's below on Thursday - but I just clicked into this tab (I have too many tabs open!!) and found it unposted, and I'm not seeing that I pushed the submit button, so...

I missed the Green Zone minutes for the challenge by 6 minutes... 😏  114 min Green, 160 min Orange/Red over the past week.  Though it looks like no one's posting anything on the local FB group, and you're supposed to sign up through corporate on the app, so I'm not bothering!  May just add up the minutes and post them here for jollies. 😉 

Our local OT studio is opening back up with distancing on Monday, but I'm going to keep my membership on hold, which I think I can do another two months.  I ordered some of those Under Armour sports masks; once they get here if they look good and I can manage actually working out in them, I may feel better going back.  Things are pretty good here now, but I'm worried about what's going to happen when schools and universities open...  I've got a decent rhythm going here now, so...

Since last update ... did an OT workout on Monday (1 hr), on Tues did a 30 min Nordic Walk, then another OT workout minus the warm-up (another 43 min), and yesterday it was really muggy so stayed indoors and just did a 30-min set on the rowing machine.   I may take today off as a rest day.

So, I did take Thursday off, and then also Friday.  Oops.  It was muggy and rainy yesterday.  So won't make 5 days this week. 😞 Went shopping at TJ's this morning and now must change into workout clothes (which I'm normally in 100% of the time - quarantine chic!).  It's hot now, but I think I'll plan to take another Nordic walk when it cools down a bit, then another OT workout.

[PinkTulip]

I'm jumping back in here at the urging of Matryoshka. 😀 I read this thread a lot, but am always hesitant to post, because my fitness journey is much more meandering than everyone else here . Pre-Covid, I was working 55+ hours a week, so it was hard for me to find time to exercise regularly. But fortunately, one benefit of this wretched virus is that I have been working from home a lot more, and have a lot more flexibility, so I have been able to work out more.

So with all that, I'm happy to say I am down 8 pounds since the first of June. I am not a health and fitness rockstar like many of you here, but here are the things that have worked for me:

I have really tried to do some kind of exercise for at least 30 minutes a day, every day. Most of the time, that is 30 minutes on my rowing machine, but on other days, that has been strolling around the neighborhood with my college kids at a leisurely pace. But almost every day of doing at least something.

I have started doing Intermittent fasting and it is working for me. I try to eat between 10:300-ish a.m. and 6:30-ish p.m. I'm not super strict on that exact window, but do try to keep to around there. I do get hungry in the mornings, but I have found that drinking a lot of water really seems to help. 

I have really been tracking my calories. I bought a kitchen scale and started weighing everything I eat. I keep track of things in MyFitnessPal and am now to the point where I know how many calories the things I eat are, so I'm not as fanatical about the scale. But the scale was really helpful in the beginning. I also have a new bathroom scale that gives me all kinds of data points. I geek out over things like that, so it is motivating to me to keep the general downward trend going.

I think the most helpful thing has been to not be so rigid with myself about this. I have a tendency to self-sabotage when I get stressed or my eating or exercise hasn't gone the way I want to. I beat myself up over stuff like that, which leads to craving and eating things I shouldn't in quantities I shouldn't. So I'm being gentle with myself, not letting myself get too excited about losing weight, or too worked up over gaining a little. Slow and steady of just consistently trying to do the things I know I need to do, without a deadline or set goal - just letting things happen as they happen. 

Anyway, sorry that was so long, but I am going to try to check in here more often. I am not to the same level as many of you here, but I'm happy with the changes I'm trying to make, and the path I'm on. 

[Soror]

quick check in before teaching.

Planning a bike ride this morning and then work outside, meal prep, and cleaning.

[wintermom]

Quick check-in as well. Going for a bike ride with ds 14, my summer training buddy. It finally rained - all day yesterday. Dd and I got caught in a thunder shower biking home from the grocery store last evening. We thought we had a window of non-rain, but it was not to be. 

[Soror]

21 hours ago, wintermom said:

Quick check-in as well. Going for a bike ride with ds 14, my summer training buddy. It finally rained - all day yesterday. Dd and I got caught in a thunder shower biking home from the grocery store last evening. We thought we had a window of non-rain, but it was not to be. 

At least rain didn't hit until the way home, I've had that happen before too. 

I had a good bike ride. Today is strength and walking. I've got to get walking in early, teaching and hs'ing is really making it much harder with the massive heat for much of the day.

[wintermom]

My body may not recover this morning tennis match. We were tied at 2 sets each and had to play a tie-break. Total of 2.5 hours of really fun tennis. I am definitely going to need some restorative yoga. 😉

[wintermom]

1 hour ago, soror said:

At least rain didn't hit until the way home, I've had that happen before too. 

I had a good bike ride. Today is strength and walking. I've got to get walking in early, teaching and hs'ing is really making it much harder with the massive heat for much of the day.

Yes, if it had rained on the way to groceries we would have aborted the mission and I would have missed out on chocolate. So after drying myself off, at least I could enjoy some delicious dark chocolate. 

Enjoy your strength and walking. Hope you don't melt out there. Do you also get a lot of humidity where you are?

[wintermom]

@Laura Corin  Hope all is going well with your move! Miss your updates and photos. 

[Laura Corin]

1 hour ago, wintermom said:

@Laura Corin  Hope all is going well with your move! Miss your updates and photos. 

Thanks.  All well so far.  Packers arrive tomorrow - moving on Wednesday.

[Ali in OR]

I woke up this morning with some lower back pain behind my left hip. I thought, "But I didn't do anything yesterday! It was a rest day!" And then I remembered, oh yeah, I got that painting project done. Besides last week's window cleaning, this was the other big, onerous chore from the summer project list. It actually wasn't that bad, I was just dreading it. Two years ago, I painted just about every room in the house. This was just some touch up painting and fixing two walls that I didn't do very well back then. Dd's bedroom had paint drips on the wall behind her bed. Doing that wall over involved moving her dresser and bed, and I did take the drawers out of the dresser first, but I still was doing a lot of hard pushing by myself. I felt fine yesterday, but I'm pretty sure that must have been the culprit for my back. I've had it much worse, but I'm still going to see what I can do to help it out this week. I have a nice heating pad on it at the moment, and I have some exercises I can do.

I still wanted to do a cardio workout this morning. I did the cardio ballet one thinking that a little stretching might be good, and I think that went okay. There was just one section I had to modify on the left side.

TGIM! I love the Monday fresh start, and I really need it eating-wise. I think we're finally done with the big summer food events that hit hard here from late June to mid-July. There's still some pie and birthday cake in the fridge, but I am done. My eating goal this week is to plan each day's food on My Fitness Pal in the morning and make sure ahead of time that I will meet my goals for calories, fiber, and protein, plus 5 servings fruits/veggies per day. Have a good week everyone!

[Jenny in Florida]

Well, I did it. I got my husband out to ride bikes this morning. We rented a couple of bikes and rode along a very pretty trail. He is currently talking to his brother on the phone and sounding fairly positive about the experience. So, I'm calling that a win.

[wintermom]

9 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

Thanks.  All well so far.  Packers arrive tomorrow - moving on Wednesday.

Very exciting! Hope everything goes really smoothly. Let us know when you are in your new place. 

[Matryoshka]

It's late, but I got my workout in (after taking yesterday off...).  It was thundery, so stayed inside, rowed 6 min to warm up, did an OT workout (upper body & core focused) which was a bit short so then I filled out the hour doing rowing sprints, then stretch.

My weight is still ranging a 1-2 lbs higher than where I'd like it (after managing to keep it so nice and steady for months after this stupid Covid crisis), so gotta keep at it.  I don't think I'm eating more, but averaging 4 days/week of exercise instead of 5 in June is the only thing I can think of to blame...

[Soror]

22 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

Thanks.  All well so far.  Packers arrive tomorrow - moving on Wednesday.

Ya!!!! Good luck with the move, I hope it all goes well.

23 hours ago, wintermom said:

Yes, if it had rained on the way to groceries we would have aborted the mission and I would have missed out on chocolate. So after drying myself off, at least I could enjoy some delicious dark chocolate. 

Enjoy your strength and walking. Hope you don't melt out there. Do you also get a lot of humidity where you are?

Usually humidity is very high here but it is uncharacteristically low the last few days (40s-50s%) makes a big difference. Dark chocolate is a definite win.

20 hours ago, Ali in OR said:

I woke up this morning with some lower back pain behind my left hip. I thought, "But I didn't do anything yesterday! It was a rest day!" And then I remembered, oh yeah, I got that painting project done. Besides last week's window cleaning, this was the other big, onerous chore from the summer project list. It actually wasn't that bad, I was just dreading it. Two years ago, I painted just about every room in the house. This was just some touch up painting and fixing two walls that I didn't do very well back then. Dd's bedroom had paint drips on the wall behind her bed. Doing that wall over involved moving her dresser and bed, and I did take the drawers out of the dresser first, but I still was doing a lot of hard pushing by myself. I felt fine yesterday, but I'm pretty sure that must have been the culprit for my back. I've had it much worse, but I'm still going to see what I can do to help it out this week. I have a nice heating pad on it at the moment, and I have some exercises I can do.

I still wanted to do a cardio workout this morning. I did the cardio ballet one thinking that a little stretching might be good, and I think that went okay. There was just one section I had to modify on the left side.

TGIM! I love the Monday fresh start, and I really need it eating-wise. I think we're finally done with the big summer food events that hit hard here from late June to mid-July. There's still some pie and birthday cake in the fridge, but I am done. My eating goal this week is to plan each day's food on My Fitness Pal in the morning and make sure ahead of time that I will meet my goals for calories, fiber, and protein, plus 5 servings fruits/veggies per day. Have a good week everyone!

TGIM indeed, always a time for fresh starts. Good luck with your goals this week, making plans really does make a big difference.

14 hours ago, Jenny in Florida said:

Well, I did it. I got my husband out to ride bikes this morning. We rented a couple of bikes and rode along a very pretty trail. He is currently talking to his brother on the phone and sounding fairly positive about the experience. So, I'm calling that a win.

A big win, ya for bike rides with your hubby. I hope you can make it happen again.

12 hours ago, Matryoshka said:

It's late, but I got my workout in (after taking yesterday off...).  It was thundery, so stayed inside, rowed 6 min to warm up, did an OT workout (upper body & core focused) which was a bit short so then I filled out the hour doing rowing sprints, then stretch.

My weight is still ranging a 1-2 lbs higher than where I'd like it (after managing to keep it so nice and steady for months after this stupid Covid crisis), so gotta keep at it.  I don't think I'm eating more, but averaging 4 days/week of exercise instead of 5 in June is the only thing I can think of to blame...

Well, if you are eating the same but exercising less that will catch up to you. 

[wintermom]

It's gorgeous weather this morning, so I think I'm going to go for a bike ride with ds and explore some new trails or revisit old favourites. I'll also do my push-ups, stretch and strength stuff.

@Ali in OR  Great job getting the painting project completed. All that work could certainly be the cause of muscle and joint pain. I'll have to tackle some more painting soon, and I know it will mean soreness. I try to spread out the process and not get too carried away. It's so hard to get the momentum going to even start, so getting it all done is very tempting. 😉

[Soror]

I had fun with the girls outside yesterday before it got so hot. I got some walking in and we played on the trampoline. Today I did some yoga early and will do some walking in a bit, we are swimming after lunch.

Food intake has increased. I have to watch the tweaks from Daily Dozen as if I do too many my appetite is decreased too much and I don't eat enough. I feel fine at first but then find myself starting to feel a bit run down. Weight has been hanging around 123 after dipping down for a bit. 

[Matryoshka]

53 minutes ago, soror said:

Well, if you are eating the same but exercising less that will catch up to you. 

Yep. That's why I was so determined to be good when this all hit. 

What's really annoying is that eating the same and exercising more doesn't seem to have the opposite effect!  Have to make a concerted effort to eat less too. So not fair. Hoping for just a pound or two I can manage without drastic measures...

Lots of salads on the horizon, now that the garden has started producing! 

[Ali in OR]

Back was less sore on waking up today. I used my microwaveable heating pad 4 or 5 times yesterday and even went to bed with it. I was very ready to modify my bodyweight workout, really ready to decrease or skip lunges if they hurt, but they didn't so I did the whole workout. Now I can still feel the injury, but hopefully I didn't make it any worse and that it's on its way to full healing. I did my two sets of the bodyweight circuit, then my back exercises, then 2 Foundations of Yoga videos: Pigeon Pose and Samasthiti. Pigeon Pose definitely stretched the sore area.

@wintermom, yes, finding the painting momentum is probably the hardest part! I was not going to do it yet, but dh was repairing a hole he cut in the garage wall and he repainted it, so some of the stuff was out (and I had already bought a new gallon of paint). When I did most of the house 2 years ago, I did one room a week. Not that it takes a week to paint a room--it was more like one day to prep the room, one day to paint, one day to put it back together, and then 4 days to rest and recover before the next room! That was quite the project.

@soror I hope to get dd to the pool this afternoon too. We finally have temps over 80° which is kind of my lower threshold to swim!

[Matryoshka]

1 minute ago, Dreamergal said:

Checking in, same bike, elliptical and playing with DS. Thankfully the weather is better today. 

Just hanging in there, our cases are going higher so staying home and cooking. Not going out at all. That is a bit depressing, but it is what it is. 

Have a good one ladies ! 

Hang in there.  Things were really bad here for a while, but at least we took quick actions to shut it down.  It seems like Texas is starting to come around at least... not sure what they're thinking in Florida...

[Ali in OR]

Did Barefoot Cardio Fusion Walk and some back exercises this morning. Had a nice trip to the pool with dd yesterday--her first time swimming since March. It's her favorite thing. Lovely 85°. We shared the wading pool with 3 tweens, then they went to the big pool and we had it to ourselves. 

On the injury front, still feeling the back issues, but I was able to wear flip-flops to the pool. That may not seem too impressive, but the strap cuts right across the tendon that's kept me out of shoes since early June. I tried them a couple of weeks ago and couldn't wear them--too much pain. So the foot is definitely healing. But I'm liking my new workouts, so I'm going to continue them and stay off the treadmill for awhile longer--maybe until school starts...if I'm back in school.

[IvyInFlorida]

Hi friends!  Popping in to say that I have been swimming and walking as much as possible, yay.  Also eating healthy is going pretty well.  But I'm really here to share my 20 week ultrasound pics!  He's perfectly healthy and we even got to see him yawn on the screen!  In a few views it was really, really obvious that he has inherited my husband's eye shape, which I'm thrilled about (he's part Hawaiian and has great eyes). 

My body seems to be doing what it's supposed to do, too, thank God (placenta good, etc).  So all is going well!  Blood pressure, weight, etc are all on target.  Next up--glucose/gestational diabetes test in a few weeks, blargh.  Baby is measuring right on due date, which is still Nov. 29th with a probable induction a week prior.  So thankful everything is normal and healthy so far!

[wintermom]

@IvyInFlorida  Awesome photos! I can't believe how clear the foot is! So glad everything is going well. That glucose test is not great, but it's quick. Are you still experiencing any nausea?  You are over half way through the pregnancy now! Hope all continues to go really well. 😃

[IvyInFlorida]

5 hours ago, wintermom said:

@IvyInFlorida  Awesome photos! I can't believe how clear the foot is! So glad everything is going well. That glucose test is not great, but it's quick. Are you still experiencing any nausea?  You are over half way through the pregnancy now! Hope all continues to go really well. 😃

 

I am so amazed at how detailed ultrasounds are.  They're incredible!  Seeing his heart valves opening and closing was just surreal.

I do get mild intermittent nausea still but it's manageable.  Plus my food aversions are greatly improved.  I've been able to eat the same suppers as the rest of the family lately, which is really nice.  Also, I've been feeling him move a lot this week!  If he's on the left (away from my front-right placenta), I feel a ton of movement even on the outside.  My sons both got to feel kicks, but of course little dude stopped cooperating as soon as my husband tried to feel!

[wintermom]

I didn't do a whole lot of activity today, but I'm sore from the bit I did. I had a weeding frenzy ripping out a ton of weeds at the side of the house. My hamstrings, lower abs and hands are definitely feeling it. Also had a really nice walk with a friend in her small town. We walked by some gorgeous old mansions on beautiful properties. They are nice to admire, but must be expensive to maintain. 

Snacking was a disaster today! I'm studying stats through Khan Academy in preparation for my grad course in Sept. I've slipped back into my 'young student' study habits of snacking while studying and not noticing the quantity of food I'm eating. 

[Ali in OR]

2 hours ago, wintermom said:

Snacking was a disaster today! I'm studying stats through Khan Academy in preparation for my grad course in Sept. I've slipped back into my 'young student' study habits of snacking while studying and not noticing the quantity of food I'm eating. 

I think I snacked a lot more this spring when I was working from home and on my computer all day.

[Soror]

@IvyInFlorida awww, thanks for the pics, so glad you are feeling better

@wintermom sorry about the snacking, it is easy to get into that habit

@AliInOregon Glad to hear your foot is doing better, it is smart to be cautious

@Dreamergal Sorry things are looking worse in your area, keep on, keeping on

@Matryoshka I know, it is not fair, always easier to gain than lose

___________________________

I'm slacking checking in. My shoulders were really feeling it yesterday from swimming the previous day so I skipped my strength work. I did get my bike ride in and was very impressed with improvements. I've been able to increase my power, biking at a higher gear which gets me up hills faster and really brings the top HR down. My mph increased 1.4 mph over last ride (same course) and my time at peak HR decreased nearly 50% from 9 min to 5 min. It is still not easy at all but getting a bit easier maybe. I think I could tackle the hill by my house now but I'm too nervous. I think once I can get that last hill on the course I'm doing I'll go after it, that hill is by far bigger than the others.

Today I'm going swimming again, trying to do a bit of lap swimming when I'm there. I've never swam for exercise so I can't do much but am trying to add on a bit each time, last time my shoulders were already sore as soon as I was pulling out of the parking lot. So, I have to go slow so I don't hurt myself. Pool had more people but it is still big enough we could have our space and the changing rooms are open air and we've managed to be in there on our own s

[EmilyGF]

We started school back on July 6 and I've been pretty swamped since then. I wasn't able to figure out a way to consistently exercise not in the morning, and I wasn't able to get up early because the persistent fireworks were keeping me up, but finally, people seem to have gotten bored of shooting stuff off until 1 or 2 in the morning every single day and I've gotten up before 6 am for the past three days. Major victory!

I got out "Body by You" from the library (same author as "Your Body is Your Gym") and I really like it. It totally was not what I expected. I am shocked that his schedule only has four exercises per time you work out, but it seems so doable. I placed myself yesterday and got up and did my first workout today before ds8 got up at 6:30 am to do math before breakfast with me. I think I'm motivated by soreness. I have a hard time exercising consistently unless I feel pleasantly sore the day afterwards. I wasn't actually planning to exercise today, but when I woke up and felt my muscles, I wanted to!

I spent $266 at the produce store yesterday. Yes, some of that was stocking up on soy sauce, chickpeas, rice noodles, and other similar things not carried at Aldi, but most was produce. We had mushroom tacos last night with roasted tomatillo salsa, a meal I make about twice a month after buying 5+ lbs of mushrooms. Tonight is pad thai with fresh bean sprouts. Not quite so healthy, but I'll sub in sliced cabbage for half the rice noodles and cut the sugar and oil in half to make it more nutritious.

B: oatmeal with berries and peanuts, L: broiled zucchini pizzas (zucchini slices with moz. cheese and turkey pepperoni) and some chips with tomatillo salsa, S: apples and peanut butter, Dinner: homemade tofu pad thai, Dessert: watermelon.

Emily

Edited July 16, 2020 by EmilyGF

[wintermom]

2 hours ago, soror said:

@IvyInFlorida awww, thanks for the pics, so glad you are feeling better

@wintermom sorry about the snacking, it is easy to get into that habit

@AliInOregon Glad to hear your foot is doing better, it is smart to be cautious

@Dreamergal Sorry things are looking worse in your area, keep on, keeping on

@Matryoshka I know, it is not fair, always easier to gain than lose

___________________________

I'm slacking checking in. My shoulders were really feeling it yesterday from swimming the previous day so I skipped my strength work. I did get my bike ride in and was very impressed with improvements. I've been able to increase my power, biking at a higher gear which gets me up hills faster and really brings the top HR down. My mph increased 1.4 mph over last ride (same course) and my time at peak HR decreased nearly 50% from 9 min to 5 min. It is still not easy at all but getting a bit easier maybe. I think I could tackle the hill by my house now but I'm too nervous. I think once I can get that last hill on the course I'm doing I'll go after it, that hill is by far bigger than the others.

Today I'm going swimming again, trying to do a bit of lap swimming when I'm there. I've never swam for exercise so I can't do much but am trying to add on a bit each time, last time my shoulders were already sore as soon as I was pulling out of the parking lot. So, I have to go slow so I don't hurt myself. Pool had more people but it is still big enough we could have our space and the changing rooms are open air and we've managed to be in there on our own s

That's really cool with your biking! Glad all your hard work is paying off and you are enjoying your increased fitness. Let us know when you tackle the big hill. You can do it! 

The swimming sounds really nice. Good for you for pacing yourself. It's hard to hold back sometimes. 😉

54 minutes ago, EmilyGF said:

We started school back on July 6 and I've been pretty swamped since then. I wasn't able to figure out a way to consistently exercise not in the morning, and I wasn't able to get up early because the persistent fireworks were keeping me up, but finally, people seem to have gotten bored of shooting stuff off until 1 or 2 in the morning every single day and I've gotten up before 6 am for the past three days. Major victory!

I got out "Body by You" from the library (same author as "Your Body is Your Gym") and I really like it. It totally was not what I expected. I am shocked that his schedule only has four exercises per time you work out, but it seems so doable. I placed myself yesterday and got up and did my first workout today before ds8 got up at 6:30 am to do math before breakfast with me. I think I'm motivated by soreness. I have a hard time exercising consistently unless I feel pleasantly sore the day afterwards. I wasn't actually planning to exercise today, but when I woke up and felt my muscles, I wanted to!

I spent $266 at the produce store yesterday. Yes, some of that was stocking up on soy sauce, chickpeas, rice noodles, and other similar things not carried at Aldi, but most was produce. We had mushroom tacos last night with roasted tomatillo salsa, a meal I make about twice a month after buying 5+ lbs of mushrooms. Tonight is pad thai with fresh bean sprouts. Not quite so healthy, but I'll sub in sliced cabbage for half the rice noodles and cut the sugar and oil in half to make it more nutritious.

B: oatmeal with berries and peanuts, L: broiled zucchini pizzas (zucchini slices with moz. cheese and turkey pepperoni) and some chips with tomatillo salsa, S: apples and peanut butter, Dinner: homemade tofu pad thai, Dessert: watermelon.

Emily

That sounds pretty crazy with all the fireworks in your area. I can imagine how tough it is to sleep with all that going on. We only had one night of neighbourhood fireworks and it woke everyone in my house. 

Great job getting up early and exercising. I also like the feeling of some muscle soreness to indicate I've worked-out. I also love my recovery days, too! And those are the days my weight always goes down a little.  Your menus sound wonderful! 

[wintermom]

I'm going mountain/forest biking with ds this morning. Sadly we have very big hills around here to train with, but there are lots of beautiful trails. Then meeting a friend to hike in the afternoon. Somewhere in there I'll do my stretches and push-ups. 

Food-wise I'm going to pace my snacking while studying better. I probably won't have much computer time today anyway, so that makes things a lot easier. My weight is still in the normal maintenance range.

[Jenny in Florida]

Just a quick check in to admit a couple of failures and share a pretty pic.

First, the admission: I did not meet my minimum step goal either Tuesday or yesterday. I've been busy with work and home stuff and also spiraling down again into a bit of an emotional funk, and I just couldn't make myself care enough to squeeze in those second walks and/or exercise videos. I did take a good walk this morning, though, and I hope to clear one work project off my desk today, which would give me a little breathing room. So, the plan is to drag myself back on track ASAP.

And here's a picture of my favorite view (well, really, the only thing that qualifies as a "view") I encounter while walking around (and around) my neighborhood.

[Soror]

1 hour ago, EmilyGF said:

We started school back on July 6 and I've been pretty swamped since then. I wasn't able to figure out a way to consistently exercise not in the morning, and I wasn't able to get up early because the persistent fireworks were keeping me up, but finally, people seem to have gotten bored of shooting stuff off until 1 or 2 in the morning every single day and I've gotten up before 6 am for the past three days. Major victory!

I got out "Body by You" from the library (same author as "Your Body is Your Gym") and I really like it. It totally was not what I expected. I am shocked that his schedule only has four exercises per time you work out, but it seems so doable. I placed myself yesterday and got up and did my first workout today before ds8 got up at 6:30 am to do math before breakfast with me. I think I'm motivated by soreness. I have a hard time exercising consistently unless I feel pleasantly sore the day afterwards. I wasn't actually planning to exercise today, but when I woke up and felt my muscles, I wanted to!

I spent $266 at the produce store yesterday. Yes, some of that was stocking up on soy sauce, chickpeas, rice noodles, and other similar things not carried at Aldi, but most was produce. We had mushroom tacos last night with roasted tomatillo salsa, a meal I make about twice a month after buying 5+ lbs of mushrooms. Tonight is pad thai with fresh bean sprouts. Not quite so healthy, but I'll sub in sliced cabbage for half the rice noodles and cut the sugar and oil in half to make it more nutritious.

B: oatmeal with berries and peanuts, L: broiled zucchini pizzas (zucchini slices with moz. cheese and turkey pepperoni) and some chips with tomatillo salsa, S: apples and peanut butter, Dinner: homemade tofu pad thai, Dessert: watermelon.

Emily

I went groery story too and spent so much money. Mushroom tacos sound good to me but I might have a mutiny as the kids don't care for them. I actually looked for fresh bean sprouts here all over last week but they were not to be found, I need to make my own. I like to cut my rice noodles with veggies too.

12 minutes ago, wintermom said:

That's really cool with your biking! Glad all your hard work is paying off and you are enjoying your increased fitness. Let us know when you tackle the big hill. You can do it! 

The swimming sounds really nice. Good for you for pacing yourself. It's hard to hold back sometimes. 😉

 

It is hard to pace yourself but "lucky" for me my swimming endurance is also crap with swimming. I was thinking in the water how my perceived exertion with swimming is so much higher than biking. I wasn't even over HR of 100 and feeling all worn out, while 100 HR while biking is nothing at all.

5 minutes ago, wintermom said:

I'm going mountain/forest biking with ds this morning. Sadly we have very big hills around here to train with, but there are lots of beautiful trails. Then meeting a friend to hike in the afternoon. Somewhere in there I'll do my stretches and push-ups. 

Food-wise I'm going to pace my snacking while studying better. I probably won't have much computer time today anyway, so that makes things a lot easier. My weight is still in the normal maintenance range.

Have fun! Have fun on your hills, it is good training but a total buttkicker.

__________________________

Breakfast and lunch here is the same yesterday and today:

breakfast- entire sheet (half rack) of roasted kale, roasted spiced sweet potato, homemade whole grain gf toast (mostly teff); berries and banana w/ peanut

lunch- 'asian' salad red cabbage, cilatnro, yellow pepper, edamame, carrot, quinoa/brown rice/sprouted lentil blend w/ homemade sesame lime ginger dressing

snack: chickpea, cuc, tomato, salad; popcorn w/ nutritional yeast

I'm doing pizza tonight, cauliflower for me. I avoided dairy for 3 weeks w/ no allergy improvement so I've added it back in although am not eating a ton

[Soror]

2 minutes ago, Jenny in Florida said:

Just a quick check in to admit a couple of failures and share a pretty pic.

First, the admission: I did not meet my minimum step goal either Tuesday or yesterday. I've been busy with work and home stuff and also spiraling down again into a bit of an emotional funk, and I just couldn't make myself care enough to squeeze in those second walks and/or exercise videos. I did take a good walk this morning, though, and I hope to clear one work project off my desk today, which would give me a little breathing room. So, the plan is to drag myself back on track ASAP.

And here's a picture of my favorite view (well, really, the only thing that qualifies as a "view") I encounter while walking around (and around) my neighborhood.

Lovely pic Jenny, thanks for sharing. I'm sorry you are in a funk. I have been there (I think we all have) it is hard sometimes to pull yourself out. Today is a new day with fresh possibility.

[Ali in OR]

Did my back exercises, bodyweight circuit, and 2 Foundations of Yoga videos: Triangle pose and Standing-Wide Feet-Forward Fold. Back is still a little sore, but nothing I can't exercise through. Eating is going better this week and the scale reflects that which is nice. But it's so much work and mental energy! I do notice that it's harder some days--I'm thinking it's the days that I don't have enough calories early in the day. I've been playing around with pushing breakfast to 11:30 on my mocha days, but sometimes that just spirals into lots of afternoon eating. Today I did my oatmeal and mocha together--we'll see if that goes any better.

[wintermom]

3 hours ago, soror said:

It is hard to pace yourself but "lucky" for me my swimming endurance is also crap with swimming. I was thinking in the water how my perceived exertion with swimming is so much higher than biking. I wasn't even over HR of 100 and feeling all worn out, while 100 HR while biking is nothing at all.

Have fun! Have fun on your hills, it is good training but a total buttkicker.

__________________________

Breakfast and lunch here is the same yesterday and today:

breakfast- entire sheet (half rack) of roasted kale, roasted spiced sweet potato, homemade whole grain gf toast (mostly teff); berries and banana w/ peanut

lunch- 'asian' salad red cabbage, cilatnro, yellow pepper, edamame, carrot, quinoa/brown rice/sprouted lentil blend w/ homemade sesame lime ginger dressing

snack: chickpea, cuc, tomato, salad; popcorn w/ nutritional yeast

I'm doing pizza tonight, cauliflower for me. I avoided dairy for 3 weeks w/ no allergy improvement so I've added it back in although am not eating a ton

Oops! That was a typo about hills in my area. We have almost NO big hills. I have to drive about 30 min to a park with loads of hills. I do find them challenging and a lot of fun, I don't often take the time to drive and bike. And this park is across a provincial border, so during the lock-down I haven't ventured over there. That province has worse numbers than ours, and ours are bad enough. 

Glad you are able to introduce dairy back into your diet. It is sad to have to cut out such an important food group. My gut pain is better when I limit dairy, so I'm sticking with it. Hope you find a way to improve your allergies, though. 

Edited July 16, 2020 by wintermom

[Matryoshka]

On Tuesday it was thundery again, so I did about a 40-min row; my standard progressive 10-minute warm-up (this is what we always did when I went to winter training), then did 2 1000m and 2 500m pieces, then stretch.  Yesterday was cool and by the afternoon not humid, so took a 30-min Nordic walk with a sprint at the end.  Something was totally wacky with my phone and HR monitors - neither my FB nor my OT monitor were recording things properly (though completely different).

Today is nice again, I think another Nordic walk and then I'd like to do an OT workout as well.  First lunch and water the garden...

[Matryoshka]

12 minutes ago, Dreamergal said:

 

@Matryoshka My nordic pole guru, glad you had your walk and sprint. I shall think of you every time I try walking. I am getting my poles soon.

😂 I should not take any guru credit, that title should definitely go to @Laura Corin - I am still but a rank amateur!  But they are fun!

 

Quote

We get up early to exercise. So far the heat is co-operating as in not very hot. The planned schedule is also getting better. We need consistency I think, but we aim for 5 days out of 7 and call it a win. Otherwise, everything ok if we don't poke our head outside. Hopefully what they are doing will bring it down which I guess we should be thankful for compared to other states. But it is what it is. So until it gets better we wait. 

Remain impressed by all of you getting up early to exercise!  5 out of 7 days is my goal too.  Hope things start to settle down there again soon with the virus nasties.  

[Soror]

15 hours ago, Dreamergal said:

@IvyInFlorida Beautiful pictures. Thanks for sharing. That little foot is so sweet and so clear. Glad you are feeling better.

@EmilyGF Exercising and school with the fireworks sounds difficult. Glad you have figured out a routine somewhat. Something we have been working hard to perfect. Your produce haul sounds impressive. Trying to eat as healthy as possible with "cheats" sounds a good way.

@Jenny in Florida  Thanks for the pretty picture. Ups and downs are ok, be kind to yourself. 

@soror So glad you are swimming. You can build up faster than you think. You are a woman who digs ditches, few can do it ! So pretty soon endurance will become higher. 

@wintermom Forest biking and hiking sounds lovely. Good luck with the studies.

@Ali in OR Glad the eating and exercise is going better. Slow and steady.

@Matryoshka My nordic pole guru, glad you had your walk and sprint. I shall think of you every time I try walking. I am getting my poles soon.

We get up early to exercise. So far the heat is co-operating as in not very hot. The planned schedule is also getting better. We need consistency I think, but we aim for 5 days out of 7 and call it a win. Otherwise, everything ok if we don't poke our head outside. Hopefully what they are doing will bring it down which I guess we should be thankful for compared to other states. But it is what it is. So until it gets better we wait. 

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'm working on it a little at a time!

It takes time to get in a new routine, I am still tweaking here as we've started swimming now. Our area isn't horrible but considering that cases are rising and people are stupid.

17 hours ago, Matryoshka said:

On Tuesday it was thundery again, so I did about a 40-min row; my standard progressive 10-minute warm-up (this is what we always did when I went to winter training), then did 2 1000m and 2 500m pieces, then stretch.  Yesterday was cool and by the afternoon not humid, so took a 30-min Nordic walk with a sprint at the end.  Something was totally wacky with my phone and HR monitors - neither my FB nor my OT monitor were recording things properly (though completely different).

Today is nice again, I think another Nordic walk and then I'd like to do an OT workout as well.  First lunch and water the garden...

My FB whacked out the other day too when bike riding I don't have good reception where I go and it just stopped recording, usually it does ok there.

17 hours ago, wintermom said:

Oops! That was a typo about hills in my area. We have almost NO big hills. I have to drive about 30 min to a park with loads of hills. I do find them challenging and a lot of fun, I don't often take the time to drive and bike. And this park is across a provincial border, so during the lock-down I haven't ventured over there. That province has worse numbers than ours, and ours are bad enough. 

Glad you are able to introduce dairy back into your diet. It is sad to have to cut out such an important food group. My gut pain is better when I limit dairy, so I'm sticking with it. Hope you find a way to improve your allergies, though. 

LOL, aha, well I say I have big hills but for those that live in mountain areas I'm sure my hills are nothing. 

I know I hate limiting food if I don't have to but don't want ot keep things in that bother me. So, I'm just limiting now and see how that goes.

17 hours ago, Ali in OR said:

Did my back exercises, bodyweight circuit, and 2 Foundations of Yoga videos: Triangle pose and Standing-Wide Feet-Forward Fold. Back is still a little sore, but nothing I can't exercise through. Eating is going better this week and the scale reflects that which is nice. But it's so much work and mental energy! I do notice that it's harder some days--I'm thinking it's the days that I don't have enough calories early in the day. I've been playing around with pushing breakfast to 11:30 on my mocha days, but sometimes that just spirals into lots of afternoon eating. Today I did my oatmeal and mocha together--we'll see if that goes any better.

In the "How Not to Diet" book they recommend finish calories for the day by 7 pm, or 2.5 hrs before bedtime. I naturally want to eat more earlier so that works well for me. It is hard to balance increasing activity with adequate with too much when you are trying to lose. Good job eating well this week.

Edited July 17, 2020 by soror

[Soror]

So, I managed 3 laps swimming yesterday. I'm aiming to add on a lap a week for now. I still fight my embarrassment because I'm sure my form is laughable to people who know what they are doing but I'm making it. I'm loving to see the girls swim so much better. My older 2 are fine in the water but the younger 2 needed some work, swim lessons we're a big help. Now, dd2 can swim anywhere no problem and dd3 is getting better and better. If things are better next spring I think I'll sign them up for swim team. I play with the girls most of the time and then intermittently do a lap here and there.

I also did a couple of short walks and a short Barre video w/ some core.

Today I'm biking w/ dh and maybe some kayaking. It is our anniversary- 21 years. He knows I love biking so we are going to do a short ride on the forest trail. He used to love biking with me but he isn't in as good as shape as he used to be with going back to college and a more sedentary job on top of it so he doesn't do it much. He really likes kayaking so I told him we could do that too. The plan is to go straight after I teach this am, that will be at 8 so already warm enough. Then we'll take the kids to my parents to stay the night, come back for a nap, maybe watch a movie and perhaps do kayaking in the evening or tomorrow morning. We'll see how we feel.

 

[wintermom]

4 hours ago, soror said:

So, I managed 3 laps swimming yesterday. I'm aiming to add on a lap a week for now. I still fight my embarrassment because I'm sure my form is laughable to people who know what they are doing but I'm making it. I'm loving to see the girls swim so much better. My older 2 are fine in the water but the younger 2 needed some work, swim lessons we're a big help. Now, dd2 can swim anywhere no problem and dd3 is getting better and better. If things are better next spring I think I'll sign them up for swim team. I play with the girls most of the time and then intermittently do a lap here and there.

I also did a couple of short walks and a short Barre video w/ some core.

Today I'm biking w/ dh and maybe some kayaking. It is our anniversary- 21 years. He knows I love biking so we are going to do a short ride on the forest trail. He used to love biking with me but he isn't in as good as shape as he used to be with going back to college and a more sedentary job on top of it so he doesn't do it much. He really likes kayaking so I told him we could do that too. The plan is to go straight after I teach this am, that will be at 8 so already warm enough. Then we'll take the kids to my parents to stay the night, come back for a nap, maybe watch a movie and perhaps do kayaking in the evening or tomorrow morning. We'll see how we feel.

 

Happy Anniversary! Sounds like you and your dh have a lovely day planned. Enjoy!!  Any special meals planned as well? 

[wintermom]

I was up at 5:30 am to play tennis, but it was really wet. We still had to go to the court just to see if the rain had effected the court in that part of town, but it was soaked. We went home and returned 2 hours later. We still had to sweep a bunch of puddles, but we got to play a match before it got too hot!  I'm biking with a friend this afternoon, and then again after supper with ds. 

[Soror]

39 minutes ago, wintermom said:

I was up at 5:30 am to play tennis, but it was really wet. We still had to go to the court just to see if the rain had effected the court in that part of town, but it was soaked. We went home and returned 2 hours later. We still had to sweep a bunch of puddles, but we got to play a match before it got too hot!  I'm biking with a friend this afternoon, and then again after supper with ds. 

You have got a lot fun planned today 🙂 It has been crazy dry here, we sure need rain.

We got our bike ride in. I forgot the fun of trail riding, a billion cobwebs and spiders to the face. I had to stop a few times as it was just too many crawling on me and it icks you out after awhile. Dh had trouble with endurance and then a tire blow out at the end. But I had fun anyway (I think dh was just worn out but dh was just tired I think).

 

[Ali in OR]

Finished my exercise week with the same Barefoot Cardio Fusion Walk I did on Wednesday. I will spend much of today in the car and eating out--not ideal.  Got my kitchen cabinets and appliances cleaned yesterday and it looks amazing. Normal people probably do this more often than "summer project list", but around here we get used to food drippings on the cabinets and streaky stainless steel appliances! But now that I know how good it can look, maybe I'll do it more often!

[Soror]

We had thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening here. Dh and I played board/card games and watched movies.

We'll see if we feel like kayaking, temps are supposed to crazy high this weekend.

Weight has bounced up the last couple of days and I'm annoyed. I have been eating more, part is being more active, especially cardio tends to bring out the hunger-- I also need to watch one splurge doesn't lead to another. Today is a new day, must work on increasing good carbs when more active and not snarfing down too much chocolate.

Today? strength? kayak?

 

[wintermom]

2 hours ago, soror said:

We had thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening here. Dh and I played board/card games and watched movies.

We'll see if we feel like kayaking, temps are supposed to crazy high this weekend.

Weight has bounced up the last couple of days and I'm annoyed. I have been eating more, part is being more active, especially cardio tends to bring out the hunger-- I also need to watch one splurge doesn't lead to another. Today is a new day, must work on increasing good carbs when more active and not snarfing down too much chocolate.

Today? strength? kayak?

 

Kayaking! There's always some splashing that cools one off. Enjoy your day!

[wintermom]

It'll be a rest and recovery day today. I was so exhausted after the early morning, tennis and biking in the heat yesterday. I collapsed in bed right after supper and slept like a rock all night. Ds is organizing a family D&D session with us this afternoon. Should be fun. My character is a Viking Berserker, and I leveled up last game so who knows the destruction I'll be able to do now (hopefully I won't destroy myself). 😅

[Ali in OR]

Dd and I were out picking blueberries at 6:30am--our last batch for 2020. We got 33 pounds and I put 12 quart bags of that in the freezer (probably ~21 lbs--the rest is for fresh eating this week). I organized the garage freezer which now has 35 bags of 2020 blueberries and 6 from 2019. I think we're set for blueberries! And now I know how much space is left over for the next Costco run--not much. No formal exercise today.

[wintermom]

1 hour ago, Ali in OR said:

Dd and I were out picking blueberries at 6:30am--our last batch for 2020. We got 33 pounds and I put 12 quart bags of that in the freezer (probably ~21 lbs--the rest is for fresh eating this week). I organized the garage freezer which now has 35 bags of 2020 blueberries and 6 from 2019. I think we're set for blueberries! And now I know how much space is left over for the next Costco run--not much. No formal exercise today.

I think that picking 33 lbs of blueberries and then storing them counts for exercise! Enjoy those berries. I'd be eating all of them fresh. You have great will-power! 😉