Diet/Exercise/Health/Wellness Support Thread

Parent Cafe
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<p>We have a bunch of rules at the office gym which offenders probably never read.</p>

<p>That’s one of the annoying ones. I can move the 45 pound plates back on the pegs but not everyone else can.</p>

<p>The YMCA has tougher problems like what to do with 125 pound dumbbells when someone leaves them on the floor. I suppose that they could always get two people to put it back.</p>

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<p>I’ve solved my problem with the TechWick Heavyweight Top - outstanding piece, warm, and very close to the skin (though I wear it over a shirt). This combined with the hoody and my Columbia fleece (from the 3-in-1) takes care of me in pretty cold weather. I can toss the shell on if it is cold and wet. If it gets into the single-digits, then I go with my down jacket. Even if it’s two sizes too big. I basically layer going into the office. Sometimes the office is cold and sometimes it’s hot and it’s nice to be able to peel back to comfort levels.</p>

<p>The guy in that video does a nice sales pitch. He takes off the pieces to reveal that he’s really, really skinny but it doesn’t look like it when he has the outer layers on.</p>

<p>Putting on the TechWick heavyweight or midweight bottoms keeps the rest of me warm too when it’s cold outside. I wanted to buy a piece for my daughter but they were gone with that 50% off sale several weeks ago. The womens stuff went faster than the mens stuff.</p>

<p>I’m actually looking for pants and shorts now. I am thinking of dumping my size L 5-inch shorts. These ride up when I run these days and they aren’t really long enough for tennis (the pockets). I like the Nike 7-inch M shorts as they don’t ride up. I like their heavier L shorts for tennis. I never seem to have time to stop off at the Merrimack Premium Outlets these days. When the weather is bad, I don’t feel like going out at all. When it’s good, I prefer to go to the Y.</p>

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<p>aqua–I’ve gone in phases of exercising a lot, and then not so much. In my 30’s I was the step and tae bo queen; 40’s led me back to riding horses and walking or hiking. Now I’ve added weight lifting and I’m trying to beef up the aerobic exercise with more miles of walking and running. I’ve never been considered overweight, but I know there have been plenty of times when my diet was too low fat/high carb, and I did too much sitting. Right now I feel as healthy as I can be and I’m at a good weight. I was prompted to make a large change with many small changes in diet and activity after my DH had a heart attack in his early 50’s. I’m hoping the changes are for life–and a long one at that!</p>

<p>Today was a very easy day–kind of rainy/stormy: I only walked two miles with H during which we stopped to rescue one large box turtle, but earlier I exercised my fingers on my freshly tuned piano :slight_smile: I made a very yummy deviled salmon for dinner with steamed broccoli and quinoa. And a glass of a scrumptious Meomi Belle Glos pinot noir.</p>

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<p>Burpee Fusion in the basement for me. Alternating between 12 swings and 6 burpees, on the minute, every minute for six minutes. Then, rest 'til my heart rate recovers and go again. I did three 6-minute rounds. Saw a max heart rate of 88%, which is pretty high for this kind of stuff. Basically 30/30 intervals. Exercise for 30 seconds, rest for 30 seconds.</p>

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<p>I’m jumping on the kettlebell bandwagon. I’ve been going “ghetto” with my “kettleplate” dumbbell – the end plate has a big two handed grip like a kettlebell. But, now that I’ve kind of settled into weight for swings and single leg deadlifts that I probably don’t need to increase much, I decided to buy a real kettlebell. In keeping with my ghetto gym, though… I had to get a plain black iron Walmart version to match my gray iron prison dumbbells. They didn’t have the size I wanted in stock at my local stores, so rather than the free ship store for free, I sprung for the extra $2.97 to have it shipped to my house. It’s worth the three bucks to not have to drive to WalMart, stand in line, and carry it to the car.</p>

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<p>6.5 miles.
Machines: abs, dips, pullups, rotary torso, overhead press, adductors, abductors
Stretching video, pushups, lower abs, kettleball squats</p>

<p>I left the Y at 8:50 - not enough time to get to the Nike Store. I could have gone before the Y but I prefer to get the workout done first.</p>

<p>980 calories (I actually haven’t eaten 480 of them yet - my wife is preparing the food now)
35 g fat, 71 g carbs, 90 g protein (30% carbs)
17 g fiber, 19 g sugar (most of the sugar is from an apple)</p>

<p>I’m going to work for another couple of hours so I might squeeze in some home weights in between editing sessions.</p>

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<p>Interval Night. Mile warmup. Probably 20x-50 meter high knee strides plus other assorted dynamic warmups. Followed by killer 5x - 300 meter sprints. Got my butt kicked by My younger training partners.</p>

<p>Mile warmdown barefooted on synthetic grass surface felt good. Ended night with static stretching and core. </p>

<p>I’m thinking that 8 hours of sleep BCE was talking about might be the ticket.right about now.</p>

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<p>I have a really bad pain in the a$$. Seriously- right in my left glute. Not sure if it is from being over-zealous with the kettle bell (where have I heard that before?) or from the race. It didn’t start until my run tonight and it was pretty bad, but seemed to ease up a little as I kept going. I think I’ll foam roll it and see if that helps. I hope I’m not injured…</p>

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<p>Well, the kettlebell swing, done properly, should make your glutes sore at first. So, with any luck, you’ve just got some old-fashioned soreness from that.</p>

<p>I’ll probably be sore tomorrow. This was the first time I’ve done “burpee fusion” in a while and, after the instructional video last night, I was all fired up.</p>

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<p>It’s not soreness- more like a strain.</p>

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<p>Strain = almost an injury.</p>

<p>I strained my ankle about six weeks ago. It wasn’t a sprain or I wouldn’t be running or hitting tennis balls but it was pretty close. Close enough so that I felt it after running or playing tennis. But it gradually got better and better until it was gone six weeks later and I was able to stay active but not 100%.</p>

<p>I’ve never had an injury down there.</p>

<p>It sounds like you were able to run though without causing additional problems.</p>

<p>When I have something that I’m not sure of, I do the three-day test. If it goes away after three days, then great. If not, I mentally prepare for something a lot longer.</p>

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<p>Ice ice ice MOWC</p>

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<p>MOWC, I’m sorry you got the ow, and I hope it doesn’t last long. R-I-C-E came to mind, of course. Then I thought, how does one implement that for this kind of strain? You know you’ve been reading too many posts in the parent cafe when you come up with the answer Spanx. Feel better.</p>

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<p>Didn’t sleep well last night. Took a rest day today.</p>

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<p>He’s summited Mt. Everest five times. Talk about burning some crazy calories.</p>

<p>He’s also carried skis to the top of an 8000 meter mountain and skied most of the way down, starting at the summit. </p>

<p>[Ballinger</a> Claims First Complete Ski Descent of Manaslu | POWDER Magazine](<a href=“http://www.powdermag.com/stories/ballinger-claims-first-complete-ski-descent-of-manaslu/]Ballinger”>http://www.powdermag.com/stories/ballinger-claims-first-complete-ski-descent-of-manaslu/)</p>

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<p>Speaking of spanx and glutes and stuff, MOWC will be pleased to know that I ordered a pair of the sale-priced [Brooks</a> Infiniti tights](<a href=“http://i.stpost.com/brooks-infiniti-tights-for-men-in-black-nightlife~p~5339j_03~1500.3.jpg]Brooks”>http://i.stpost.com/brooks-infiniti-tights-for-men-in-black-nightlife~p~5339j_03~1500.3.jpg). I don’t know that I’ll wear them in public, but I’ve really taken to wearing the power stretch tights around the house and I figure the Brooks tights might be pretty good for basement gym workouts. For $32, I figured I’d give 'em a go. Black with little bits of flourescent yellow.</p>

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<p>It’s been a long day. BB, let me know if the Bastille Day post was just confusing. It wasn’t meant to be. It was meant to be helpful.</p>

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<p>I really don’t count calories much but I found it interesting that since I’ve been almost dormant (at least my standards), my eating has decreased with it. I’ve since started lifting and lacrosse started yesterday so my appetite has come back, but I found it kind of comforting that my typically large diet shrank due to my inactivity. </p>

<p>The numbers were something like a 5,000 Calorie diet to about 2,500.</p>

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<p>Aquamarinesea, this thread is great inspiration whatever level of former inactivity or weight/nutrition level you’re coming from, so don’t be shy!</p>

<p>I myself have been a bit of an overworked but sedentary couch potato most of my life who’s always been on the plumpish side but not particularly bothered by it until recent gains (eg this is my third time dieting in the last 10 years and this time I’m aiming for a lifestyle change that can stick.)</p>

<p>In high school, I was a sprinter and a soccer player until I wrecked my foot by tearing all the ligaments. While I used to casually bike ride or canoe with my son when he was younger, the closest I got to being involved with fitness was editing a health and fitness magazine on the side while employed as a journalist (oh, the irony!). For a too-brief spell I worked with a personal trainer on strength conditioning, but lost my enthusiasm for the gym after I transferred to a paper in another city.</p>

<p>About 12 years ago my back locked up after someone dared me to do a cartwheel (which in theory I still could do.) Eventually, over the next year-and-a-half of intense back issues it was discovered that I had something called facet joint syndrome whereby several of my tiny front spine joints had bone grown into the channel that could periodically lock up for extended periods of time, wreaking havoc on the adjacent ligaments and causing spasms and an uneven gate that periodically required walking with a cane.</p>

<p>Eventually, I was able to walk normally again, and started walking a mile a day per my surgeon’s direction, and bought a hot tub, which helps keep me loose (plus magnesium and adequate water intake.) When i was still in Canada, they had me on rx naprosyne for 2 years, and i felt it contributed to weight gain.</p>

<p>But every time I started to attempt some kind of exercise routine I’d ultimately get another lock up and would then be terrified of the activity. But I do believe in the “use it or loose it”
philosophy. A year ago we moved to a pastoral home with some land, but without sidewalks and with a fast country road in front that I was afraid to walk. I started to try to walk up the steep hill in my woods, but slipped several times and put my back out.</p>

<p>So last month it occurred to me to use ski poles to take a Nordic walking approach to the hill. Now I’m doing my mile again, with snowshoes at the moment, and tracking my calories/adjusting my meal prep. I am slowly (very very slowly) working up the nerve to compliment that activity with kettlebells for strength resistance and cardio.</p>

<p>As of yesterday morning, I’ve lost 15 lbs since I started all this in Jan, and it helps me a lot to read this thread, check out latest ideas or items in the health and fitness industry, and discover new routines I might try, even though many of the regular posters are clearly advanced in a way that is foreign to me.</p>

<p>In my case, I won’t be running marathons, or doing anything high impact or high risk. I am now the co-owner of a small design studio with my husband and can literally not afford to wreck my back because the pain makes it too distracting to work well. But that doesn’t mean I can’t benefit from tips like the aqua jogger and find other low impact ways of improving my strength and condition ;)</p>

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<p>“Perhaps, Miami, you suffer dust allergies? That is one case where less is more on the sleep front”

  • My short sleep has a known reason. But we were not discussing the reasons, we were discussing the effects. If you want to know the reason, if one is deprived of sleep for a very long time (like few years, in my case it was about 3 years), then the brain forgets how to sleep longer. This is according to my family doc., I tend to agree.</p>
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<p>^^^ Lost me there, as usual!</p>

<p>iDad- You are turning into a Brooks poster child! You will be out in the 'hood in those tights in no time!</p>

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<p>^^^ or Walmart</p>

<p>Did streak mile (2) and the butt is a LOT better. I really did some pressure point stuff on it last night and I think I’ll be OK. I’m going to take it easy for a few days, though, to make sure.</p>

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<p>Can anyone recommend a link that covers nutrition for runners?</p>