<p>mom60, Whole Foods also has dark chocolate covered almonds, so you’re getting two beneficial foods at once (as long as you eat them in moderation). If I eat a handful a day, I feel like my chocolate cravings have been met, and the almonds of course, are good for you.</p>
<p>A good friend says that, before she started going to the gym several times a week, she used to hit the stores. It was a past-time for her – which inevitably resulted in spending money!</p>
<p>A good friend of mine arrived at the gym half way through my elliptical routine today. We talked so long I ended up getting a good 15 minutes more than I had planned on! On the other hand - two weeks of being bad have caught up with me (three parties yesterday!) - so I’m going to have to really step things up this week. Work stuff has calmed down so I should be able to get some good walks in if the weather behaves.</p>
<p>If exercising has cut into anything, it’s wasting time on the computer.</p>
<p>13.4 mph is really booking on a hilly ride, MoWC.</p>
So – what did we all do today?
I myself did nothing. Not my regular day. Tomorrow, though, I will be burning up the treadmill.
<p>I did my regular walk for the first time in at least 6 weeks. Due to hip issues I have had to cut back. I dreaded going back to my hills. I was not going to exercise today. But I had some time this afternoon and told myself to just go out for a quick walk. I ended up doing my entire route. I thought of this thread as I made myself go up one more long hill. It was hard and I am amazed at now quick it is to get out of shape again.
I am fitting into clothes that had been tight.</p>
<p>Great job, mom60.</p>
<p>Have been not feeling well this past week but better now. Allergies, I think. Headache, nausea, the general yucks. But walked 45 minutes at a fast clip Saturday and Sunday, then cycling class today. So good to be feeling active again.</p>
<p>I did 40 minutes on the treadmill at Weight Loss level 5 today and the lower body half of the weight machine circuit. Plus abs and stretching. Yesterday I mowed grass, using a power mower that is not self-propelled and needs to be pushed, for 45 minutes to an hour. Tomorrow I’ll mow for 45-60 minutes again.</p>
<p>I’m trying to lose 17 lbs and have lost about 8 so far (since mid-March). I’m consuming about 1200-1300 calories per day on an extremely low-carb diet. (Under 50 gms of carb per day.) I’ve been stuck at my current weight for about a week or two. It’s getting discouraging.</p>
<p>Rode the stationary bike today for a little over 16 miles. The gym was so hot and humid! My legs are still stiff and a little sore from last week. Would love to try 100 miles again this week but maye I should try every other week??? Will see how it progresses. Went to the lake for the weekend and it was cold and rainy so didn’t get any walks in so no more weight loss.</p>
<p>Stay with it Consolation! I keep telling myself it will happen soon!</p>
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<p>I did a lazy jog (3.3 miles in 28 minutes) on the “dreadmill”. A few planks here and there, a series of pushups…</p>
<p>Consolation - please do not get discouraged. You will get there. Grab some light free weights and let your muscles help you burn some more calories.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t consider sub-9 minute pace at ALL a lazy jog… That’s moving.</p>
<p>I’ve gotten little exercise lately and got tired of starving, so my weight is up. However, I will report that I am finally getting some definition in my arms. I’ve been working with 5 lb weights for about a year.</p>
<p>Yesterday I had some pain from my left hip upon awakening that was almost bad enough to make me reach for the aspirin/ibuprofen. It eventually wore off and didn’t hurt while exercising. Last night I woke up in the middle of the night and it was back again and very unpleasant: all the way down the leg and concentrating in the shin. This did not feel like muscle strain or joint pain. I took two aspirin and went back to bed. The aspirin eventually kicked in and I went back to sleep again. Woke up and it was back. Took two ibuprofen, which has dialed it down.</p>
<p>It’s weird that it actually goes away when I’m doing something like climbing stairs in the house or exercising, and comes back when I’m driving or lying down.</p>
<p>I take 3 ibuprofen every morning before I work out for my knee pain and stiffness. Don’t know if that’s good or bad but it helps me get moving and stay on the bike. Did 25 miles today. So different from yesterday. Makes me wonder if it is a physical or mental block that I had yesterday. Hope this week ends with another pound lost or I will be disappointed!</p>
<p>Pain that comes when activity stops tends to be tendon and connective tissue related. </p>
<p>There is a lot of stuff in the hip that requires careful treatment. The labrum, the connective sheath that surrounds the head of the joint, is one example. A typical injury is tendonitis and / or bursitis and if the injury is severe or continuous that then goes with an actual tear. Most tears are not operated on and the whole mess can take years to heal.</p>
<p>So my advice on hips is to be careful. Exercising gently at first will indeed help because that stretches the tendon gently, but damage is still being done or at least the inflammation is still there and then when the tendon stiffens again the pain erupts. My advice, from long years of dealing with these issues, is to examine what you’re doing and change it. This, for example, is why I’m against running on sidewalks or streets if you have any hip or knee pain; the uneven surface that slopes is the perfect medium for causing tendon problems. Another thing to look at is your stride and that means shoes, which means a real running store that looks at your gait and fits you to the right kind of shoe.</p>
<p>And third, there are many exercises that stretch and help heal the hip. Most involve simple motions like using rubber bands - that you buy - of different resistance. The exercises accomplish two things: they build up the complementary muscles that likely are weak and they promote general healing by stretching the area in a way that doesn’t cause inflammation. If pain becomes an issue in a hip, see a doctor or a sports physical therapist. It’s not worth letting it get worse.</p>
<p>The latest thinking is that it is a REALLY bad idea to take Vitamin I (ibupropen) before exercising. Not only does it mask pain that you should listen to, but if you dehydrate at all it can lead to kidney failure. I have done this in the past,including taking ibupropen during marathons. Lately all the running publications and medical publications strongly advise against it.</p>
<p>Don’t overlook the possibility of inflammation around the spine for causing severe pain in remote areas. The most miserable three days of my life started one night with shooting intense pain all through my left shoulder and arm. I went to the emergency room at midnight concerned that it could be a heart attack. Heart was fine. Doc sent me home. All day the next day (Sunday), I was in total agony. I couldn’t sit, I couldn’t lie down. The only relief was standing up with my arm stretched above my head. I stood leaning against a wall for 24 hours. I would stand until I fell asleep and fell over, then stood back up again. At 8 Monday morning, my wife drove me to my doctor’s office (in a convertible with the top down so I could stretch my arm above my head). The nurse practicioner took one look at me with my arm stretched up above my head and said, “You’ve got an inflammed nerve at the 5th or 6th vertebrae in your neck”. If only the emergency room doc had noticed that I was sitting on the side of the examining table with my arm raised the whole time he was checking me out.</p>
<p>I had done it with muscle inflammation from playing guitar. Some heavy duty pain pills got me a couple night’s sleep while the anti-inflammatory steroids did their magic. I’ve never had a reoccurence, but now I kind of know what the initial signs of tenderness in that area are and I back off.</p>
<p>Anytime you have pain that shoots down a limb, the potential for a pinched nerve issue somewhere has to be considered.</p>
<p>I was thinking it might be nerve-related, idad. I’m not sure what to do about it, though. It seems to have abated now. I’ll see if it recurs.</p>
<p>Back for my check in! Rode the bike for 23.5 miles and then walked on dreadmill for 2 miles. Felt good today. Have been tracking and measuring what I eat on thedailyplate. According to that I definitely have deficit calories and should be losing weight. Something isn’t right…sigh! Still plugging away!</p>