<p>Fantastic! Great to find a bargain like that. TJMaxx gets a small, but steady, stream of nice NIKE fitness apparel. Those running jackets are so useful, not just for running, but for around town, ducking in and out of the car, much of the year.</p>
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<p>I just got my squatting workout in. Lifting the top of my smoker, with two grill racks, and 23 pounds of meat off the smoker and down to the pavement so I could stoke the fire. Then, squatting down, picking it up and placing it back on the grill. An awkward 50 pounds and had to be lifted carefully to avoid dumping my dinner on the ground. Lot easier now that it used to be a couple years ago!</p>
<p>Good find, abasket! This afternoon I found that I am now a small in Nike Dri-Fit running tights. Nice little zipper pocket in the waistband too! You can bet I bought those (even though they weren’t on sale). I figured good use of a gift card!</p>
<p>Sabaray - my H and I went to an X Sport Fitness on Xmas Day as our regular workout place wasn’t open. I finished before H and while I was waiting for him to shower and dress, I saw Nike Dri Fit running tights - the ones with the little key pocket and drawstrings – on sale 50% off. Come to mama!</p>
<p>Took a day off yesterday (I think the CrossFit did me in more than I thought), just did hot yoga. Nice out - 35-40 degrees or so.</p>
<p>Sure, rub it in, Pizzagirl! I live in the sticks so I’m just happy when I find something that isn’t fluorescent or emblazoned with some slogan. I found some cute running skirts too (full price of course) but I suspect those may go on sale before long.</p>
<p>Just got back from visiting the relatives, where we stayed in a hotel that had a small fitness room. I used it two mornings to play with the treadmill and also found it’s a great space for practicing flute. There was never anyone else in it!</p>
<p>I guess it’s that time of year when people have given up on fitness plans. I hear the gyms fill up after Jan. 1 for a month or two
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<p>Hey… I’ve gotta stick up for flourescent! It beats getting run down by some fool driver not paying attention. Or shot by some wanna-be Elmer Fudd with a rifle during deer season. I love my flourescent…</p>
<p>And, I get compliments on my flourescent jackets from all the hot chicks hiking. For a geezer like me, what’s not to like about flourescent… :)</p>
<p>OMG, that was the best dinner I’ve ever had.</p>
<p>Half a slab of baby-back ribs that had been on the grill for 6 hours. The best I’ve ever cooked, if I do say so myself. The other seven half-slabs are wrapped nicely, bagged, and properly shoved in the freezer.</p>
<p>Small pork butts got done (200 degrees internal temp) a little early at the 8 hour mark. They are cooling, ready to be portioned for the freezer. I did grab all the little bits stuck to the grill for dessert. Yum.</p>
<p>Had it with my home-made BBQ sauce, Cat Cora’s Spicy Broccoli Slaw, and a glass of Gewurztraminer left over from Christmas dinner…</p>
HA! Despite the weight loss, fluorescent still isn’t a good look for my 50 year old rear end. Hats, tees and jackets…sure! Bring it! But my rear still isn’t ready for hot pink “Just Do It”!
<p>Yeah, I hear ya. My rear end probably isn’t ready for hot pink “just do it” either! </p>
<p>I tend to stick to basic blacks and grays for the southern hemisphere. Fortunately, those are pretty much the only colors mens pants and shorts come in – along with standard-issue khaki, of course!</p>
<p>More important than the total cholesterol number is the breakdown (HDL, LDL, VLDL/triglycerides; you want high HDL and low LDL and VLDL/triglycerides).</p>
<p>Prediabetes or type 2 diabetes is associated with insufficient exercise and high body fat. One can be normal weight but overfat (“normal weight obesity”). Waist/height is probably a better measure of obesity as it relates to health effects than weight or BMI.</p>
<p>Low carb and low fat? Your diet is purely lean protein and low calorie vegetables?</p>
<p>Run-less day for me. Compensated by a duathlon of sorts - a tiny swim (500m?) followed by a short hike -1.6 miles (well, the sign at the trailhead said that the climb up the Diamond Head was 0.8 miles, and we did make it back :)). The best part is that neither Mr B nor I got sunburned! Mr B calls this a very active vacation. IMO, it is a very lazy one, compared to the Kauai hike.</p>
<p>ubc – my numbers are great except for “bad” cholesterol and total, which is 249. My fasting blood sugar was well over 100 but not flagged on the test, which I thought an odd omission.</p>
<p>i am the first to admit to under-exercising. I am pretty active (work in a school-- nobody sits for long in kindergarten) but had just started the winter elliptical routine. I started with just 20 minutes/day in hopes of establishing the habit. Find it extremely boring (even with an ipad handy) but my feet/knees can’t bear much more impact than that.</p>
<p>Green button - I basically didn’t exercise for 48 years, and when I did do things like the elliptical,I did so grudgingly and in a half-***ed manner. And honestly, if you are able to read on an ipad or similar, it’s not vigorous enough. Sigh, I know that sucks! Trust me! </p>
<p>Can you listen to music that really motivates you? For running or other cardio, “treating” myself to music really works for me. Or if your gym has TV, can you schedule it to watch a favorite show? </p>
<p>Good luck. I finally “broke the wall” this year and actually enjoy exercise, but it is not easy getting there.</p>
<p>Would a Fitbit or similar “get to 10,000 steps a day” be fun and motivating?</p>
<p>I think the FitBit is a great way for people to truly see how active they are during the day. Seeing those step numbers can really be eye opening and motivating! </p>
<p>To make an impact, I think you have to be off your seat during the day AND do some structured exercise.</p>
<p>Oh, my eyes. My eyes! Can you just imagine the picture. Me slogging away on the Airdyne in pink tights? I think my cats will jump out the window, and who could blame them?</p>
<p>It still wouldn’t be as ridiculous as I looked on the yard sale exercise bike in my XL WalMart gym shorts!</p>
The two cholesterol numbers I key on when I look at my tests are triglycerides and HDL. Triglycerides should be below 100 (Conventional wisdom says below 150 is good enough, but it’s probably not). HDL should be above 50 for women.
I would be more immediately concerned with the blood sugar number than the cholesterol numbers. “Pre-diabetes” almost certainly suggests insulin resistance. Insulin is released to lower blood sugar. When the body stops responding to insulin, more and more has to be released by the pancreas to get the same effect. This leads to chronically elevated insulin levels, which relate to a series of problems grouped as “metabolic syndrome” (diabetes, cholesterol problems, heart disease risk, abdominal fat storage, high blood pressure, and perhaps even some kinds of cancer).
A classic marker of insulin resistance (in addition to high blood sugar) is high triglycerides and low HDL (even when the LDL cholesterol is low). It’s also typical to see very large number of LDL particles in the bloodstream, which is a big coronary risk factor, even when the amount of LDL is low.
Fortunately, insulin resistance can often be reversed with diet and lifestyle changes.
Stop drinking sugar (including fruit juices).
Start trying to eliminate as much sugar as possible from the diet. Maybe do this progressively, cutting out one source, then a couple weeks later, go after another?
Start trying to eliminate as much refined carbs (flour, bread, pasta, cereal) from your diet as you can. These are the foods that trigger insulin releases, which is what you want to avoid if you have insulin resistance. The whole goal is to lower the average insulin levels. I had to do this dietary change in stages. Starting with Doritos and Honey Nut Cheerios. Then, cutting back pasta to once a week, and so forth.
The problem with “low fat” is that it is largely an either/or proposition with carbs. Fat in the diet gets replaced by eating more carbohydrate, which is the culprit in insulin resistance. I’m not suggesting eating a bowl of lard for dessert :), but there’s no reason to avoid fats like the plague. It is sugar that is converted by the liver to fat (triglycerides) when you eat it. High insulin then push the triglycerides into fat cells for storage as a mechanism to lower blood sugar.
High intensity exercise reduces insulin resistance at the cellular level in muscles. It appears that this might be one of the biggest benefits of resistance strength exercise. Just a few minutes a day, or maybe 30 minutes three times a week, of doing something like kettlebells, resistance bands, or walking up hills/stairs would be a good way to lower that blood sugar number.
<p>LOL, idad, you are totally getting the pants! ;)</p>
<p>Greenbutton, I find ellipticals really boring, too. If your knees allow it, try stationary biking or some sort of a machine that emulates running (Precor AMT, for example) without all the pounding. Find a gym that has a variety of machines and vary your exercise to spice things up a bit. Maybe you simply need an exercise buddy… Weight-bearing exercises are great for muscle toning and are very easy on one’s knees and feet. :)</p>
I live in the sticks so I’m just happy when I find something that isn’t fluorescent or emblazoned with some slogan. I found some cute running skirts too (full price of course) but I suspect those may go on sale before long.</p>
It beats getting run down by some fool driver not paying attention. Or shot by some wanna-be Elmer Fudd with a rifle during deer season. I love my flourescent…</p>