Sixties here today as well. Opened all the house windows. Nice to get some fresh air. Try to do it when we can in the winter though often it takes the house temp down into the 50s. Warm enough today to play some basketball in the driveway. Though with the wind, some shots looked like wiffle balls. I blame that for my lousy shooting percentage.
Having a dog that needs 2 walks a day helps keep active. Doesn’t matter if its hot, cold, raining or snowing. She is going for 2 walks (and sometimes three). And cold and snow only energize her. Makes for good 40-60 minutes of walking every day.
Our D and I ran a 5K this morning. It was a predict-your-time race and I was the closest in my age group–off by 1 second/mile–so I got a $10 gift card, which was fun.
My plan for the race was to run with my daughter–who claimed she had run only once in the last two weeks–for the first two miles and then finish fast for the last mile… instead D ran away from me for the last mile. Turned out she’d been doing the stairclimber at her college gym–100 flights three times a week. She was two minutes faster than her 5K a month ago.
DD (now 30) has decided that the theater world (she was a theater/lit major) is not for her and is back in school getting her prereqs in order so she can apply to physical therapy programs–in addition to working part-time in a PT clinic and getting her observation hours. She is showing determination and drive that I deeply admire.
That’s a good “good news” post DMD!! Bravo on all counts!
Tough to let the 60+ degree temperatures go. Cloudy and mid 40’s tomorrow. I know that even that is not bad for February! But it sure was easy to accept the 60’s!
Our weather guy mentioned today this interesting fact. Today, 65. Last year this date, -15. 80 degree difference. That’s crazy!
The rain gave us just enough of a break to pull some weeds out of the garden. Not too many steps accomplished, but boy I am sore.
Making eggplant lasagna for dinner while Mr. is getting his steps in at the HD. Abasket, you might get your wish of a Youtube video of Mr. playing Fitbit Cinderella in the driveway, because he is looking into installing a cam to capture on video who the heck has been pulling apart the tubing in our water feature - for the Nth time! That must be one really fat raccoon.
This morning was the Polar Bear Run. Last year it was wicked cold and we had gotten 5" of snow overnight that hadn’t been plowed. Just a miserable race wading through the snow and slush. Today? It was in the sunny and 60 (and pretty windy too). Just crazy, but crazy wonderful! I was 1st in my age group in the 5K but I pushed pretty hard so that when I ran the 5 mile race afterwards I had to back down to a slower pace and ended up 3rd in the 5 mile and 2nd overall for my age group. Good enough for me. H has really gotten much faster recently and did well, he also ended up 2nd overall in his age group. I’m happy for his improvement.
It actually hit 70 briefly this afternoon. I did the same as abasket - spent plenty of time in the yard picking up sticks! It was just glorious to be outside. The dog got a nice 5 mile walk this afternoon, also, and he was very happy for all the outside time.
MOWC-I hope you’re feeling better tonight and that the antibiotics take care of things for you.
Michael-I’m glad you’re following through with the sleep study. I do agree with you that sleep apnea sure seems to be being diagnosed an awful lot lately. Your daughter is very smart and I’m glad you’re considering changes to your schedule and workload to help with your fatigue.
Need some help with odd weight gain. I’m slim, 5’8", 135 lbs. I carry weight in my butt and hips like many. I have a longer torso, with a distinct “v” on the sides. I have probably been indulging a bit more the past two month and for the first time have accumulated fat below my waist v and above my hip. Just a little, it comes around also just above my pelvic bone. I have no abnormal stomach bulge. It is uncomfortable! I need to get rid of it. Will start watching my calorie intake, and types of food I eat…but what exercises can I do for this?
I walk, ride my stationary bike. My weight lifting is for arms and legs. I hate stomach exercises, so don’t typically do them. I obviously need to focus on my torso, but how? Thanks.
conmama, welcome! First, all experts pretty much agree that there is no way to “spot-reduce” fat. That said, weight loss usually gets rid of the fat that accumulated last, aka fat FIFO. For me, it is the upper chest topography, arrgh. If you gained a pound or two, goal #1 should be to drop them. Second, core strengthening is important not just for weight loss, but for other very important reasons. A strong core makes a stronger, less prone to injuries runner. Skip the crunches (because so few of us can do them properly!) and do this 7-minute workout:
C3B- Good job by you and your husband in the races. The weather sounds much better this year! I am doing. Enter today, but still have plenty of coughing spells. I think I’m on the upswing, though. My mileage took a hit this week. How much of a hit will depend on what I do tomorrow. But- the streak lives on at 231 days.
OMG, the eggplant lasagna was divine! I used low fat TJ’s Mozzarella, ground turkey (instead of beef), and Bertolli’s organic sauce (instead of chunky Prego):
Decided that I had enough of butt-flattening activities for today and went outside to add some hill speed work to my exercise. Ran 5 sets - all out up and easy down our fairly steep (10-12%), long private drive. 13,500 steps daily total, mission accomplished.
Thanks @BunsenBurner and @abasket …core exercises it will be! I will begin immediately. I’m hoping that since this just recently appeared, with diligence it will be gone in a couple months…at least before summer.
@dmd77, kudos to your daughter. It’s not an easy decision for a theatre person to decide to go in a different direction for a career path. I’m sure she did a lot of soul searching. I wonder what the statistics would show are the most frequent career paths taken by those who are involved in performing arts who decide to go in a different direction. So many I know choose areas related to the kinestetics of the human body. Coincidence or is there something about what pushes someone to go into performing arts that involve body dynamics or the training that lends itself well to that choice. I can’t recall if I’ve mentioned on this forum that my daughter got a BFA in musical theatre, was performing and racking up Equity points and was using the fitness industry as survival employment in between auditions and shows. Over the course of 5 years she concluded for a variety of reasons to make the fitness industry her career path and stopped auditioning and performing on stage. No doubt your daughter, as did mine, had a very thought provoking dialog going on in her head in making her decision.
@conmama, the advise given to you by @BunsenBurner, is right on target. There is no such thing as spot reducing. As you alter your nutrition and exercise to lose the weight you’ve gained, your body will draw indiscriminately from all your fat reserves wherever located. The key is to keep up your exercise, including resistance training, to maintain or build lean muscle tissue. If you don’t, your body will end up feeding on muscle tissue as part of the catabolic process which will be self defeating for you. It’s the exercise, particularly resistance training, that makes the difference between a fat skinny person and someone who has a lean body composition. And while you can’t spot reduce, exercise will tone and strengthen the muscles in the areas that concern you which will help achieve a leaner appearance in those areas.
As BB said, keeping up with core exercises is important. Your core includes but is much more than just your abs. Don’t neglect your glutes, quads, hamstrings, hip flexors and lower back muscles. The exercise link BB gave you has great exercises. That page also has a link to more advanced exercises that are also great. If you don’t have one, consider picking up a stability ball. They usually have printed on them pictures of a load of very worthwhile core exercises you can do (and also come with an instructional DVD). When you lift weights, do your exercises standing as opposed to sitting or on a machine. The more you can engage your entire body in any exercise, the more you will be upping your metabolism. When you do core exercises, in addition to static holds like planks, add in dynamic exercises too. Mountain Climbers is a great way to turn a plank into a dynamic core exercise that actively engages large muscles in your legs. The stability ball also can be used for a load of dynamic core exercises. Add a stability challenge to some of your weight lifting. Doing dumbbell curls while standing on a Bosu turns a bicep exercise into one that will also hit all of the muscles involved in stabilizing your hips, pelvis and lumbar region.
Welcome to this forum and enjoy. You will find a lot of very supportive and knowledgable people here who are always willing to share.
Totally off topic. The virtual keyboard on my iPad is suddenly appearing as separated left and right halves. Anyone know how to restore it to a normal keyboard? Already tried rebooting.
Not too many steps accomplished, but boy I am sore.
