Back in Feb, I came down with a lung infection while in Minny. A heavy dose of antibiotics cleared up the pneumonia, but it took a while to shake the nasal/coughing/sweats. I thot I was in the clear, then two weeks ago it all started again. The house doc at my company attacked it with an aggressive Prednisone regimen, which seems to have worked.
The violent coughing seemed to have caused a fractured rib, but that cleared up - must've been a muscle strain - and now there is much less pain.
Today I swam for the first time since 3/24, with no pain.
What are you Citizens doing besides shoveling snow?
Glad your phlegm has cleared up; mine is just getting started (Oak allergies). I don't do a lot of activity that raises my respiration rate that much, typically lift weights a the Y one day a week and walk the track at the Y a different day of the week. I do actually run a few laps as well, just don't tell my hip doctor.
I hit a point a few weeks ago where suddenly I was able to bump up the weights on several of the machines, which was a nice feeling. I usually do three reps of 12 on each one while Mrs. Runner hits the treadmill. btw, I'm getting her wireless earbuds like mine for her birthday -- I think she'll like them.
I’ve talked about it a bunch this winter but I was real deliberate in my weight loss this winter as that is a time I’ve put on the pounds. So no food after7:00p, fast one day a week, avoid snacking and sweets as much as possible. Daily exercise, including yoga, bike in basement, walking, light weight work.
So lost 10 pounds since Jan 1, which means 25 pounds since last April. I weigh less at age 56 than I did at age 26.
One thing I learned with fasting and no food after 7:00p is how much we eat because we are bored, stressed, needing to be entertained, etc. Rarely do we eat for nourishment. Once you realize you are scrounging the fridge or cupboards for food at 9:00p because you’re just looking for something to do, it’s easy to stop doing that.
Hoping to start running and biking a lot more once it gets warm out.
I kept up pretty good with my bike trainer over the winter, but I'm still stuck on ten pounds lose, which is a bit frustrating. My ankles and knees feel great though, so I still have motivation to stick with it. I'm hoping I can start losing more weight once I can get back outside on the roads. (it would help if I had any will power to eat less.) I need to get out to the used bike shop in Madison and get another rear wheel assembly so I don't have to change the rubber when I want to take it outside.
10 pounds is great. It’s real hard to exercise your way to sustained weight loss unless you are really training hard. A nicely paced 5k run burns about as many calories as what’s in a small bowl of ice cream. Definitely find a daily calorie limit that works for you and stick to it. The pounds will go away.
It's really hard to control myself because I really like cooking and I'm pretty good at it. Make controlling portion size a bit tough. Plus, like the only things the kids will consistently eat are not super low on calories. The kids also make it harder to train more since the times I usually have to bike are times when it's just me and them at home, so I can't go out for an hour. I end up doing a lot more on the trainer during the summer than I'd like.
Amen. Kids make weightloss tough. I especially struggle with finding time to work out. When I get some time away from them I want to spend it relaxing, not exercising.
going to Urgent Care in a couple hours. I've been dragging for three weeks (low-level cough and sinus headaches), but it escalated (again) last night.
Sounds like you should visit an allergist sometime, too
Maybe, although this definitely started as a cold. I'm prone to sinus infections.
I've decided to severely limit diet soda intake, as well as the Sparkling Ice related drinks. For years the only pop I drank was diet sodas, and at home we haven't had pop in the fridge for quite a while too, but I think I'm going to stick to skim milk or water at home*, and mostly lemonade when I'm out. Minor step in the right direction
*Bailey's on the rocks when called for
Small thing, but I switched from Irish butter to unsalted Irish butter. Also switched to Fever Tree Astonishly Light tonic (46% fewer calories).
I've had a few bike rides so far this spring to start training for the MS 150.
I've been pretty happy with my health progress lately. My wife and I have both been seeing weight trainers at the gym once a week for about a year now. It's been doing a great job of keeping us accountable; if we've got an appointment to go to the weight room, we will for sure do it. Other days, it's a bit more hit and miss. Our previous trainer left about 5 months ago now, and I've definitely seen much more improvement since then, between being able to do more in the weight room, seeing muscles growing, and just feeling much better in shape. But, I was not losing weight. I know I was gaining some muscle and losing some fat, but not quickly, and not any progress showing up on the scale in the morning.
So, in mid-February, I decided to give the intermittent fasting thing a shot. I stopped eating between the hours of 8 pm and noon. I haven't kept to that rule 100% of the days since then, but I'm now into the routine enough that I feel better on days I keep to it than I do on days I don't. Over the past 8 weeks, I'm now down 9.5 pounds. That's the lightest I've been since 2016. I had my once a year fancy work fundraiser dinner last night, which is about the only time all year I wear a suit. Last April, the pants were tight enough I struggle to get the buttoned. This year, they were loose enough that I was concerned they would fall down.
It's still just a start, but I'm pretty happy with that start. I've still got 25-30 pounds to go, but for the first time in a very long time I feel like I'm well on my way to being a healthy weight.
Nice work. I really, really wish I could get a gym membership again. I was always really good about going both because it was really effective and because I was spending money.
There is an anytime fitness here in town, so hopefully in a couple years I can join. I just don't have the time for it right now and I don't want to wake up that early in the morning.
Much like Free, I've been trying to be very conscious about my weight. I haven't had a lot of time for working out, but I've been trying. This has consisted of getting up about 2 mornings a week (though not the last couple, sadly) and going for a mile run. It started as 50/50 walking/running, but now I can run the whole thing pretty well. In lieu of actual exercise I've been trying to be more active generally: playing the ol' Wii games that require some activity, getting outside with the kids, walking to work, etc.
I've also been working on my diet. This is where the real results have been (again, Free is entirely right here). Things were going the right way - far fewer snacks, less late night eating, less pop - but then we gave up added sugar for Lent and... wow. It has been tough, but really good. I've lost about 10 pounds since the beginning of March. I know that once Lent is over the temptations will be there to have sugar - and I'm going to give myself a few days after Easter to have some - but I'm hoping to mostly stay on this horse. Cutting out cereal and other similar things has probably been really big for me.
I've still got a long way to go before I get to where I want to be - heck, I've still got 13 pounds to go before I'm back down to 200 - and I need to start lifting some to make sure I actually look better (and not just a slightly less pudgy version of what I currently look like) - so I'm going to try to keep going. It's been tough, but hopefully I've managed to build something here.
That’s awesome Matt. Remember when you start to be tempted by snacking, ask your self why you are eating. Are you bored or stressed? Deal with that emotion, not food as a solution.
My new snacking/eating mantra: Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
That's helped me focus on the question of whether I really NEED to eat that thing, rather than do I just WANT to eat that thing. Those two options are often not the same answer for me.
I very much fall into the bored snacker category. If I don't have it in the house, I can't snack on it, which has really helped these past few months.
The other nice thing is that I've found a few go-tos for better snacks. Dried fruit, which I used to disdain, has really grown on me (dried mangoes are the best things ever), and I've been snacking on pistachios a bunch too, which help keep me occupied while not actually having that many. Keeping these options stocked, and other ones not around, has been key.
I very much agree with not having it around. If I see it, I want it, and I have to actively resist. If it's not available, I don't see it, and so I don't particularly think about it. Or, if I do, I'm too lazy to actually go out and get it.
I would check the ingredient list on dried mangoes. They are delicious but the ones I were given had more sugar per comparable serving as a Snickers bar.
Oh yeah, there is a lot of sugar there. My efforts have been aimed at avoiding added or processed sugar, and letting the natural stuff through via fruit.