2019 WIR Healthy Lifestyle Discussion

[financialpeace]

Glad to hear you are liking it so far I fell off the bandwagon this month and need to get back on track. If you have amazon video/prime there is a show on there about fasting that is interesting.

[Sam_2.0]

Yikes, Chloe! Sorry to hear about the surgery. I hope everything heals well and quickly!

[Cookies Galore]

I have some super sodium bloat going on today. I blame the TJ spicy thai eggplant dish I had for lunch (and the soft pretzel I got on the way home).
Did have a doctor appointment last night and my BP was 100/60. I am beyond chill, which is also a lie. Haha.

[MJ2.0]

I've been noticeably absent from here.... yeah... the eating is not good. Being unemployed = nonstop access to the kitchen. And being home alone a lot is making me like being home alone, which is making me sluggish, which is making me not want to be as active as I should be. I'm still trying to get in some movement each day - yoga, at-home walking, low/medium impact cardio, etc - but I just don't feel like it. My BP spiked in November just after my termination and has not gone down, so I was put on medication last week. I think the stress did it because it was normal just 2 weeks prior, but it's staying high. Well, having a tenuous financial situation is stressful, IMO! I'm also trying to eat better but my portion control has gone WAY off course.

[Happy prose]

We got sent home from work at 10 AM. I'm home, eating popcorn because I'm trying to be good. I really want pizza and potato chips. Both are in the house. 

[Cookies Galore]

Did 70 minutes of workouts yesterday (40 minutes on my lunch and 30 minutes when I logged off). My legs are tired today! We also finished the loaf of banana bread my brother gave us on Saturday, so that temptation is gone.

I'm trying to be good this week since we're going to a $10 bottomless mimosa party at a local dive bar on Sunday. They do it every year for Valentines. I love it.

[flamingo]

Shockingly, the weather has been crap here all week. So I can't get outside to walk. And, at the same time, the exercise room at my complex is all torn up while they re-do the floors. Which means, if I want to work out, I have to drive to my gym. Which, in theory is fine, it just takes more time to get there/back. And, work is crazy this week. So while I'm making exercise somewhat of a priority this week, that means sleep is going by the wayside. I'm super sleepy today. 

[ohmomto2boys]

I'm still plugging along with working out.  Eating is another story.  I like food.  

[MJ2.0]

I did a 30-minute low impact workout from Fitness Blender. Low impact sure, but the muscle strain and sweating was REAL. Breakfast was one slice of avocado toast and one slice of toast with butter (whole wheat bread with lots of fiber), Earl Grey tea with honey, and water. I ate pretty poorly last night (homemade pizza and homemade brownies) and haven't been eating well anyway, so I really want to do better today. Also I need to focus more on my sodium intake. I use sea salt a lot and it has a LOT of sodium - 1/4 tsp constitutes 20% of the daily recommended sodium! Instead of sprinkling my avocado toast with that, I used 1/8 tsp of low sodium Adobo which will amount to around 3% of my daily recommended sodium intake. As a person who likes ALL THE FOOD - especially fries, nachos, pizza - this will be really hard. It's bad enough that I need to reel in my sugar intake, but that plus reducing my sodium.... ugh.

[Cookies Galore]

Feb 13, 2019 12:04:44 GMT -5 MJ2.0 said:

I did a 30-minute low impact workout from Fitness Blender. Low impact sure, but the muscle strain and sweating was REAL. Breakfast was one slice of avocado toast and one slice of toast with butter (whole wheat bread with lots of fiber), Earl Grey tea with honey, and water. I ate pretty poorly last night (homemade pizza and homemade brownies) and haven't been eating well anyway, so I really want to do better today. Also I need to focus more on my sodium intake. I use sea salt a lot and it has a LOT of sodium - 1/4 tsp constitutes 20% of the daily recommended sodium! Instead of sprinkling my avocado toast with that, I used 1/8 tsp of low sodium Adobo which will amount to around 3% of my daily recommended sodium intake. As a person who likes ALL THE FOOD - especially fries, nachos, pizza - this will be really hard. It's bad enough that I need to reel in my sugar intake, but that plus reducing my sodium.... ugh.

Use fresh cracked pepper and crushed red pepper flakes for the avocado. Yum!

[raeoflyte]

I actually binged on candy yesterday.  It's been over a year since I've done anything like that.  

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Feb 12, 2019 12:42:07 GMT -5 Happy prose said:

We got sent home from work at 10 AM. I'm home, eating popcorn because I'm trying to be good. I really want pizza and potato chips. Both are in the house. 

You have much stronger will-power than I. 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

MJ2.0, while I know money is tight right now, you might look into Penzey's spices. They have lots of no-salt combinations that could help keep up the flavor but reduce the sodium levels. 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

I'm actually sedentary. It's ridiculous. 
While these calorie intakes are lower than normal, the problem is my calorie burning is also lower than normal. Prior to last Monday, my Fitbit burn count averaged 2300/day
Saturday's intake: 2068   Fitbit burn count: 2009
Sunday's intake: 2003  Fitbit burn count: 1805
Monday's intake: 1776 Fitbit burn count: 1880
Tuesday's intake: 1748  Fitbit burn count: 1751

[chiver78]

Feb 13, 2019 14:50:58 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

MJ2.0, while I know money is tight right now, you might look into Penzey's spices. They have lots of no-salt combinations that could help keep up the flavor but reduce the sodium levels. 

they have sales all the time, and I probably have coupon codes kicking around that I can share. take a look at their site and see if you're interested. I can look around my inbox.

[MJ2.0]

Thanks!

I used that sprinkle of Adobo, some cumin, and some black pepper. Delish! I'm having the other avocado half on toast tomorrow morning, possibly with a hard boiled egg. We'll see how hungry I am. I've also decided I'm sick of myself and my non-routine, so I'm getting up at 6am today and tomorrow to work out before DS wakes up.

Lunch was a taco salad (remnants of SB leftovers STILL!... plus a southwestern salad mix from Lidl) with two extra tortilla chips and ONE brownie. I'm proud that it was just one, and it was the only one I had all day. Dinner was whole wheat spaghetti with homemade turkey meatballs and sauce (sauce wasn't homemade) with green beans. I used Adobo on the green beans. I also added a little baby spinach to my bowl of pasta as well as a TON of crushed red pepper flakes. I had seconds, but only of the green beans. When my stomach protested later, I had some unsweetened applesauce with cinnamon, and when it protested again, I had a dollop of natural peanut butter. Not perfect but MILES better than what the eating has been for the past several weeks.

[bobosensei]

I find Sprouts to be a great place for low cost vegetables and fruit.  They regularly have avocados and bell peppers on sale for 1/3 of the price of other stores and the quality is much better than walmart though admittedly I do have an Aldi within 10 miles which is also supposed to be super cheap but haven't been to one since I left Germany.  I have no idea how the quality compares here.  Over there I'd find the produce and meat not as good as other stores.

I'm going to do something crazy and stop at the store to get apples before work or at lunch.  I started eating them as an afternoon snack to replace candy and it works very well.  I also try to get apples for about a dollar a pound and since they haven't been on sale where I've shopped lately I'm now out.  I may just go buy one a day during lunch to get out of the office while I wait for another sale...

Earlier this week I was down to 182.7, but on wednesday that was back up to 185.  I had some lower abdomen cramps yesterday at work.  Pretty severe.  I was limping to the bathroom because at first I thought maybe it was gas or that I had to go.  But I never did despite trying sorry if that is TMI.  It isn't the right time for menstrual cramps, I'm in the middle of  my cycle.  But last month my period was 3 days late (went from usual 27 day cycle to 30) so a bit of me is concerned that maybe something is out of whack there and maybe this month it is coming super early.  This morning my stomach is cramping.  Don't know what is wrong.  I can't recall if my stomach was hurting yesterday too now.  Only thing out of ordinary yesterday was I ate a doughnut at work.  Normally I do greek yogurt but for some reason I forgot to grab some so I gave into temptation of the doughnut.

When I was losing weight I was making a 24 hour food plan and journaling.  This morning i started back up at that.  I realized I have been working more than necessary and decided that instead of logging into my work computer hours before everyone else that when I get in today at the usual time I'll just ask my manager for a second to talk about some stuff.  Logging in at 6am seems excessive for what I need to communicate, and I'm working on keeping things in perspective and having reasonable boundaries.  So instead I'll walk the dogs and maybe listen to a podcast.

[WholeLottaNothin]

I have been noticeably absent too. I'm still working out 4 or 5 days per week. I've been losing about 1/2 a pound per week. It's going slower than I would like but at least it's going. I need to get my eating under control, especially portion sizes. I've been sick with the crud all week, and it still isn't gone. Endless coughing and blowing my nose is getting old. My energy isn't what it usually is, and I'm hoping this is gone by next week.

Chloe - I'm sorry to hear about the clot issue and that you're forced to be sedentary. Take care of yourself and get some rest.

[Sam_2.0]

I am so disappointed in myself right now. I missed my steps goal last night by 98 steps. This is the first day that I haven't hit 10,000 steps since December. And I was so close. That's what I get for being distracted buy Netflix :-)

[Sam_2.0]

Feb 13, 2019 14:55:20 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

I'm actually sedentary. It's ridiculous. 
While these calorie intakes are lower than normal, the problem is my calorie burning is also lower than normal. Prior to last Monday, my Fitbit burn count averaged 2300/day
Saturday's intake: 2068   Fitbit burn count: 2009
Sunday's intake: 2003  Fitbit burn count: 1805
Monday's intake: 1776 Fitbit burn count: 1880
Tuesday's intake: 1748  Fitbit burn count: 1751

Do you feel like those Fitbit burn counts are pretty accurate?

[andi9899]

Feb 14, 2019 8:53:03 GMT -5 Sam_2.0 said:

I am so disappointed in myself right now. I missed my steps goal last night by 98 steps. This is the first day that I haven't hit 10,000 steps since December. And I was so close. That's what I get for being distracted buy Netflix :-)

Story of my life. I always miss the next milestone but just a hair.

[MJ2.0]

I was up til past midnight doing some distance learning and was not able to get up at 6am as planned.... I didn't officially get up til close to 7. That's okay, I'll get a workout in this afternoon before picking DS up from school. Breakfast was French vanilla coffee with 1 Splenda and some 2% milk, water, a hard boiled egg with pepper and yellow mustard, and avocado toast sprinkled with black pepper, cumin, and less than 1/8 tsp of low-sodium Adobo. I'm at the library now doing more online modules - I think it'll help me mentally to regularly get out of the home (and away from the kitchen!). I forgot to bring water with me though, so that stinks. I'll have to remember to bring some tomorrow.

[flamingo]

On of the student groups is having a Valentine's bake sale. I just ate the most delicious cupcake. And I bought a chocolate chip cookie for later 

But man, it was SO GOOD!

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Feb 14, 2019 9:01:11 GMT -5 Sam_2.0 said:

Feb 13, 2019 14:55:20 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

I'm actually sedentary. It's ridiculous. 
While these calorie intakes are lower than normal, the problem is my calorie burning is also lower than normal. Prior to last Monday, my Fitbit burn count averaged 2300/day
Saturday's intake: 2068   Fitbit burn count: 2009
Sunday's intake: 2003  Fitbit burn count: 1805
Monday's intake: 1776 Fitbit burn count: 1880
Tuesday's intake: 1748  Fitbit burn count: 1751

Do you feel like those Fitbit burn counts are pretty accurate?

I honestly have no clue. It's the only thing I have to go by though. I believe the mathematical concepts of caloric burn have been accurately established by research scientists. I'm a trusting person, so, without anything else to go on, I trust the FitBit.   

[WholeLottaNothin]

What kind of FitBits do you guys have? Do you think they are worth the money?

[Sam_2.0]

Feb 14, 2019 16:14:41 GMT -5 WholeLottaNothin said:

What kind of FitBits do you guys have? Do you think they are worth the money?

I have an Alta and I love it

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Feb 14, 2019 16:14:41 GMT -5 WholeLottaNothin said:

What kind of FitBits do you guys have? Do you think they are worth the money?

I have a FitBit Charge 2. $175 because it has rose gold on the sides. 
DH has a FitBit that isn't being sold anymore. $100.
DS#1 went from the same one DH has to an AppleWatch.
DD#2 also has an AppleWatch. 

For us, it's worth it. IThey help us stay off our bums. DH and I both like the fact that it buzzes when we have a text message. Mine has an actual face that shows me who has texted me. 

I've had mine since Nov 2017, and I'll replace it when it dies. 

[Sam_2.0]

I did find I can get the Fitbit bands for about $10 onAmazon. I got a rainbow metallic one and I LOVE it!! So get the cheap one and buy your bands elsewhere

[wvugurl26]

I have the Charge HR 2. I'm on my second band. I have a handful of them now. I got 2 from Zulily and some from Amazon.

I do think it's worth it. As Chloe said it keeps me off my butt. This is my second one. I upgraded to get the bigger screen.

[ohmomto2boys]

Weighed in this morning.  Still at 157.  Again, I'm not disappointed because I know my problem is with eating (had cookies & cake this past week).  I plan to try to tweak it a bit each week.  It's been over 2 weeks that I stopped adding salt to my food. That is HUGE for me.  I used to salt everything - my family would even make comments.  I never had blood pressure issues.  

I am very pleased with my work out efforts.  I kicked up the hills on the treadmill.  I am now at 6% incline with 3.8 speed for 3-4 minutes, with additional intervals at 5%, 4%, 3% and finish off (and warm up) at 2% incline.  The last 5-7 minutes I have increased the speed to 4.0.  Still doing the arm workouts 3-4 days a week.  I need to increase the core workout  to 3-4 days a week.  I think I only did it 2 times in the last week.  
I know slow, steady changes will win the race and I'm not in a huge hurry to lose weight - I want these changes to stick - not just lose 10 lbs and then put it back on because I stop working out and stop watching what I eat.