Another long gap...

That doesn’t mean I’m not taking care of myself though!

I have found a system that works for me. Morning weigh-in, breakfast with a good balance of protein and fibre, 5 minutes of calisthenics, and a brisk mile-and-a-half walk to work—I do the same walk, other direction in the evening. Sometimes I’ll do a bonus walk at lunch. I bring 3 pieces of fresh fruit and/or veg to work for lunch every day. I drink a lot of water, and never drink sweeteners. I make almost all of our food from scratch with fresh ingredients. On the weekend, if we’re not too busy, I’ll go on a 5-mile hike.

It is not exciting, but for me it works—I am more energetic, more fit, and a healthy size.

Every so often, I’ll see a poster for a marathon, or a “just do it” billboard, or some other representation of the pinnacle of fitness, and I’ll think, “hmmm…” but I know where that goes.

1. Commit to high-performance athlete goal!
2. Invest in athletic gear!
3. Find that the time commitment is too high!
4. Find that that level of exercise makes me tired and hungy for comfort foods!
5. Start to show wear-and-tear - my tricky shoulder acts up when I over-do things!
6. Find myself moving less, eating more, and feeling like a failure.

I think the relentless promotion of high-performance athletic goals as attainable for all does a huge disservice to the vast majority of people. And makes them feel bad for failing.

For those that can do it—great! The 80-year-old grandmother running marathons is awesome and inspiring. But just because she can do it, doesn’t mean I can - or that I even need to try.

I read an article a while ago called The Fitness 1%. It talks about how all the high-tech crazy detailed stuff you see in magazines basically applies to almost no one. If you’re not a body builder, Olympian, etc., you do not need to do that stuff. And for the average person, having all that stuff presented to us is overwhelming and confusing.

Futzing about whether or not to eat gluten, or carbs, or what time of day to eat things, or blah blah blah... It just gives people something to talk about that they’re likely not even going to do consistently.

Which is why most people get as far as buying the high-performace sneakers and jogging pants (n.b.: the high-performance versions of these things are never sold as “sneakers” or “jogging pants”) and after one exhausting workout figure they’ve earned their nachos in front of the tv, and wonder “why isn’t the weight coming off?” and give up.

I am not an athlete, I will never likely run a marathon, and that is okay.

I am, however, miles healthier and fitter than when I started this blog five years ago. Then I was a wreck! Braces, inhalers, a cast on my foot… Yeesh.

I can hike six miles through the back country and feel great. I can bend down to tie my shoes, no problem. I can fit into all the clothes I had in my twenties. I walk home a mile-and-a-half carrying a heavy load of groceries—not my favourite thing, but I can do it.

Most important, I can keep up with my crazy kid. And that is what really matters.

Progress

I am very pleased to announce that despite a co-worker keeping a candy dish stocked with chocolate easter eggs right outside my office for the past week, I have not had a single one! I’ve walked at least three miles every day, and begun every morning with sit-ups.

I did indulge a bit over the weekend—one thing and another meant eating out four times in three days—but also went for a three-hour hike, which due to the vagaries of the eight-year-old involved climbing the same giant hill three times. So I did manage to maintain a healthy balance between input and output.

Today I have a little treat for lunch—leftover butterscotch pudding that I made for the kid. But, since it is home-made from healthy ingredients, it is not too unhealthy.

Loooooong time...

A comment on my other blog from The Black Knight made me realise how long it’s been since I’ve posted here… and how much I need to pay more attention to my health.

We’ve had a long miserable winter here—set a record for the coldest february ever, with lots of -20 days and -30 nights. Ugh. I did manage to walk to work for most of it, although I usually wimped out and took the bus home in the afternoon, for speed. It is difficult to walk quickly when there is snow and ice on the ground.

And we seemed to spend a lot of this winter sick as well, culminating in a spell of noro that meant no eating at all for a few days, and then ravenous hunger and junk eating. I did a lot of junk eating over the winter, if I’m being honest. I find it hard to get up early when it’s still super dark out, so I wouldn’t have time to get my lunch packed for work, and wouldn’t want to go outside for lunch due to the cold, and ended up hitting the vending machines a lot (which means chips and candy). Whoops.

So, a few resolutions:

• Bring lunch every day
• Make sure that includes at least two pieces of fresh fruit and two servings of vegetables
• No more vending machine!
• Walk to & from work every day

Also, a few questions to ask myself before mindless snacking:

• Why do I want to eat?
• If it’s because my body needs nutrients, am I eating something nutritious?
• If it’s because my mouth wants to taste something, could I have something like a herbal tea instead?
• If it’s because I’m bored, can I find something else to do?
• If it’s because “I deserve a treat,” can I find a way to treat myself better?

Hoping I can stick to these resolutions and make myself stronger. It helps that spring is here so we can spend time outside again. I went on a big hike with the kid on the weekend, and it felt great!

The incredible shrinking woman

Hmm. I am wearing a pair of trousers today that I’ve had for years and years, and they started me thinking about how my body has changed in that time.

When I was in my twenties, I typically weighed about 15-20 pounds more than I do now, but I was about the same size (based on the fit of these trousers). The difference was, I was a lot more muscular. I rode my bike a lot more, and when I did, I pumped as hard as I could, went as fast as I could, and looked for the steepest hills I could find to climb.

Over the years, my weight stayed about the same, but my dimensions increased. Muscle turned to fat. The trousers were “a bit snug” and then unwearable, languishing at the back of the closet, but staying there throughout the occasional closet purge, as one of a number of “aspirational” pieces of clothing.

Then, I got pregnant. Obviously all bets were off size-wise for that! I gained a typical amount of weight for someone my size.

After the kid was born, it all went, and then some. Between the elimination diet I went through because of the baby’s colic, nursing, and spending hours walking him in a stroller instead of sitting at a desk, my “average” weight dropped to about 10 pounds less than it had been in years, 10 pounds less than  my average twenties weight.

But really, I was losing fat, not gaining muscle. My muscle changed to fat, and it hasn’t changed back.

Then I went through a bunch of circumstances—the fall, the shoulder/back thing that turned out to be thoracic outlet syndrome, my mother’s illness—and gained a bunch. About 25 pounds. Eek. That’s what happens when you spend months sitting in a hospital room, eating hospital cafeteria food. Pretty terrible, really. Then I got my braces, broke my foot, and lost the whole 25 pounds very quickly - too quickly. I felt lousy, my face looked skeletal.

Fast forward to today. I had been gradually getting some muscle tone back through daily brisk walks of about three miles, with one steep climb. starting to feel good. Then, appendicitis, and accompanying surgery. I gained about 10 pounds in two days through bloating etc., then lost that plus another 5 pounds during recovery. I suspect that I lost more muscle than fat, though.

Now, the trousers are looser than I ever remember them being! But I feel pretty feeble. It’s funny to think that for so many years, my weight stayed the same while my girth increased—it’s true what they say about muscle being denser than fat!

Right now, my goal is to get some of that muscle back—to keep the dimensions the same, but gain some weight. baby steps though. I still have three more weeks before I can really start exercising. And I still have days where the littlest bit of effort wears me out. For now, brisk walks will have to do.

The slow road

I felt so much better yesterday! On Thursday, I was even coughing without holding my belly!

Today, however, I think I overdid it.

Not that I did much. I walked to the bakery and back, changed the sheets on the bed (that was brutal), loaded the dishwasher, and cleaned the fridge. I’m at that point where I can feel the last drop of energy draining away.

So: tea, and toast. And a rest. We’ll try again tomorrow.

Sweet relief

I saw Angus this morning! Thank goodness. He knew exactly what to do and I can turn my head again. My shoulder is a bit sore, but that's to be expected. And, I have been remembering my fish oil and vitamins. and nerve flossing.

Still dead tired though. Yesterday was the worst; my back was giving me so much pain on Wednesday that I thought I’d take a leftover Dilaudid from my hospital stay. Big mistake! My back still hurt, but I was so dopey! Even when I got up Thursday, I was still dopey and sleepy all day long. I made a tactical error, thinking, “oh, I’ll have some coffee and be fine,” but all it did really was keep me from sleeping, when I think sleeping it off properly was the one thing that might have helped. I eventually fell asleep around 3:30 and when I woke up a couple of hours later, I felt a lot better.

But I am never taking those pain killers again!

Back to work...

First day was yesterday, and I was tired before I even got there! Ended up going home a bit early, just pooped.

Also, my back pain has started up again. Not surprising; when I’m sick I have trouble eating, and supplements go by the wayside. I did remember to take my fish oil yesterday, and I’m going to take today’s dose right now! Also did some “nerve flossing” this morning, which I think helped a bit.