Naomi – August 16 – 27

So where did the time go…feeling a bit tardy about posting but not about exercise!  Added ABS.

7,050 steps August 16

8,841 steps August 17

2,360 steps August 18 + 10 mins. ABS exercise via cable TV

7,782 steps August 19

5,990 steps [1,1419 aerobic] August 20…thanks to Sara alert on use of Omron pedometer!

8,000 steps August 21…because my Thursday Big Apple walk group had grocrumby pedometers  from  City Health Dept, Omron helped us to know we’d done 6,000 steps each.

5,767 steps August 22

5,241 steps August 23

11,877 steps [2,723 aerobic] August 24…picking up family at airport can really add miles! 

6,230 steps August 25

8,136 steps [2,284 aerobic] August 26….10 ABS Crunch machine…10 minutes Treadmill, increased speed to 3.0 with 1.0/incline

*5,798 steps August 27…Waist measure, 37 inches.  This is my real concern beyond weight and the most difficult to change.  Oh, I knew this was my bottom-line issue, had avoided the tape.  No more.  Will I be able to reduce this?  (That’s a rhetorical question.)

Lia- chaotic karma

Well, I am going to have to bow out gracefully and say that my life in the last week has been just too chaotic and solely laking in any serious exercise. I did manage between two to four thousand steps a day, one good yoga practice, and, if I remember correctly two 10-minute abs sessions before going to bed. Nothing to call home about. Still, I am hopeful.

The gods willing, there will be a Tomorrow and I hope to do better. Thank heavens for you guys…

Sara – stressed-out

Well, sister Kay, I got the problem too.  It hit this week, what with personality conflicts both at work and here in my townhouse association, and guess who is in the middle?  Actually, things have resolved somewhat at this point but Wed. was a really bad day.

Sooooo…my step record begins OK but ends less well.  🙂  Here goes!

Wed. Aug. 20 – steps overall = 8924;  aerobic = 5731;
Thurs. Aug. 21 – overall steps = 10553; aerobic = 5790;
Fri. Aug. 22 – overall steps = 3530 and I finished the day with a Glenfiddich…
Sat. Aug. 23 – overall steps = 8538, aerobic = 4278;
Sun. Aug. 24 – overall steps = 10149, aerobic = 6360;
Mon. Aug. 25 – overall steps = 6247, zero aerobic;
Tues. Aug. 26 – steps = 5278 (finished the day with a very strong martini);
Wed. Aug. 27 steps = 4901 (began the day with a hangover);
Thurs. Aug. 28, it rained all day long and I only walked across the parking lot to my neighbor’s – steps = 2793.  Urgh.

Today looks like it might be drier, so I am hoping to get in a really good walk.  On the upside, my weight seems to be inching down into the 145-146 lb. range.  I have not been systematic about it but I have tried to just do a bit of exercise whenever I could, indoors, like the cardio machine for 60 reps at a time.  I used to try to do more at a time on this, but got bored, and I decided that more frequent shorter bits of it are still contributing to the cause.  I will NEVER attain Ron’s degree of faithfulness to his machines…it’s just not me…

Well, I’m eager to hear from everyone else, and especially to hear how Kay is doing of late.  My stressful people have gone away for the time being but I do have a BIG push on at work for the next 3 days, before my assistant goes away for a month and leaves me high and dry.  Can’t be helped though!

Moving on here…my best to all of you and hope the weather is good where you are!   Sara  🙂

Claude – back to Normandy

I spent the end of last week and the beginning of this week with an old friend who lives in Vierzon and as we had not seen one another for 39 years, if I had had a pedometer on my tongue, it would have broken records 😉
As it is, since Annik lives in a small town, it turns out that we drove everywhere, shopping, visiting etc. and I didn’t walk as much as when I don’t have a car around

I must also admit to lacking courage for abs and stretching these last days, and for indulging with food.
So here goes
August 14 still in Paris), 10 mn stretching, 10,000 steps
Nothing much on August 15, as I drove down to Vierzon
August 16th Bourges Cathedral, 396 steps up, pedometer said 8,000 steps

With my friend Annik, at the top of the cathedral tower

August 17 resulted in 4732 steps,
August 18 3,700 steps
August 19, 3,000 steps
August 20, 8,000 steps, one-hour Feldenkrais session
August 21, back to Bénerville, walked 11,679 steps, (5487 aerobic), thanks Sara, for the aerobic steps discovery
August 22, 8,754 steps (4885 aerobic)
August 23 found me mostly on my couch, only 2,500 steps
And today, August 24, 6,000 steps, in spite of the rainy weather.
As per usual, it’s more difficult for me to find motivation here, but I will try my best.

Kay – Update

The Kay is still on overload and it’s getting worse instead of better.  I am exhausted a lot while seemingly accomplishing nothing. 

Saw the endocrinologist Friday and the internist last week.  The former put me on cholesterol meds and took me off my thyroid meds.  He also had me schedule a scan on my thyroid to take a look at the nodules again. Depending on the outcome, I may need to have them irradiated. 

As to the cholesterol thing, I know what I need to do to fix my cholesterol:  fix my diet and reduce stress.   That latter appears to be impossible right now and changing it will take time so I will do what I can with the former while trying to eat healthily.  I don’t eat much so I’m guessing that stress is causing the spike in my usually good cholesterol.  Sigh. 

I found a sign that reads: “Good morning! Let the stress begin!”  and of course I had to buy it.  Hopefully, it will serve as a reminder to help me keep things in perspective and remind me to choose what I allow to put me crazy. 

I’m tearing my house apart and trying to get organized the next couple days.  

Once that is done perhaps I can get a decent exercise program in place.

Sorry I haven’t better news.     

 

  

The internist doesn’t get it.  When I told her about my legs hurting and that sometimes I woke up with them hurting during the night she decided that I had restless leg syndrome and ordered iron studies on my blood.  I know for a fact that it isn’t that simple and laughed like crazy when I went to the lab and they said Medicare wouldn’t pay for the test and told them that I wouldn’t and couldn’t pay for it.

Lia – Last two weeks

It’s been a rather hectic two weeks, with my children returning from trips and heading off on new ones, as well as work and travel on my side.

Friday: Walking 5,300 steps, Abs 10 min

Saturday: Yoga & Abs 30 min

Sunday: watched the BBC Middlemarch series… translate hours of couch potatoing

Monday: Walking 5,000 steps

Tuesday: Walking 9,600 steps

Wednesday: Walking 6,300 steps

Thursday: Walking 10,300 steps

Friday: Walking 10,600 steps, Abs 10 min

Saturday: Walking 7,700 steps

Sunday: Walking 10,500 steps

Monday: Walking 2,300 steps

Tuesday: Walking 4,800 steps

Wednesday: Cycling 10 km, walking 3,000 steps

Thursday: Working in the kitchen of a local restaurant 3 hours

One of our favourite restaurants allows me to come in and work in their kitchen during afternoon preparation whenever I wish. It is the most enjoyable type of work imaginable to clear the mind. It is also surprisingly  physically strenuous: after the three hours I am beat and want nothing more than to collapse on our sofa back home. This makes my husband shake his head; for it means that I usually just make a simple pasta meal and salad on those nights and tell him about all the fantastic stuff they are making in the restaurant.

Sandy – doctor’s again

Pleased to report that my knee isn’t so bad and I actually managed some housework this week (had to really as my cleaning lady was on holiday).

It took three sessions for me to so what she does in a couple of hours but it was an achievement.

Had my circulation checked on Monday and it seems I’m going to have to have my varicose veins done. It was fascinating watching the pictures on his computer, but although he tried to explain what it all meant I didn’t understand completely.

I think he said the valves in the veins in my legs weren’t working properly so I have to give him time to write to my GP and then go and see her about being referred for an operation. Another little setback for restarting an exercise routine.

Don’t mention the diet, please. . . . . . .

Sara – Regular steps and aerobic steps — hooboy!

Hi, everyone!  I think I am overdue to post…my big discovery this week has been the mode selector on my new pedometer, which tells me how many aerobic steps I have taken, out of the total number.  I realized, whoops, it’s aerobic steps that are really the good thing since they are continuous and keep the old heart pumping…although overall steps are great too. 

And I seem to have inched up in what I am able to do!  That is nice.  There are several hills on my daily walk (no matter which route I take) and I am doing the biggest of these more and more easily.  I did my faithful weight-loss soup last week, and got down to 147 lbs. and am pretty much maintaining that. 

Monday Aug. 11:  8510 overall steps.  Tuesday, Aug. 12: 6890 overall steps — I spent a lot of time working on photos on the computer this day and was rather sedentary.  Wed. Aug. 13:  Overall steps 8192 – I did some leg lifts and cat stretches and cardioglide this day. 

Thurs. Aug. 14: I discovered the aerobic step counter!  Overall steps – 8766.  Aerobic steps – 3786 (in 33 minutes).  Then that night I pigged out on an entire bag of chips.  (but they were good 🙂 )

Fri. Aug. 15: overall steps – 8309.  Aerobic – 4391.  Sat. Aug. 16: overall 9772 steps.  Aerobic 1894.  I spent a lot of time messing with Verizon DSL and never managed to get it installed so I am giving up on it.

Sun. Aug. 17: overall 11591 steps!  Aerobic – 6079 (50 minutes).  Oh this is what I would like to be able to do every day.  But I felt it in my legs…

Mon. Aug. 18: 10115 overall steps.  5449 aerobic steps.  Tues. Aug. 19 (today):  11192 steps.  5739 aerobic steps.  I am happy with this.  If I can manage to keep this up as work becomes more demanding, I will be quite pleased.  Even if I can’t quite keep it up, I will be fairly pleased…  🙂

And I couldn’t be doing it without this group to keep me motivated and accountable!  Thanks, everyone, for all your encouragement!

Naomi – August 8 – 15

One habit hard to overcome is my tendency not to take a shower/get dressed till, well, late!  Old habits die hard and this one gets in the way of giving myself movement-credit on my pedometer.  So, on August 8, steps up to 5,165, because I started the day earlier.

August 9–  7,073 steps from a walk on a boardwalk.  Tried out Claude’s sit-ups.

August 10 – 5.078 steps.  Claude’s sit-ups, ten times.

August 11 – 5,217 steps.  One hour stretch class.  Gym–Mystery stretch machine:  20 standing, 10 sitting.  Treadmill, 10  minutes @2.5 miles/1.0 incline.

August 12 – 3,377 steps    August 13 –  Changed clothes, forgot pedometer.

August 14 – 11,987 steps, thanks to walk through Morningside and Central Parks with the group from my co-op.  Here’s their picture on a moment at rest.  Imagine if I had not taken the bus for return trip…maybe October.  Weight: 143.5–staying much the same.

Senior Women Walk, New York City parks

August 15– a very modest 1,633 steps and 10 minutes AB exercise via cable TV program. 

Claude – back from the UK

I must say I had a wonderful stay in the UK. I did wear my pedometer every day, I guess I have become an addict, but didn’t keep a record of how much we walked, because I usually do this on my google calendar and almost never had an Internet access. But I would say that the average was 8,000 steps a day. Not so much, basically because we drove long distances and it takes time.

This is a photo of The Angel of the North in Gateshead.

I was pretty good at my ten minutes’ stretching exercise every  morning as it really kept my back in shape. Before leaving, I had pain in my right hip and at times it was so bad I was limping, but believe or not, I discovered that I could make it go by climbing up a few steps. The pain is gone now and that’s a relieve. I even bought a trekking pole on the suggestion of my physiotherapist, and promptly forgot it in the trunk of Peggy‘s car.

I was rather naughty with food, and must admit I enjoyed cream tea

several times and fish and chips once, but my friend Catherine and I tried not to overdo it most of the time.

We had a great time meeting and staying with blogging friends like Peggy and Mrs K. and thoroughly enjoyed the trip.

And guess what!
When I got on the scales, I had lost two pounds!