Yasha gets health

[Yasha92]

Back again, trying for some consistency. 2021 is/was meant to be the year of health for me (where I sort out everything I keep putting off and start my 30s in peak condition- one year, git gud). The big three: sleep, eat, exercise, continue to be things I struggle with and it’s already May. Technically the 1 year till I’m 30 started on the 3rd, so let’s start kicking some health goals.

 

I have been putting time and energy into getting all the tests I’d been putting off (eyes tested and glasses ordered, ears tested and fine, gyno done and awaiting results, dentist done and need to do another X-ray and go back, in regular therapy, been seeing the physio weekly for my jacked shoulder, waiting on a halter ecg so we can find out if the heart palpitations are anxiety or something that needs more tests, have a rough timeline to transition off these anxiety meds and to something a bit less brutal). I am consistently grateful that healthcare is so subsidised in this country, my therapy/physio are under $100/visit, the eyes ears and gyno tests all free (have to pay for the actual glasses but that seems fair), the dentist was really the only ouchie one and that is nothing compared to some of the gofundme pages I have seen to support healthcare elsewhere.

 

I’ve been making some progress with Zombies Run couch to 5k and have been enjoying the story and the increase in fitness. I bought myself some shoes as a reward- actual ‘go to a shop and get fitted’  ones- which is new for me. I have my eye on a fitness watch as my final loot partially for the heart rate monitoring (anyone have one they love that seems super accurate for heart rate tracking?)

 

Ive been going to the gym once per week (banned from boxing by the physio as that’s what did my shoulder... which is actually my bicep that runs through the shoulder apparently:o ), have got cleared to go back up to twice per week with the personal trainer. Shoulder was bad, now I’m almost better- but I have daily exercises I need to do to stretch it out and strengthen my back muscles to take more of the load.

 

Mr broke his elbow. So he is off work for likely 6weeks. Minimum 2 (been 1 so far) before he can even think about going in for light duties (painting or holding stuff with his  good hand) By our powers combined we have a functioning left and right arm 😂 

 

I am unhappy with my weight. I have gained 20kg/44lb in 4 years and I would like to shed at least that much, possibly 30kg (depending on muscle/body comp). I think that is too much to lose in one year without drastic measures but 12kg (1/month or 2/month on : 0/month off) seems reasonable and attainable. My medication is known for making it easy to put on weight and tough to lose it, but that is no excuse to eat way too much and then cry about not being able to button my jeans.

 

ok, think that basically sums up everything, so challenge goals:

 

- Do your checklist 

- Do the physio exercises

- Cardio

- MyFitnessPal the food (did today as a baseline and hit over 2200 without feeling like I was particularly pigging out... so a fair amount of room for improvement), no goal number aimed for at this stage, I need to do some maths first. 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

You both have a lot going on. I hope you get back to four functional arms in the family again soon. 

[Jarric]

Wow, you and Mr have a lot of medical stuff going on between you! I hope you manage to get some of it clear soon.

 

20 hours ago, Yasha92 said:

I have my eye on a fitness watch as my final loot partially for the heart rate monitoring (anyone have one they love that seems super accurate for heart rate tracking?)

 

What is it you're looking to track your heart rate for? Generally speaking most name brand activity trackers and running watches will be pretty good at monitoring your heart rate whilst running, and keeping track of resting heart rate. Where they're not very accurate is during a gym workout or moving about day-to-day; if you needed an accurate number whilst in the gym you'd really need a chest strap monitor instead (or as well as) a watch.

 

I used to have a Fitbit, and that was fine for general daily tracking and being interested in the numbers. I've now got a TomTom Runner 3, which is a mid-range running watch that I mainly bought because it's almost indestructible and I knew it would take a beating on obstacle courses.

 

20 hours ago, Yasha92 said:

MyFitnessPal the food (did today as a baseline and hit over 2200 without feeling like I was particularly pigging out... so a fair amount of room for improvement), no goal number aimed for at this stage, I need to do some maths first. 

 

I fully support this plan - get a few weeks of baseline data before you start cutting calories. I did this last year and I found that to maintain I needed to eat 3,150 calories per day, which I never would have got out of an online calculator.

[Ann of Owlshire]

Here to cheer you on! ❤️ 

[Yasha92]

21 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

You both have a lot going on. I hope you get back to four functional arms in the family again soon. 

Me too! I’m almost better now, just the occasional twinge here or there, but today working the meat grinder with me holding it and Mr working the lever made me hyper aware of how important limbs are. Come back limbs, we need you!

 

1 hour ago, Jarric said:

Wow, you and Mr have a lot of medical stuff going on between you! I hope you manage to get some of it clear soon.

 

 

What is it you're looking to track your heart rate for? Generally speaking most name brand activity trackers and running watches will be pretty good at monitoring your heart rate whilst running, and keeping track of resting heart rate. Where they're not very accurate is during a gym workout or moving about day-to-day; if you needed an accurate number whilst in the gym you'd really need a chest strap monitor instead (or as well as) a watch.

 

I used to have a Fitbit, and that was fine for general daily tracking and being interested in the numbers. I've now got a TomTom Runner 3, which is a mid-range running watch that I mainly bought because it's almost indestructible and I knew it would take a beating on obstacle courses.

 

 

I fully support this plan - get a few weeks of baseline data before you start cutting calories. I did this last year and I found that to maintain I needed to eat 3,150 calories per day, which I never would have got out of an online calculator.

Many of my medical things is just stuff I’ve been putting off getting checked out. The glasses will be relatively minor (I was just going to get blue light blockers, but did an eye test since it had been a while), teeth too. Unsure about the heart stuff- I’ve had heart palpitations before (especially when I was drinking a lot of energy drinks) and been checked and they didn’t find anything, but last year my dad had something like a heart attack (stress  cardiomyopathy) so I am extra careful.

 

 Why for the heart rate watch- I have had several high blood pressure / high heart rate results and the Dr suggested getting a fitness watch that tracks heart rate so I can keep an eye on it and see if it is just anxiety spiking being in the Drs office. That is useful information about the chest strap!

 

ah it is tricky to only gather info once I have the caliories right there in front of me. I have adjusted the goal to be more like maintenance or a light lose so I feel less pressure to get under target.

[Yasha92]

2 hours ago, Ann of Owlshire said:

Here to cheer you on! ❤️ 

Welcome! Thanks for being here!

[Yasha92]

Checklist: yep!

Stretches: did half

 Cardio: yes, did zombies run in the morning. Exactly 5km in 52mins (including the 5min stretch break in the middle)

MFP: 1874 calories 

[Elastigirl]

Hey there, happy to see you and here to cheer you on!

[Yasha92]

4 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Hey there, happy to see you and here to cheer you on!

Good to see you and thank you for being here as part of the cheer squad!

 

 

[Yasha92]

- checklist: ✅ 

- physio stretches: ✅ 

- cardio: ✅

- MFP tracking: ✅ 2300 (oof)
 

Woke up early (for a weekend day) and did some gardening. Pulled out all the pumpkin vines that were starting to yellow. Harvested 3 true pumpkins and one baby one that I will have to investigate whether it can be eaten (anyone know if you can eat unripe  pumpkin?). Counting that chopping and carrying and compost stirring and going up and down the back steps as my cardio. Scared the crap out of the new neighbour by coming up the back stairs right as he opened his door, guess he got his cardio too 😂 

Did my checklist (5-10min mindfulness breathing, eat every 3-4hours, drink 3 bottles of water, do physio stretches, 30mins cardio, take meds, brush teeth, bedtime). I’ve split out stretches and cardio into their own sections of this challenge, because those are the ones often stopping me from getting a clean sweep. Now, I am not forcing myself to be perfect about this checklist (in fact my therapist would prefer I treat them as guidelines not ‘all or nothing’ rules), if I eat at the 5hr mark, or have two and a half bottles of water, or start the stretches, that is still better than not trying because I know i won’t have time to do the whole thing. Similar to Tank’s 10% of something rather than 100% of nothing. 

 

Did the physio stretches, even the ones with the thereband that I don’t like. Gave myself a sticker (actually several stickers, one for each type of stretch). Still a bit grindy/ pain at the peak of the arm overhead, but majorly better than when I first went in.

 

Eating-wise I had cereal with milk and coco yoghurt for breakfast, pancakes for lunch and pancakes for dinner and a granola bar. No freggies, all shades of beige. 2300 calories. Tracked them all and will not criticise. The pancake mix had to be used because it was made yesterday for DnD but we ended up having enough food without it. I’ve made chicken stock ready to make pumpkin soup tomorrow and a red lentil dish which is easy to whip up and we have all the ingredients for (I think, I’ll have to check the coconut milk situation).

[Jarric]

On 5/8/2021 at 1:48 PM, Yasha92 said:

I’ve had heart palpitations before (especially when I was drinking a lot of energy drinks)

 

Oh I used yo get that too when I drank tons of fizzy drinks! Hopefully it's nothing major then.

 

On 5/8/2021 at 1:48 PM, Yasha92 said:

 

ah it is tricky to only gather info once I have the caliories right there in front of me. I have adjusted the goal to be more like maintenance or a light lose so I feel less pressure to get under target

 

Yeah, that's true, even just the act of tracking and being mindful of what you're eating changes what you eat. Still, as long as you're roughly maintaining/only slightly losing weight, and tracking everything, you should get a nice accurate number for maintenance calories.

 

 

[Yasha92]

- checklist: ✅ 

- physio stretches: ✅ 

- cardio: ✅

- MFP tracking: ✅ 1863

- 2hrs standing desk: ✅ 
 

Had work, revived the standing desk and am adding “2hrs standing work” to my wfh days. I’ll try and get it on the office days too (thurs/fri), but less strict. I just know sitting for too long is bad for me, and adding the standing option when I’m at home makes it easy to get in incidental steps and slightly better posture.

Did my checklist. Was getting super antsy while waiting for someone to get back to me before I could action my bit, Mr thoughtfully suggested I should go do my meditation while waiting and that was a good use of my time, was able to come back after the 15 min break ready to get some work done. Have now ticked everything on the checklist for three days running. Current high score is four days rubbing, so within sight.

 

Did the physio stretches. Traded one of the banded ones for the same motion but using a dumbbell and that made it easier to get the motion correct. The weight was a bit too light, but better than fighting with the bedhead trying to get the right angle.

 

Eating-wise I had a protein smoothie for breakfast, lunch was avocado on toast. Dinner was delivery McDonald’s. I tracked the calories and chose what to order based on the suggested calorie goal on MFP . It was about a third (maybe half) of what I would normally get, and while I definitely could have had more I am not hungry. 1863 calories. Switched to kilojoules momentarily, but way too overwhelming (something about that extra digit just puts a blocker in my brain).

 

Hope everyone is having an excellent day!

[Rurik Harrgath]

I love seeing those checkmarks   as if you didn't know that.

[Yasha92]

4 hours ago, Rurik Harrgath said:

I love seeing those checkmarks   as if you didn't know that.

Me too! I saw them on some badass’ challenge and figured I would steal them for myself ! Visual tracking seems to click with me- as evidenced by the physio stickers and the ‘productive’ app that has yellow / green dots to show progress.

 

[Rurik Harrgath]

Stickers are far superior to checkboxes in all ways except reusability.   

[Salinger]

Hey Yasha!!! Late but here ❤️ xx

[Mr_Willes]

[Yasha92]

16 hours ago, Rurik Harrgath said:

Stickers are far superior to checkboxes in all ways except reusability.   

Agreed

11 hours ago, Salinger said:

Hey Yasha!!! Late but here ❤️ xx

Always welcome!

5 hours ago, Mr_Willes said:

[Yasha92]

- checklist: ✅ 

- physio stretches: ✅ 

- cardio: ✅

- MFP tracking: ✅ 1748

- 2hrs standing desk: ✅ 

 

quick update so I can get to bed at a semi-reasonable hour (adjusting alarm, will see if cats allow it).

 

Morning zombies run. Owwww the calf raises!!! But I got that USB drive of information for Sam 😂  Work. Stood when I could.  Finished work early to drive 2hrs to family meet up for Mums birthday/Mother’s Day combo dinner. Had a lovely dinner (how do you track when out but at a not-chain? I just took my best guess but maybe off a bit). Drove home. Fit in my stretches throughout the day for the no equipment ones, smashed out the others now before bed (resistance bands, a dumbbell).

[Elastigirl]

I usually just guestimate when I am eating somewhere that I can't track. And then add about 40 calories on top of that. I  just look for the food I ate in MFP- and guess as to the amount. It's probably not super accurate, but I figure most of my tracking is more accurate.

[Yasha92]

11 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

I usually just guestimate when I am eating somewhere that I can't track. And then add about 40 calories on top of that. I  just look for the food I ate in MFP- and guess as to the amount. It's probably not super accurate, but I figure most of my tracking is more accurate.

That makes sense!

 

It was a “Reuben sandwich”, I looked on MFP and chose one in the middle of the varied calorie ranged- seemed fair since I ordered a medium. ...how they would have given me a small or a large escapes me... it was sandwich sized o_O

[Yasha92]

 

Wednesday ~

- checklist: (to be updated once I dislodge the cat) ✅

- physio stretches: (ditto) ✅ 

- cardio: ✅ circuit work at the gym w a 5kg medicine ball. I miss heavy weights.

- MFP tracking: ✅ 1644. Home made pumpkin soup is a real winner on the calories. Which is good coz I made heaps.

- 2hrs standing desk: ✅

 

Standing desk was tricky today because my legs were super tired, but I did several 15min stints throughout the day (which is probably better for me anyway) and then half an hour standing while working with tutoring kid on her English assessment. She is really improving, and I am enjoying her English genres (Fantasy/ the hero’s journey last semester, Science Fiction the current one).

 

Work was pretty good, I was able to clear out some lingering things from my ‘to do’ list that have been hanging around since the end of last year. At about 3pm I hit a wall, so I walked down to the post office and picked up my birthday present to myself: a new Fitbit! I decided I wasn’t going to wait on finishing zombies run c25k, but instead get it and use it to track the remaining runs before progressing to the main story. My resting heart rate during the day ( sitting ) was around 80. Now that I have been sat in bed with a purring lap cat and a chamomile tea for a half hour it’s down in the mid 50s. Going to keep an eye on it and maybe report here (maybe not, not making it a goal) so I have something to refer to when I see the doc next. Need to call tomorrow and see if anywhere can attach the 24hr ecg on Friday.

[sarakingdom]

Your cat. 🧡

 

I wonder if my standing desk hack would work on my current desk setup. I bet it would come close, and perhaps even be a better height for certain tasks. I may try this. My back would probably benefit from less time sitting while working. Those muscles need more to do to keep them limber.

[Yasha92]

21 minutes ago, sarakingdom said:

Your cat. 🧡

 

I wonder if my standing desk hack would work on my current desk setup. I bet it would come close, and perhaps even be a better height for certain tasks. I may try this. My back would probably benefit from less time sitting while working. Those muscles need more to do to keep them limber.

A hack? Pray tell!

 

and yes, he is a handsome boyyyyyy 🧡🧡🧡 we have a champagne/ginger girl too, who is currently sleeping/shedding on Mt. Folding. They’re so cute once it gets chilly!!!

[sarakingdom]

1 minute ago, Yasha92 said:

A hack? Pray tell!

 

I built a lightweight desk adapter to turn standard desks into standing desks out of a cheap IKEA side table and some shelf brackets a few years back. I no longer have a standard desk, just a coffee table, so I haven't been using it - but then, I also no longer use a desktop, but a laptop, so the height difference might work out well for me. And it might be a good height for handwritten work. I was gonna use it for a different thing but haven't got around to it, so maybe it's time for it to be a standing desk again.