Hey

[Bacawind]

Hey!

 

I'm a 48 year old wife, and mother of three adult children. I am 5' 6" and 131 pounds. I did an online tape test that said I was 26.5% body fat, but I have no idea how accurate it was. A mirror test tells me I'd like to trim off some fat/flab in some areas. My curiosity would like skinfold calipers, but my wallet says no.

 

I was big into fitness from my mid teens to my mid twenties. I had notebooks full of data, exercises, and nutrition plans. But my mid twenties was a time of babies and toddlers, the fitness part of my life got put on the back burner.

 

I've always gotten into spreadsheets and research. I like learning new things, and I understand things better in spreadsheet formats. My favorite games are Excel and the Internet. I collect information like any collector, then I store my treasures in my curios of spreadsheets. I'm so odd. At least it's a cheap collection and I don't have to dust it. 

 

Right now I'm having problems wrapping my head around heart rate, what it means and how I can use the information. What starts my whole conundrum is that my resting heart rate is 49bpm. That is averaged over 5 readings, first thing after waking. And "waking" around here involves lots of dogs licking me and trying to get me up, reaching for my stopwatch, and a bit anxious because I have to pee. My pulse and blood pressure have always been low, but stable. 

 

When I exercise I can get my heart rate up, the highest I've seen 141 bpm 10 minutes into a HIIT and I felt fine, I wasn't sick or anything. But 10 minutes after a workout my HR is in the 60's or 70's. Most exercise can get me into the upper 120's to low 130"s, but it always drops back to the 60's shortly after. We used to work in healthcare, I (and others) have taken my BP, pulse, and O2 a million times in the last 8 years.

 

Right now I've been awake for three hours, I've walked a dog around a 1.2 acre area, feed them all, cleaned the kitchen, piddled around the house, and written this, but haven't exercised yet, and I'm at 53 bpm. 

 

What about my increased metabolism from the HIIT? And if I use the Haskell and Fox method (220 - age) for determining an exercise heart rate, what am I shooting for? max, 80%, 70%? Everything talks about "get your heart rate up". Well what is "up" for me? I've seen I should be in the 160-170 area. I don't know that I can do that. Or maybe it will come with time?

 

This is my analness. My spreadsheets don't work if I can't figure out what I'm shooting for. I can't gauge any data as improved. 

 

In the last year I've been feeling a loss of flexibility and strength. A 50# bag of dog food weighs more now than it used to. I've never been sedentary, I'm always doing something, but I have been slowing down.

 

I've been exercising the last month and I'm seeing results. Problems are, as the flabby areas are starting to show definition, the boney areas are getting bonier. I'm looking to level that out a bit with more well rounded workouts.

 

My husband and I are plant-based whole food eaters. It's been gradual changes over the last decade, so I'm used to watching that we are getting what we need nutrition wise. I'm going to reevaluate, focusing on protein, making sure we are good there. Previously my thoughts had been to watch that we were getting adequate protein. Now I'm considering the protein needs for building muscle.

 

I still have a lot of the forum to read through, but it's very cool. It's nice to be here.