After weeks (months?) of letting my health take a backseat, I went to a new-to-me doctor recently for a physical. I left with a pretty long list of marching orders that reminded me why I've been too busy to take better care of myself!
For starters, she told me to walk 15 minutes/day. It's been a good goal to stretch for, but some "old" running injuries (plantar fasciitis and a sore ankle) have flared up again. *sigh* She gave me a new blood glucose monitor, but the pharmacy has had difficulty getting me the correct test strips since running out of the samples that came in the monitor's box. She also wants me to buy a blood pressure monitor for home, but I've procrastinated after looking at the long list of possibilities on Amazon alone. (How do you know which one is best?! I think I'll look at the pharmacy and ask the pharmacist for suggestions.)
The doctor also wants me to look into a diet program like Weight Watchers. I've done Weight Watchers before with some success, but always regaining later. My issue with WW now is that I don't have time for the meetings, which cost money (which I'm using to pay for grad school and otherwise trying to save!) to attend. Some would argue that the "group therapy" approach to weight loss is helpful (it often is!) and that paying for something adds an extra element of motivation to the effort. I've decided to go a different route though, returning to SparkPeople.com. The website offers lots of information, teams (groups with similar interests), and a point system for clicking on different articles and such AND for fitness minutes. You earn virtual trophies for moving up the point ladder. The website also offers food, exercise, and weight tracking.
I've also made an appointment for my annual mammogram, always not-fun but oh, so important.
I return to the doctor in 2-3 weeks for a follow-up on her marching orders. How will I do? Stay tuned!
Showing posts with label diet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diet. Show all posts
Saturday, September 08, 2012
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Motivation
Last night, George and I finally watched the season premiere of "The Biggest Loser," which we taped last Tuesday night. We decided during last season of "The Biggest Loser" (which ended just a few weeks ago, actually) that committing two hours to television on a weekday night was a bit much for us, so we started taping the new season and saving it for weekend viewing. We were rather dismayed by the last season, thanks to a particular contestant and her conniving tactics to win the game (which she didn't), so I wasn't as excited about the new season as I'd been for previous seasons--and neither was George.
Well, the episode we watched last night, which introduced the newest contestants, was interesting! Not only do they have the heaviest female, the heaviest person (a man) on the show this go-around, they also have the oldest contestants this season, a married couple who are grandparents! There was an unexpected twist to the show, announced at the weigh-in. Every couple, except for the challenge winners and the weigh-in winners (two different couples), had to send one person in each couples team home! The other part of this interesting twist is that each person who got sent home will be able to return to the show in 30 days IF the other half of their couples team is still part of the show (hasn't been sent home from the game after a weekly weigh-in).
I think this is a fascinating and good turn of events for the show, and shoule serve as a great motivator for the contestants still playing the game! Wow!
I've been looking for some weight loss motivation of my own lately, which is part of why last night's "The Biggest Loser" episode really spoke to me. I've recently bought a couple of books on that very topic, and will be starting them soon. More later!
Well, the episode we watched last night, which introduced the newest contestants, was interesting! Not only do they have the heaviest female, the heaviest person (a man) on the show this go-around, they also have the oldest contestants this season, a married couple who are grandparents! There was an unexpected twist to the show, announced at the weigh-in. Every couple, except for the challenge winners and the weigh-in winners (two different couples), had to send one person in each couples team home! The other part of this interesting twist is that each person who got sent home will be able to return to the show in 30 days IF the other half of their couples team is still part of the show (hasn't been sent home from the game after a weekly weigh-in).
I think this is a fascinating and good turn of events for the show, and shoule serve as a great motivator for the contestants still playing the game! Wow!
I've been looking for some weight loss motivation of my own lately, which is part of why last night's "The Biggest Loser" episode really spoke to me. I've recently bought a couple of books on that very topic, and will be starting them soon. More later!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Goals Revisited
Since George and I will be heading to Boone in the morning for a short vacation, I decided to go ahead and recap my goals for this past week.
This Past Week's Goals:
1) Cook one new recipe this week.
I tried some low-fat pumpkin bread (see previous post), but it didn't turn out very well. I decided not to take it to work, but George said it was okay, and ate some of it. Perhaps he was just being sweet. :)
2) Start my Control Journal notebook (see FlyLady.net)
I found the Control Journal I started a couple years ago, and tore out the outdated pages. I haven't gotten any farther than that.
3) Continue with reading, weight loss, genealogy, and getting-to-bed goals, as a habit takes about a month to take hold, I've heard.
I didn't finish a book this past week, but I made progress on the one I'm reading. I should get even more reading done this next week.
I'm up .8 of a pound since last Sunday, but I had a large weight loss last week. I was down for the previous week at this past Wednesday's Weight Watchers meeting. One thing I've learned is that weight loss is a fluid process, and requires persistance and patience. Sometimes the body reponds in quirky and unexpected ways. I'm continuing to log my foods and exercises in FitDay.com, which has been interesting and motivating, so perhaps that will show me some patterns in time.
I continued to get in bed by 11, but may need to do better than that if I continue my running ways after the City of Oaks Half Marathon a week from today.
I made some good progress on my genealogy database this past week, mostly in the cleanup catagory. Several months back, I accidentally merged someone else's gedcom file in with my own, and had a lot of database clean-up to do, including deleting duplicate people and editing all the occupations from the other file that ended up in location fields. (For example, someone who WAS a doctor looked like he/she had a practice IN Doctor.) Now the database is a lot more normal looking, and I feel like I can move forward without worrying about that clean-up anymore.
Since George and I will be on vacation this week, I won't make any goals except to have fun and relax!
This Past Week's Goals:
1) Cook one new recipe this week.
I tried some low-fat pumpkin bread (see previous post), but it didn't turn out very well. I decided not to take it to work, but George said it was okay, and ate some of it. Perhaps he was just being sweet. :)
2) Start my Control Journal notebook (see FlyLady.net)
I found the Control Journal I started a couple years ago, and tore out the outdated pages. I haven't gotten any farther than that.
3) Continue with reading, weight loss, genealogy, and getting-to-bed goals, as a habit takes about a month to take hold, I've heard.
I didn't finish a book this past week, but I made progress on the one I'm reading. I should get even more reading done this next week.
I'm up .8 of a pound since last Sunday, but I had a large weight loss last week. I was down for the previous week at this past Wednesday's Weight Watchers meeting. One thing I've learned is that weight loss is a fluid process, and requires persistance and patience. Sometimes the body reponds in quirky and unexpected ways. I'm continuing to log my foods and exercises in FitDay.com, which has been interesting and motivating, so perhaps that will show me some patterns in time.
I continued to get in bed by 11, but may need to do better than that if I continue my running ways after the City of Oaks Half Marathon a week from today.
I made some good progress on my genealogy database this past week, mostly in the cleanup catagory. Several months back, I accidentally merged someone else's gedcom file in with my own, and had a lot of database clean-up to do, including deleting duplicate people and editing all the occupations from the other file that ended up in location fields. (For example, someone who WAS a doctor looked like he/she had a practice IN Doctor.) Now the database is a lot more normal looking, and I feel like I can move forward without worrying about that clean-up anymore.
Since George and I will be on vacation this week, I won't make any goals except to have fun and relax!
Monday, October 20, 2008
Goals for This Week (and How I Fared Last Week)
This Week's Goals:
1) Cook one new recipe this week.
2) Start my Control Journal notebook (see FlyLady.net)
3) Continue with reading, weight loss, genealogy, and getting-to-bed goals, as a habit takes about a month to take hold, I've heard.
Last Week's Goals:
1) Check out FlyLady.net and see if I can buy into.
I decided to work on some of the things FlyLady incorporates, but not go "whole hog" yet. I plan to start with the "Control Journal" first, which consolidates a number of things into one notebook, like schedules, routines, emergency numbers, and an address book.
2) Get in bed by 11:00 every night
Accomplished this goal Sunday through Friday nights, though it was right on the dot one night, and I felt it the next day.
3) Finish at least one book.
I finished two books again this week, a book of poetry called Sea Level, by Angela Leighton, and a current events book, The Return of History and the End of Dreams, by Robert Kagan.
4) Plan mountain vacation with George.
We've decided where we're staying and some of the things we'll do. Can't wait!
5) Lose 1.3 lb. this week.
Lost 3.8 lbs this past week-wohoo! I'm not surprised, really, as I had some interesting dieting revelations and activities last week, which I blogged about on my running blog here.
6) Add at least 5 names to my genealogy database.
Input about 15 names this week.
1) Cook one new recipe this week.
2) Start my Control Journal notebook (see FlyLady.net)
3) Continue with reading, weight loss, genealogy, and getting-to-bed goals, as a habit takes about a month to take hold, I've heard.
Last Week's Goals:
1) Check out FlyLady.net and see if I can buy into.
I decided to work on some of the things FlyLady incorporates, but not go "whole hog" yet. I plan to start with the "Control Journal" first, which consolidates a number of things into one notebook, like schedules, routines, emergency numbers, and an address book.
2) Get in bed by 11:00 every night
Accomplished this goal Sunday through Friday nights, though it was right on the dot one night, and I felt it the next day.
3) Finish at least one book.
I finished two books again this week, a book of poetry called Sea Level, by Angela Leighton, and a current events book, The Return of History and the End of Dreams, by Robert Kagan.
4) Plan mountain vacation with George.
We've decided where we're staying and some of the things we'll do. Can't wait!
5) Lose 1.3 lb. this week.
Lost 3.8 lbs this past week-wohoo! I'm not surprised, really, as I had some interesting dieting revelations and activities last week, which I blogged about on my running blog here.
6) Add at least 5 names to my genealogy database.
Input about 15 names this week.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Goals for the Week (and How I Did Last Week)
Goals for this week:
1) Check out FlyLady.net and see if I can buy into (Bigger goal here: become more organized)
2) Get in bed by 11:00 every night (Trying to establish a habit here.)
3) Finish at least one book (Trying to form a habit here too, and also working on decreasing the number of library books I have stacked up in my home office! )
4) Plan mountain vacation with George
5) Lose 1.3 lb. this week (See last week's goals below to explain the oddball number!)
6) Add at least 5 names to my genealogy database (Again, another habit former. I had fun with this one last week! Bigger goals here: maybe putting a family tree book together or one or more lines, maybe joining DAR)
Last week's goals:
1) Lose 2 lbs. Well, if this didn't backfire! I actually gained 1.2 lbs this past week! Yikes!
2) Get in bed by 11:00 each night through Friday. This was a success! The lastest I got to bed was 11:01 one night. I noticed a difference in how I felt at work.
3) Enter at least 5 new names into my genealogy database. I ended up entering 30-40 names between a couple of different lines, and did some database clean-up along the way.
4) Finish at least one book. I ended up finishing two books, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, by Haruki Murakami, and Death in North Carolina's Piedmont: Tales of Murder, Suicide, and Causes Unknown, by Frances H. Casstevens.
I enjoyed the running book a lot, especially since the author is a distance runner, and he wrote from personal experience. He also made some interesting connections between running and his work as a novelist.
Death in North Carolina's Piedmont was is a collection of true and locally "famous" stories of deaths in the North Carolina Piedmont region. The two people I'd heard of before were Tom Dula, who was originally from Wilkes County, where I have relatives, and Z. Smith Reynolds, who was from Winston-Salem, where I used to work. I especially enjoyed the story about Smith Reynolds, as I'd heard he'd died under suspicious circumstances, but I'd never learned how.
5) Run at least 21 miles this week. I ended up running 26.02 miles last week, and am a little tired. I'll probably scale it back a bit this week.
1) Check out FlyLady.net and see if I can buy into (Bigger goal here: become more organized)
2) Get in bed by 11:00 every night (Trying to establish a habit here.)
3) Finish at least one book (Trying to form a habit here too, and also working on decreasing the number of library books I have stacked up in my home office! )
4) Plan mountain vacation with George
5) Lose 1.3 lb. this week (See last week's goals below to explain the oddball number!)
6) Add at least 5 names to my genealogy database (Again, another habit former. I had fun with this one last week! Bigger goals here: maybe putting a family tree book together or one or more lines, maybe joining DAR)
Last week's goals:
1) Lose 2 lbs. Well, if this didn't backfire! I actually gained 1.2 lbs this past week! Yikes!
2) Get in bed by 11:00 each night through Friday. This was a success! The lastest I got to bed was 11:01 one night. I noticed a difference in how I felt at work.
3) Enter at least 5 new names into my genealogy database. I ended up entering 30-40 names between a couple of different lines, and did some database clean-up along the way.
4) Finish at least one book. I ended up finishing two books, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, by Haruki Murakami, and Death in North Carolina's Piedmont: Tales of Murder, Suicide, and Causes Unknown, by Frances H. Casstevens.
I enjoyed the running book a lot, especially since the author is a distance runner, and he wrote from personal experience. He also made some interesting connections between running and his work as a novelist.
Death in North Carolina's Piedmont was is a collection of true and locally "famous" stories of deaths in the North Carolina Piedmont region. The two people I'd heard of before were Tom Dula, who was originally from Wilkes County, where I have relatives, and Z. Smith Reynolds, who was from Winston-Salem, where I used to work. I especially enjoyed the story about Smith Reynolds, as I'd heard he'd died under suspicious circumstances, but I'd never learned how.
5) Run at least 21 miles this week. I ended up running 26.02 miles last week, and am a little tired. I'll probably scale it back a bit this week.
Monday, October 06, 2008
Goals for the Week
I've decided to start something new, having goals for each week and posting them here. I'll also post my progress (or lack thereof), either along the way or at the end of the week.
My goals for this week:
1) Lose 2 lbs. (I'll start with my weigh-in this morning, and no, I'm not sharing!)
2) Get in bed by 11:00 each night through Friday. (I'm tired of complaining about being tired!)
3) Enter at least 5 new names into my genealogy database. (I have so much info to enter, and I want to get back into it.)
4) Finish at least one book. (I have so many books checked out of the library that my shelves are overflowing. I've started several of them and am ready for some closure.)
5) Run at least 21 miles this week. (Last week I dipped under 20 miles for the week, and want to catch back up.)
My goals for this week:
1) Lose 2 lbs. (I'll start with my weigh-in this morning, and no, I'm not sharing!)
2) Get in bed by 11:00 each night through Friday. (I'm tired of complaining about being tired!)
3) Enter at least 5 new names into my genealogy database. (I have so much info to enter, and I want to get back into it.)
4) Finish at least one book. (I have so many books checked out of the library that my shelves are overflowing. I've started several of them and am ready for some closure.)
5) Run at least 21 miles this week. (Last week I dipped under 20 miles for the week, and want to catch back up.)
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