Weight Loss and Exercise #7

I'm gonna do yoga today. Ill get back into walking tomorrow. Unfortunately the treadmill in my building stopped working. Ugh. So I have to go outside in the 80 degree weather to walk from now till it gets repaired.

I've been eating less often. Like in a good way. Not restricting. Just not bingeing. I'm not sure why but the past couple days I haven't been as hungry. Maybe its because I've stayed busy. I'm not sure. I've just found myself wandering out into the kitchen looking for food less frequently the past few days. Its a nice change.

@Blue_Bird It's easy to eat when you're bored, so staying busy definitely helps. Sorry about the broken treadmill. I definitely I feel you on walking in the hot weather. I usually start walking before sunrise (probably a bit on the risky side but my neighborhood is relatively safe), so it's still dark out and I try to get back in by 8 AM at the absolute latest. It's still pretty hot and quite humid but at least I don't have the sun beating don't on me. I'm pretty sensitive to the sun; I burn very quickly even with sunscreen and often I just feel the sun dazzles my eyes. I try my best not to overheat. I know some of these meds you're more sensitive to overheating; I think Seroquel may be one of them.

I took my 7 mi power walk this morning and did my plank practice concentrating and good form which really is the key. Thanks for the well-wishes on the upcoming mammography/breast ultrasound. I have to say it has me a little on edge since I have never been called back for closer examination after the initial screening mammogram. My appt. is not until June 9, so I have plenty of time to worry. My PCP told me odds are it's nothing or maybe a fluid-filled cyst especially since I don't have a family history of breast cancer but still I do have a history of worry and anxiety.

I am going on a hike tomorrow. I have bought trail running shoes and hiking Capri pants and borrowed a hiking backpack and a hydration bladder. I already have a shirt that is good for hiking and is made from a sun-protective material. And I have a t chno fabric tank top and sports bra made from a moisture wicking material to go underneath the shirt. Now I need to find the stick sunscreen to take with me tomorrow morning, so that I can reapply sunscreen easily. The wallet and keys will go into a little zippered compartment of the backpack. I have several sun-protective hat options to choose from. And I am debating whether to take a protein shake with me, in case I get hungry. Now that I am on Lybalvi + Naltrexone and not on Seroquel, I do not get painfully hungry and can go for long stretches without eating, but the old habit of always having a shake on my person is still with me; old habits die hard.

What fun! But i would take a sandwich and fruit. My 2nd husband introduced me to Good Earth spice tea on a hike, and he had made tuna salad sandwiches.

Oh good advice. I will stop by the closest grocery store to buy apricots (they are already available). I won't have time to make a sandwich, but a protein shake and an apricot would do.

I have selected a hat, have walked to the local CVS to buy something against insects and bandaids, both recommended by ChatGPT after I shared with it what I already had prepared and asked to identify gaps. I swear I had bandaids at home, but I could not find them, so it was easier to buy a family pack with a variety of sizes and shapes. I walked in my new shoes and feel fine, except that my feet and legs are tired. I will rub in Voltaren gel before going to bed.

Could not figure out how to drink from the hydration bladder, so I placed a bottle with water inside the backpack instead and walked in that backpack. Most importantly, I walked in the new capris, size 2XL, the biggest available at the store, and even though I would have appreciated 3XL, 2XL is ok and I am basically ready for the hike now. I just need to put sunscreen in the morning. Will let you know how it goes!

For today, I have hit 10k steps from walking to and from the drugstore this evening.

I'm still 222. The scale won't budge. I did get the insoles so I'm hoping I can tolerate walking more.

My feet feel great. I did 610 reps with my ab roller with no back pain or anything.

I took a power walk this morning, around 7.5 mi. I saw lots of the local birds, nothing too out of the oridinary though I did see a robin with a worm in its beak on the sidewalk that flew off with the worm as I approached. I was glad it stayed cloudy. The overnight lows are now in the upper 70s, and it's humid, so even walking early, it's hot.

Can you really get full off 4 Twizzlers or is that my mind playing tricks on me?

Food is so expensive I just give up looking on the stores website. $5 for a TV dinner is insane. Its like I'll just buy a big bag of rice and a bag of beans and live off that.

I did buy a hoodie but it was half off the original price. Check out North Face Renewed.

@Tart Cherry Jam Enjoy your hike today!

It was great! And I felt the benefits of all that walking on an inclined treadmill at Orangetheory: I was easily able to go up steep hills today. I wore the orangetheory fitness wrist band and their app registered the peak heart rate of 156, but I did not feel so exerted. At any rate, the app only registered it for 1 minute. It was great to put to the test all I have worked so hard to achieve, and feel that I can walk up steep hills quickly without getting winded. I am reminded of one humiliating incident almost a decade ago when I was not exercising at all, and when Risperdal made me severely depressed, and I did not realize it was doing it to me; I thought my life circumstances were so bleak. So during that time I worked at an office on the second floor and there were stairs that people took, but I usually took the elevator. One day, I had to take the stairs because I was in a group with my manager and colleagues, and I got winded climbing *just one flight of stairs,* which was so embarrassing. So, something like this cannot happen to me now.

We were warned about ticks, and I will now take a temperature-contrast shower (as I prefer, to energize me for the rest of the day), and launder all the clothes I wore on the hike, as we were all instructed to do.

I did not eat or drink anything but water on the hike: my breakfast, two slices of whole rye bread, two thin slices of Havarti, and a pickle, plus a protein-fortified latte, sufficed to keep me full and I only now start feeling a little hungry, but it is past 2 PM and I ate breakfast before 9 AM. For me, given the history of frequent and painful hunger pangs back on Seroquel, this new life feels like a victory.

What a wonderful report!

My stomach feels ok but I'm not all that hungry. I ate a can of beans for breakfast since they are inexpensive and filling. Not sure what else I'll eat. My therapist told me just to eat what I can.

I upped a med today that has loss of appetite as a side effect.

My new shoes arrived yesterday evening; I went with Sketchers Women's Max Endeavor Canova. It took a little adapting as I'm not used to walking on so much cushioning! Even so, I may have shin splints tomorrow, just from it being different shoes than I'm used to and shoes that are a bit heavier than my old walking shoes. But on the positive, the shoes fit, and I didn't end up with any blisters on my toes or even worse, bleeding under a toenail, which is so, so painful. The cushioning does make a it so a lot less force shoots up my legs into my hips, which is good because I've had issues in the past with both my hips.

The walk today was miserable though because of the weather. I looked it up when I got inside. It was 79F with a feels like temp of 86F and 86% humidity and that was in the dark and around sunrise. I started thinking by the end of the walk when I had sweat dripping in my eyes that I don't need a sauna because I have one right outdoors!

@Tart Cherry Jam I'm so glad to hear you had a wonderful hike! Were you sore from it today? @Blue_Bird I'm sorry you have to walk outside in the heat. I know I often push it with overheating when exercising this time of year. I hope the treadmill gets repaired soon!

Oh, @Discombobulated I kept meaning to post I had my gait measured a long, long, LONG time ago at a running store, but I forgot what it was!

I took a walk today. I’m also trying to take the stairs more in my apartment building instead of the elevator. I live on the 3rd floor. Mostly focusing on what I’m eating. I’m down 2lbs since I last weighed myself. Hoping to keep it up

I slowed it down and did pilates today. My body just needed a break. I'll probably do pilates again tomorrow as I have an early appt. for bloodwork, and pilates doesn't get me so sweaty I need a shower ASAP afterwards. Now it is definitely too hot to walk in the daytime. Right now it's 86F with 70% humidity and a feels like temp of 96F. The city has been keeping the library and community center open extra hours again and on Sundays as cooling centers for people without air conditioning. It really is miserable here if you don't have AC. I can't believe I grew up without AC; now I don't know how I ever lived here without it!

Today I started craving peanut butter a ton. I haven't had it in a long time, but I still had a good jar. Finally I got some out to eat with my apple slices for lunch. I think my body is craving the fats; last week I was craving and eating avocados. I have never really gone through a stage of craving healthy fats so much, but I guess it's good for me since I exercise so much and my weight is on the low end of the normal BMI scale.

I was wondering why somedays I have out of control hunger and other days I'm fine. Also why my anxiety spikes for no reason

I think its the Tylenol PM I sometimes take. I googled it and its the anthistamine that causes the issue.

I just had to stop my Benadryl for the same reason.

I couldnt figure out why somedays I was fine at 1500 calories and other times I was ravenous and ate 2500 calories

My gym is holding free intro to reformer Pilates classes for groups of four. You can sign up for one class. I have signed up for Friday. Can't wait!

Today, I had a personal training session, but exercises I could normally do fine felt unusually hard for me. I wonder if it is because I took extra 5 mg of Zyprexa when, at about 2 am, I still could not sleep.

But then I did quite a bit of cardio and felt fine. To wit:

25 minutes on the ski erg

27 minutes of the recumbent bike

10 minutes on the Stairmaster. I tinkered with the controls and now know that if I put whatever this number measures to 30 (and not 20 or 25; the default is 20), I am able to reach the low Green 💚 zone as measured by the Orangetheory wristband and app. Next time, I will start with a minute or two at 20 and then push ahead at 30 to get a good workout.

Well that North wind hasn’t let up, it really was hard work for the first 5k of my run this morning, I was glad to turn around. Funny when the wind is behind me I’m never aware of it as much! Still, I guess it’s good resistance training. It was just over 12k in total, so over half way on my training progress this summer.

That is a long run @Discombobulated! Awesome!

@Tart Cherry Jam - Wow! You're a demon when it comes to the cardio machines!

I had early fasting bloodwork this morning so I did another gentle beginner's pilates video and a couple plank holds. I plan to walk again tomorrow morning.

Yeah its the Tylenol PM. Today I've eaten decently and my carbs and protein are good too. I need to figure out dinner. I could only manage 400 reps with my ab roller.

How are the Sketchers settling in @Blueberrybook?

I went out for a recovery run today as I did a 12k yesterday, it ended up just over 5k so probably a bit longer than I thought. I was so slow but that’s okay on a recovery run.

Two very fit fast young guys and one very fit young woman with a bouncy cockapoo on a leash ran past me, then seconds later the dog ran to the other side of a lamppost catching the leash and the woman went down, luckily she was okay although she was wearing shorts so it must’ve hurt - her face didn’t hit the ground thankfully and she fell a lot better than I did! She said she was okay and a few minutes later they came racing past me again.

I need to do some weights later today and stick with that.

My weight was good today. I've eaten pretty decently. I had some berry Cosmic Rings and half a store bought quiona harvest bowl and 2 plain hot cakes from Mcdonalds. I think I'll have my other bag of miracle egg pasta. That is just 45 calories but 10 grams of protein.

@Discombobulated - Wow, that's a great recovery run, but that poor woman with the dog! At least she was okay. What type of weights do you do?

The Sketchers are settling in pretty well; I really like the added cushioning to my hips especially. I took a walk today, but I cut it short at 6 mi. I started later than usual because I slept later than usual, and the sun was starting to beat down on top of the warm temp and high humidity. I decided to come in before I overdid it and overheated. I took a cool shower afterwards, and that felt so good! Did a couple rounds of 1 min. planks, hope to repeat that after lunch.