Staying the Course -- 07-17-2017

[Superbob]

So it's 7/17/17 -- wow, just realized that in writing the headline for a new STC Week. Hope it will be a good day and great week for everyone.

It was overcast with ominous looking clouds when Ellie dawg and I set out on our walk this morning. At the far point of our trek, making the turn to come home, a few drops began to fall. Ever so gradually progressed to a mist, and finally a gentle rain. What a blessing after all the morning of 100F heat index, and sun scorching us.

So a gentle rain is my blessing to start the week. Will delve into other topics (inc weight -- must confront it) as we go along.

It has been wonderful to read the posts of so many of you in past few weeks -- both long-time friends and new ones. Cherish you all.

Ordered yet another funny tee-shirt for senior core fitness class --- colorful "Party Planker" with images of planking as focus of party with balloons and whatnot. I know it will make Teach laugh! I soon will have the world's largest collection of planking teeshirts at this rate -- figure I can always sell them on E-Bay if I bomb out of fitness, or if my great teacher ever has to leave us. (She ought to do a cable show/fitness videos -- she's that good. And so personable.

Anyway, an old man rambles.

Cheers all,

Superbo

 

[dornole]

Lost 4.6 lbs the week, the most ever. Strong accountability texting photos of all my food and giving and receiving support from my sister in law made the difference. She lost 3.1. Strong women!

 

[dreamy885]

Ordered yet another funny tee-shirt for senior core fitness class --- colorful "Party Planker" with images of planking as focus of party with balloons and whatnot. I know it will make Teach laugh! I soon will have the world's largest collection of planking teeshirts at this rate -- figure I can always sell them on E-Bay if I bomb out of fitness, or if my great teacher ever has to leave us. (She ought to do a cable show/fitness videos -- she's that good. And so personable.

What's your record for length of time planking? I'm currently at a minute, just realized I was able to plank post surgery last week, the most I've ever done is 90 seconds.

My boyfriend and I started low carb yesterday, we've done it before and had great results and I have a bunch of weight to lose so I'm desperate! This heat makes it hard to exercise, we have a heat advisory from Wed through Saturday! So much for taking the kids swimming ever!

 

[Superbob]

What's your record for length of time planking? I'm currently at a minute, just realized I was able to plank post surgery last week, the most I've ever done is 90 seconds.

Last Tuesday,the instructor had us do a series of eight planks of 20 seconds each,with 10 second break between each. Last Thursday, she had us do a one-minute plank, then a 30-second one, and then a 20-second one. So far a minute has been the longest -- I don't know if she gradually wants us to try longer ones or not. 90 seconds might be reasonable. Of course, with seniors ranging in age from 45 to 75 we are a pretty diverse group. Not supposed to exceed our individual limits. Some do them with modifications, some just sit out when need to.

 

[Superbob]

Lost 4.6 lbs the week, the most ever. Strong accountability texting photos of all my food and giving and receiving support from my sister in law made the difference. She lost 3.1. Strong women!

dornole, that is tremendous -- strong women indeed!

 

[jwinter]

Good Morning and what an inspiring thread to read! No weight loss here but some swelling has come down on those "kankle" ankles of mine. Should take some Lasix as cardio advised but need a new script for potassium to go with it and as I see him next week will wait. Pharmacy girls told me it would take 15 tablets, 3 times a day=45 tablets of over the counter potassium(guess I will wait) lol.

I know I wouldn't be much of a planker(did I ever tell you I am kind of a lazy butt and on again off again exerciser?) and low carbs is out for me(read to many publications on how hard all that meat is on the heart). The extra pounds I carry probably aren't good for my heart either so guess it is a toss up.

Dornole, congrats on that loss and you have the right plan for me. Accountability. That and a little notebook to write down what I eat, how much, and calorie count. I just need a boost I guess and may get it from the doc next week, I am sure.

Great group you are and hope you all have a great week and keep on those plans. Life is good so we have to stay that course!.

 

[Agian]

45-75? That makes me a senior too. Cool.

 

[epstns]

WOW Dornole - 4.6 pounds! I lost about 0.8 pounds this week, and I was about to go out and celebrate. . .

For me, I believe my weight is really stable but fluctuates along with fluid retention driven by dietary sodium. When my wife was out at my daughter's hours for a few weeks, I ate more restaurant food than usual, and it translated to a pound or two of fluid. DW is home again, and we have been eating at home, which brought down the sodium big-time. For the next month or two, we will be eating out only occasionally, which will help.

SB - you are my hero, The Plank King. At the moment, I am not exercising (other than daily cardio, either walking or elliptical machine) due to my back's complaints. I have a propensity toward a pinched nerve in my lower back, which the docs say is probably caused by some arthritic bone growth. Every so often it twinges, and the whole right side of my back goes into excruciating muscle spasms - sometimes bad enough to immobilize me. I have meds for it, but the meds are always at home, while I may not be there. Last Sunday I had a spasm (at home, fortunately), with an "after-shock" spasm yesterday morning. I'm just using meds when necessary, and trying to be nice to it. The docs also told me "It will get better, but it will also happen again. We don't know when, though." So, as long as I am able to remain mobile and functional, I just take it a bit easy for a week or so, then gradually get back into things. Just another couple of pages in the book of life, I guess.

Glad to see everyone is managing so far. Our weather last weekend was nice, but now we are back to near 90F, with possible rain almost every day. When it is this hot, the rains are sometimes spectacular/heavy, and the rivers here are already over their banks in some areas. I have to take "detour #3" to find my way home from work every day. Detours number 1 and 2 were necessitated by road construction, but now with the flooding, the river has closed another of my routes, making the remaining ones very busy. I guess we now have 3 road seasons -- winter, road construction and flooding. Meh!

 

[honeybunny]

Good morning from Houston. Spent the weekend in Brooklyn for my brother's 70th bday and his stepdaughter's bridal shower. So too much food, including desserts. Plus, I brought back a small loaf of rye bread (can't get "real" rye bread in Houston). So I'm not even going to get on the scale for at least a week. Weight was creeping up before I left so no telling what it is now.

I'm going to try the DASH diet (see attached PDF). It was posted on my company's intranet this morning. Nothing I don't know already, but maybe I can do better.

Congrats Dornole! Way to go!

 

[FredW]

Hi folks. It has been an interesting seven days.

First, I had an unusual event while training for a thru hike I'm planning on doing in August. I was working out on the treadmill last Thursday. I was 15 minutes into the workout when my heart monitor started giving me mixed results. My body was telling me I was pushing my limit, but my heart monitor was telling me my heart rate actually dropped from the high 90's to 60 bpm. Due to beta blockers, my resting rate is around 50 bpm and my exercise stress limit is 100 - 110. I reset my heart monitor and thinking it was not working correctly, I ignored it and continued my workout.

About 10 minutes later, my back started hurting so I terminated the workout early. My back has hurt since then and that has caused me to slow down and limit my outside work. Later, when I unloaded my Vivofit data to my PC, I looked at the heart rate data more carefully and think it may have captured a valid irregularly in my heart activity. Wish I had been hooked up to an EKG then. Due to that and my back issues, I'm slowly concluding that I may not be able to train like that or do a 30 mile hike. None of this did much in regards to weight loss.

Then Sunday, I woke up with a serious case of diarrhea that continued thru Monday. I didn't eat or drink much in those two days and lost five pounds! I figured it was a mile case of a flue. This is not something I recommend one do to loose weight. I started getting better yesterday and was able to get outside to do some yard work, but am still plagued with back pain. So Steve, I relate to what you go through with your back issues.

It sucks getting old.

I'm pleased others are making progress on their workouts and when they can't, they enjoy themselves like Honneybunny did. BTW, Honneybunny, thanks for sharing that diet. Good suggestions on stir fry and tuna salad. My issue is not what I eat but the amount of it.

As for doing planks, a 60 second plank is much longer than 60 seconds on the Internet or eating ice cream for 60 seconds. I think Einstein developed a theory that describes that. Don't ask me to explain it, I'm still trying to get my head around quantum physics.

 

[knotguilty]

Never scrolled down to read this forum before but thought I would share some. Just told my wife yesterday how great I am finally feeling. I have had palpataions in the past but all seems to have gone away. I just turned 60 in January and my 5 yr anniversay of AVR is coming up in October. I work 12 hour days which are terrible for my health and exercising on at least a regular basis, but I get to the gym on my days off. I am benching 200bs, far cry from the 275 I used to do, and I am back to running 3 miles at a time after suffering for a long time with plantars faciitis(sp). I weigh 183lbs but would love to get down below 180. I also have terrible eating habits. As good as all that may sound, I can't do a plank to save my life. You guys are good. It is good to see you folks taking care of yourselves. One of my biggest problems is I don't know how to relax. If I'm not doing something, I'm not happy. Wish I could enjoy sitting on the beach and reading a book, it must be good to rest your spirit sometimes. Well I guess I just wanted to ramble a little. Good to see you folks. I will check in once in a while.

 

[Superbob]

Knotguilty -- glad you dropped by; please do so any time you want. (BTW, love your screen name!) HB, thanks for the new diet idea -- always receptive to those; now all I need is willpower. Fred, you are right, aging ain't for wimps! Hope you feel better now. (Just a quick reply to a few here for now -- I am pressed for time.) Steve, enjoyed your report as always, and wanted to say calling me The Plank King made my day. I have gone on quite a bit about it but I am, after all, the oldest person in our core fitness class -- some 25 years older than some classmates -- and teacher has praised me lavishly for my progress. Maybe it is muscle memory (somehow) from a half-century ago in infantry basic training when DI would routinely tell me to "drop and give me 75" (yes 75 pushups!). No way in heck I could do that now, but maybe I've got the plank form for starters. Anyway, it has been a boost for my morale. That said, Fred is right 60 seconds planking is longer than about any other 60 seconds you can think of. Maybe someday we will attempt 90 seconds or two minutes. Doubt we oldsters will be challenged to do 5 minutes. Cheers all..

 

[epstns]

Fred - please forgive my OF (Old Fart) memory, but do you have a pacemaker? If you do have one, it may be doing its job when you saw your heart rate drop. I have a pacemaker, and it is set to a maximum heart rate of 160 BPM (not that I can ever do that, with the beta blocker). If my pacer ever sees even two beats that equate to the timing of a rate over 160 BPM, it immediately cuts its pacing rate by half, or drops to 90 BPM, whichever is greater. When it "sees" the momentary high rate, even during exercise, it thinks I am going into AFIB, and cutting its pacing rate is how it entices my heart back into a normal rate range. I have experienced this quite a number of times. The first few times it happened, I called my device clinic in near-panic. My favorite technician at the clinic is an absolute angel, and she took the time to discuss the circumstances with me, and to explain that the device is just doing its job, and doing it properly. As long as my heart rate returned to a normal range within a couple of minutes, nothing is wrong. Of course, when it blocks to half-rate, that can ruin that day's workout, as it takes some minutes to return to a normal rate, and 90 BPM is nowhere near what my body needs to support a good pace on a treadmill or elliptical machine. Now, if you don't have a pacemaker. . . I might consider a call to my cardio to discuss the situation. Unexpected drops in heart rate are nothing to take lightly, at least until you know what's going on.

OK - end of "lecture." I'm still banging around here. I will probably get back to my daily exercise routine next week. The back issues have receded into the background noise, so I think I can gently get back into it. In the mornings, before I head out to work, I've been doing push-ups (I'm back to two sets of 25. Before surgery, and 6-7 years ago, I used to be able to do 3 sets of 60.), along with free weights (15 lb. weights, sets of 25-35 reps.), and planks. I'm never going to "get big" this way, but at least it helps me maintain definition and tone.

More rain in our forecast, too. Anyone want some?

 

[FredW]

Steve (epstns), I do not have a pacemaker. I'm am somewhat concerned about triggering an AFIB incident when exercising. It was a stress test on a treadmill that triggered an unusual EKG results that caused my cardiologist to decide I needed surgery that day. He didn't call it AFIB, but he did say it was very dangerous. I have two pages from that EKG that I put in my dropbox for viewing: Page 1 is at https://www.dropbox.com/s/dlskob0xfu7x33d/EKG-1-stress-test.jpg?dl=0 and shows a mild event then my heart rhythm was fine at 153 bpm. This continues to page two at https://www.dropbox.com/s/xs3cq18i9eg29yk/EKG-2-stress-test.jpg?dl=0 and it shows my heart rate at 160 bpm and the rhythm all over the place until it again becomes regular. The doc was surprised he didn't have to shock me back to normal rhythm. The next day, I had my Aortic valve replaced and one bypass done.

So, how do I determine if my heart rate really did drop or do I have a defective Vivofit? I'm not the kind of person to call my cardiologists on suspicion or trivial matters.

My back pain has stopped me from treadmill workouts and I'm concluding hiking 30 miles may not be in my future as well. However, there at times when I'm working outside and it gets my heart rate fairly elevated. The last thing my cardiologists said to me in last checkup last month was: "There are non limitations." I'm beginning to wonder about that.

I get frustrated with trying to understand the human body. It is not like a piece of software or computer where you can find the problem and fix them. Humans are just too complex. However, upon writing that, I realize that today's technology is approaching a level of complexity that can also increase one's frustration. I spent two hours yesterday trying to diagnosis and fix my smart phone that was having bouts of slow response. Maybe it has AFIB?

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the staying the course posts....

 

[MartinF]

knotguilty, you are similar to me. I turned 60 in Jan and 5 year anniversary for my MVR is next month. I'm not a weight lifter but was an ultramarathon runner and still do some running.

18 miles of walking and running this week. I might have lost a pound, hard to tell if it's sweat loss or real weight loss.

Looked up planking on the Internet. I might try it this week. I need to do more than walking and running.

Congratulations to all who lost weight this week. That's an accomplishment! Stay the course.

Martin

 

[dornole]

Lost another 2 pounds this week, very happy. Texting photos of all my food plus screenshots of my Fitbit results and the day's food log to my sister in law each night at bedtime has made all the difference. She does the same with me and we also text to help each other get over "Can't Have a Donut Grief" or other temptations we experience. Writing stuff down for myself kinda works for me but inconsistent because I mysteriously stop logging when my brain get foggy from a carb binge. I am very happy to have gone 2 weeks sticking to my eating and exercise plans with integrity. That is building my self-esteem and confidence more than anything.