Kicking LEs butt!! Exercise & Self Care Log
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Just back from the Ohio OT/PT School Based Workshop...ready to get back to see my kids at the schools soon. I stayed at a hotel that had a Jr. Olympic sized pool and a very well outfitted gym that opened at 5:30 am each day, so 2 days of swimming laps and one day on the treadmill. The swimming really helps my swelling to stay down...just wish I had easier access to a pool near my home so I could take advantage of this more often.
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This is my second week of pt for lymphedema. I was iput in a sleeve on mon. So I walk every morning 3 miles w my neighborhood group. We are about 12 peo. Maybe 4 to 8 show up on any given day. Dh and I rarely miiss. I go to the gym afterwards for a fun class. I take Zumba , tone class or , yoga rhythmics. I also play golf. I used to walk and carry
bag, but because of le and fatigue ftom taxotere , I now take a cart . Exercise is my life. It brings me much joy even though inam not as strong as I used to be I am out there everyday. My second daily activity is a two hr nap when I get home0 -
Way to go, Barb, for staying active. It is not possible for everyone on treatment, but if you can stay even a little active, it can be very helpful. As for the naps, your body will thank you. Keep it up.
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Barb, the neighborhood group is wonderful! Group exercise is so helpful to keep up the motivation. It's fun, people support each other, and the exercise feels like less work.
The nap is definitely a good part of a fitness program, too!
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I agree that having others to work out with is so helpful. I used to try to use machines at home, not working. But when I walk into the gym....always someone to say hello to and to enourage or suggest new things
even if like last night I forgot my sneakers...well I did end up stretching and on the bike! it was something
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Good job Barb!
Neighborhood groups, that's a great idea.
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I have been missing my exercise lately; I used to go for an hour now i can only go about half an hour due to busy schedule of my hubby. We are fixing our commercial rental place lately and it is done now. Hoping from next week i can maintain my schedule. I have to say, i lost my weight by helping my husband to fix this place. I am pretty happy about it.
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Helping dh fix commercial rental? I am impressed. You two must be pretty handy
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Bhd, way to go girl, yeah!
Lovu, fixing a place is hard exercise because you are constantly moving. I bet you discovered muscles you never knew about the next day. Ohhhhh I hope your not too sore. Bonus gift.... Losing weight while working.
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Walked over 14,000 steps today running around work! Still not burning calories though, I have the Fitbit set at 2,000, just can't get there.
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nibana, wow, I have a hard time burning calories to and it stinks!
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I walked this morning in a beautful place, on a boardwalk overlooking a beach we have heard a lot about in this forum. DH and I traveled to attend a wedding not far from Hugz's walking beach, so we PM'd and arranged to get together for a walk! And...I can attest to the gorgeous beach where she does so much walking. We walked about an hour, and Hugz is one very speedy walker, so we got our cardio in for the day. Not to mention enjoying a great chat! (And she did not walk us by her chocolate store, but instead took me to a gelato shop at the end of the walk, and I succumbed to temptation, and it was delicious! I would have a very hard time staying out of there if it was on my walking route!)
Hugz, you have proven that the very BEST people are here for each other in this forum! I'm so glad we were able to meet. And I sure do wish I had that boardwalk near my house!
Carol
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Oh gosh, how delightful to read about your beautiful walk together.
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Oh, beautiful! So glad you could be together. Hope you got to hold Hugz's little fur baby--bet she's adorable. It wasn't chocolate gelato, by any chance, was it?
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We both had coconut...another something in common!
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Oh lucky Carol and Hugz getting to meet each other face to face! Wasn't it great!!! It has been a year when I met Carol, Tina, and Diane in Ohio at the LE Summit.
I have been absent lately but I promise to come on board more. Have been inside with the heat doing mostly treadmill, elliptical and weights. There is reconstruction going on at the dam so haven't been out there. My therapist is going to take me on a hike to Charlie's Bunion in the Smokies in the fall so I better get crackin' to be able to keep up with her. She is a veteran hiker--I am not.
Took care of six 3 yr olds in the nursery at church today and they wore me out! I think that HAS to count as some kind of exercise!!
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Ladies, I have fallen off the wagon and am trying to get back on! You are such an inspiring group, and I am actually starting to feel a little better overall, so really have no excuse for not exercising.
I have continued to drop weight, have had lots of nausea to deal with, and nothing tastes (good or otherwise- it's all sawdust to me) so eating is just a real chore. I am a vegetarian, trying not to eat too much soy, know I need to gain some weight AND increase my protein intake if I am to build muscles back up. I know I need to start a better weight training program to GRADUALLY build up muscles, so nutrition and exercise should go hand-in-hand.
Now the problem here is motivation and energy. I blame lack of energy for not exercising, but I know very well that when I go for a walk, I actually GET energy. I don't really feel depressed, but maybe I am .... just cannot seem to MAKE myself get up and move. I live in a rural community, so don't have ready access to group classes. I could drive 45 minutes to get to excellent aqua and yoga and other classes at the fitness center, but find the time required to drive in and back is somewhat of a barrier. But when I think of this as part of my healing, it just seems like a weak excuse to me. Anyone have a box of dynamite to get my sorry you-know-what in gear????
Today is hot, humid, sunny with lots of pop-up storms, I am in bandages (making progress, though!!). Not the best day for a walk. Am expecting my Lebed video in the mail any day. Today I will commit to doing a little yoga in my home exercise room. And I will be accountable to this group. Thanks for being here!
Becky, my DH and I did our first backpacking trip together in the Smokies in 1978 and have been best friends since then. I miss backpacking terribly, and would love to be able to repeat our trip this year if I can build up to it. It was a 3-day (now would probably be a 5-day!) trip to Clingman's Dome in late October. I tripped crossing a stream, lost the tent poles, got soaked - got yelled at for losing the poles (he recovered them quickly) but not much sympathy for me getting soaked! LOL! Hope you can make the trip with you LET!0 -
OK, didn't make it to the yoga mat yesterday, but got my Lebed video in the mail, so this morning did the workout. It felt great!!!!! Also got a beginner's Qi Gong video to alternate. Had LE therapy yesterday, did additional MLD last night. Did better with nutrition - at least 55 gm protein, aiming for 60-75.
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Linda, Lebed is great way to climb gently back on that wagon! Good for you, and I'll look forward to hearing your comments about the Qi Gong video.
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Linda, when a pal of mine was diagnosed for the second time (first at 40, then at 50 and now she is 68), her surgeon told her he could give her antidepressants or ...she could join a gym.....she chose the gym!
I KNOW I feel better when I exercise, it is the BEST antidepressant for me and hope it works for you also
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Linda, have you ever looked at any Leslie Sansone videos? They are walk-at-home exercise routines that have you walking in place, and taking just a few steps forward, backward, side to side, etc., with kicks and knee raises to help pump up the heart rate. To me, the great beauty of these videos is that you can tailor them to wherever you are in fitness and energy. I used them after my diep recon to get moving again, initially keeping the steps small and avoiding the knee raises, which would have been too challenging for the abdominal healing going on. Some of the videos are broken into separate 1-mile segments, so you can feel that you've completed something even if you can only handle fifteen or twenty minutes at a time. The only caution I pass along with these videos is that some of them have you using a resistance band, and that's generally not a great idea for those of us with LE. I do Leslie videos pretty often, these days using some that are more of a jogging pace than a walking pace. You need hardly any space to do it in, and weather does not matter!
For protein, depending on what you like to eat, have you considered Greek yogurt? 28 grams of protein in one 8-oz serving! I'm picky about what goes into my milk, so I make my own yogurt and then strain it to make it 'greek.' That takes time, but it cuts the cost of organic yogurt from pastured cows.
I sure do agree with proudtospin about exercise chasing away the blues! I go to a gym and sometimes I have to kick my butt hard to put down my work and go. I'm often pretty cranky over work deadlines. But I come back in a great mood and ready for more of the darned work. I'm sure my DH blesses every gym trip I make, so I don't feel the need to dump my work problems on him!
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Hey Carol, good to hear I am not the only crazy soul who makes their own greek style yogurt! Been doing it for a while and love using the plain like cream cheese!
question for you, do you do anything with the whey that is strained off? (or whatever the clear liquid is.
I used it in soups a couple of times but could not find an answer as it how much nuitrition was in that portion?
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proud, the whey has a lot of calcium, but not much else. Here's what I found on it when I was feeling guilty a while back about tossing it:
In 4 oz, the whey contains: approximately 30 cal., no fat, 1 gram protein 7 grams carbohydrates, 130 mg calcium
I figure that I eat SO MUCH of the greek yogurt that I'm getting enough calcium, even though a good amount goes down the drain with the whey. I added whey to a few bread recipes instead of water, and that worked fine, but generally I find that my yogurt making days and my bread making days are not in synch, and I'm not so sure about keeping the whey in the fridge for more than a few days. I have read that it's good for the compost pile, but I have not tried that.
I eat the yogurt for breakfast and lunch, usually with a handful of dried fruit and nuts, and a teaspoon or so of sour cherry juice concentrate. I live in Michigan. It's our civic duty to consume sour cherries, and I love the sweet-tart taste! Supposedly it has anti-inflammatory properties, but I sweeten my yogurt with it just because it's delicious.
It will go on my baked potato tonight (without the cherry juice concentrate!).
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Carol,. that is cute on the civic duty on sour cherries, me my civic duty to eat all jersey fresh produce, specially tomaotes
ok, so I really had found much the same in my research so if I have a home for the whey....will use it! better than water in soup and stew!
I used to make my own yogurt from milk but stopped as I was not eating enough and ended tossing some so now I buy the big plain yogurt tub
tonight is my pork cutlet and my pals home grown collards...plus a jersey tomatoe
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Pork tonight here, too, some juicy chops. Plus tomatoes from my Michigan deck container garden (I was born in Jersey so I'm really growing Jersey tomatoes...). Local sweet corn and some braided bread I filled with feta, garlic, tomatoes...is anyone hungry reading this?
It's actually shameful that I don't have much exercise to report today. Yesterday I did great, today not so much, but I'll commit here and now to a good exercise day tomorrow (to work off the pork chops)!
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I was beginning to think this thread had gone dead! Maybe we are all just trying to move more in the heat!
Linda--Saw my therapist yesterday and we are scheduling hike for a Saturday in September. Another patient in our support group is going with us. I am getting excited about it! I will probably trip, lose things and muck up but it will be fun. I know how hard it is to get exercise in. Sometimes I just do it in spurts a few minutes at a time to make it add up to 30 minutes a day. Lebed is a good start. Someone once told me when you watch tv to get up and do something during commercials. But I don't watch tv much so that does not work for me. Just keep at it and let us know. I don't know why it is so hard when I feel SO much better afterward.
Carol--Do you have a yogurt maker or put up in jars?
Too humid for outside today. Am going to do the elliptical for at LEAST 30 minutes. I find if I tell you all (or you guys--I am not totally southern) what I am going to do ahead of time for the day I do it. I did weights yesterday so not again until tomorrow. Have already done MLD and MLD exercises today--that I never miss.
Becky
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Up early as could not sleep. Had contact yesterday about a job...working for a jewelry company! Can you say cool? and it is even less distance from my house to work than my current job. She wanted me to add some things to my resume as I never had anything regarding my little side interests on the official resume.
Fixed it, sent it out and now waiting for a link to do a video interview....
off to gym to keep my mind occupied and off this job thing
think positive thoughts for me!
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proudtospin, definitely cool on the jewelry! I hope the interview goes well. I find it fascinating that they wanted to hear about your side interests, which tells me they are interested in you the whole person. Good sign!
Becky, I heat the milk in a double boiler to 185 degrees, cool it in an ice bath to 112 degrees, put in some saved yogurt, and then put it in a bread proofing box that will keep dough at a constant rising temperature (very helpful around here in winter!). I can use it to incubate the yogurt at 110 degrees for five or six hours. I have two pitchers that fit in the proofing box and each holds a half gallon, so I make a gallon of yogurt at a time. When it's set and chilled, I strain it to reduce by half for some very lovely Greek yogurt. The whole process takes a while, but it doesn't require constant attention, and it costs half of what I'd otherwise pay for Greek yogurt made organic milk from pastured cows.
My exercise plan today includes cleaning my house from top to bottom. Lots of bending and stretching and moving, although not so much cardio, but I say it counts!!
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It was a bit humid and warm yesterday after work, but completed my 7.5 miles of walking anyways and was blessed by the beauty of late summer views. So glad our God didn't make a black and white world, but splurged and gave us the riches of color upon color. It made the miles go by enjoyably
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Laurel....what a lovely thought about the color in nature, yeap, god did know what he did huh?
Carol...I have always been a jewelry nut and when I answered the job ad, I had no idea what the company made. Only that they were close and looking for a sales person. In my phone conversation, when the recruiter told me what industry....lordie I about split my gut!
Think of how you would feel if a canoe or outdoor company asked you to work for them? yeap, you would scream! I have been wanting to change industries so keeping an open mind for now and this is what has popped up!
so, back from the gym, onto my Sat cleaning chores so I keep mind busy. They want some sort of video interview so waiting on the link to do that. Guess I need to wear jewelry for the interview?
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