Kicking LEs butt!! Exercise & Self Care Log
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Whoa Binney--I haven't done the whole Lebed in a long time! I remember when I was wrapped I went through the whole thing. Now I just do the first 15 min or the exercises my therapist gave me which are similar. Without the video I think I go too fast.
Hot, hot and humid here. I did 30 min of elliptical and an hour or weights yesterday. Getting ready to get on elliptical right now and will increase resistance. Have a lymphedema support group meeting today at noon where we will be exercising our jaws! So much fun talking to other lymphers, therapists, and caretakers.
Carol if I did kayaking I would probably get my exercise falling out and getting back in!
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Here's a photo from today's gym workout. It entertains me, because the weights look huge, but they're not nearly as heavy as they look. Notice the trusty sleeve and gauntlet. This is a stiff-legged dead lift, and the arms place a secondary role. I was lifting two 1-lb dumbbells when I first started this lift about 18 months ago. Two to three times a week in the gym, adding weight about every other week, and here I am lifting more than I would ever have predicted. The bar and plates weigh a combined 50 pounds. I'll be 59 in a few days, and I can't think of a better photo to launch my countdown to 60!
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Carol WOW! You amazing lady!
Well I'm very hesitant to post on this thread because I'm so limited in what I can do and Im no fitness freak. What I do I do under duress. I have permanent non chemo induced PN (peripheral neuropathy) and if theres anything worse than LE, its that. My feet BURN like they are on fire and as many people on BC.ORG testify, (because its a side effect of some chemos) you can only stay on your feet for so long beofre they ache and burn and get VERY crazy.
My work around is this: I walk most days at the crack of dawn (the colder the better) and I try to do about 2 miles a day. Ive recorded my walks and distance for about 4 years. The only time I miss is when its hosing down or something unusual has come up. Without looking and doing some number crunching my guesstimate is Ive averaged about 2 miles a day 6 days a week this year so far.
I went to GP appt and he was very pleased that even though my bad cholesterol was up, so was my good cholesterol which somehow counteracted it. (not sure how it all works) He said my exercise has definitely helped. Part of this aspect was taken into account to assess my risk for heart attack and he said at my age he couldn't have been more happy. Im soooo pleased. A little good news goes a long way!
It's not easy with Arimidex playing it's part in making my bones and joints ache but I feel the exercise has really helped here too and overall the aching is not what it was.
Hopefully this will encourage the less fit amongst us that every little bit helps.0 -
Musical, the beauty of this thread is that everyone cheers for movement, and by movement I mean not only physical motion, but also progress, coming back from setbacks, and especially for commitments to keep moving forward from wherever we are individually. My mom has peripheral neuropathy after decades of diabetes, and I know all too well what kind of debilitating pain comes from that. I'm not sure I'd be walking 2 miles a day in your shoes!!!
Women in our forum have shown time after time the guts to press through all kinds of obstacles and setbacks, and in comparison, my journey here has been a very easy one. The LE aches and pains make me crazy, but I've had to take no anti-hormonals and treatment side effects are all just related to surgery. So we all start from different places, and we're each carrying around a different brand of BC and other health baggage. I sincerely admire every single person who posts here.
This thread is not a competition. It's a mutual admiration society!
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Carol it's winter here, or just starting into spring which can be equally cold and worse than winter for volatile weather ... nevertheless it all helps my feet immensely. As usual I don't look forward to summer in this respect.
No doubt most of you guys will be very familiar with the (American) TEVA brand and I find these a boon as they cushion my feet well and are the least heat inducing footwear I can find. Anything that buffs your feet are OUT!!! Even on a frosty winter's morn with a brisk walk I find I have to rip my socks off midwalk and just have the Tevas on or my feet are on fire before Im done. You learn your work-arounds because you have to.
LOL If it was a competition Id be at the back of the line...indeed any progress is good. For that I'm grateful.0 -
Any movement is better than doing nothing. Sometimes I have to force myself to just go to the garbage and back. Tomorrow I'm aiming for a mountain meadow. We'll see if I make it to the meadow. Mostly I want to sit in the picnic area and chill with my bird binoculars.
Carol, you are a stud! If I tried that I'd blow up so much I'd probably self-destruct and spew lymph fluid all over!
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Yay, go nibbana! binoculars definitely count as viable exercise, besides, birds are neat and you can be watching for ages. Be sure to get some easy spots to rest those elbows though!
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Nibbana, spewing lymph is quite the visual image! If I ever do blow up from the lifting, you all will be the first to know, because I'll be spewing umm...frustrated language. Really, I never do forget that LE operates in strange ways and I'm always at risk of a blow-out flare, but so far, so good, and I plan to keep to my steady, slow pace of weight progression.
Hey, I'm a birder, too. I'm fascinated by their total freedom.
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Way to go Carol!!! I am only up to 10 lb weights and feel as if I will never get past that! But I do them at home following PAL carefully. I am getting ready to do them in a few minutes before I get ready for work. Plus elliptical. It is getting somewhat cooler here so hope to get outdoors this weekend.
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Becky, 10 pound weights means you're able to lift a 20-lb object, box, etc. without making your arm scream 'foul.' That's huge! And you're doing your lifts for 10-12 repetitions, right? That means that if you need to lift something heavy, with a one-rep lift you could safely handle much more--30 pounds or so using both arms. Pat yourself on the back with that muscular arm of yours!
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Actually I am up to 20 reps, three sets of the PAL. I know maybe go to 12 lbs but just not ready. I am sure I could lift 30 lbs with no effects.
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Becky, that is really, really great!
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I am amazed too Carol! Two years ago I was doing one lb weights. When we were at NLN last year I was up to 5 lb. Gradually I have worked up to 10. Remember I have a great therapist who is an exercise guru who keeps guiding me!
I am going to water aerobics today and plan to do some laps afterward.
Onward and upward everyone!
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Oh my you girls are leaving me in the dust. I admit I have been lazy and way to hot to exercise much this summer. Now that I have arrived home from vacation I plan on getting my butt kicking LE attitude on. So look out girls.....cause here I come!!!
Welcome all our newbies and oldies to. I have skimmed thru the posts and enjoyed the pics and inspirational posts.
I haven't had a chance to talk about Carol and I meeting at our 1 hour rondevous in my town. I just really enjoyed our short visit with Carol and it was so emotionaly good to have someone on the same page as me regarding LE. It must have been a culture shock for people to see 2 walkers wearing LE gear, yacking up a storm and pounding the pavement. I am still looking for someone in my neck of the woods doning the dreaded le gear.
Carol, You asked about the UV sunsleeves I showed you. It is duckskinz brand, the same as my jacket I wore on our walk. I got them from costco roadshow and they have gauntlets too but they had not yet unpacked them at the store I went to. You can get them online. I really want the gauntlets/sleeves in a different color other than white. They have a few colors.
I would like to see a silicon bead around the top of the arm to hold up the sleeves better. I stayed in whistler for a few days and they had the bike race on so the promoters were showing bike cloths etc. Sugi or sugo(not sure what the brand spelling is) has amazing biking sleeves with silicon at the top. Too many patterns and colors to list . I am not sure if they would be too compressive for a decorator sleeve but I looked at mens as they were bigger thus more roomier and thought they might not restrict flow over my sleeve. They were about 35 dollars. I thought they would look great under a tee.
Oh I am so happy to be back, now I got to get my groove on and MOVE!
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Hugz, you're back from vacation!!! I've missed your posts here, but I hope you had a wonderful time, and at least some days and hours when you could (almost) forget about all things LE.
I'll be googling for those outer sleeves, thanks for the scoop!
Now...get out and move! You've still got some daylight hours out your way!!
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Oh, and yes indeed, it was a glorious walk in a beautiful spot. The DHs both ducked the walk with us, as they knew in advance the conversation would be LE focused, but my DH did have some chat time with Hugz before and after our walk, and as we drove away, he said that if everyone in our forum is as friendly as Hugz and as invested in helping others to deal with LE, it's a very, very good place to spend some time each day. And I could not agree more.
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A 45 min walk here and feeling so good to walk. It takes a lot to get me out but after a few minutes physcing myself into it I enjoy it.
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Another 8 miler today...the weather was perfect, sunny and low humidity and 72 degrees. I took it slower today to be able to walk with one of our other Team in Training walkers so it was quite enjoyable. Next week we conquer the 10 mile mark for the first time. I love the fall weather in Ohio. Glad to hear of everyone's exercises this week.
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Since I have no intention of doing my back and chest with weights, I went out to Mt Rainier. Hiked a bit a of the Kautz Creek trail, but it started going up and up and up, so I turned around.
Next week it's going to be in the 80s again, my arms are going to be cranky.
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Nibbana, Mt. Rainier must be fabulous right now! I've visited by car, but not hiked. Even if you had to turn around because of altitude, you got in some activity is a beautiful place. That's a pretty good day in my book.
This weekend was a family weekend, out of state to celebrate my grandson's first birthday. Yesterday I got in 11,000+ steps doing errands to help out, plus a nice walk to a park with the little ones. But today was party day, and I didn't move too far from my daughter's kitchen!--and then a 5-hour drive home. So no exercise today.
We're all busy, it seems. Wishing you all a good week of exercise. I'll be flying across the country tomorrow, but joyously working on Tuesday and Wednesday just a few blocks from the Pacific ocean, so I'm hoping to get some speedy early evening walking in, to/from the beach and through the area. And of course, my usual airport walking!
Carol
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So glad that this heat and humidity has a very limited lifespan. I put in 4 sweaty miles yesterday (praise God there was at least a small breeze) and completed Project You Lower Body and Abs workout today. I look back over the last 5 months, starting from the 1 mile mark as a long walk, and now heading into 10 miles this next weekend. It has been a good journey back into health, even if the new normal has to include LE.
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Went out on a 10 mile bike ride in the early evening air. I'm going to sleep like a log tonight.
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Laural and Nibbana, you are definitely keeping this LE group going! I walked a lot today, mostly outdoors after traveling all day, 4.6 miles in all. Nothing speedy enough to make my heart work hard, but fast enough to feel like it was real exercise.
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Did 45 min on elliptical at one time then small bursts of 10 minutes at a time for 50 more minutes. Today will be more elliptical and weights. Can't wait for cooler weather.
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Forgot to say have a good trip Carol. The beach sounds nice, but unfortunately high pressure is building in the west. Supposed to have record breaking heat this week.
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I think walking is out the next 2 days...today it's 90 and tomorrow slated for 95 with high humidity. Just working in the unair-conditioned school today and tomorrow will be test enough on the LE. Waiting (not so patiently) for Thursday's 82 and the weekend's 70 degrees. Ready for fall to arrive
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Got some new tires for my mountain bike, so I headed back out to Mt Rainier for a 10 mile ride on the Carbon River trail. It's very rugged terrain, and slow going on the way to Ipsut Creek campground, but coming out, it's downhill and no pedaling!
I've been burning the candle at both ends lately, so I need to stay indoors tomorrow and most of Thursday. Supposed to have heat in the 90s. All good LE people, now stay indoors. Bleh!
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Nibbana - it is blazing hot here too. Been walking laps in the mall. I hate walking on a treadmill.
Still working out with my trainer twice a week. I love her. Having issues right now with my LE so only used 1lb weights for arms today but she always makes up for it on lower body and abs.
95 today. Supposed to be 75 by Saturday. Can't wait.
Don't you hate being "Good LE people?" Double bleh!
Come on, fall!0 -
5.86 miles logged on the Fitbit today, most of it outdoors walking in glorious weather-- 74 degrees and only moderate humidity, and not a cloud in the sky. But the stinkin' heat is on its way, so I'm glad I got nice speed walks in yesterday and today. Tomorrow could be another story!
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So, 95 degrees is hot, but I put in 3.4 miles and survived, even throwing in my circuit of hills in the park once today. Can't wait for tomorrow and then the major cool down this weekend. Good to hear of your steps adding up, Carol, and the bike miles, Nibbana. Every bit is a victory!
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