10 pounds lost this summer!

Friday, September 21, 2012

I live near Phoenix, and the summers are when people tend to be less active because it is hard to do things outside most of the summer. When the low of the day is 90 degrees, it is pretty miserable to exercise outside.

Plus for me, I hade hip surgery this summer and was on crutches for 7 weeks and restricted activity for even longer. Only now can I start going for walks, and no jogging or running.

So I knew going into the surgery that I would have my work cut out for me. I was determined to not gain weight while on crutches. I counted my calories carefully, reducing them by 200 per day to counteract the reduced activity, but still getting extra protein in my diet for healing. After the first week, I could do an exercise bike for 10 minutes per day and after a few weeks physical therapy started, so I slowly increased my activity over time. I also started some upper body strength training exercises, plus walking on crutches contributed.

My physical therapy has been building and is now pretty intense, giving me good strength training on my lower body, I still do upper body strength training including core work, and am back doing cardio on either my bicycle or stationary bike.

I have lost 10 pounds this summer, plus improved my fitness. I actually have muscles!

SparkPeople has really helped me. I track my food and exercise diligently, the info really helps me to know where I am, what is working or what I need to adjust.

The SparkPeople exercise videos are excellent, I needed to adapt to my changing condition, and I found what I needed. Thank you coach Nicole!

SparkPeople also kept me motivated, through the articles and keeping me connected to this great community of people. Thank you Spark Friends!

And one more thank you goes out to SparkGuy Chris, you are awesome! Thank you for creating SparkProple, and for continuously improving and supporting SparkPeople.

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Another learning experience for me

Saturday, September 08, 2012

Experience can be such a tough teacher.

Last night my spouse got home and dinner was going to be left over healthy tacos, with ground turkey and low carb tortillas. But, he wanted the taco meat as nachos instead. I said OK, and oh it is friday night, wouldn't a beer be good with that. And later he said how about some of those chocolate dipped cookies for desert.

For me, too many tortilla chips plus two beers and three cookies gave me a 1000+ calorie meal and a 2000+ day.

A splurge is ok, but this was three splurges in one meal. I was pretty mad at myself the next day when I tallied up the damage.

What did I learn, next time I should just have the tacos, a few chips, and maybe a diet soda, let him have his nachos, I don't have to join him. One cookie would have been fine, and skip the beer, if I want volume have a diet soda, if I want alcohol, have a glass of white wine.

I am done beating myself up for making bad choices, will use this as yet another learning experience and move on.

Today I have jumped back on track with both feet!

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Lost 30 Pounds!

Friday, August 17, 2012

I have lost 30 pounds since joining SparkPeople! Plus my fitness and health have improved. I have muscles now!

My journey with SparkPeople started after returning from a trip to Hawaii, seeing the pictures of me from the trip, the extra weight was painfully obvious. My before pictures are from that trip. I will be going to Hawaii next week, 30 pounds lighter!

Originally, I had set my goal to lose 35 pounds, thinking that losing that much and keeping it off would be achievable for me. Now that I am down by 30 pounds, I think that I can do another 15 and get down to the weight range I should be in.

Earlier this year, I was on a weight lose plateau for 3+ months, during that time, I got serious about strength training, and while I did not lose weight, I did build muscle. I am so glad that I have stuck with this, and feel confident that I will achieve my new goal.

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How much sunshine do you need?

Tuesday, August 07, 2012

How much time does it take in the sun to get your vitamin D?

Well, it is more complicated that it sounds. The link below is an article that includes an online calculator that will tell you how much time you need in the sun, depending on your location, weather conditions and your skin type.

Click here to see the page on SELF.com: http://www.self.com/fooddiet/blogs/nutriti
ondata/2010/07/how-much-sunshine-do-yo
u-need.html

I am heading out for my 4 minutes of Arizona sunshine!

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Lost 6 pounds in 6 weeks!

Monday, August 06, 2012

It has been 6 weeks since my hip surgery, I am still on crutches with the last two weeks where I can put some weight on my right side, up to 50%, which means I can stand but not walk. It doesn't sound like much, but helps quite a bit.

I have been doing my physical therapy exercises which include an exercise bike, and have also been doing upper body strength training.

I have been especially diligent on my calories, tracking everything staying in range including increasing my protein, averaging around 90+ grams per day.

My hip feels good, I feel good, and ....

drum roll please......

I have lost 6 pounds in 6 weeks!

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