NSV - Wore a shirt without a jacket at the office today

... and got a ton of compliments!

The shirt in question.  No, I did not wear yoga pants to the office.

Normally I wear a suit at the office, because it's professional, and I'm a tight-ass lawyer.  That, and I have not been a huge fan of my arms over the past 10 years or so. 

Last night Mr. Fitness came over to kick my ass for our usual session (we did a "pull day", in case you were wondering), and we talked about the different things that motivate different people. 

Those of you who have read back into my earlier posts of this blog will know that I have an almost unholy love of spreadsheets and tracking apps.  I find the mere act of tracking my workouts and progress to be incredibly motivating.  After all, the more things that I track, the greater the likelihood that one metric, at least, is going to be moving in the right direction.  Since I have started working out more than 3 years ago I have, at various times, tracked my weight, body measurements, blood pressure, fasting blood sugar, A1C, HDL, LDL, triglycerides, cholesterol, resting heart rate, working heart rate, and workouts within various heart rate zones.  As these metrics have become - or remained - normal I have stopped tracking everything daily or weekly as I once did.  Fasting blood sugar, for example, I only track once in a while to check to see that I am still in the normal range. 

This came up in the context of discussing the Trainerize app that I regularly use with Mr. Fitness - - it's right in my sweet spot, a combination of tracker and something to check off every day.  I love that Mr. Fitness has this tool available.

But Mr. Fitness also talked about the non-scale victories that are also an important part of working out.  Like feeling more confident. 

It's no secret that I have been loving the changes that have happened since I have started working with Mr. Fitness.  He has really kicked my workouts into high gear and his targeted approach is yielding positive results.  I know that we're both working at this - - I try and eat well every day (or at the very least, more often than not, even in a bad week), and I work out 6-7 times a week, even though Mr. Fitness and I only get together once a week.  But the whole is really greater than the sum of the parts in my case, and I have started to really feel good about what I am looking like.  Still a long way to go, but I am definitely seeing noticeable improvement. 

I was feeling so good that this morning I decided to wear a form fitting top into the office without a jacket or other cover-up (it was casual Friday, after all).  Normally I would have hidden this under a jacket or sweater or bunny hug, but today I decided "screw this - I have been working on my arms for a reason - let's show 'em off!".

It turns out that jackets, sweaters, and bunny hugs have one major effect: they contrive to hide how much my shape has changed with my workouts.  It makes sense, in a way.  Adding layers hardly ever makes anyone look lighter, after all.  Layers just hide how heavy you are.

Well today I was coming back from making myself some tea in the Company kitchen and I walked past a group of people who sit near my office.  They were surprised to see me without my usual layers of camouflage, and said all sorts of nice things, the gist of which was: "Wow!  You look great!  How much weight have you lost with the trainer?" When I told them how much (13 pounds, which now that I think about it is wrong, it is 14 pounds now), they were suitably impressed.  "We never see you without a jacket!  You look amazing" was another comment. 

These guys work with me and have heard my stories about working out with Mr. Fitness.  This only solidified his reputation as a miracle worker.  Regardless, though, it was a really great feeling to have people say such nice things about how I look.  Especially considering how much work I put into it! 

Now I will admit that for the rest of the day whenever I left my office I made a point of walking with my shoulders back and sucking in my gut as much as possible - - thank god no one stopped to try and speak to me, because it would have blown the gaffe immediately. 

Moment of Clarity at the Dentist Today

Photo courtesy Dzzi, licenced CC-BY-SA

I had a dentist appointment today.

This may not seem like a big deal, but it has been 22 years since my last dental appointment.  So you can imagine my nerves going into the dentist's office this morning.  When I last went to the dentist Bush I was President of the United States, Brian Mulroney was Prime Minister of Canada and Good Vibrations from Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch was the #1 song. ... and now I officially feel old.

Anyhow, it has been more than 2 decades since I last permitted a stranger to root around in my mouth, and I was expecting the worst.  I will skip to the end for just a second to eliminate the suspense - - my new dentist is a very nice man, the tooth I knew had a big hole in it has a big hole in it, and I have two small cavities on my upper and lower left wisdom teeth, but everything else looks great. Everything went better than expected.

The best part of the whole process?  Filling out the new patient intake form.  You know, the one with all the questions like "are you allergic to any medications?" [sulfa] and "do you have a family history of heart disease, cancer or diabetes?" [yes, yes and yes!]  My favourite question?  "have you experienced any changes in your health in the past year?"  My answer: "Yes.  I am much healthier than last year."

And it is true.  I love that!  It made my whole day. 

Fly the friendly skies - 2 huge NSVs today

I think we would all admit that flying has changed since 9/11.  Not only are the rules as to what can be carried on board an aircraft more draconian than ever (since when does having my hair gel in a see-through plastic bag prevent terrorism??), but the whole thing is much less pleasant than it used to be.  Back when I was a kid, flying was more of an experience - - you got served real meals, with actual cutlery, and the service was attentive.

Nowadays flying is more of an ordeal to be endured.  First the ridiculous lines at security, then the pleasure of removing shoes, coats, and jackets, and separating out your computer from your briefcase and other electronics, and separating out your liquids and gels from your luggage.  Then the quick scan, and 10 minutes on the other side of the x-ray machine doing the modern shuffle dance of trying to put on shoes-jacket-coat whilst picking up purse, computer, liquids and gels, and stuffing everything haphazardly into your bag, all as quickly as possible so that you don't hold up the line of people behind you who are impatiently waiting to put on their shoes-jacket-coat.  And god forbid you have to check any luggage, because who knows how much will get stolen out of it before you get it back ... if you get your luggage back.

But it doesn't end there.  Once you're on the plane comes the eternal question of the overhead bins - - will they have room for my briefcase, or won't they?  Has some person taken up an entire overhead bin for his/her rolling zebra print suitcase and matching garment bag and winter coat?  It's like Schrödinger's cat, except with overhead bin space:  there may or may not be enough room for your briefcase, depending on some random event, but you can't know without opening the bin.

And of course, now comes the worst part of all.  The seat.

[CONFESSION TIME]

As a "person of size", with that size historically ranging from 22-26, I found fitting into chairs of any kind, and airplane seats in particular, a challenging ordeal.  My thighs each measured 35" around before I started working out, which gave each leg an approximate diameter of 11" or so ... while the standard airline seat is only 17" wide. 

I could usually fit into the seats, but the armrests would ride up my hips, and my thighs would possibly encroach on my neighbor's seat, if I had a neighbor.  Mortifying.

But not as mortifying as the seat belts.  I haven't been able to fasten an airplane seatbelt in around 8-10 years or so.  It didn't matter what type of aircraft I was flying on, the damn things were always 2 or 3 ... or 3 or 4 inches too short to get around my immense girth.

Years ago, back in the early days of our courting I was flying with the Nerd on some American airline, and as I had put on weight recently, I could not do up my seatbelt.  This was the first time that this had happened in years, and I was taken by surprise.  I spent several agonizing minutes desperately trying to shimmy back in my seat and sucking in my gut in a futile attempt to get the thing to latch.  Nothing worked.  I was sweating with exertion, stress and frustration, and my hands were shaking from my desperate attempts to bridge the gap.  Finally one of the flight attendants on her pre-flight check saw my problem and brought me a seatbelt extender. 

 She was actually very nice about the whole thing, but I was mortified and felt humiliated.  For no reason, really, because it's just a piece of safety equipment that every airplane carries.  Heck, you can even purchase your own seatbelt extender online, for your convenience.  For me, though, when the flight attendant brought me that seatbelt extender I felt like it was the end of the world.  I was no longer a normal person.  I was fat.  Not just fat - - I was big enough to require additional strapping.  I actually fought tears all the way home, I felt so embarrassed and humiliated.

[HERE'S THE CONFESSION]

For every single flight I have taken since that day, I have not worn my seatbelt.  "But it's not optional" you say, "you have to wear your seatbelt".  Not true.  You only need to make the flight attendants think that you are wearing your seatbelt.  They are busy with their departure checklists and aren't actually pulling on people's belts to ensure that they're properly fastened - - as long as the seatbelt looks like it's done up, they aren't going to bat an eye.  After all, they expect the belt to be done up, and if it looks like it is done up, they're not going to question it - - it's a simple function of human nature.

For years, every time I sit down on a plane I try the seatbelt, only to discover that it doesn't fit.  Then I tuck the clip end into my waistband, and arrange my jacket and arm so that the flight attendant can clearly see the seatbelt going around my waist.  They see only the one end, however, not the clip.  The other end of the seatbelt is usually hanging down between the seats, or is under my leg.

Sure, if there were ever to be severe turbulence, I would be badly hurt.  And in the event of an accident, I would be the first to die.  But I would die knowing that I didn't use the fat girl seatbelt extender.  Sheesh.  How stupid can we be?  That's like motorcyclists who don't wear helmets.  I freely admit that this approach is short sighted.  And stupid.  But it is an emotional response, and even though I am not proud of it, I felt (emotionally) that I had no other option to preserve the last shreds of my self esteem, because airplane seatbelts just do not fit.

Until today.  [cue the sound of trumpets and angels singing]

Today I flew into Ottawa airport on an Air Canada Airbus, and as I went to do my usual "pretend I'm doing up the seatbelt" routine, something magical happened.  The seatbelt did up.  Not only that, it was loose.  I had literally inches to spare!

I felt like asking the flight attendant if he could check my seatbelt, just to emphasize how done up it was, for real.  I did it up and undid it several times, reveling in the novelty of it all.  I know that straight size people do this all the time and never give it a thought, but you have to put yourself in my shoes - - I have not been able to do up an airline seatbelt since the end of Clinton's second term as President.  This was a truly wonderful thing.  I almost wished that there had been turbulence, so that my secured self could be safe with all the other passengers.

My second win was a graphic reminder of how many inches and how much weight I actually have lost.  I was trapped in the middle seat on the flight to Ottawa, beside the partner who will be arguing the motion, and another very nice gentleman.  In the past I would be folded in like a pretzel, desperately trying to squish my legs together so that I would not encroach on either man's space.

Today?  I fit comfortably in my seat (fastened seatbelt and all), and had no problem at all being in the middle.  Other than the fact that each man took an armrest, leaving me armrest-less, but that has nothing to do with weight.

2 significant travel wins in a day?  I'll take them. 

My Weight Loss So Far - from A to Z

[for those of you outside of the Commonwealth, that's "A to Zed"  ;-)]. 

A - Apps.  Lots of them.  I love using a whole slew of fitness apps to track my progress and to help keep me motivated.  Some of the apps that I use daily are MyFitnessPal (for food tracking and a fantastically supportive online community), DigiFit (for tracking my heart rate zones during workouts), Lolo Beatburn Elliptical (to jazz up the music during my daily elliptical workouts), and TactioHealth (for a health snapshot).  I also use the iFitness app for my free weight workouts every other day.  I love that so many aspects of my health and fitness are quantified, because it permits me to see progress and helps keep me on track.  And progress is motivating. 

Photo courtesy Kaudris, licensed CC-BY-SA

B - Back pain.  Something I rarely get any more, now that I have been exercising regularly and working out.  I used to be so physically compromised that I could not walk to the corner, and now I can walk for miles without even a twinge in my back.  My back still goes out occasionally (as it did last month), but on a day to day basis, my back gives me no problems at all.  This is a huge improvement in my quality of life, because a sore back limits you in so many ways.

Photo courtesy Madhero88, licensed CC-BY-SA

C - Cardio.  I started off my workout plan by doing nothing but cardio exercise, because I knew that endurance was my first and biggest problem.  After working out with the recumbent bike and rowing machine for 5 months, I had lost 36.5 pounds, and my stamina had greatly increased.  When I started, I could only manage to do 7 minutes on the recumbent bike 5 days a week and now I do 40 minutes on the elliptical machine 6 days a week.  Along with the stamina increases, my resting heart rate has decreased from 120-130 bpm to around 45-55 bpm.  Cardio is good for me. 

D - Diabetes.  I am not diabetic.  Yet.  But I have an absolutely terrible family history of diabetes, which means that I have an extremely elevated chance of becoming diabetic in the future if I do not take active steps now to prevent it.  I was terrified to check my fasting blood sugar at first in case I was already diabetic, and as it happens, I am pre-diabetic.  This means that although my sugars are elevated, they are not in the diabetic range.  The more weight I lose, and the better I control my carbs, the easier it will be to control my sugars, and the lower the risk that I will develop diabetes.  Still, it's something that I monitor every day, to make sure I am on top of things.  I hope to one day have every reading in the normal zone, with only the occasional blip.  It's the reverse right now (mostly elevated readings with the occasional normal reading).  But in time, this will improve.

E - Elliptical.  I love my elliptical machine.  A present from my parents, this monster has completely replaced the recumbent bike and rowing machine in my affections.  It's just such an effective way to work out - low impact on my joints, smooth action, arms for adding effort, and it's in my apartment.  It is almost impossible to avoid the elliptical machine, and I haven't missed a workout since I got it.  My results have accelerated since starting on the elliptical, as well.  It used to be that I was lucky to lose a pound a week, and sometimes I could go weeks without losing a thing.  Now I am no longer afraid to get on the scale, because I am seeing so much progress in any given week.  Plus, my monthly "water" gain has virtually disappeared since I began using the elliptical - - every week sees at least some loss, which is a huge improvement from B.E. (Before Elliptical).

F - Fitbit.  I love my Fitbit.  I picked up the Fitbit Ultra early this year as a way to track my activity levels, and boy, was I in for a rude shock!  It turns out that I was barely active.  Most days I was hardly walking at all, in large part due to the crippling back pain I suffered with even the shortest of walks.  Fast forward to now, and I am more than 60 pounds lighter, and I am habitually walking 5,000 steps a day, and even, when I add an incremental walk to my routine, walking 7,500 or even 10,000 steps a day.  My goal is to regularly walk 7,500 -10,000 steps every day.  We'll see if I can make it!

Photo courtesy Lar, licensed CC-BY-SA

G - Goals.  I have goals.  Lots of goals.  Short term goals, long term goals, fitness goals, weight goals, measurement goals, lifestyle goals ... you get the picture.  You don't know when you've arrived unless you have an idea of where you are going, and I personally find having goals to be very motivating.  Goals help me stay focused on what I need to do every day. I have so many interim goals in part because focusing on the single long term weight goal is too overwhelming - - after all, who thinks they can lose 168 pounds?  It doesn't even bear consideration.  But I could lose 20 pounds, then 33.9 pounds, then 50 pounds...and on it goes.  Now, having lost more than 60 pounds, I look at my next major goal (to lose 100 pounds) as completely doable, since I only need to lose around 35 pounds.  And I know I can do that, because I've already done that.  Whee!  Bring it on!

Photo courtesy Tax Credits, licensed CC-BY-SA

H - Health.  By any number of metrics, my health has improved since I first began working out at the end of January this year.  I have more energy, I am more mobile, my resting heart rate and fasting blood sugar levels have both decreased, and I have lost more than 60 pounds.  I haven't had problems with my asthma in months.  My body is no longer the limiting factor that it once was - - I am physically able to do things I haven't been able to do in a long time.  And over time, as I increase my workouts and continue to eat healthy foods, my health should continue to improve.

I - Injury.  Touch wood, but I have not been seriously injured since I began my workout regimen this year.  Sure, my back went out for a couple of weeks last month, but overall, I have been very lucky so far as injuries have gone.  My groin pull from my move two years ago is still a chronic nagging issue, but it is a low intensity problem for the most part.  I have not broken any bones recently, nor have I pulled any muscles that I need to work out.  This has not always been the case - - I have a history of overdoing things to the point of severely injuring myself.  So far, however, so good - - and I intend to keep it that way!  No more overdoing things!  Slow and steady are my new watchwords.

J - Junk food.  Since I have started tracking what I eat (about 3 months ago), my junk food consumption has dwindled to almost nothing.  I love me some fast food - - it's all brown and fried, after all - - but the calories, carbs, fat and sodium in these foods is astonishing.  I am no saint, but I am really reluctant to give up an entire week's worth of eating well and working out just to eat at McDonald's and gain it all back.  Most of the time I am eating home cooked meals (thanks to the Nerd), with plenty of vegetables and protein.  And I find that it makes a huge difference in the results that I am seeing.  Take prepared or fast food out of the equation, and the weight has just been falling off me. I am privileged to have someone at home cooking meals for me, which is a huge benefit.  Left to my own devices, and I am sure prepared foods would begin to creep back into my diet.  But for now, junk food is a thing of the past, and my body thanks me for it.

K - Knees.  Yes, my knees still sound like popcorn when I bend them.  Yes, my knees don't like to bend all that much.  Yes, they are a lot better than before I began working out.  No, I won't stop working out.  No, my knees do not hurt on the elliptical.  Squats, though - - boy are those frightening to listen to!  It's like a bowl of Rice Krispies cereal in there for all the noise my knees make when I do squats.  Although the noisy knees may be here to stay, I am hoping that with time, my mobility will improve as the weight continues to come off.  Eventually I would love to see what all is happening in my knees (via an x-ray or MRI), just to see if I have any cartilage left at all.  My guess: no.

L - Logging food.  I first began to keep a food diary when I signed up with MyFitnessPal almost three months ago, and it was an eye-opening experience.  To that point I had never considered the carbs or calories in beverages, and I never thought about eating too little in a day.  I could not understand why it was so difficult to lose weight, but I never correlated this fact with what I was eating.  Keeping a food diary has changed all of that.  I see now that what I was eating and drinking was unbalanced, and that I was eating too little and putting my body into starvation mode.  Logging my food has been the first step in learning to control what I eat, which is the first step in a true lifestyle change.  I do not have a natural grasp of all of the healthy options yet, but logging my food has gone a long way to helping me understand what healthy choices look like. 

M - Measurements.  Not only do I weigh myself every day, I also measure myself once a month with a tape measure.  In the past I have seen that sometimes the weight just doesn't come off, but I have lost inches from various parts of my body.  Measuring myself is concrete proof that my efforts are having an effect.  So far to date I have lost more than 24" across various parts of my body, and two full clothing sizes.  While my moods may change with the wind and the scale torment me, measurements are real.

N - NSV. Not every win along my path to fitness has come by way of the scale, although there have been many "scale victories" as well.  The non-scale victories include things like dropping two clothing sizes, having more energy to walk places, having people notice that I've lost weight, and fitting easier into seats.  It's the non-scale victories that keep me motivated between milestones on the scale. 

O - One day at a time.  "This is a marathon, not a sprint" is something I have heard over and over during this journey.  And you know what?  It's true.  If I think about the enormity of the task ahead of me, I will get depressed because it's clearly impossible.  No one can expect to lose 168 pounds and keep it off.  So I try not to think about the big picture.  I focus on hitting today's plan, and only today's plan.  I try and keep doing my workouts, keep eating right, and keep drinking enough water, every day.  If I do that, the weeks and months will take care of themselves, eventually.  But I can't push it or hope for shortcuts, because this is a long term play, and one day at a time is the only way that it's going to work.

Photo courtesy Bradley P. Johnson, licensed CC-BY-SA

P - Portion control.  This was something I never did until this year.  Not only is my concept of what is an acceptable portion completely skewed by the typical North American restaurant serving, I always ate until I was full.  Which could take some doing.  Since I started working out, and especially since I began logging my food, I have become increasingly aware of portion sizes and what they mean to my nutrition.  I am ever so slowly coming to terms with typical portion sizes so that I can think on my feet when it comes to ordering and consuming food, but I still depend heavily on measuring much of what goes into my mouth, and packing it ahead of time.  I am still eating everything I love, more or less (after all, last weekend was 'cupcakepalooza' at my house), but I am doing so in sensible portions.  Sometimes a portion is 1/2 of something, and that's ok.  Portion control has been one of the biggest contributors to my success so far, without a doubt.

Photo courtesy the Noodleator, licensed CC-BY-NC-ND

Q - Quitting is not an option.  It's hard to get up early in the morning to work out for 40 minutes on the elliptical.  It's harder still to walk up the stairs to do another 25 minutes of free weights.  It's hard to be constantly monitoring what goes into my mouth.  It's tough to walk places when I could just as easily take a streetcar.  But you know what, I don't have the option to quit.  With my family history of diabetes, and with my pre-diabetic state, if I stop working out and watching what I eat, the weight will come back on.  And if that happens, the health consequences do not even bear consideration.  And can I even consider going back to what my life was like before I began working out?  The constant back pain and asthmatic wheezing, the low energy and feelings of despair?  No thank you.  I can't go back to the life I had, now that I have peeked through the door of an active lifestyle.  I can't quit now, just when it's getting good.

Photo courtesy smartmindfuel, licensed CC-BY-SA

R -Routine.  Routine is my salvation.  I don't need to get all creative and funky for now, I just need to stick to my plan.  I pack my lunch and dinner and bring them to work, and I know what I am eating, in what portions.  I exercise every morning, rain or shine, and my workouts have become such a part of my routine that it's been weeks since I have even considered skipping a day.  And this consistency is paying off - - I am losing weight at a steady rate, and I am feeling good while I am doing it.  Some things break up the routine, but because I have the basic structure down, it's easy for me to make small adjustments to keep everything in the sweet spot.  Routine is the base on which I am building my new lifestyle. 

Photo by Stephan Ohlsen, licensed CC-BY-SA-ND

S - Sweat.  I'm a prodigious sweater.  It's true.  When I do my 40 minutes on the elliptical, I am dripping with sweat after only 10 minutes into things, so much so that I keep a washcloth handy to mop up.  Which I have to do every minute or so.  My sweating doesn't really interfere with my workouts, but it does get socially awkward at times if people see me out on one of my walks, because I am not the queen of glamour, all dripping and pink faced.  At least I know that my body is efficiently ridding itself of excess salts.  I have to say that with my propensity to sweat, I love the workout shirts I got from Go Figure, which have that nice moisture wicking fabric that doesn't cling to me like a wet hanky. 

T -Time.  Working out takes time.  Planning and preparing healthy meals takes time.  Getting enough sleep at night takes - you guessed it - time.  I find that my billable work time is getting compressed by all the demands on my time related to my new healthy lifestyle.  There are only so many hours in the day, and I am finding it a challenge to do the things I need to do to be healthy, and still bill a full day, without staying too late at the office.  Over time, I hope that I will be better able to balance things, but for now, the multiple competing demands on my time are very stressful. 

U - Upper arms.  One day I hope to have definition in my upper arms, which presently look like two giant bags of flour.  I hope also to have ankles, rather than cankles, and collarbones that are visible to the naked eye.  So many dreams of definition, it's why I have started doing weights.  No joy yet, but give it time, I just started last week.

Photo by cobalt123, licensed CC-BY-NC-SA

V - Visualize success.  You can't win if you can't visualize what success looks like.  After all, if you can't visualize success, how do you know when you have succeeded?  I have lots of photos from the last time I worked out and made it down to my goal weight of 165 pounds / size 14, and I keep thinking of those when I really need encouragement.  I know what I look like when I am at my goal weight, and I know I can get there again, with plenty of hard work and discipline.  I want to get there, and I will get there, eventually.

W - Weights.  You can't tone without weights.  I knew it last time I worked out, and I know it now, which is why I added free weights into my workout routine last week.  I am now doing 2 sets of 12 reps, with the baby 4 pound dumbbells as a start.  Eventually the reps and weight will increase, and so will the results.  For now, I can feel the impact of the weight routine in my muscles, so I know it's having an impact.  Eventually I will need to invest in still more equipment, but for now, I have a range of weights sufficient to enable me to see some results in the near term.  I have always loved how strong I feel after I work out with weights.

X - Xiphoid process.  This is the bit on the end of the sternum.  I don't have anything particular to say about my xiphoid process, other than to say that I look forward to seeing more of my sternum in general as I lose the subcutaneous fat over time.  For those of you who say "wow, what a lame word", you try and think of a workout related word that begins with the letter "X", I defy you.

Photo by Ged Carroll, licensed CC-BY-SA

Y - Yes I can.  I can do this.  I can change my lifestyle and become the healthy woman I know that I can be.  I can become an active person who is not afraid to do new things.  I can, and I will succeed at this challenge I have set for myself.  I need to consistently keep working my routine, and constantly challenge myself to meet my goals, and I will get to my target weight and size.  Yes. I. Can.

Photo by Chrisinplymouth, licensed CC-BY-NC-SA

Z - Zero.  As in "zero reasons to quit".  I have everything to gain, and nothing to lose by sticking to my current program.  Or everything to lose, depending on whether you consider the glass to be half full or half empty.  Nothing I could say to justify stopping now would overcome the multiplicity of reasons why I should keep going.  And so I will.  Keep going, that is.  Quitting is for suckers. 

Walking and wins

Photo courtesy Bradley Buhro, licensed CC-BY-NC-SA

Saturday I had the usual routine of coffee and grocery shopping with my mom at McEwan's (a premium grocery store in North York with amazing service), and then grocery shopping (for the bulk of the food) with the Nerd at the St. Lawrence Market.

I had planned to go for a walk after shopping and before lunch, but it was 3pm before we finished lunch as coffee ran a little long this morning.  One thing led to another and before I knew it, it was getting into the early evening, and no walk was in sight.

I had suggested to the Nerd that we go for a walk a few times today, and got a non-committal response each time.  I suspect he is starting to realize that these grim death marches are becoming a trend, and perhaps he is regretting his early enthusiasm for walks.

I finally decided to go myself if the Nerd would not accompany me, and headed out alone around 7:30 pm - - in time for a perfect sunset, and then a nice walk alone in the increasingly dark streets.  That latter part was not so fun, as inevitably in downtown Toronto there are certain blocks or areas that are less comfortable to walk past, either because of the number or type of people hanging out on the street.  But I am a big girl (no kidding), and I was walking at a good clip, and I appeared to be aware of my surroundings, so I was not bothered by anyone.

I tried a new app for the first time on this walk, the BeatBurn Treadmill app.  You may remember that I use the BeatBurn Elliptical app 6 days a week during my elliptical exercises.  The concept behind both apps is the same: the app adjusts the beat of your personal music to hit a specific cadence, and varies that beat/cadence throughout the workout.  On the elliptical machine this is accomplished by varying the intensity on the machine and your strides per minute.  On the treadmill app the intensity is varied purely modifying the walking pace.

Overall, I enjoyed using the app for the walk.  I would have enjoyed it more if it were light out and not so scary on the street, but the fact that I was walking at night was not the app's fault.  I found the variety in the music to be quite stimulating, and I did not get bored with the pace on the walk.  I also found that walking in time to the music helped me keep pressing the pace, avoiding my tendency to slow down over time.

I was surprised that I was so keen to walk, especially since I ended up walking alone.  It can't be because I get to eat more when I work out ... well, not only that, at any rate.  I think it is because I am committed to adding walks to my routine, and I am also committed to doing something active every day.  Going for a walk is a simple fix to a workout problem - - it's free, and can be as intense (or not) as you wish.

I still find walking challenging, because I have an unusually bouncy stride and cannot for the life of me hit a 4 mph pace.  But distance is not a problem any more, nor is time.  I walked for around 50 minutes, and could easily have gone longer if I did not need to get home for dinner.  My legs still feel achy when I get home and have sat for a while, but the next morning there are no sequelae from the walk - - no muscle soreness, no joint pain, no sore feet - - which is great.

I hope that the more walks I do, the better I will be able to dial up the pace.  I would love to walk 5 km in under 60 minutes (or preferably much less).  This is not because I would like to be a competitive walker, but rather, because I hate the idea of doing anything for 60 minutes that doesn't involve words like "snuggle" or "nap", or "tasting menu".

Photo courtesy Alien Skyy, licensed CC-BY-SA

As for wins, aside from the win of being motivated enough to go for a walk on my nominal "rest" day, I noticed today for the first time that I am having an easier time getting out of chairs. 

I have a couple of very comfy chairs in the living room, which by their nature are difficult from which to escape.

In the past, before I started working out, I would have to lever myself out of the chairs with great effort.  My knees would be very sore and weak, and there was no question of simply standing up - - getting to an upright position almost required a winch and a crane, and was a major undertaking.  Getting out of the chair was so challenging that most evenings, once I was in the chair, it was more practical to just accept that I was there for the duration.

A few weeks ago (or maybe even a couple of months ago), I noticed that it was somewhat easier to get out of the chair, in that it was easier for me to bend over and put my computer lapboard on the ottoman to permit me to lever myself out of the chair.  The simple fact was that having lost around 5" on my stomach, there was less of me in the way impeding bending at the waist.

Today I noticed that, although I am still levering myself out of chairs, the effort required is much less.  I am not leaping out of chairs like a springbok, by any means, but I am noticing that it requires much less effort to lever myself out of chairs than it did before.

I expect this means that my legs are getting stronger with all the exercise that I am doing.  After all, all those elliptical workouts and walks must be good for something, right?  Regardless, being able to get out of chairs with (slightly more) grace and dignity is a win, and I will take it. 

Big Positive Strides - Non Scale Victory

For the last week or so I have been tracking my fasting blood sugar.  This is something that one normally does at one's annual physical.  However, since my last annual physical was in 1996, I was forced to take matters into my own hands and buy my own glucose tester so that I could check my own blood sugars.  Why?  Because of my rampant family history of diabetes, and a general feeling of guilt, of course.  The usual reasons.

As you may recall, my fasting blood glucose levels were between 6.1 and 6.8 mmol/L (roughly 110 to 123 mg/dL), which put me in the pre-diabetic range.  Not diabetic, but not normal, either.

As soon as I saw these numbers, I began taking a good hard look at my diet, and in particular, at the carbohydrates I was ingesting, as carbs are directly linked to blood sugar.  As it turns out, I (previously) had a very high carb / low vegetable diet, which likely contributed to my not-so-normal blood sugar readings.

Diet is an important component of blood sugar levels.  Last week was the first full week of food tracking that included beverages - - and in particular, alcoholic beverages (sigh) - - and the first full week of carb monitoring.  It was a tricky weekend because the Betty Crocker Diabetes Cookbook that we were using includes a lot of snacks (vital for insulin dependent diabetics, too high in aggregate carbs for me), and it was tough to keep my carb intake at 200g/day or below.  I was generally successful, but at times it was challenging.

The other component of blood sugar management is weight, and more particularly, weight loss.  The CDA and ADA both say that the risk of advancing from pre-diabetes to full-blown diabetes can be reduced by about 50% with the loss of 7% of your body weight.  I've lost more than that, and continue to lose weight, but it has to be a long term commitment now. 

This morning I checked my fasting blood sugar and saw a reading of ... 5.4  (!!) mmol/L (roughly 97 mg/dL), which is in the NORMAL range.  Normal blood sugar values are 3.9- 5.5 mmol/L (or approx. 70-100 mg/dL). This is a very big deal, not just because it is a normal result, but also because it shows that attention to diet and regular exercise can have a positive effect on my blood sugar levels.  In other words, it means that diabetes is not a pre-destined condition for me, and that I can do something to avoid it if I take steps now.

Normally blood sugar swings around a range of values, and I will likely be above 5.5 mmol/L in the days to come ... but now I can hope to have further values below 5.5 mmol/L, as well.  In time, perhaps the default result will be in the normal range, and I can stop monitoring every morning, and step it down to once a week or so.

This is not to say that "I am not pre-diabetic".  I think that with my family history of diabetes I will always be a pre-diabetic, just like an alcoholic is forever an alcoholic.  But if I can be a pre-diabetic with normal blood sugar values, that will be all right for me, even if I have to watch my diet and weight for the rest of my life.