Weight Loss and Exercise #10

I didn't go to the track. Was too busy preparing dinner for my guests. I also had to pick up a couple of things at the grocery store. Including rice noodles. I learned to make pho. Basically, I took the shredded duck I had already cooked and had one of my guests distribute it among the bowls. Then I gave him chopped cilantro and chopped Italian basil to place on top of the duck. Then I added the warm rice noodles. It was super easy to prepare them. Then I poured the piping-hot duck soup (broth plus greens) over all the ingredients in the bowls. It was good, but it needed a little salt. I served Maldon salt in that little salt dish with my tiny Salt Lake City souvenir spoon, and the salt saved the day. Just a little bit was needed. My guests had not encountered Maldon salt flakes before. I didn't tell them that I also learned about this type of salt this spring. I think the noodles needed salt because they were bulky and so bland. Yesterday, when I ate the duck soup without noodles, it didn't require more salt.

When I bought those rice noodle sticks, it was my first time shopping in the Asian aisle at Safeway (a big grocery store chain, the main one on the West Coast). I had walked past the Asian section so many times, but never stopped to look around.

I also served my California-style version of the Greek salad, a Latin version of the Russian cabbage salad, and leftover lavash with stewed eggplant from the local Persian store. For dessert, I served chilled watermelon, rambutan, and black tea with local honey and a variety of chocolates from around the world. But until I sat down to write my report, I hadn't realized how international the meal was.

Rambutan was such a success that I took the empty bag and sent it home with my guests so that they would know what to look for at Trader Joe's next time. It is a seasonal fruit only available for a few weeks.

Trader Joe's is a very cool grocery store chain that started in Pasadena in SoCal and then spread throughout the United States. (writing those things for Crazy Hitch because there is no Trader Joe's in AU).

Tomorrow I will exercise, I hope.

Oh, @Tart Cherry Jam your dinner party sounds so tasty & elegant! I wish I could have been there!

I'm back on the pilates kick. It works toning, and some of my muscles are sore from it even though all the moves are gentle; it's still work! Even my abs are a bit sore, and I hope it's because I had better form then I did in the past. I did the pilates/yoga flow today; that video is pretty challenging, especially at the end when you are going pike to high plank, plank to pike, etc. and holding the plank at the end.

I’m motivated to walk around the yard quickly today to get in my steps for half an hour. Dropped 1kg this past week. Not sure how I did it - just regular walking not even running. Now I have to keep this up!

I’m taking a coffee protein flavoured milk to work. Sugar free. 30g of protein but 275 calories so will factor that in.

I went to the school track, but I was sleep-deprived, so I didn't do fartlek but just walked five laps in a steady state. I treated it as a reconnaissance outing. Confirmed that there are restroom nearby, one in the building outside of school building , in a sports center of sorts, where my son played basketball a few times as a teen. There were a lot of folks on the track, including a few with big dogs. Sometimes I had to walk around people who stopped to chat, tie their shoelaces, or pet their dogs. But with those few exception, the movement was unimpeded, the track surface gentle on the knees, and the parking next to that nearby sports center plentiful. My understanding is that the sports center is part of the city's properties and everybody can park there, unlike by the school.

So I really liked that track and it was not noisy, either, so I was able to listen to my podcast without turning the volume up.

It is totally doable yo do fartlek on the track, but I need to be well-slept.

Agree, speed work requires more concentration. But that sounds like a great outing! I used to take racewalking classes at DeAnza Community College in Cupertino.

Whew! I had diarrhea this morning that left me feeling weak. I probably should have taken a rest day, but I decided to go ahead with pilates. I had been planning to do a more challenging video, but with the way I felt, I did the easiest video in the beginner's series which was nice and gentle with no standing.

I tried racewalking only once, and it was at Foothill Community College, the other major community college in this area!

Weighed 300 grams more this morning. Boo. Yes I know I shouldn’t be weighing myself EVERY morning but I can’t help myself. It’s a bad compulsion. It’s not water weight or anything like that.

300g is nothing...That's what just over 0.6 lb? That's well in the range of normal fluctuation.

Thank you. I just tend to over-react when it goes up.

I did the more challenging pilates video today. Most of the pilates videos I do are 30-35 min., but some are 20, 25 min, and that was the case today. I took a brief 0.5 mile walk around the block to close my exercise ring on my watch which is set at 30 min. I don't close the move ring when I do pilates; I need to lower the calories burned to something more manageable as it is set at 310 ACTIVE (not total) calories/day. It inched up there with those long walks I'd been taking.

I stayed off the scale this morning. That’s a huge win for me!

I did a pilates video. . Now I can actually do it a lot of moves I used to have trouble with without coordination struggles

I also took a 0.5 mile walk around the block.

I got on the scale this morning and it’s moved down. So long as the overall trajectory is down I’m happy. Not sure if I’ll get my walk in today. My son is sick and he is clingy.

@Crazy Hitch You're absolutely right to view weight loss as an overall trend vs. getting upset whenever the scale fluctuates. It's fantastic that you are losing weight. I'll bet it's the exercise helping!

Thank you for the support. I can absolutely see why my surgeon recommended walking! I might try walking around the school during my free period today because I’m not on yard duty.

I've been working on losing weight and increasing exercise for about a month now but haven't been posting because everything I do is inconsistent. I'm still healing from my ankle fractures and while I'm staying at 1200-1300 calories daily I'm still exercising days I can. Days I have PT I'm generally sore and swollen so I take those days off. Tuesdays I drive to the city to see my therapist and I swell when my foot is down to drive so that day is usually no exercise either. Days when it is nice we go for a walk in the morning and I have a walking pad to use when I can too. I'm ALMOST to my first goal which will be 12 lbs lost. Hopefully by the end of the week.

This is really important because I have a deal with my doctor that I lose weight and exercise to see if I can't get my blood sugar down. If it's still high in 6 months I have to admit I'm diabetic (I probably am but am pushing against it) and go on meds for that. GLPs aren't an option for me because of chronic severe constipation so there's less to be excited about with the other meds. I'm on clozaril which independently raises blood sugar along with a really bad family history so at best I probably will just delay the inevitable but I am trying.

Anyway today I walked 15 minutes on my walking pad which is the best I've done so far. I would love to try again this evening if my ankle allows. I've been trying to get 10-15 minutes at once one time and the next time work on faster walking which is more PT than necessarily exercise. it's not much but it is something.

I really want a walking pad in my bedroom!

@Crazy Hitch I love mine! I've only had it maybe a week or 2. It's built to be sturdy but doesn't take up much space and folds flat if I need it to. I live in a 600 sq ft (55 square meters) apartment so don't have a lot of extra space for things but this is important so I made it fit. The only thing I don't like is that my favorite water bottle doesn't fit in the cup holder but that's minor.

I will look at getting one when I get my pay increase in 2 months time! Seems like a worthwhile investment. We have a treadmill in the garage but I can’t run.

Do you have to run on the treadmill you have @Crazy Hitch? I thought all treadmills had speeds slow enough for walking? Or am I missing something in the way your particular treadmill operates?

No no the treadmill in the garage is what I currently use for walking. I don’t use it for running because I’m not fit enough to run hence I can’t run on it. Sorry for my poor wording.

Ah, now I get it.