Do I Need A Trainer or Can I Do It Myself?

gym

Our home gym is open for business and my new trainer is eagerly awaiting to torture me.

Yay! We’ve expanded the gear for our tiny home gym.  Now we can work out with actual free weights. The space is still too small for barbells, my husband’s preferred equipment. Thankfully a little creativity was all we needed.

Our New Home Equipment
I already had the resistance bands and yoga mat. We didn’t want to spend too much, and when you are dealing with free weights, that is a challenge. So we added 3 things that collectively cost us less than $440. Not too shabby.

1. Adjustable Weights
Unfortunately we don’t have the space to use barbells. While my resistance bands are a great tool, my husband was a bit leery about using them. If he can’t use barbells, his fall back is dumbbells. But again, space is the issue. Thankfully we saw a solution at our local sporting goods store — adjustable weights. Read More


2017 Health, Fitness & Weight Loss Goals

jan-7-weight

My 7-Day Fast to make sure my cancer is gone for good is over. I’m down 12 pounds. Now it’s time to set my health, fitness, weight loss and fun goals for the year.

My 7-Day Fasting Challenge is over and I feel great. I broke fast last night during my belated birthday dinner. Chilean Seabass and fresh greens never tasted so good. During dinner I started noodling about setting some goals for the year.

And I have many for the year. I think that’s because half of 2016 was consumed with my cancer diagnosis.  But now I’m cancer free and my focus is on reducing my risk for other diseases and building strength. Weight loss, as usual is the great side benefit.

Dot’s 2017 Health Goals Read More


A Little Downward Dog To Reduce Stress

meditate

Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net and Stuart Mills.

Exercise is a big key to lowering my stress and anxiety (and cortisol) levels. From everything I’ve read, yoga is the magic bullet. I tried yoga about 4 years ago and really enjoyed it. However, our bank account wasn’t a big fan. Yoga studios are insanely expensive in Northern Virginia.

My first (and last) yoga studio charged me around $600 for 3 months. Why would I pay that?

After a series of injuries from trying to walk every day (pulled hamstring, IT band and Achilles tendon), my doctor told me to stop walking, lose 50 pounds (I weighed over 300 pounds), and then only do yoga.

Once I was cleared for walking, I said goodbye to the expensive studio. Instead, I did yoga by DVD for 3 times a week. That ended once started my 5k training.

I picked up yoga again via my old gym. After an hour of spin class, a little downward dog was very much welcomed.

But now I’m gym-less. I just don’t want to shell out $45 a month where I have to wait to get on the free weights.

What about going back to DVDs? I’d love to, but that can’t happen until next year. That’s when we start turning my office/exercise space (which is now storage/kitty space) into an exercise/craft room, complete with a TV and exercise DVDs.

So the search for a good, but not too expensive, yoga studio begins anew. Practically all the new studios near are big into Bikram — a.k.a, “hot yoga.” I did that once and will NEVER do it again.

Thankfully, my physical therapist gave me a couple of good leads on studios to check out. Ideally, I’d like to pay as I go. Just easier on the pocketbook.

What am I looking for in a studio? I guess I’ll know when I see it. A class geared toward stress/meditation is important. Friendly instructors would be nice. I guess if my little Grinch heart starts feeling warm and fuzzy after a class then I’ll know I’ve struck fried gold.

 


Starting Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy

Pelvic floor muscle

My radiation treatment caused my bladder to leak a little. So I’m starting physical therapy to strengthen my pelvic floor muscles and stop the leak.

Well I had my first physical therapy (PT) session the other day. While my hospital has a pretty good size PT division, there are only 2 therapists who specialize in pelvic floor muscles. Normally I don’t care if a medical pro is male or female, however, in this case I appreciate that both therapists are women. I felt way more comfortable talking about my challenges after radiation treatment and asking very specific questions that I won’t detail here.

I’ve mentioned before that my pelvic floor muscles are more important than ever after my hysterectomy. Thanks to my radiation therapy, strengthening my pelvic muscles has become more urgent. The radiation caused my bladder to leak a little when I sneeze or cough.

Not cool! Read More


Is The Gym Really Necessary?

dot weight lifting

Me in Oct. 2013 when I first started working with a trainer. I’m lighter now but no where near as strong as I want to be. But do you really need a gym to build strength? Heck no!

Lately I’ve debated about rejoining a gym. I’m running every other day, but I need to do some weight lifting. So a part of me thinks, “I need to be at a gym.” It could be just that time of the year. Maybe there is something in our DNA that screams “Join A Gym!” the closer we get to January 1.

Anyway, my husband and I started going to our local rec center for strength training twice a week. At least our plan was twice a week. But it really is a big effort to leave our house, drive a couple of miles, pay $16 bucks and lift weights for 20 minutes.

I’d put our success rate of actually getting to the gym at 50%. Read More


Review: From Fat To Finish Line

from-fat-to-finish

Finally saw From Fat To Finish Line and I loved it. Whether if you are a runner or not, this moving will inspire you.

Last night the hubby and I settled in the watch a film I’ve been waiting to see for nearly a year – From Fat to Finish Line. The documentary tells the story of 12 people who’ve collectively lost 1,200 pounds and team up to run a 200-mile relay race from Miami to Key West. You learn of their weight loss highs, lows and how running gave them focus.

The film shines the spotlight on each runner telling about struggling with weight loss. All experienced the doubts from family, friends and themselves. I could relate to everyone on the team. Their struggles and successes were exactly like mine.

Many on the team started running as a way to shed pounds. But what clearly shows is the shear joy many on the team feel from doing what humans are physically designed to do – run.

Running also became their compass: a way to keep moving forward to their true north, no matter what life tossed their way. As the Rick, the team captain says, when asked how he felt after running his first mile: “I feel like I can do anything.”

That’s what this film does best. Even if running isn’t your thing, this movie will inspire you to keep moving forward.

It really is a wonderful film and I suggest you bump it to the top of you Netflix queue.


Fitness Trackers Don’t Cause Weight Loss (Psst…Neither Does Exercise)

Do wearable fitness trackers help you lose weight? Of course not. Why? Because exercise doesn’t cause weight loss. Yet, researchers who still believe in the calories in, calories out myth spent 2 years and some serious dollars studying the weight loss results of those who wear fitness trackers.

Since the researchers believe in the weight loss myth of eat less and move more, they’ve earned the Captain Jean Luc Picard Double Face Palm Award!

http://i.giphy.com/6OWIl75ibpuFO.gif

If you’re not convinced that eating less and exercising more causes weight loss, then I suggest you check out this article about the show The Biggest Loser. Your body fights you tooth and nail when you cut your calories and exercise more.  And as an added bonus, your slower metabolism doesn’t bounce back.

Not enough evidence? How about the famous Women’s Health Study that showed if you exercise 1 hour a day everyday for 3 years, you’ll lose a total of 0.25 pounds. Yep, 1/4 of a pound…over 3 years.

I learned this lesson the hard way. When I started on my health journey, I tried exercising like a demon to “burn” calories. The result was one injury after another and not a whole lot of movement on the scale. My doctor told me to stop exercising until I lost 50 pounds. I thought he was insane. But sure enough, I focused on learning the nuts & bolts of LCHF eating and the pounds fell off. No calorie counting. No exercising.

I’m not saying don’t exercise. I love working out. It’s good for you, especially exercise that builds strength. But it isn’t a great tool for weight loss.

As they say, you can’t outrun your fork.


Be Happy, It’s Saturday!

coffee-owls

I woke up actually feeling like Espresso Owl. Why? I finally had my first awesome night’s sleep in about a week.

I feel like a weight’s been lifted. My doctor gave me the all clear to start working out again.  My healing is moving along nicely. I just have a few sutures that haven’t dissolved yet.

While I still need to take it easy, I can resume my training for a 10k and start lifting weights. Heck I’m even allowed to go swimming or take a bath.

I haven’t done anything for 7 weeks. Ugh! I’m so happy I’ve made a habit out of being active. I just can’t sit still anymore. It won’t be difficult to get back into the swing of things. The hard part will be the slow and gentle pace. My inclination is to go as hard or fast as possible. Not too bright. Last thing I want is an injury or screwing up my still healing abdominal area. I must be the turtle, not the hare.

But this weekend I’m focused on food prep, making meals for the week and a special project with the husband (minds out of the gutter!).  I’m spending part of this beautiful morning gearing up to run the gauntlet that is Saturday grocery shopping. May my Espresso Owl energy stay with me.

Which morning owl are you?


Preventing Pelvic Collapse By Building Muscle

Pelvic floor muscle

With my hysterectomy, I have too much room down there and organs can start shifting, causing major problems. Good news there is an exercise to prevent that from happening.

While waiting for my doctor to give me the OK for becoming more active, I’m doing a lot of research on any changes to my workout and diet routines following a hysterectomy. I’m officially in menopause now. That means muscle and bone loss are two key challenges heading into my golden years.

Well lo and behold I’ve discovered that I’m at risk for a Pelvic Organ Prolapse. Read More


First Time Cycling In 30 Years

bikes

Out of the shed and into the living room! We keep our bikes 10 feet from our front door now. Yes, it makes the space feel a little cramped but the convenience of quickly hitting the road is too alluring.

This weekend my husband and I took our bikes out of the shed for the first time in 5 years. Other than 4 flat tires, lots of dirt and cobwebs, they were in pretty good shape. Makes sense since we only rode them twice.

Failed Attempt 5 Years Ago
We purchased the bikes in 2011. We were both much heavier and this was our solution to losing weight. Pretty typical of overweight folks who are sedentary and suddenly get the urge to “move more.” Instead of a treadmill (our Love Shack is too small) we opted for two 8-speed bikes.

Of course my excitement gave way once the rubber hit the road.

The last time I was on a bike was middle school. Peddling wasn’t as easy as I remembered. And my balance was gone. I kept thinking I’d fall and break something. I was gripped with the fear of falling and had zero confidence in myself.

So I came up with loads of excuses to get off the bike. Read More