Of course, now I have to go to the one free class to see what is so amazing that they want $40 a class for it. I only hope that it isn’t genuinely so amazing that I would really want to keep going, because I’m so not paying that.

Why wait? Tomorrow, 6:45-7:45AM, PINNACLE FITNESS BOOTCAMP Decatur is located inside Leapin’ Lizard’s Inflatable Center @ 185 Sams St., Decatur GA 30030. I hope we get to play on the inflatable stuff!

Ooh, according to their website, anybody can request one free class. If it’s awesome, I’ll pass it on.

For those who really don’t seem to “get it” as to how to be healthy, there can be a bit of shock when things don’t work out.  I probably shouldn’t be surprised when I hear about things they’re trying or how they’ve hurt themselves, and this is usually either endeavors of my mother or of my aunts as related by my mother. They remind me that I’m not getting any younger — hello “Project 40″ is running out of time. Mostly, though, they are a  ”wake-up call” to remind me that staying healthy really isn’t that hard, and the cost of poor health and injury can be high.

Eat consciously. Move more. Stretch. Sleep.

That is not to say “overcomplicate things with diet or calorie plans, logging, or stressing out about every bite, and then beat yourself up everytime you go off plan until you just give up and wallow in chocolate.”

Nor is that to say “rely on workout classes that you might ditch is work is hectic or you just don’t find the right workout outfit that you feel presentable in that day.”

Mostly, though, don’t try to go from zero to sixty in 4 seconds and injure something. Every step can be a positive step, and you just need to take one step at a time. Stop worrying about doing a certain thing, and just do something. Then do something else.  Everyday, just a little something. Soon you’ll feel like a little something more.

Keep it simple, but keep it going…or else

I know all this seems pretty general, but I’ve thought of all this because of mom’s latest injury. She’s made great strides in the past couple years at changing her diet and exercising more, even if it was motivated by lack of money and boredom. She’s lost a lot of weight and lowered her blood pressure a lot with walking. Fairly recently, however, she’s been “limping” because of a problem with her heel. A doctor visit told her it was probably a bone spur and to keep off it when she could.  Undaunted by this, she went from walking her trail to using the recumbant bike in front of the tv — no weight on the heel and perfectly comfortable to do.

The problem is, in all this, she wasn’t really eating great nutritionally — though she would sometimes take vitamins when she could afford them. Mostly her meals were fruit & vegetables, bread, and sweets she’d bake herself. Occasionally she’d buy meat, but mostly when she craved meat she went for fast food — fried fish, french fried, hot dogs, and big greasy burgers. Again, though, rare due to fundage, but even so, eating bad is actually pretty cheap.

Also, in all this, she wasn’t really stretching. At her age she’d already lost a lot of flexibility, but once the trail walking had to stop, she wasn’t getting much a stretch on the recumbant bike at all. She has always done all her own yardwork, which is a lot in her yard, not just to mow but plenty of trees and shrubs to trim and maintain — or cut down, cut up and haul off. The woman uses a chainsaw without a second thought.

Recently, though, her lack of flexibility caught up with her as she managed to rupture her Achilles tendon on a simple walk to the mailbox. It snapped and her foot just stopped working. No pain, but no walking either. Now she’s in a restrictive boot, waiting to see if she has to have surgery or whether it will heal on its own. From my reading about this type of injury, it is common in both weekend athletes and the elderly, and can sideline you up to six months. Recovery has to include flexibility exercises to build up a range of motion again.

The whole concept of this type of injury was foreign to mom. Strangely, she’s never even broken a bone to have to be in a cast before, though she was my mother and had to deal with mine as a child. Wearing the boot allows her to walk, if slowly, so she’s good to go on with her business as usual. She’s already driving with it on the gas pedal and using the riding lawn mower. The fact that there is no pain makes her think it can’t be that bad of an injury — her foot just won’t work so it’s frustrating.

There’s a lesson here somewhere.

Thus it can all just go downhill so fast. Let things slide, especially as you get older, and the harder you may have to work to regain that ground. And if you stay in that habit, you may end up with an injury that really sidelines you. And then you’ve just lost that much more ground.

Don’t wait for tomorrow. Do something for yourself and your health today. Right now, even. Or else I hope you were reading this while you walked at your treadmill desk!

I did begin my Sunday afternoon belly dance class with Laura, however. It was crazy and fun and much harder than I thought, and I’m so glad it’s all girls and no spectators. There is a lot of me to jiggle, so it was quite a new experience. And my shoulders have been killing me since from the posture and holding my arms up.

In other news, I’m both swamped with work and terrified of being out of work, which has led to a lot of desk time. This means I can feel my ass expanding from all this sitting and stressing. It is so far beyond time to get back into a groove.

So, this week I’m starting with massive house-work duties. Maybe this weekend I’ll add in some weights or a class. One day at a time right now, but always on my mind.

Strangely, I’m getting tons of muscle cramps, which at first made me think lack of water or some vitamin, but I’m starting to now think are from just complete and total laziness. I’ve been so doped up on benedryl that I just wanted to sleep all the time anyway, so who could be bothered to move much. Now I stretch out and things go” OW! Why are you moving that! We just got comfy!”

As such, I’m fairly certain that I’m going to have to ease back into regular activity to avoid injury. I’m still planning on hitting the Belly Dance open house and starting a class on Sunday, so maybe that will be a good first effort. Just the notion of 60 minutes of Jazzercise causes me to feel faint, so I think I might just have to start walking the treadmill again first.

But, wellness is the goal, and if taking it easy while on these meds has helped me finally shake this persistent sinus thing, then hurrah. One step at a time.

First, the status update: Haven’t climbed in over a week now, and no Jazzercise since before Philly (Memorial Day). I have been using the treadmill desk during the day some, to the tune of about two miles twice a week, so nothing big. Mostly I’ve been sitting on my butt in the driver’s seat of a car traveling the land. I’m about to do it again tomorrow. Then a week from tomorrow we come back, to turn around and go a different directly the next day for four days. Many miles to go before I get back to normal.

Things I love:

• my big jug of snack mix (almonds, pistachios, dried cherries & cranberries, sunflower seeds and cinnamon life cereal)
• mia drink mix and my 2-quart water jug. Working in the Alabama heat I’m making sure to refill and drink that water jug at least 4 times, on top of anything else we may drink during the day. So far it’s really helped with dry skin and sinuses.
• mcdonald’s fruit smoothies – looking forward to trying the new mango pineapple
• smart portion sizes – when i’m with the group and the choices are limited to none, at least I’m reigning it in. drink first to make sure i’m not stuffing my face from what is actually thirst.

The 100 degree Alabama heat and humidity is not my friend, but we’ll be out in it for long hours over the 4th of July holiday as we work our three remaining fireworks shows. Last Saturday’s show was only a preview, since it was so small. It practically spoiled us, but the preview of all the road construction and the long drive wasn’t fun.

Things to do:

• My Nazeem Allayl Belly Dance studio certificate for 6 free classes expires July 24, so I have to go turn it in for a punch card before then. If it doesn’t work out to take a class with Laura, I can just go solo. Must remember to look at their weekend schedule especially for some options.
• Kit & I both have certificates for 6 Fast Fit 1000 classes, which expire Oct 18. We have to schedule a fitness evaluation before we can show up for a class, so that needs to be done ASAP when the traveling is done.
• I’ve picked up the TurboFire dvd workouts, which has a 90-day workout schedule to follow. I’m hoping to start that program around July 17th on top of whatever else we’ve got going on.
• When we get back and I’m around for evening Jazzercise again, I sure would like to up it to 3 days a week.
• Then there’s that pool membership we just got! I know James wants to use it mostly to cool off on the weekends, but it’s always there for laps on a really hot day. Just have to remember the new hair rules I’m supposed to follow after this keratin treatment, and use the danged swim-cap.

You’d think a person with this many options to workout would be skinnier, no?

Getting the diet clean is really going to be the key to success. That way, any time spent at the gym won’t be playing catch-up for something bad I gave in to, it will be get-ahead on burning the results of stuff I’ve given in to for years. Or something like that.

I do want to report a positive on the smoothie front this morning. I’ve cracked the code on adding powdered greens to my smoothies without the sewer water taste. One scoop, dissolved in a small amount of water, added LAST spoonful by spoonful.

This morning I made a great smoothie of fresh pineapple, banana, strawberries and peaches, put in a little yogurt, and a small spoon of flax and whey protein, and had it smelling just perfectly palatable. A taste made me add just a little honey, then it was perfect. Then… I started tainting its perfection with greens. In that method, the smell stayed the same, the color tinted just a little green, but not too much. And it still tasted pretty damn good afterwards.

I’ve recently started making a big blender of smoothie and dividing it for the day. I find drinking half as much as usual in the morning leaves me the other half for a snack later already made.

Because I’d been slack on climbing Monday, I got JamesT to take me to climb some last night. He wasn’t ready to climb himself, but he was happy to belay and advise. Last night the goal was to work some 5.8s that I either hadn’t tried or had previously been unable to do. 

The couple of short ones I hadn’t tried before I did manage, though they weren’t pretty. Another 5.8 in the corner I only finished because James managed to take most of my weight for the big transition around the corner, but it still wasn’t without some effort to get through the rest of it. I thought I was done done, but James encouraged me to rest a bit, then I did two more short 5.8s without too much trouble, but again without any grace or skill. Wobbly is the word I’m looking for I think.  

Another long rest, because again I was sure I was done, but James encouraged one more… a long 5.8 on the overhang wall. And… I struggled my way up to the overhang and wore out. Slipped off, but he caught me and had me hang and rest. I climbed back and tried a few more times, but eventually the hanging in the harness to rest my arms was putting my legs to sleep, and I gave up. It was a lengthy effort, though, so I wasn’t too disappointed.

Then we went upstairs for weights.

James had been encouraging me and Kit to do more weights when we came over during the day, but that time table hasn’t worked out for us in a while. So, he escorted me upstairs to “show me how it’s done” I guess. I think I may have blown his mind on the squat machine a bit, but my thighs are really strong. After all, I’m used to squatting at least my body weight. 

My ankles and calves, however, are another story, and that seems to be a big weakness in me trusting my feet on little holds to push my body up the wall. So we worked calves, and he suggested I should do this every night after we climb. I’m game. I’m hurting and feeling hobbled today, but I’m game.

To catch up, finished off May with a push of Jazzercise classes to work up the energy to deal with a last minute trip over Memorial Day for neice’s wedding in Philly. That trip went very well, but came back feeling just wasted to the point that I just about stayed in bed for all of the first couple days I was home.  Feeling very week, dehydrated, and headaches almost to the point of migraines again. I’m pretty sure it was crappy nutrition and lack of sleep for the trip. We wore ourselves out working then wore ourselves out trying to have the “fun” we felt we deserved out of such a trip.

Thus June was off to a pitiful start, where I have yet to go back to Jazzercise. It’s been so ridiculously hot here that we decided to drop the dough on funpasses to the Gwinnett park system so we could use their aquatic centers. There is one near us and another one near Kit & Bob. Some combination of awkward laps and treading water has been a very pleasant and cool way to get some exercise lately instead. We’re still climbing a couple nights a week, but I really haven’t pushed it. I had intended to go back to Jazzercise this week, but my stomach has been in revolt today and I decided not to impose that on fellow jazzercisers.

I have been reading GreenSmoothieGirl.com’s book, which I’ve had for a while but hadn’t started. After a friend of a friend began a “green juice reboot” recently, I watched the “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead ” documentary and have once again become fascinated with green foods. After a bad first attempt, I pulled out my “Amazon Greens Gold Superfood powder” and tried another shake — this time just the powder and ice water, as suggested. It certainly blended better than just putting powder in my smoothie as before, but the taste is just beyond nasty. I don’t know how to describe trying to drink it other than my brain equates it with sewer water, so I didn’t get much down before I thought I was going to gag.  So, barring the purchase of a good juicer ($300) or a good greens blender ($500) I’m pretty much stuck with this greens powder and figuring out how to make it  palatable. Of course, a Google search for recipes using the stuff turned up nothing specific, other than apparently a bunch of people who enjoy the taste of sewer water.

I’ve bought the stuff, however, and I’m convinced of it’s nutritional value, so I’m determined to find a way to injest it. I found one suggestion to dissolve one scoop into 1 oz of water then add it to fruit juice or a yogurt and fruit smoothie which I plan to try before giving up. Must make a grocery store run to accomplish.

Lastly, I’m finding I’m either sleepy or hungry all the dang time lately. I’m hoping adding daily greens or just vitamins will help the sleepy, but as to the hungry… I found a chart to help decipher my food cravings: “Why Are You Hungry?“

So, it was Cinco de Mayo and all the friendslist could go on about was Mexican food and margaritas. I’d had a good shake for breakfast, tuna and crackers for lunch, later an apple… then Jazzercise. I came home weak, sore, and hungry… to find James wanting to go to Chipotle.

Chipotle is a calorie trap. Everything there is extra yummy because it’s all got more calories than you think. My backup blender was still sitting in the sink dirty from this morning, so I was hopeless for a quick shake to take the edge off. Thus, I caved. Salad, black beans, chicken, tomato & corn salsa, cheese, guacamole. And, little by little I eventually used that entire container of dressing they gave me.

Chipotle Nutrition Facts 
Amount Per Serving 
Calories 925  Cal from Fat 505 
% Daily Value* 
Total Fat 55g  85% 
Saturated Fat 13g  65% 
Trans Fat 0g   
 
Cholesterol 145mg  48% 
Sodium 2570mg  107% 
Total Carbs 63g  21% 
Dietary Fiber 21g  84% 
Sugars 22g   
 
Protein 53g   
Vitamin A  0%  •  Vitamin C  0% 
Calcium  0%  •  Iron  0% 
 
 
*  Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs. 
 
INGREDIENTS: Black Beans,Corn Salsa,Tomato Salsa,Chicken (4oz),
Guacamole (4oz),Lettuce,Cheese,Chipotle Vinaigrette

What’s worse. By about 10pm, I was feeling really hungry again … a phenon I hadn’t experienced with the shakes for dinner, but often do in the evenings after real food. So I had another apple and a lot of water.

Today we’re off for a weekend in Alabama, so who knows where the food will go. I’ll just try to make good choices and stay active I guess.

If the morning emails can stop for a few minutes, I’m going to go try my hand at a better tasting smoothie this morning. Can’t be worse than yesterdays.

Whatever it is, I’m damned well not changing the plan right now. Smoothies for the win! At this rate I’ll crack 200 this week.

Evening update: So, the plan started normal enough, except I screwed up my morning shake. A lesson was learned here. The new container of “greens” I got to add to shakes is flavored already and I didn’t notice. Pineapple. Not the nummiest thing ever to overwhelm a delicious coffee-flavored shake, and it thickens to a strange consistency. Serves me right for not just getting more of the same. Reworked the smoothie with a bunch more ice and coffee to make it bearable, but only just.

Mid-afternoon I went for the tuna and crackers again, but it was only shortly thereafter that the headaches I’ve been getting in the evening came on strong. I took a couple tylenol and shut my eyes for about 10 minutes, but no help. I went back to work and tried to ignore it, no good. At last I thought, maybe I’ll just have something else… a few more calories, something to crunch on. I was prepared, so I picked up an apple. Felt a bit better after.

It was late when James was finally done and ready to try climbing tonight, and he said he was starving beforehand, but wanted to wait. I was feeling ready for dinner myself, so I had some diet soda and a rice cake before we left. At the gym, I was sweating my ass off and feeling pretty weak. Didn’t push it on anything too difficult, but climbed 6 short routes. Afterwards I was so shaky and so headachy I decided to go for more actual food, so Wendy’s salad & chili. I felt kind of better after, but still really headachy, so James suggested I might be dehydrated. Three big containers of water later the damned headache is gone. I can be such an idiot sometimes.

So, I won’t go expecting another 3.8lbs in the morning, but I’ve learned a couple things about how to continue in this plan. Plus I really don’t feel like anything I indulged in today was derailing to the effort.