Healthier Lifestyle Thread 29th June till 5th July

[SapphireLover]

Danielle Well done on the running times. Thats awesome
Lliang Chi Keep the faith with the acupuncture. I hope it starts working for you soon.
TLH Thanks for the link but I am in the UK. I’ll just keep practicing the swimming and maybe at some point consider looking at couch 2 5k and then reevaluate if I can do a tri. Oh and the thought of a frosty cold beer.... mmmhhh
Rod Hope you got good news about your MRI results. Fingers crossed for you
Marcyc I want to see your cake. It sounds fab.
Today I haven’t done any exercise. Not being doing any for ages so am going to try and focus on doing something every other day. Don’t want to give myself an injury, do I!? Food, I had stewed berries and muesli for brekkie, whole-wheat tortilla with grilled veggies and 20g cheese and am going to have whole-wheat pasta with a homemade tomato sauce for dinner. Snacks have been rice cakes, oatbiscuits and some cucumber sticks. Exciting day!

 

[tlh]

Saphire, darn! I thought it was a multi-country link. Looks like just NA. Sorry about that. I think it is good that you are taking your time to hop back into exercise. Your every other day plan sounds good. Allows the body ample time to recover. I think your couch to 5k plan is a great one. The running leg is the last part, and it would suck to do something you absolutely hated! Plus, you said you enjoy swimming and biking.. . there are also duathalons you might want to consider which offer only 2 of the legs of a triathlon, or even a triathlon relay.. where you register with 2 other people, and just do a portion you enjoy.... lots of possibilities!

 

[Rod]

Hey........We got off at noon, which was good. I had a cup of coffee and an egg, cheese and sausage on english muffin sandwich at Sbucks for lunch before going to my Ortho appointment. From there, the afternoon went downhill. I did get answers, but not good ones. By the time my doctor came to see me, he had already reviewed the MRI and had already made an appointment for me to see a neurosurgeon on Monday. It turns out I have one really seriously herniated disc and one that is just herniated. He was surprised I could still stand. I knew I was hurting more and more each day, but I had no idea I could be in trouble. Supposedly, the neurosurgeon I'm seeing is top notch. Getting an appointment with one would have been pretty much impossible if I had tried to make the call. According to my ortho, they're usually booked two months out, but since he said it was pretty much an emergency I be seen, this neuro was willing to see me first thing Monday. It would appear I'm likely headed for surgery, but I guess I'll find out when I meet the dr. I was just so depressed. I've worked so hard on building a better Rod and I feel derailed.

Thanks for the good wishes everyone. If I have to have surgery to get this over with, I guess that's what I'll have to do. Since I won't be doing anything particularly healthy or working out for a while, I may not check in every day, but I promise to keep you all up to date on what's going on with me.

We're still going out for a nice dinner to celebrate our 29 years together on the 4th and we may do a movie on Saturday. We're thinking about seeing "The Proposal." We'll see. I need to do things that will take my mind off my pain and the upcoming visit with the neurosurgeon. I will miss the gym this weekend, but just can't take a chance on rupturing the bad disc. That would require emergency surgery, which I obviously want to avoid in any way I can.

Please have a wonderful, safe, fun and patriotic 4th of July everyone.

 

[Skippy123]

Hi friends, just walking and eating healthy!!!! I will be busy with family here in town this weekend; they are coming out to stay with us so I won''t check in till Sunday. Happy 4th of July Friends and have a WONDERFUL WEEKEND!!!!

ROD, I hope you will be okay, hugs. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to you and Charlie

MARCY, yay for having a 3 day weekend!

TLH, yay for all your fabulous runs!!! Yum to beer!!! I will have to try the MGD''s.

SLOVER, mm, your meal sounds good. a day off from working out is good; I usually do that.

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 7/2/2009 9:24:13 PM
Author: Rod
Hey........We got off at noon, which was good. I had a cup of coffee and an egg, cheese and sausage on english muffin sandwich at Sbucks for lunch before going to my Ortho appointment. From there, the afternoon went downhill. I did get answers, but not good ones. By the time my doctor came to see me, he had already reviewed the MRI and had already made an appointment for me to see a neurosurgeon on Monday. It turns out I have one really seriously herniated disc and one that is just herniated. He was surprised I could still stand. I knew I was hurting more and more each day, but I had no idea I could be in trouble. Supposedly, the neurosurgeon I'm seeing is top notch. Getting an appointment with one would have been pretty much impossible if I had tried to make the call. According to my ortho, they're usually booked two months out, but since he said it was pretty much an emergency I be seen, this neuro was willing to see me first thing Monday. It would appear I'm likely headed for surgery, but I guess I'll find out when I meet the dr. I was just so depressed. I've worked so hard on building a better Rod and I feel derailed.

Rod, I will keep you in my prayers dear friend; you poor sweetheart.

 

[lliang_chi]

Happy day before the 4th everyone. I think most of us here are lucky to have a holiday. Remember to keep up with your healthy eating and healthy choices!!!

Yesterday was the first day we didn''t work out this week. We met one of my girlfriends for dinner a cook out at her place. I was pretty good and only had 2 glasses of wine, but my wrist started getting stiffer, so I''m definitely laying off the sauce for the rest of the weekend. I''m going to meet Sis out for lunch in a little bit. Doing Cuban. Not as good as the stuff I had growing up in Miami, but I want to try this new place.

So I had another acupuncture appt yesterday. I''d say it was 65% better from the worst this weekend, and compared to a healthy wrist, I was like 70% there. Today we''re going to do yoga and meet at a friend''s house for a cookout again, and watch the city''s fireworks on his rooftop.

Rod, I''d suggest you check out acupuncture. You''re so much better at the healthy eating and non-drinking so you''d probably find relief much sooner than I did.

I''ll be back to respond to everyone later, but I need to meet Sis at that Cuban place or I''ll be late!

 

[Rod]

Hey..........Am checking in early today. I had the day off, but had to get up early for a chiro appointment. I really just wanted him to go over my MRI and not treat me today. He agreed with my ortho. My disc is very extended and he''s not sure any adjustment will help me at this point. We also discussed acupuncture and while he''s a believer in acupuncture, he didn''t think it would provide any benefit. He thinks surgery may be my only real option at this point. I''ll just have to wait till I see the surgeon Monday morning. Even with a new pain reliever, my leg''s really been hurting today. And to add insult to injury, I woke up with a rash this morning, so I also went to the dermatologist. It''s nothing bad, just a contact dermatitis and was likely caused by stress and he also suggested I see if we changed laundry detergent. Turns out we did change laundry soap recently and I do have a history of dermatitis caused by changes in soap. I inherited two things from my mother.......her bad back and a predisposition to skin irritations. I''m so lucky.......... Charlie''s working till 7, then we''ll meet for sushi and coffee afterwards. I felt guilty being off all day and not going to the gym when I certainly could have. It really bums me to the max. I just want to go to sleep and wake up to find out this was just a bad dream.........

Thanks dear Skippy.........I hope you have a lot of fun with your family!

Lisa, as you can see from above, acupuncture may not be an option for me, but thanks for the advice. I''m glad to see it is helping your wrist feel better.

If you were off today, I hope you had a great day.............

 

[SapphireLover]

Rod Poor thing! I know I rave about acupuncture and I think its great for reducing inflammation and pain relief, but it sounds like you have some structural damage, which unfortunately it can''t repair. Maybe consider acupuncture as an analgesic.

Lisa Awesome news about the acupuncture kicking in!

Well, I went to my WW weigh in and was delighted to have lost 3lb! It means my BMI is now 24.5 also known as HEALTHY! I''ve now lost 23lb and am 5lb away from the goal weight that I set (although once I get there I may revise it).

Today is a no exercise day. I''ve just been for lunch with friends and had salad nicoise. I showed constraint as I left the bread roll, butter and egg. The desert trolley is awesome, and while I was tempted to have strawberry and marshmallow kebabs with two pots of melted choccie as dipping sauces, I said no in the end!

Oh, and Happy Independence Day from one of your evil old oppressive British friends!

 

[marcy]

Hi everyone.Happy 4th of July (to those of us in the United States) and Happy Saturday to those of you who are celebrating our national holiday today!

Sorry I haven’t posted; we’ve had a few busy days.We went shopping yesterday and found some suitcases for Marty.He leaves for Hong Kong again in about a week.The airlines broke his suitcase on his return trip from Arizona a few weeks ago.Since it is sweltering and humid in Hong Kong right now too he wanted some light weight clothes to take as well.

I also spent some time in craft stores buying things for the fondant / tiered cake class I am in this month.So much for “not going to spend any more money on this cake class” theory.

Tlh, sounds like you and your brother are stubborn like I am.I am sure you’d do fine at cake class too.We cooled off here today with lots of rain.I am kind of surprised they are still shooting off fireworks tonight.

SapphireLover, great idea to do something every other day.No, we don’t want you to injure yourself.Congratulations for losing 3 more pounds.Woo hoo!

Rod, hugs to you my friend.I hate to hear about your discs being in such bad shape.I hope you won’t end up in surgery; I am sending mush PS dust your way with the surgeon on Monday.Keep us posted.Congratulations for being with Charlie for 29 years.That is awesome.

Skippy, I hope you had fun with your family this weekend.

Lisa, rats that drinking bothers your wrist.Glad to hear it is better than before though.

Take care.

Marcy

 

[marcy]

Some flowers for my HLT friends.

 

[marcy]

Brought to you by the sun . . .

 

[marcy]

And miracle grow . . .

 

[marcy]

Just one more.

 

[marcy]

Since this picture is fattening here is the link to my cake.

 

[Rod]

Hey and Happy 4th of July! It was a nice day, albeit a very hot day here in Tampa. At least there wasn''t any rain and all the fireworks were able to go off without any inclement weather. We had breakfast on the terrace kind of late. I slept till after 10 AM this morning. I really needed some sleep, since my leg usually interrupts my sleep these days. We didn''t have lunch. Instead we had popcorn and a movie and we went to see The Proposal, which is really funny and absolutely adorable. The chemistry between Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds is so terrific and although completely predictable, had the ending you hoped for. We highly recommend it! We had dinner at the Palm for their summer lobster special. For $89 you get two salads, a 4lb lobster and a side dish, which is a lot of food. It was a nice way to celebrate our being together 29 years. Then we stopped by Sbucks on the way home and picked up a couple frapuccino''s so we could sit on our balcony, sip our drinks and watch the fireworks display on the bay.

I''m not sure what we''re doing tomorrow. Charlie will get a workout in. Obviously, I won''t. I just feel I need to stay out of the gym until I''ve met with the neurosurgeon and he tells me what I can do safely. As hard as it is to admit, I think my pushing it harder at the gym, believeing it would help me get past the pain, was not the best thing I could have done. Maybe I''d be in less pain and/or less trouble if I had taken some time off, but then who knows.......

Thanks Marcy and thanks also for the pics.........The flowers are very beautiful. It''s hard to believe Maryt''s already heading back to HK.

WOW Saphire!!! Congrfatulations on the tremendous progress. And thanks for your thoughts on acupuncture. I will be asking the neurosurgeon if it could help me. I really don''t want to have an operation, but if it''s the only way I get things fixed, I''ll just have to do it.

Again, to all my girls of the HLT on this side of the pond, Happy 4th.......And to my girls on the other side of the pond happy Saturday.

 

[Linda W]

Rod,

I wanted to pop in and wish you and Charlie and HAPPY ANNIVERSARY. I am so glad you enjoyed your special dinner together.

I am so sorry about your leg too. I am anxious to hear what the doctor has to say.

Love, Linda
xoxox

 

[marcy]

It is pouring rain here tonight but I still hear fireworks going off.We didn’t go out to watch the fireworks.

Rod, glad you and Charlie had a wonderful day.I want to see the Proposal; it sounds like a great movie.It will be rough not working out at the gym but sounds like your body needs the rest for now.Thank you for the compliment on the flowers.I am glad to see they are finally starting to bloom.

Hi Linda!

 

[somethingshiny]

Just another fly-by....

My cousin from TX and her 3 girls came to IL on Fri night. We walked a couple of miles around town, the town is only 250 people--a couple miles was the WHOLE town! They got to see the school that their grandpa and great-grandpa attended. We took them to the local fireworks show that night and the girls thought it was so cool. Probably because it was the men of the town setting them off! Yesterday I took the 2 older ones, 12 and 10, hiking for a few hours. We hiked until the younger one was tired and my butt was sore. Luckily I told them to bring an extra set of shoes because when we were crossing a pretty heavy current in the creek, a shoe got swept away! Ironically, it was the exact same spot where I lost a shoe earlier in the week... We also decided to walk to our fireworks last night which was about a 2 mile round trip hauling 2 kids in a wagon. So, pretty active weekend and not bad food wise. I had a couple pieces of pizza on Fri night but that was the only not so healthy choice. I didn''t even drink.

That''s all for now. Have a great day!!

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Howdy folks!!

Went out for a long bike ride and run by the river today--it was humid but wonderful. Everything smelled so good and with the recent rain, alive!!

Sorry for your disc troubles Rod!

Shout out to all the rest of the healthy gang!

cheers--Sharon

 

[Rod]

Hey.......We had a decent day. We were invited to go out to brunch with a couple in our building we''ve never been out with. We went to a place in Ybor City called Street Car Charlies. We''d been there a couple time and while it''s an urban feel, we never felt the food was that good. Today was no exception. They were serving brunch, which was a small buffet and the food was just blase. Overcooked scrambed eggs. Shrimp that was over cooked. Roast beef that was too tough. Tasteless mini bagels.....well you get the idea. And it wasn''t cheap either. We did enjoy the company, but the food......not so much. Charlie went to the gym this afternoon and I just had my car washed and had a cup of coffee at Sbucks. It really bothered me that I couldn''t go to the gym with him. Dinner was baked chicken and steamed veggies. I''m anxious about my appointment tomorrow morning with the neurosurgeon, but want to go to get some answers. I''ll check in tomorrow night for sure and let you know hoe the appointment went.

Thank you Linda. Skippy indicated you might be writing me? I hope you do...........

Wow, I didn''t think fireworks work in the rain Marcy. You should definitely see The Proposal. It''s really cute and scenery (supposedly in Alaska) was really beautiful.

Sounds like you had a very active weekend SS........

Hey Sharon.......Thanks for thinking about me.........I''m glad you enjoyed the bike ride and run by the river.

I hope the start to the new week is good for everyone..........

 

[marcy]

Hi everyone.

Marty took off for golf about 6 and I tried to sleep in but no luck there.I took my shower, had an English muffin with a little peanut butter for breakfast and went grocery shopping.Got home, cleaned up all the fruit and veggies and fixed lunch.I made mini meatloaves so now I have a few lunches for this week as well.For supper I made little pizzas on the 90 calorie whole wheat flat bread.I put chopped up tomatoes and lean hamburger on mine and the tomatoes, onions and pepperoni on Marty’s pizza.They were pretty good and about 300 calories at the most.

This afternoon we ran around looking for a narrow table for Marty’s office.He has a video monitor that he does conference calls with at work that he needed something to set it on near his desk.We didn’t want to spend much money on it since it was just for his office.We found a great little table and wine rack that holds 15 bottles of wine that we both really liked and it was on sale for $151.So we bought it and he’ll take our little table out of the kitchen where we had a metal wine rack setting.I liked getting something new for the house and taking our older table to work.

I ran around this afternoon looking for a cheap and big tote bag for cake class.I ended up getting a cute and not on sale messenger bag that I think will work.It was in the school bags; it’s black with pink trim and is covered with pink hearts.

I had about 30 papers to grade tonight.

Somethingshiny, sounds like you had fun with your company and got in a lot of walking.I walked so much the last few days I am looking forward to resting at work tomorrow.LOL.

Sharon, it is so green here from the all rain it still looks like spring.It’s amazing.Glad you had a great ride along the river today.

Rod, that is too bad the food at brunch wasn’t very good.I hate to waste calories on poor tasting food.I will be thinking of your tomorrow at your doctor’s appointment and I am sending a ton of PS dust your way.I think I will see if Marty wants to go to the movie this week since he’ll be gone for a few weeks soon.

Take care.

Marcy