Posts Tagged: Health

Fitness / Me / Personal — Comments
8
Sep 09

Goaltending

After the race I have a bad habit of just throwing myself into things and then dropping them. Or worse, thinking of doing something and then never getting around to it in forever. I don’t have a support system like most. When I announce my ideas, they usually get shot down. Yet, I’ve learned that when I say “I will” then the naysayers tend to shut up.

One thing that bugs me about a lot of people I know is that they often announce what they plan to do, yet never follow through. You know the types, “Next week, I’m going to start working out.” “In two months, I’m going to start looking for a job.” “Next year, I think I want to travel.” Those are admirable plans, but there are no goals involved. Why are you going to workout? What kind of job are you seeking? Where do you want to go? There are no answers. You hear them state these things so often, that you tend to tune the out.

In July, I decided that I was going to run the LA Marathon in 2010. So far, the response has been muted. This is in contrast to when I had announced my plans to run the Marathon this year (before the date change and injuries). I found that the people in my life were extremely unsupportive. Where a simple, “Way to go!” would have sufficed, I got responses like, “You? Run? HAHAHA” or “I guess you have to stop smoking.” or the lamest, “You couldn’t get my fat ass to run anywhere.” [Selfish side note: When I say that I'm running, I don't need to hear about YOU.]  I have always been aware that there are those who will never support your endeavors because they’re too scared to try anything.  It’s easy for them to mock you when you just announce vague plans. It’s harder for them when you have them etched in stone.

But sometimes we sabotage ourselves. I certainly have. And I have to be on the lookout for it. I haven’t been able to run or exercise for some time now. First, we went to the Bay Area. Then we had 2 weeks of bad air quality due to fires and a concurrent heatwave. Now I’m sick. The urge for me to exercise is still there, but I know that all it takes is one more week and I’ll be back to doing nothing. This is unthinkable with my goal to run the LA Marathon. So I’ve decided to come up with smaller goals to help me achieve the larger one.

These are my smaller goals:

EVERYDAY

  • 50 sit ups
  • 100 jumpropes
  • Walk my kids to school

WEEKLY

  • Run 3x a week
  • Tennis once a week
  • 1 hour of cardio 3x a week
  • Swim laps 2x a week

MONTHLY

  • Run a 5K or 10K
  • Go hiking.
  • Bike

Seeing this list broken down into small attainable goals already makes it easier on me to see the as doable. Besides, now that this out there, I can’t not do it. You can keep me honest by checking in on my MapMyFitness profile.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Me — Comments
19
Apr 09

Let’s Hear it For the Boy!

As much as I bitch about my husband, he does rock. He cooks 90% of our meals.  Since I hurt my back in 2000 he’s been doing the dishes. He bathes the kids because he knows that stresses my back too.  And yesterday, he’s (almost) redeemed himself.

Since he does dishes, my chore is laundry. Yesterday, he did all the laundry that I planted as land mines in the hallway.  They’ve been sorted since Wednesday and ready to go, but the back thing made it impossible to get to.  Now, all of us have clean clothes. Yay! He also finally watered the backyard plants. So, they’re not completely shriveled in this heat.

So, I’m happier today than I was yesterday and that’s not just the drugs talking.

Health — Comments
18
Apr 09

In sickness and in health?

I’m in pain. A lot of it. Something happened to my back on Wednesday and now I’m barely able to walk. The pain is unbelievable sending me through bouts of nausea and tears.  For those that know of my previous back issues, this is definitely worse. I’ve hurt before, but nothing like this.

What makes it a little more unbearable is the near unconcern my husband has. He said, “But you’re always hurting.” True and he mocks me saying my body should be condemn, but when a slight turn of my back to the left send the most horrible muscle spasm up to my head, I’d expect a little more caring. I don’t think I’m asking to much.

On Thursday, I asked him to take the girl to school. He didn’t even wake, leaving me to get the kids ready in the morning.  I drove her school and cried all the way home as the need to shift gears sent pain throughout my right side.

Friday, he did take her to school.  When he got back home, I asked him to water the plants. This means, reaching under the potting bench and turning on the spigot so the drip irrigation can work its magic. It didn’t get done. In the meantime, I got ready to go because he said he was going to take me to the clinic. Little did I know that I’d have to wait for almost 4 hours for that to actually happen.

I wound up at the overcrowded ER at LAC-USC. Nearly 4 hours of sitting in a painful chair as the guy behind me kept jostling our shared back rest.  Speaking to other people who had been waiting over 24 hours to see a doctor, I got a sense of dread. Wave after wave of nausea came over me, from the ridiculous amounts of pain spreading from my back to other parts of my body. I asked for some nausea medicine only to be blown off. Getting up to puke, made me lose my seat; my options were to either stand along the wall or sit outside, possibly missing them call my name.  I called him to come get me.

Seeing as how we live 7 minutes away from the hospital, even taking into account getting the kid’s shoes on, I didn’t expect that when I called him 20 minutes later he’d claim that they were almost ready to leave. Almost. He got me nearly 45 minutes after my first request. No one will ever accuse him of punctuality, but since I was in pain, my delirium made me assume he’d act on some urgency.

Now we’re at this morning. The kids are awake, I’m starving and want coffee. When I asked for breakfast and coffee he moaned. In fairness, he did give me the skillet, but I wept as I made the coffee and breakfast for me and the kids. My daughter has been helpful. She got stuff from the fridge for me. But the most painful thing of all, as she watched me make breakfast she said, “I didn’t know parents could cry, mama.”

Fitness / Social Media — Comments
18
Mar 09

April 8th National Start Walking Day in Los Angeles

Despite the fact that my post on Social Networkouts went largely ignored, I’ve decided to go ahead to something about it anyway. The American Heart Association is sponsoring National Start Walking Day on April 8th.  All they’re asking for is 30 minutes of walking from you that day.  Why 30 minutes?

Taking just 10 minutes three times a day to walk will help you live longer. In fact, studies show that just one hour of vigorous exercise will increase your life expectancy by two hours. It makes sense to walk more and eat well — to live longer. (AHA)

So we are going to meet at Echo Park at 6:30pm and walk the perimeter of the park.  That way even those who can’t make it until 7pm will still be able to get some walk time in with the group.  Runners are encouraged too.  Everyone who participates will get a sticker.

Where to go:

We will meet at the entrance to the park at the corner of Glendale Blvd. and Park Ave., just south of Sunset Ave. We will be walking the sidewalk around the park, so meet up with us at any point.
View Interactive Map on MapMyFitness.com.
Please click through as this shows you the start point for our meetup.

What to bring:

  • Comfortable walking/running shoes
  • Water or sports drink
  • Healthy snack
  • Towel
  • Happy attitude

I am open to any other suggestions you may have.  

Please RSVP at Upcoming so that I’ll be sure to have enough stickers.  Tell your friends & family and please share this post with anyone you know in LA.

Check back here as I post videos and other health tips leading up to the big day. ?See you at the park!

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Health — Comments
25
Feb 09

Fitness on the cheap

Watch workout videos instantly via Netflix

Netflix Watch Instantly Workout Videos

The internet can be a big lifesaver not only to your health, but also to your wallet.  Last year, as you may recall, I took up running.  That was fun, but with the kids, work demands & constantly getting sick, it was hard for me to exercise.  I had the idea that I would walk my kid to school every morning, walk back home, grab the boy and drive over to the gym for a quick workout. I did that exactly once.  Real life intruded on my plans.  So after driving the kid to school, I’d come back home and work or mess about online.

My solution for fitness became the rare spurts of Dance Dance Revolution on the Xbox and accessing the Fitness module via my cable’s OnDemand.  DDR was only worthwhile when the kids were asleep, as they both kept getting underfoot.  The same with the Wii Fit I got for my birthday. My daughter insisted that it was always her turn.  I love the Wii Fit, but until I figure out how to switch the cables between the Wii and the Xbox, I use whatever is plugged in, which is usually the Xbox.  Lucky for us then, that we have a Netflix account. As you may recall, I’ve rented some fitness videos via Netflix. Now with the Xbox Live Gold Membership ($49/year or try Amazon), I can use Watch Instantly to view exercise videos.  I have my queue loaded up with various videos that target different areas of the body.

But variety is the spice of life.  I remembered using workout videos online after the birth of my 1st child, so I dove into the internet. There are so many more places to get your fitness fix in the comfort of your own home.  When I had to cancel my gym membership recently, I stepped up my focus on finding the right exercise combo for me.  So, if you’re watching your pennies and are forced to cancel your gym membership or just don’t have the time or inclination to go to gym, here’s a list of sites that have free workout videos:

Fit TV
Exercise TV
Hulu (these videos are mostly Execise TV videos)
iTunes (h/t to Siel for this one)

Fit TV

Fit TV

ExerciseTV

ExerciseTV

Hulu Fitness Videos

Hulu Fitness Videos

Election 2008 — Comments
29
Jan 08

I’m sick again

Isn’t this stupid?  On Sunday afternoon, I went to the store and I was freezing.  It was raining and I thought people were nuts for wearing short sleeves.  I got back home and within the hour, I got a sore throat and my stomach felt floopy.  A few hours later, my temp was up to 103 and I was shivering.

So, I spent half of yesterday in bed.  I popped some Advil since that seems to be the only thing that can break my constant fever and the pain.  Oh the pain!  My back is killing me–a little higher than where you kidneys are.  And then my legs feel swollen, but they aren’t.  They just hurt to walk on some times.  And my throat is so sore, you can actually see the swollenness on my face and neck.

I don’t think it’s fair that I get sick again, doesn’t that make it 4 times in the last two months?  Each illness is different than the other, but always a more unbearable sort of pain.

Fitness — Comments
2
Nov 07

Working out

1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and get them sit ups right and
Tuck your tummy tight and do your crunches like this…
~The New Workout Plan
Kanye West

I’ve been going to the gym the last month. I’ve had the membership to the Y for a year, and I finally have the time to go, so why not, right? Been doing the “Easy Does It” class, where I’m generally the youngest one there. That’s kinda weird. But damn, I’m somewhat out of shape and with my back and ankle, I’m not quite ready to do the step classes like I want. I still do my Wii, DDR and garden like heck, so it’s not like I was completely out of shape you know.

At first I started with the class every other day. I then signed up with the FitLinxx program, it’s a 12 week program. With this, I put in my code and the machines are set up for me. That’s cool! Well, yesterday, I went and did like 5 machines. Then I came home and uprooted a tree. Let me just say that my arms are KILLING me.

This morning, I got on the scale and I’m please to note that I’ve lost 7 pounds. Yay me! The past week, I noticed that had to go in more holes on my belt and lost a row on my bra (!). So, I’m on my way. As long as I keep up the motivation, which isn’t all that hard. I’m a pretty addictive personality and I get hooked on exercise way too quick. At this rate, I’ll lose 56lbs by the end of the year!

Uncategorized — Comments
24
Aug 07

The Mote in Alton’s Eye

It’s not really a mote.

Poor baby's eye

On Tuesday, when Adrian came back with the kids, I said, "What’s with Alton’s eye?" Hubby said, "Yeah, they said it was swollen at school, but I don’t see it."
Men.
It got progressively worse as the evening went on. Leading to this when he woke this morning. Now, it’s practically closed and leaking.

I thought it was pink eye at first and was worried of him passing it to Ilia. I took them both to the doctor yesterday. I learned that Alton has a blocked tear gland over there. I have to give him eye drops and an oral antibiotic. He loves the oral antibiotic, but can totally do without the eye drops. The doctor tried to give me a prescription for an ointment, but I knew there was no way he’d let me get an ointment on his eye.

But damn…the entire thing (doctor’s visit and prescription) cost $165. That’s $164 more than we really could afford right now. Thankfully, I got a cash discount for the visit, but the medication was just ridiculous. I had Adrian go to Target, but the Target nearby doesn’t even have a pharmacy in it! I meant to tell him to go to Walgreen’s or CVS, but forgot. He wound up at Albertson’s and paid dearly for it.