Need Sleep.........

Ok, so I'm not the best digital guy, but I am at least keeping up with my written log........
I worked too much this month, needing to help stay up with all the rising prices of everything.
I don't complain about, gas was going to go up in price, but I would trade my car or sharing my car for a 2 mile or less walk to work, no matter what the weather.

I have used my pedometer evry shift at work, and I actually do take a shot of stairs, 8 floors in the hospital, I start on 6, go down to lobby, up to 8, and roll down to 6 again. I have managed at least 1 stairlap each shift. I do it more to get off the floor sometimes, but I always remember fondly doing the world trade center stair climb in Baltimore with my Johns Hopkins buddies as a fundraiser.What a weekend!!!! Ah, youth......

I still manage to get out to the park for hikes every week. I could be a ranger, but it would be another low-paying job where I am always on my feet.

Not a bad month nutrition-wise. I still eat very well when at home, almost all veggies with a little salmon or tuna. Bad eating for me is a low-carb/high-fiber wrap with veggies and baked chicken. I will put ranch dressing on for the kids, but they have no clue how much fiber/veggies they are eating.

Other than turning in my paperwork for my fitness class, I have planned to be in 4 races so far over the next 6 months. Some I will coax the kids to do with me, but the Quantico Half M will probably be a solo event. I think I can keep a steady 10-12min/mile pace, and finish w/o looking dead at the end.

I don't see losing any real weight until I get more sleep, and time off to workout. I am however, managing to complete college full-time while working 36-48/hrs a week as a floor nurse. I can live with being fit for now, but I still want to look a little slimmer in the waistline.

My bodyfat percentage is down 10% over these last 12 weeks. Let's hear it for stress!!!! Anyway, I look forward to the summer, and I hope I can keep the momentum going!

Bloodpressure

Muffintop here. How goes it? Kinda scarily I think. We're visiting the family not far from our home, two hours away. Our oldest child, all of 19, is a college freshman living with his grandparents and commuting to school. His first job is at Hardees and one of the perks is reduced price shift meals. He's been eating a lot. Yeah, he's gained weight, but the real concern has been the poor quality food and what it has been doing to his heart. His grandpa has truly awful, horrid cardio health stats. So we're worried.

Thus, on impulse, while taking him food shopping and encouraging him to eat better, we had our bloodpressures taken on one of those machines in the store. Numbers which were later confirmed by BOB at home using the grandparents' blood pressure cuff. He wouldn't tell me his numbers, but BOB saw them. BOB's concerned although he puts it to the excess fast food The Boy has been eating. I had mine done too- the upper number is ok but my lower number is too high. The Boy's numbers- 140/83!! At 19. Good goddess, I hope he eats better and exercises. Mine aren't all that much better, although at 39 soon to be 40, I have more incentive to straighten up and fly right. My numbers were 128/85.

We're making a pact, The Boy and I. Exercise three times a week, minimum thirty minutes at a time. Absolutely no fast food. Both of us. To be reinforced via text nagging. Er..reminding. Gently. As in, "Hey lardo did you do your cardio today?" No excuses. "aw honey work was so stressful, lets skip until tomorrow" Not gonna fly. He's sitting here beside me nodding. We shook on it. It's official.

Three times a week, 30 mins per day. No fast food. No excuses. Text nagging ok'd. Updates next time he's home, which will be Easter week sometime.

Hiking

BOB and I have gone hiking at the national park down the road twice in the last few weeks. Long long hikes, between three and five miles each in the woods. Lovely time of year for it. The leaves aren't out yet so you can see a long way through the tree trunks. The beavers are hard at work already felling small trees all along the trail we took.

As to food, I'm doing ok I guess. I've not weighed myself, but my mom visited a few days ago and asked me if I've lost weight since I saw her in January. My weakness continues to be dairy based foods- mac & cheese, pizza. Too I've fallen back into the habit of eating after work (10:30-11:30 pm). A huge huge nono. I need to come up with a solution to that.

BOB makes me wonderful sandwich wrap lunches to take to work- it's lovely and always makes me smile. Complete with dessert and drinks! What a guy!

Need a regular plan re: exercise and stopping the late meals.

~ posted by Muffintop

Over indulging

So I'm back again. Valentine's I indulged a little with Ben and Jerry's and chocolate. I need to figure out a way to stop myself from eating late at night when I'm tired. It's one of my biggest problems, I think, other than poor food choices. Like tonight's cheddar & summer sausage and crackers. Not hungry. Tired. Should've just gone to bed, but I wanted to stay up a little with BOB.

No exercise at all since I last posted a week ago. I'm on my feet all day at work and do a fair bit of walking. Not nearly enough, mind you, but some. BOB's pedometer is calibrated for him, so I think I'm gonna have to buy one of my own and wear it at work. I really need to get off my keister and as the Nike ads say, "Just do it." Only a few years ago I ran three days a week and walked or did aerobics 5-6 days a week, plus work and family. Where has that person gone?? I want her back.

I often make excuses. My personal responsibility has died off at in an alarming way. How to get on track and stay there? I guess a plus would be the salad I ate at dinner. I still dislike veggies and I always have, but I'm sick of the spare tire so...I'm faking it 'till I make it with the veggies. I also took the stairs instead of the elevator at church tonight. Small steps in the right direction still count, right? Confucius said a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. Or something similar.

Muffintop

Work, Work, Work again........

I thought I would put Friday, Saturday, and Sunday together because I have a pretty regular routine. I haven't figured out a way to squeeze a whole lot of fitness into the am hours; I know in advance I will be on my feet walking on concrete for the better part of the 13 hours.....

I get up at 0430, shower, hop in the car, and battle for 45-60 min the stress-laden journey known as I-95/I-395. Anyway, I always try to take a watered down quart of 1/2 tea/1/2 lemonade, some fruit, or maybe a health bar.

I usually have 1-2 packages of low sugar instant oatmeal before I get cranked up. I usually try and eat some fruit or a half of a turkey/wheat sandwich around 1100. I am not kidding when I say I don't even sit down to eat nowadays. I do try and drink a few cups of water if given the chance.

Lunch is almost always a spinach salad, I'll put carrots, mushrooms, olives, and maybe some pieces of chicken breast if available. I dig the colors.....no dressing except a little EVO. Note, I work in a hospital, a good hospital but..... the only healthy thing to eat there is salad and fruit.
Kinda sad, huh?

Dinner is at home, but I sneak some fruit or turkey around 6 before the last crazy 1-2 hours.
Home has a planned menu, but always some veggies first so I don't pig out on the main dish.
This weekend was almost all veggies, but we had salmon and kashi rice on Sunday. Delicious.

I don't dessert, but if I have a craving, I'll eat a bowl of cereal like kashi crunch, or frosted mini-wheats (maple/brown sugar). I drink a lot of tea, but now I use an old chemistry trick. I make 2 gallons of tea, both with 1 measured cup of sugar. I leave 1 in the back of the frig, and by the next day it is sweeter because it saturated more. A treat without the calories.

Just like groundhog day, this is repeated most of the work days. As for exercise, I have a pedometer to measure my day. Friday was rough, 8.1 miles. Saturday was easier, 5.3 miles. Sunday was a break, only 3.8 miles. I work on a concrete floor, so I have sore knees and legs when I get home. Stretch, shower, and stretch some more.....or I pay for it.

I realize you aren't suppose to count the work mileage, but the people who tell you never worked in a plant making tires or my 48 bed Cardiac Unit. It is always a long weekend.........

Hi There

Muffintop here. AKA Bookwormom. BOB has asked me to participate in his fitness and lifestyle blog, which is also a class at our local community college. As he mentions in his bio, we have 3 kids. I work 3/4 time, in other words almost full time, but not quite. I'm taking a computer class and I have my own blog- plus caring for the house and the kids. Not much time left over for personal time. Thus the idea that we might be able to carve out dual purpose time- fitness and face time with each other in one fell swoop. If we can swing it.

As for my own fitness history- I started exercising regularly when our daughter was an infant (now 16). Three years ago I gave myself a terrible case of shin splints the treatment for which was no exercise at all for three months. Once the habit was broken I never resumed. Already overweight, I've since gained thirty more pounds. I've lost the same 10-15 pounds repeatedly over the last three years, but have never been able to maintain the loss.

Admittedly I'm lazy. I love to eat, especially if it's fattening and has lots of sugar. I hate veggies. All of which combine to make me "juicy curvy and delicious" as BOB tells me. My doctor tells me my numbers: blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, etc. are healthy (other than my weight). I'm appreciative that BOB isn't bothered by my weight, but I'd prefer to be less juicy curvy and delicious, TBH.

So my first goal is to eat fewer processed foods and more whole, unprocessed fruits and veggies. We just bought a couple of fitness DVDs and we already have DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) for the XBox. In addition BOB and I hope to exercise together on days when our schedule permits- which is more often thatn one would think when looking at our schedules. LOL We used to run together three nights a week years ago. I hope to build up to that level again.

All work and No play makes BOB....well BOB

A Happy Valentine's Day to all.......Not exactly the day to go live with the blog but I have been writing everything in the journal old school. Now I am taking a lifetime fitness and health class at the local community college, and I think someone like the Fred Flintstone I am should get with the program.

Like I said just a second ago, I have started a blog to help me get into a better place. I have a rollar-coaster history with fitness. Short story, I was an athlete in high school and college, even a little in the military when I wasn't being deployed. But then, you're young, good metabolism, and time to live in the gym, or track.

Now, no longer military, no metabolism, and trying to deal with longer work shifts, and old man time isn't helping. I just finished a 18 hour on the floor, 23 hours in total kind of day due to the ice storm and blunder of VDOT ( Va Dept of Trans). Like my previous job of catching babies as a OB/GYN nurse, being a cardiac nurse you can't leave the unit if someone doesn't show up for work.

Anyway, to at least put a positive spin on the day, I just recently purchased a pedometer so gauge my workday. On my previous job, a 8000 step day was a 12 hour babyfest. I'll address being the only male OB/GYN nurse in Virginia another time. From Tuesday to Wednesday, I actually put 16243 out there, and this Thursday has become a day of rest, and stretching. Now based on my stride of 30inches, I walked 40607.5 feet, and approx 8.1 miles. I also state this is on concrete which is the worst surface for legs and knees. Tired, yes. Legs and feet sore, absolute. Today will be rest, and stretch. I would love a massage, but I like deep-tissue and it costs more than my budget has at the moment. I will settle for a Epsom Salts bath. Great invention from Mother Earth, used for just several thousand years. Simple. Costs about 2.00us.
Try one before bed. You'll thank me.