Don't slow down

Walking and Weight Watchers does the trick for this airport worker

Airport employee sits for 10 years and reaches 370 lb. Starts walking the halls of the airport--loses 200 lb. and her diabetes. Plus she was an overweight child.

 http://www.kcci.com/news/she-walked-off-more-than-200-pounds-at-the-airport/29295568

Stress and weight gain

I'd love to blame stress in my life for my weight gain. But, browsing the changes recommended, I just don't fit the profile. I also don't fit into most of my slacks. I'm eating more, exercising less. Works every time (to add weight). http://www.webmd.com/parenting/raising-fit-kids/mood/slideshow-decrease-family-stress

Osteoarthritis

A public service announcement: Osteoarthritis. "Being overweight, even just moderately, impacts weight-bearing joints and can increase the pain of osteoarthritis. As you walk, your hips, knees, and ankles bear three to five times your total body weight. For every pound you're overweight, the equivalent of three to five pounds worth of added pressure is added to each knee as you walk. In contrast, a 10-pound weight loss causes 30 to 50 pounds of extra stress to be relieved from the joints." So what to do (I think I have it). What about exercise?

Osteoarthritis: The Benefits of Exercise

There are many benefits to starting an exercise program — whether you have osteoarthritis or not — but for people with arthritis pain, there's added incentive to get moving. Regular exercise can help to: Reduce joint pain. Osteoarthritis destroys cartilage, special tissue that cushions our joints. “Exercise increases the lubrication to the cartilage of the joint, thus reducing osteoarthritis symptoms of pain and stiffness,” says Anne Menz, PhD, a physical therapist at Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston, Mass. It may seem counterintuitive, but not exercising actually leads to stiffer joints and worse osteoarthritis. Strengthen muscles. As we get older the muscles and tendons that support our joints tend to get weaker. “Exercise strengthens the muscles around the joints to protect the joints and provide [extra] support,” says Menz. More information

Exercises to Avoid With OA of the Knee or Hip:

Running and jogging. “The difference between how much force goes through your joints jogging or running, as opposed to with walking, is sometimes more than tenfold your whole body weight,” says Arslanian. Jumping rope.

High-impact aerobics.

Any activity where, at any time, you have both feet off the ground at once, however briefly.

Fortunately, that leaves a lot of activities that are OK for people with knee and hip osteoarthritis and that can help keep you mobile. There are three key areas you need to focus on: weight-bearing cardiovascular activity, to keep your bones strong and your heart healthy; muscle strengthening activity, to relieve strain on the joints; and flexibility and range of motion, to help prevent falls and keep your joints mobile. More information.

Finally had time to find account for blog and passwords. Broke wrist the end of January - back to normal now. Still working and walking as much as have time for and am doing 5K walks/runs, plus did a 10K in July. No more running, but am at a 15 - 16 minute mile. Hours at work changed so walks are now after work except on weekends and days off. Miss those early walks during the morning twilight and sunrise hours, but at least have 5 of those walks during a 2 week time. Usual path plus another mile, so full course is 5 miles. This last summer, have added some creatures seen along my walks in addition to the usual critters: a family of ducks - Mom and Pop and 4 babies, a pileated woodpecker (have seen only twice in 10 years), deer (does and bucks), a family of 4 broad-winged hawks. I'm calling the next 4 and 1/2 years of my walks - walking to retirement. Hopefully, although my position is term, I'll be able to work until April 2018. Then, full retirement and lots do catch up on my acre, both inside and out.

It is beautiful to walk in early June

Oaks are mighty; maples sweet, chinquapins rare and locust thorny. But in June, give me a row of Sycamores to walk under. Even the young ones stepping in for the fallen with their fat leaves give lots of shade. (Kenny/Tremont intersection to Swim and Racquet/North Broadway)

Numbering the Days: Egg dyeing, dirt and bluebonnets

 ♥
Happy Anniversary ...

The proper way to walk for exercise--don't stroll

Oh fap, foiled again. "You must perform above your baseline in order to ignite substantial changes in your body. Whatever your normal walking pace is in life, if you're doing this around that giant lake path, expect only minor changes and a soon-hit plateau." Fitness walking

Day one

Yes, it's the second day of the new year, but day one of returning to a more healthy way of eating, and adding in a bit more exercise. Those pounds just settled in for a long winter's nap. Today I had about 20 minutes of walking (in doors) and 15 minutes on my exercycle. Enjoying my DVD of biking along country roads in Scotland.

Happy New Year!

Just a quick note - no walks - too icy on the canal path and am treadmill adverse, but at least park 2 and 1/2 blocks from the office so I do have some walking in. Still am doing 2 - 3 exercise routines a day. Just wanted to post: Happy New Year - Welcome to the World, Year 2013!

Riding in the snow and sleet (on the exercycle)

I just rode my bike through beautiful Loch Etive Scotland for about 12 minutes. VITA Digital Productions. We got 4 virtual jog and bike ride DVDs for Christmas. It's 59 minutes, but I'm out of shape, and ate too much for the holidays, so we'll do this in segments. It begins on a roadway with birds chirping and sheep bleating with gorse (yellow) and Blue Bells blooming (late May). I'm not there yet, but the explanation says I'll see the ruins of a stone cottage used in the 1960 movie, Kidnapped. As the sleet and snow hit the window of my office, it's a nice diversion.

Photo on the frig trick

Posting a photo of me (thinner) on the frig door never seemed to work. But I saw a recent photo of Isabella Rosellini with her twin sister Ingrid and 1/2 sister Pia that might work. She has really packed on the pounds--still beautiful, however. Now 60. Where does the time go? Trying the exercycle again and have asked for cycling dvd's of Italy and Ireland for Christmas.

Regular Day Off and catching-up on home chores today. My walking path continues through the roundabout way in old Colona and along the Hennepin Canal. This morning, geese were taking a dip in the Canal -kind of cold I think. But these feathery friends were enjoying the water. Now on to my chores - tree trimming, weed trimming, gutter cleaning, and window washing.

I'm back after a long time. Still walking as much as possible. Have changed jobs, no more 50 - 60 hour weeks. I still haven't had the time to try out "snowshoeing". And last winter - almost no snow. Hopefully this winter will be the time and back to Nautilus in December.

Do weight loss programs inspire you?

A study says The Biggest Loser is de-motivating. What do you think? Poll. http://walking.about.com/b/2012/10/30/is-the-biggest-loser-a-turnoff-to-exercise.htm

I am reminded of walking meditation:

As always in the fall, I begin walking again. In the summer months I get a great deal of exercise just gardening, but in the fall I need to force myself to get out and walk. I was reviewing my long forgotten journal that I kept at Beliefnet for a while, I read this entry, which I do not think I ever posted here. But I thought it might serve as inspiration for those who come along dithering about walking this winter.

It isn't easy for me to discerrn God's will for my life or to comprehend the guidance I do get. I'm too ready to mull over it, to overexamine it. I went for a walk today. It was a wonderful day as the temperatures had soared to 74 degrees by mid-afternoon.

As I began my walk, I began the way Sister Ellie taught us, except that I was walking faster than she recommended. I began with a short prayer and then I reminded myself to empty my mind, to walk, to let thoughts occur to me, to look at them and then drop them. Taking my own council, then, I reminded myself to look for those small gifts that God offers me especially when I am outside. Then I began to walk, allowing my gaze to go where it willed, to watch in a detached fashion the goings on in the park.

I saw kids playing in the park. I saw teenagers gathering into a large group. I noted that the wind was strong and pushed against me as I walked into it. My mind wouldn't stay empty for long but it wouldn't muse either, so it was a good exercise.

I often walk along a trail around a park. It is almost a perfect mile around. Approaching the first turn with my eyes observing a small boy, but thinking nothing more about him, I felt mysteriously as though I wasn't a part of the scene--all feeling and no thought, it vanished as soon as it presented itself. I made the first turn and then the second. With the wind now behind me and on the far side of the park so that the trees were windward, I began to note the leaves--millions of leaves, it seemed--blown out of their winter hiding holes or off the limbs they'd never been torn from before. I thought, "That's it. I'm like a leaf blown from the tree and blowing in the wind." But then I thought, "No. Because the leaves are dead." I watched one dance across the path as though doing a cartwheel. I saw the teens had begun a game of football and watched a pass.

Feeling less as though God was giving me gifts and more and more as though I was just reviewing many of my life's lessons, I came back around to the final turn of the mile. It was then that I looked ahead and thought--this is just a loop and I'm stuck in it. I need to break out of the loop. But I didn't like that direction. It goes up past the vast high school parking lot--empty for the holiday--and it looked bleak, but I took it anyway. In the last square of still green grass under the last tree before the lot, I saw a squirrel sitting upright nibbling on something. Even in bleakness, there is life. I had not seen a single squirrel in the whole walk around the park. It is usually teaming with them.

Behind me, a house owner yelled at the receding back of his teenaged son and made me jump around to see the disgruntled scene. It jarred me. I know the man, but I preferred to turn my head and hope he didn't recognize me as I hurried up the sidewalk. I thought about the walk and how I used to walk that way every day one summer when I took summer school. My friend and I would walk up to a donut shop at the top of that hill. I couldn't remember if the walk had even then been half concealed by loose gravel or if that was a new thing. The wind continued to push me up the hill. There, in the middle of that blacktopped expanse without a tree in sight, I saw a maple leaf fall as though from nowhere. I looked and didn't see any other leaves. The uphill steepened until I reached the corner and I turned just across from the old donut shop and walked down the north side of the football stadium. The stadium blocked the wind, but the tall fence hemmed me in and limited my vision.

As I neared the final turn that would take me back to the park and my car, a German shepherd ran to the corner of his yard and began to bark at me aggressively--in my mind I responded, "Peace . . . I'm not coming your way." Before the thought was complete, he'd turned and run out of sight. I didn't see or hear him again.

I looked behind me at the fence-lined sidewalk and noted that it had been a comfortable downhill slope protected from the wind and peaceful. Then I walked past the end zone of the football field where so many stop to watch the game, then past the baseball field, then approached the teachers parking lot. I noted the sign, "Do not enter," and puzzled over having noted it--do not enter what? A bleak and empty parking lot? I passed by the entrance and observed the granite sign donated so long ago in 1980, seven years after I had graduated from that school. That's the entrance, I thought. And let it drop. I crossed the street and spied my car. Heading for it I thought, "If there was anything there, I missed it."

Once home, as I climbed out of the car, something seemed to say, "Things aren't always what they seem." And that is all I know. But of that, I feel certain.

Guess which lane I'm in

Walking--good point

A toasty May 19

I headed out for an afternoon walk about 3:30 and discovered it was quite hot! So I headed for the shady spots along the creek on our own property. Much more pleasant than walking along a four lane street with hundreds of cars zipping by.

Role of Irisin in exercise

Exercise stimulates the release of MYOKINES which offer protection against many diseases including diabetes, cancer and dementia, but until recently they weren't sure why. Now there's a newly discovered myokine named for the Greek goddess Iris (messenger), IRISIN, which is the messenger from the muscle during exercise "talking" the white fat into brown fat which burns calories into heat. Or something like that. When I googled it I see there's already a pharmaceutical company producing it, but you can do that on your own by exercising. Read a dumbed down version here.