[JayEll]

Hey Bloomer!

Your plan sounds good! You could also just plan some time walking on level ground--or more or less level--because it's less stress on knees, ankles, and feet. As you can see, we've all been discussing shoes lately! Good, new, supportive shoes can make a world of difference. What kind do you wear?

Good luck!

Jay

[Bloomer]

Thanks, Jay. I wear Easy Spirits. Shoes aren't the problem; my hips are!

[CountingDown]

Bloomer - Welcome!
My experience with stairs is that it does get easier. In fact the stairs in our junior high building are one of the triggers that helped me realize that I really needed to do something about my weight. My knees hurt every time I went up or down the short flight of stairs to my office. Now, stairs are no problem. We went hiking in Oct. and one trail had over 800 stairs on it. I didn't have a lick of trouble going up or down.

I agree with Jay, can you find a hall to walk in between classes? Start on the flats and work a few stairs in once your knees are stronger.

One other thought. I started some strength training (recommended by doctor) to strengthen the muscles surrounding my knees. It has really helped me!

[gailr42]

Counting, my DIL took me for a pedicure a while back. I loved it! I think it was all women in the salon.

[JayEll]

Can I really be the first poster today? Huh... Where's all the active over-50s? I hope you're all out being active and didn't just crawl into bed with the holiday let-down...

It's cold and windy here, for Fla. that is, but I went to the fitness center anyway and used the treadmill. Now I'm ready to stay in and stay cozy for the night.


Jay

[Spinymouse]

Hi Everybody -
I slacked off with the exercise for a couple weeks but today did 30 mins on the fake bike and 30 mins of Nautilus machines. I must say those cardio machines always seemed so silly to me, and they still do. Especially so many of them in that big room full of all these people making their legs go around and around and not going anywhere. I don't think I'll ever learn to love that part. I just have to think of it as, "well, it certainly isn't the first silly thing I've ever done!" Or pretend I am a hamster. They need to make a treadmill with a wheel that you get inside of. Mouse, hamster.....
How do you all get to like it? I like the weight lifting part ok; that doesn't seem nearly so dumb. Or maybe I just need to find an aerobic alternative to the machines where you make all this effort just to stay in one spot. Maybe I'll check out the "groove" class tomorrow.

[CountingDown]

Probably my last post for a couple days as we travel back to Michigan in the morning. Great day today - spent it walking in Golden Gate Park. We walked the entire length (over 4 miles) and ended up on Ocean Beach. Great Thai restaurant for our last meal here. It is going to be so hard to go back to walking in my living room with WATP after this beautiful CA sunshine!

I hope everyone had a great day! Jo - I loved your hamster analogy - I have the same thoughts when I am on a treadmill or the Gazelle. I think that is why I like aerobic dance better.

[hijude]

I am just new to the group too. I do not do stairs well at all. Too hard on my knees but I will do the bike or the eliptical trainer or the tredmill. I hope to get some walking outside as soon as the weather is a little warmer. A little too icy at this time.
So Counting I would love to hear what weight training exercises are good for the knees.
Spiny that class sounds great. The music should be fun if nothing else. It is fun to do a class with all the other women. It goes by fast.
So hope everyone is having a good week.

[JayEll]

Hey! Good to hear from everyone!

Bloomer, shoes can affect everything! I once thought I had developed arthritis in my knees, and it turned out I was wearing bad shoes--they put all the stress in the wrong places on both knees. Once I changed shoes, my "arthritis" magically disappeared. Also, when my good athletic shoes got too worn, I would get sore feet (plantar fasciitis). That also disappears when I get good shoes.

CountingDown, San Francisco is my favorite city--I love it! I'm so glad you walked GG Park--it's a wonderful place.

Spinymouse, I decided I didn't care how silly something might seem, I would do it if it helped me. I like the elliptical machines because I can go faster and get a better workout without so much joint and back stress as, say, running through the streets. I like the exercise bicycles for the same reason, plus I never liked riding a real bike on the road--it seemed dangerous. I found, also, that at my old YMCA using the machines was a good opportunity to watch TV shows I ordinarily wouldn't (you brought your own earphones). There are worse things that laughing at Judge Judy while getting fit! So... in a way, we're all hamsters in a cage all the time... or not!

hijude,

Jay

[Spinymouse]

Hi everybody.
I am hesitant about whether I should post at all today. Could be dangerous. I am so mad at the world. I never intend to offend anyone but with my super-defiant mood today I might be likely to do so inadvertently. Everything makes me mad today. I shouldn't be at work like this!
And a lot of what is making me mad is food and fitness-related so I probably should avoid 3fc today too! But I'm so mad I just have to ..... I don't know WHAT. I am usually so wimpy and lazy that this is quite an anomaly to have these strong feelings coming out. Very weird.
It is only 8:34 am and so far this morning I have been more mad than usual at the thought of "breakfast food" and the sight of coffee, and the word "veggie" and big trucks and agricultural implements on the road, and .... oh my. It is a good thing I am not a violent person in posession of weapons. Whew!

[Spinymouse]

I'm not done yet.
I want to declare that I am 42% body fat. I knew it was a big number. I didn't need to be measured but I was. This number is consistent between both the skin caliper and the electronic gizmo methods. Even though my BMI says 30. I realize that the BMI is not defined to be the body fat % but is supposed to be "strongly correlated." The BMI does not take bone structure or gender into consideration so I knew that for me it was a bogus number. It feels good to feel "vindicated." Yes, I am fatter than the blasted BMI indicates. Funny how we need some kind of official declaration of it. Funny how I need to be vindicated so that people don't tell me I'm crazy for having my ideal goal weight be 110. Yes, I have small bones. I've seen them on x-rays and asked the ridiculous question "are those actual size??" and had the x-ray tech exclaim at how tiny those bones are.
People are so anorexia-paranoid. It's ridiculous. I'm extremely obese - for me! I read on the forums how other women are my height and weight and are size 12. Not here. If I lost about 40 pounds I might fit into a size 12. I am extremely fat and it feels good somehow to have it confirmed.
I'm not mad that I am fat. I'm just mad at the General Thought Patterns Of The World as I perceive them. If that makes any sense. I do want to correct the fatness, but that is not what is making me angry.
Thanks for listening.

[Bloomer]

Thanks for all the welcomes and good advice. I'm certainly hoping that losing weight will help with the stairs/hips issue!

Spinymouse -- you're certainly entitled to your anger. Isn't that one of the things that exercise is good for? To channel all that anger into positive energy? I remember one job I had where I would be furious at least once a day, and on especially bad days I would storm out of the office and walk to a nearby shopping mall. I would walk so fast, that by the time I got there, the anger was, if not gone, at least manageable, and I could go back to the office feeling much better.

[Spinymouse]

Thanks, Bloomer -- I'm only this furious about once a year so that is partly why it feels so foreign to me! I do need to channel it into some sort of exercise, besides attacking the keys on the keyboard. I really don't want to break them.

[JayEll]

Spiny, is it always this same time of year?

BTW, when I was at my highest weight my body fat percentage was 44%. My BMI was 35.1.

Body fat percentage is a much more important indicator than either weight or BMI.

Jay

[Bloomer]

The idea of New Year's Fury is a new one to me -- I kinda like it Maybe it's your system revving itself up. Love your socks