I shall dream of the currently falling snow as fugacious. As is, most likely, my ability to remember a new word but, apparently, not the extra pounds I added this winter.
Sunday, with the prospect of the weather warming up into the 30s, and yet I am dispirited. I have "Deadwood" to watch and I'm finally reading Cheryl Strayed's "Wild." We have plenty of food in the house, thanks to my cooking yesterday.
Weigh-in: 144.1, after breakfast. So I'm down a bit, and my ticker is now true. Building back the wasted muscle in my legs is going to lead to some scale changes. I must try to face them with equanimity.
Today's Meals:
Breakfast: Ham, spinach and mushroom egg bake; home-made banana raisin muffin*; blackberries and yogurt
Lunch: Baby arugula, roasted vegetables, almonds, goat cheese, Craisins
Snack: Small, cold and tasteless apple
Dinner: Cuban picadillo and steamed asparagus
Dessert: Frozen Jell-O pudding cup
Today's exercise:
Front leg raise 3x20, Lateral leg raise 3x20, Lateral w/ toes up 3x20, Lateral opposite 3x20, Bicycle 3x20, Kickback 3x20 and High knee 3x20 (both these just left leg)
Did this twice today
*Muffin recipe includes rolled oats, whole wheat flour, ground flax, pecan meal, egg whites, bananas, applesauce, sugarfree Torani syrup and raisins, with a bit of leavening to raise them. Haven't eaten one in months; just thawed a dozen. It's time to get them out of the freezer.
My only problem with "Wild" thus far is having seen the Reese Witherspoon movie before reading the book. And also that I only read it for about a half-hour in bed just before putting out the light and going to sleep. I need a much longer sitting with it.
No weigh-in today.
Today's Meals:
Breakfast: Ham, spinach and mushroom egg bake; home-made banana raisin muffin; blackberries and yogurt
Lunch: Spinach salad with roasted vegetables, pecans, goat cheese, Craisins and a few tablespoons of hummus
Dinner: Pork roast stuffed with apricots and prunes, steamed green beans and cauliflower, sweet potato
Dessert: Jell-O pudding cup
Today's exercise:
Front leg raise 3x20, Lateral leg raise 3x20, Lateral w/ toes up 3x20, Lateral opposite 3x20, Bicycle 3x20, Kickback 3x20 and High knee 3x20 (both these just left leg)
Physical therapy: 13 minutes recumbent bike, resistance upped to eight, small hills; hamstring curl and leg raise; abductor and adductor; 8 minutes arm bike. Also today Arvin physically manipulated my leg. It's weird to feel the sensation of stitches popping and ripping within the knee.
Andrea, maybe you should consider leveling out your carbs so that your weight stays more constant. I'm sure the extra weight is all water when you up the carbs for a week. I don't see any point in drinking excessive water either, except that I might get extra steps at work by going to the restroom more often.
Ahna, is there a rule about the size of bites? I could see myself taking rather big bites if that's what I was counting.
I made up a new recipe while car camping, to help get more potassium into the camping diet. It was 70 g green onions, 650 g (raw weight) sweet potatoes baked, 250 g spinach, 200 g chicken. I sauteed everything in the frying pan and seasoned with a little salt, pepper, about 1 tsp paprika and cumin. It looked like a very weird concoction but was actually delicious.
A bite is a 1 Tablespoon give or take. Do I measure every single bite all the time? No, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I kinda know what my small, medium, or large bites are. Everyone's bite size is a little different, The 1 Tablespoon measure gives you an idea.
Thanks for the recipe, Allison! I have the spiral cutter and the sweet potatoes, but now am out of avocados which I'll pick up after work.
Saef, not to be sadistic, but I'm happy to hear about your DOMS since it means you are growing some new muscle! Sorry it hurt but glad it went away fast. The sensation of stitches ripping inside your knee sounds terrible. I'm assuming that is supposed to happen? Your muffins sound great.
We actually got some rain here in Calif. yesterday, which was very nice to see even if it made my training hike weather less than ideal. I started hiking at about 4000 feet where it was drizzling on and off. At 5500 feet it was tiny little ice balls - not sure if that is called frozen rain or small hail. At 7000 feet the precipitation stopped for a while, then turned into actual snow on the way back down. The last 20 minutes of the hike were in genuine rain. Except for my feet I stayed dry and fairly warm. Normally I would talk myself into staying home in weather like that, but the event I'm doing is on March 22 which only gives me three more weekends to get conditioned to carrying 40 pounds for 26.2 miles. I carried the full weight yesterday but my hike was only about 13 miles. The event won't have as much elevation change, though.
Ahna, thanks for clarifying about the bites.
I was supposed to go to a potluck after work, but decided not to. Just too tired. It would have meant 2 hours of extra driving and not getting home until 8:30 or 9 tonight. Plus, my appetite is pretty active today and it's best if I don't tempt fate.
Saturday's cookie "bender" resulted in no appreciable weight gain. I cut back to a bit less than "normal" eating for the two days following and I'm still at 137 lbs.
Weigh-in: 144.5. I'm maintaining, at whatever level of calories I'm taking in. (I don't count them.)
Alice, yes, I'm hoping that soreness means progress. This morning I'm stiff, rather than sore, due to Arvin manipulating my lower leg yesterday. He put all his weight on it & stretched it toward my butt. Also I was climbing a wooden staircase at the rehab center, alternating feet. I don't have much strength in the ankle of the injured leg. That's one of the muscles that has wasted away and forgotten its function.
Today's Meals:
Breakfast: Ham, spinach and mushroom egg bake; home-made banana raisin muffin; sliced strawberries and yogurt
Lunch: Baby arugula mix salad, roasted vegetables, almonds, half an avocado, several tablespoons of hummus
Dinner: Mediterranean beef stew, steamed green beans
Dessert: Frozen Jell-O pudding cup
Today's exercise:
Front leg raise 3x20, Lateral leg raise 3x20, Side clams 3x20, Lateral opposite 3x20, Bicycle 3x20, Kickback 3x20 and High knee 3x20 (both these just left leg)
At the gym: 15 minutes recumbent bike, resistance hiked to eight, random hills; same upper body exercise routine, moving dumbbells up to 17.5 lbs (man, this was difficult on some exercises!), adding 5 lbs to lat pulldown, for 68.5 lbs; about 10 minutes of unweighted step-ups onto a low-set aerobic step.
The 17.5 lbs was too high for 12 reps of hammer curls with good form and quite difficult for 12 reps of alternating shoulder presses. So I'm now going to stop trying to use the same weight for all exercises (after all, I wasn't using the same weight *before* my accident & injury) and track this routine more elaborately.
I really want to go back to a full-body routine but this is just not possible yet.
Last edited by saef; 02-24-2015 at 07:31 PM.
Reason: Corrected: I have decent flexion on the ankle, but I have a weak ankle
I'm 7 days into the "no sugar for Lent" period. And it's gotten easier. I've only had sugar (knowingly; there's likely been added sugar in foods like crackers that I've had) in some jam and part of a granola bar that I ate during a 5 hour meeting (really, a 5 hour meeting - sadists). What I've discovered is that I'm not very excited about food when sugar is out of the picture. I have little desire to get snacky/bingey when home from work, because all my usual foods are out. I haven't weighed for a while but my clothes are starting to fit better. This may be my answer.
Wednesday, which is staff meeting day -- and I'm unusually nervous over having to present at a meeting today, lead a discussion and take notes from the discussion "live" on the PowerPoint deck
No weigh-in, but trying to comfort myself with the remarks of the gym's manager from last night, who said to a friend at the gym: "Look at her! You'd never know she's been out for so long. She looks great!" I had that self-deprecating voice going in the background, wanting to refute her point by point: "But you haven't seen me with my clothes off. You would not believe how much muscle tone I've lost."
Today's Meals:
Breakfast: Ham, spinach and mushroom egg bake; home-made banana raisin muffin; sliced strawberries and yogurt
Lunch: Baby arugula salad mix, roasted vegetables, pecans, half of an avocado, several tablespoons of hummus, sun-dried tomatoes
Snack: Sliced my small, cold apple to make it feel slightly warmer
Dinner: Mediterranean beef stew
Dessert: Bag of Bare Fruit cinnamon apple chips
Today's exercise:
Front leg raise 3x20, Lateral leg raise 3x20, Side clams 3x20, Bicycle 3x20, Kickback 3x20 and High knee 3x20 (both these just left leg)
Physical therapy: 12 minutes recumbent bike, one big hill; shallow and steep staircase practice; hamstring curl and leg raise machine, abductor and adductor machine, 12 minutes on the arm bike
Me too, saef. Your food is very good so that gives you a flying start. And you've rested well. And you're exercise compliant. Great combo for good healing and recovery. And looking good.
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