Fitness: Energy Levels

I’m not feeling very well today because I ate a couple of things yesterday that my body apparently no longer likes. One of those is cookies. I had two little cookies at a get-together at work, and my stomach rebelled for hours. In fact, I spent the entire night tossing and turning with sharp belly pains, and ended up in the bathroom most of the night. Yuck. I went in to work for about 3 hours this morning and decided I just couldn’t hack it and had to go home. Got all my reports completed and then called it good. Now I’m home taking it easy.

However, yesterday was interesting. I woke up at 5am, after exactly eight hours’ sleep. This is extremely abnormal for me. I am generally very difficult to wake up in the morning, and often my body needs 9-10 hours sleep in order to function. When I woke up yesterday, I was rarin’ to go. I got ready and hopped on the bus. I noticed in my walk between buses I was MUCH faster than in previous days. I also found myself walking incredibly fast through the halls at work. In fact, at around 10am, I was about to jump out of my skin. I just had so much energy, and had nowhere to put it. I work a desk job with quite a bit of responsibility, and can’t just go run laps around the building, much as I was tempted yesterday. Finally at about 10:30 I decided I’d had enough of the antsy-ness and agitation, and took the stairs up three floors to the company gym. (Yes I am extremely lucky; I realize this)

I arrived at the gym, changed and put my hair up, and went out onto the floor fifteen min before my appointment with my trainer. I hopped on the treadmill and started walking. I figured “hmm, not so fit yet, maybe 2MPH.” WAY too slow. The automatic setting based on my weight was also significantly too slow. I set it to manual, and bumped it up til I had a comfortable stride going…. at 3.5 MPH. That is as fast as my sweetie walks! After 5 minutes or so, my trainer came over and said she was ready early, so we could start as long as I’d done five min on the treadmill. I did a couple more minutes and then we did my routine. Finished in ten minutes. I was still amped, so she took me back to the Cybex machines and to the free weights and added a few new exercises to my routine. I told her about the energy spike, and she said that she’d try to tire me out enough to settle it down a bit, but to be prepared for later as I’d either completely crash or I’d have an even bigger spike.

Fortunately, neither of those ended up being the case. I just maintained the high energy level throughout the day.

On my way home, I tried something new. I took the shuttle van to our other office, and hopped off and walked to the bus that would take me home. Lo and behold, I was there at the same time as I would be had I taken the regular bus! It’s only a half-mile walk. I will, next week, see if I can’t walk the entire way to my bus. It’s 1.6 miles, with very little elevation change except for the extremely steep hill at the end. That hill is always my last little push. I think I’m ready to walk the whole route, as my lunchtime walks are 1.5 miles.

I’ll have to put on the pedometer this weekend and see if I can relatively easily do 1.6 miles. Part of my problem is that when walking alone I tend to crank up the speed a little too much, and end up with sore calves and shins. It’s not a *bad* sore, but it’s enough to slow me down a little the following day. I need to consciously focus on walking slightly more slowly on longer walks. I also need to find my backpack. My current briefcase just isn’t practical for walking. It tends to cramp my neck; it is essentially a large shoulder-bag that doesn’t stay on my shoulder very well as it’s leather.

I’m seeing major improvements in just two weeks. The trainer suggested that my body has been craving this, as I was a bit of a jock when I was younger - softball, tennis, swimming, bodyboarding, even a stint on the track team. I’m definitely feeling like my body is gearing up for this much more quickly than I had imagined it would. It feels really good.

Fitness: More walking today

Today I took another small step: I got off the bus early and walked.

Coming home from work, I take a bus north into Downtown. Then I normally walk 2 blocks up a steep hill to the bus stop, and take another bus south to my home.

Today I took the bus into the very beginning of downtown, and then got off and walked about 6 or 7 blocks to the next stop. I am going to keep trying to increase the length of my walk, and see if I can walk the entire route of the first bus. It’s only a couple of miles, and is truly a nice walk. Plus it’s faster than the bus, as I figured out today when I kept passing my original bus - me on foot, the bus stopping every block. Faster to walk it!

Tomorrow is my second appt with my new trainer. My calves are a little sore today, but I am otherwise feeling good. And I’ve dropped a couple more pounds, but more importantly I’m just flat-out feeling stronger. I should have taken measurements 3 weeks ago, but I didn’t. I will have to take them this weekend and keep track.

Have a great evening, all. I’m off to bed. Yes, at 7pm. Tired! (Still, my energy level is significantly higher than it was a month ago!)

Fitness: First Personal Trainer Visit Today

I’ve talked here about my new fitness program. Every day I walk at least once for at least 10-15 minutes. However, most days I cumulatively walk about an hour. This consists of 10 minutes in the morning between buses to work (down a steep hill) and 10-15 minutes in the evening between buses home (up a different steep hill). At lunchtime, my coworker and I walk at a good brisk pace to and from Safeco Field, which is about 1.5 miles and usually takes us about a half hour. All told, I’m at close to an hour a day, on varying terrain. On the weekends we have been walking as many places as we can, as we’ve decided to give the car a bit of a break.

Today was the first day with my new trainer. She quickly guessed (accurately) that I am prone to do too much too quickly, and that her job was to restrain me more than push me. So we spent about 45 minutes together today. I did 7 minutes on the bike (staying at around 90kph, so going at a half decent clip) and then spent about 15 minutes doing free weights and another 15 doing core strengthening and then stretches. It felt really good. I am tired, but I feel like I am accomplishing something.

I told her my goals, which are pretty simple: to be able to ride a bike to and from work (may not be practical, but I want to have the capability) and to be able to run to catch a bus or something without risking injury. Once I’ve achieved these, I will revise them to something a bit more challenging. Like a 5k.

Thyroid Update

A commenter on my original post about my thyroid reminded me I had not yet posted an update.

I can’t believe I completely forgot to post an update. Yet, given the results of the ultrasound, I kind of can. In short, no news at all. The ultrasound was “normal” meaning they found absolutely nothing. However, there’s a lump the size of a small banana so my doctor wants me to see an ENT specialist and find out WTH it is.

It’s still there, it’s neither growing nor shrinking. I’ll schedule that appointment soon, but I’ve gotten focused on see what I can do with my Rheumatologist to improve my overall health first. He actually thought it may be referred swelling from my sternoclavicular joint.

However, my mom (Physical Therapist = used to feeling weird swellings) is pretty convinced it’s not in the right place to be swelling/drainage related to the joint. It’s up too high. So we’re pretty much back to square one.

I’m hoping it’s a weird fat deposit and will go away as I lose a few pounds…

Strange New Land

Every day, sometime between 10 and 11 am, I begin to crave exercise. I *NEED* my daily walk. I’m getting faster and faster, and I walk a few blocks in the morning and evening between buses too. My plan is to start getting off each bus a block or so earlier (or catching the next one a block later), and get some extra walking in. It makes me feel good, sleep better, and generally have more energy. I am beginning to love exercise again.

Freakin bizarre.

Crash & Burn, and the bounceback!

I’ve been working out for two weeks now on a regular basis, and have noticed a dramatic increase in my energy level. One of my favorite “workouts” is what I call “Sneak Exercise.” We’ve been trying to give our car a rest to save gas money, and so have been walking or taking the bus as much as humanly possible. It’s working out well.

Yesterday, we met a friend for breakfast out, then hit Costco for gas and a car wash, and went to the bank and wandered through West Seattle Summer Fest for a couple of hours.

When we got home, I left Luis to clean the house, and I went grocery shopping… where I saved a whopping $132 by using coupons (it was a huge shopping, and the bill even after all those coupons was $291! Still I saved 31% !) I got us all the “stock up” stuff. I’m not kidding when I say the cart couldn’t hold one more item when I got to the front. I walked the grocery store for 2 hours.

After putting away all the groceries, we returned to Summer Fest and met up with a number of friends. Dinner with Jan and then the “Street Dance” where we hung out in the beer garden and did a little dancing. Long story short, I did about 4 hours of walking yesterday, all told.

At 9:30, I was done. Not just done, but DONE. Luis went and found me a chair in the beer garden at around 8:30 or 9, and I spent the last while sitting because my back had entirely given out. Finally at 9:30 it was time to go home while I still had the energy to walk to the car.

My point in telling this whole story is to contrast it with how I was even a month ago. A month ago, I would have never made it through the two hours at the grocery store, much less put away the groceries and then gone out afterward. And I would have been down for the count for a week afterward. Yes, I still crashed because I pushed a little too hard, but after a good, full night’s sleep I was up and ready to get going on another walk today.

I now have the ability to be out and about in the world, have fun, get exercise in my day, and even when I crash I can bounce back.

This is truly an amazing change.

Wedding: Date and Location Set!

November 1. For sure.
We have a location, and it will be a casual and fun affair.

And fairly small - 40-50 people.

Save the date, folks!

Recipe: Red Cabbage and Yellowfin

Last night for dinner I made red cabbage and yellowfin tuna. It was quick, easy, and delicious!

Fish:

2 steaks yellowfin tuna (flash-frozen at Trader Joe’s is cheap and good quality)

1/2 cup ginger-soy salad dressing

Marinade fish in salad dressing for an hour. Place both steaks in oven under broiler for approximately 7 minutes total (watch carefully - your time may vary dramatically depending on thickness of steak and heat of broiler) Flip halfway through cooking.

Cabbage:

1 head red cabbage, chopped into bite-sized pieces

1/2 small onion, diced

3-4 cloves garlic, smashed into paste

2T brown sugar

1T butter

1/2C chopped almonds

1/4C chopped dried cherries and cranberries

2C chicken or vegetable broth

Melt butter in large pan or wok over med-high heat. Add onion and stir frequently. When onions are medium-brown, add sugar and garlic. Stir once and add cabbage. Stir well to mix and reduce heat to medium. Cook cabbage, stirring occasionally, over medium heat. Add broth as needed to ensure plenty of steam. Add almonds and dried fruit. Place lid on pan for 5 min to allow cabbage to steam and soften. It should be mostly soft with a slight crunch left.

Alternative to the Pride Parade

I had an absolutely wonderful day with my sweetie today.

We decided to ditch the Pride events. Neither of us was really up for it this year.

I woke up incredibly late (for me, anyway) at 9am, as I’d been up til 3 with heat-related insomnia. I don’t do well in heat and it’s been about 90 during the day and dropping off to 70-75 at night the last few days. Don’t get me wrong; I love the sun, but the heat itself I could do without!

We started the day by going to the newest Starbucks drive thru, which is not far from us. It’s a LEED certified store. (I believe Gold, but am not certain) Essentially the energy it uses, it recycles back into the environment. All the waste water is automatically piped out to the vegetation, the materials are recycled, etc etc etc. The drive thru itself is a prototype. It’s like driving through a lush garden, and has thyme and other herbs planted on the walls outside as they’re beautiful as well as fragrant. There are a lot of other features that make it an incredible and unique prototype store, and we had wanted to see it.

Had coffee and a muffin back at home, and then headed out to run errands. Costco (new membership, short sleeve dress shirts for Luis, lunch, as well as gas) and then Lane Bryant. I found three dresses I absolutely loved, but had to hold back and only get two due to finances. I got 40% off, so one of the dresses was essentially free. Always a bonus. And they are GREAT little summer dresses that will be comfortable in the heat. The salesgirls were talking about us in the dressing rooms while we were being rung up… they wondered aloud, and then decided that Luis was my “gay friend” and not my boyfriend. We giggled about that in the car. I’m definitely curious as to what exactly gives that impression. Maybe we don’t hold hands and call each other “pookie” or some such nonsense in public, but we’re definitely very loving. Hmmm, maybe that’s it. The lack of bitching and bickering. I can’t imagine that there are no other couples who don’t constantly snipe at one another, but I do think our synergy is fairly rare.

On the way home, we went to a new park we found. It’s one of the best-kept secrets in our neighborhood. You could drive by it all day every day and never know it was there, but once you get in, it’s quite large and has waterfront access. It’s so peaceful and pleasant. We wandered around a bit, and spent some time sitting in the clover and enjoying the honey-like smell of the blooms. It was the perfect, peaceful way to spend part of the afternoon.

Grabbed a Slurpee before heading home - Crystal Light Mango-Peach sugarfree. YUM. I will have to find out what 7-11 has diet pepsi slurpees near me. I don’t drink much soda but on a hot day there is nothing better than a diet pepsi slurpee.

Allright, this is starting to sound a bit like “what I did on my summer vacation” so I’ll switch topics a moment.

In my last post I talked about the doctor visit and how he asked me to lose 50 pounds. Well, I started really paying attention to my eating and getting more activity in this week. Despite the heat, I’ve gone for walks 4 times this week, and I have managed to remain well within my calorie limits each day while still getting all the nutrients I need. I believe I have lost about 4 pounds, and haven’t felt like I was starving myself, or even “dieting” - just that I’ve been making sure to choose healthy meals even if we go out.

All in all, I’m feeling pretty good. The extra activity is definitely helping me feel more energetic and better about myself.

Happy Pride 2008 to all the GLBTQ’s out there!!

Rheumatologist Visit

I had the Rheumatologist visit I previously mentioned here. The scoop from my visit with Dr. Overman (whom I liked VERY much) is as follows:

Findings:

1. Left Sacroiliac (SI) joint has evidence of sclerosis. It was very hard to see the joint spaces at all in the x-ray.
2. Right SI joint also somewhat “fuzzy” in x-ray and has possible mild sclerosis as well
3. Flattening of thoracic spine indicating early AS-related changes. We will do further x-rays later on to determine status of lumbar spine and neck.
4. Lump in neck likely to be swelling due to long term inflammation of sternoclavicular joint … I think he may very well be right about this.
5. He took blood to check inflammation levels (CRP) as well as test for Ig antibodies and H. Pylori antibodies (again, common in AS in his recent research)

 To do’s for me:

1. Add 3000 mg Fish Oil per day, high quality liquid (Carlson)
2. Continue with Liquid Vitamin D
3. Lose 50-60 pounds to get back closer to my regular/typical adult weight
4. See a nutritionist for evaluation of possible AS-related food sensitivities (he is finding this to be a common cause of inflammation in AS patients)
5. Elevate our bed & take a nightly prevacid or similar to eliminate possibility of GERD (I have no symptoms, but same reasoning as above)
6. Ensure adequate sleep, exercise and healthy diet.

I was a step ahead of him on the diet/exercise thing, as I was noticing I’d gained a bit and that it has negatively affected my level of back pain. So I had already decided to get back to my regular baseline weight (about 60 pounds less than I am now) to see if it helped. He agreed that it may help to slow down the damage if I take the pressure off the spine. So I’m officially on Weight Watchers. It’s a little hard to reconcile that with being pro-Fat Acceptance, but it’s a clearcut medical issue as opposed to medical prejudice, so I am ok with it.