What does this little guy inspire YOU to do?
Be a good steward of the body God has blessed you with today!!
Source: Uploaded by user via Julie on Pinterest
I think I’ve decided to walk my 5 miles today.
long overdue fitness update: 1/26/12
It’s been a while since I updated my fitness log. Tomorrow marks EIGHT weeks since my partial MCL tear and ACL strain! Recommended healing for my injury was 6 to 8 weeks!
YEAH! I’m HEALED! (yes. this is how I think)
First day back to the incline treadmill walking (at an incline of 4 and a speed of 3 mph). I think I’ll take it slow and only walk a mile or two. Unless I decide to walk 5 miles a day till the end of the month to get to an average of a mile a day for the entire month. (yes. this is how I think.)
On another note, I was doing my two minute forearm plank a few weeks ago and FirstHusband said, “Ya know, I’m kind of surprised you’re still satisfied with a two minute plank. That’s not like you.”
seriously? He had to plant that thought in my freakishly self-competitive head?
So, I’m up to two minutes, ten seconds. The new goal is to be able to do a three minute plank by the end of the year.
stupid husband.
the knee chronicles.
Today, an hour ago:
FirstHusband went to our doc for his annual check-up this morning.
Me: “Did you ask him about my knee?”
FirstHubs: “uh, YEAH. I said, ‘Julie wants to go back to yoga and I said she had to wait until you cleared her.'”
Doc: “no. No. (pause) NO!”
well. that’s irritating. Now FirstHubs has ammo. and an ally.
If you need catching up….
Definitions and Diagrams:
MCL – medial collateral ligament
ACL – anterior cruciate ligament
(click to enlarge)
December 1 @ 11:19am (still don’t understand how I didn’t know anything was wrong at this point)
Done: 1 HIIT mile and 1 yoga class.
But I’m still in my workout clothes…still wearing shoes. If I can just stop myself from taking off my shoes, there’s the possibility of another mile or two.
3:32pm (and so it begins)
right knee. ice. heat. ice. heat. ice. heat. anti-inflammatories. don’t know if I twisted it in yoga or stressed it jogging. I didn’t move it for an hour this afternoon and it started to stiffen up. Gotta MOVE it! FavoriteHusband…will you please fix my bike?
10:54pm
FirstHusband: “Sit down. I don’t want you walking around. You’re limping.”
Me: “I’m not limping. I’m just walking without bending my knee.”
FirstHusband: “How is that different from limping?”
Me: “It doesn’t hurt to walk if I don’t bend my knee.”
FirstHusband: “Have you ever seen Chester on Gunsmoke?”
Me: “Yeh. so?”
FirstHusband: “If you don’t sit down I’m going to start calling you Chester.”
December 11
After 8 days of rest, ice, anti-inflamatories and wearing a compression knee brace, walked three miles (wearing the knee brace).
December 12 @ 11:39am
Had the doctor look at my knee today when I took PinkGirl (her brother gave her strep). Turns out, I have a partially torn medial collateral ligament and a strained anterior cruciate ligament. Switching from Aleve to the cortisone prescription he gave me and continuing with ice and a brace. It’s MUCH better than when I hurt it 10 days ago. No problem during or after the 3 miles I walked yesterday. I just can’t fully straighten my leg or bend it all the way (strained ACL). Also can’t do fire log pose (torn MCL) or cross my right leg over my left. Yet.
1:21pm
Just picked up my prescription for my knee. Dang. That’s a LOT of cortisone. 6 pills today, 5 tomorrow, 4 on Wednesday, 3, 2, and finally 1 on Saturday. Supposedly, it will make me more susceptible to infection. and StrepThroatGirl is watching TV in my bed. On the bright side, my arthritis and psoriasis symptoms should be non-existent this week.
December 13 @ 10:37am
6 cortisone pills down, 15 more to go. My knee feels SO much better. I know that just means the inflammation is down, not that the ligaments are healed. Wearing a brace today to prevent myself from moving in a way that, while doesn’t cause pain, might be counter-productive to healing. Back to walking the last two days to keep my knee from stiffening up. So far, so good.
8:12pm
I’m going for a walk. Because I can – and because last week, I couldn’t.
9:38pm
Walked 2.5 miles. I really, really hate it when I end on a half mile.
December 14 @ 9:29pm
Made it! Walked 3 Miles with NO knee pain! PRAISE GOD!!!! HE IS SO GOOD! I have two more days of cortisone pills. If the pain and inflammation come back, I have to go for an MRI. Praying there’s been some significant healing this week and I can start strengthening my knee. Just read yesterday that torn MCL recovery can take 6 to 8 weeks!!! eek!
December 15 @ 12:37pm – next. slowly. but next.
Cycling is also part of my plan! My sweet husband pulled my bike out of the shed, removed the baby seat (I know, PinkGirl is ELEVEN), put a new seat on it for me and bought me two new tubes and tires. Thankful I’m already back to walking – with a knee brace.
December 16 @ 6:26pm
do. hard. things.
“Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
James 1:4
December 18 @ 2:41pm
Wii Fit suggests my ideal body weight is 129 pounds?! My 16 year old son weighs 134 lbs. I don’t think so.
6:22pm
Walked a 3 mile neighborhood route with FirstHusband. First day off cortisone pills. Knee still feels good. SO thankful!
blend until purple.
My daily addiction:
1 cup skim milk (90 calories)
1 cup fat free yogurt (any berry flavor) (100 calories)
2 fistfuls of frozen blueberries (1 cup = less than 85 calories)
6 frozen strawberries (about 5 calories each)
blend until purple.
An antioxidant, vitamin C loaded snack that tastes like dessert for around 300 calories!
I’ve spent decades of my life not eating fruit on a daily basis. I’ve gone weeks at a time without eating any fruit. Not because I don’t like it, because I really like most fruits. It just doesn’t occur to me to eat any. Multiple times per year, I make resolutions to eat just ONE fruit per day. Finally, I included it on my fitness log (see the sidebar to the right) to try and put myself in a situation where I have to be accountable.
I also have a problem getting enough calories, which causes my metabolism to drop. I tend to forget to eat.
Smoothies solve both problems. I’m actually consuming fruit on a daily basis for the first time in my life and making them is easy and takes less than 5 minutes, so eating doesn’t intrude on my day. It doesn’t hurt that I actually crave them now.
I stumbled upon the smoothie idea while trying to get PinkGirl to consume some sort of nourishment in the morning. Trying to get that girl to eat breakfast before school is a chore! A few friends suggested I try smoothies and since PinkGirl loves Planet Smoothie, I thought it might work. It only took about 3 or 4 months to finally hit on a recipe that I actually liked. (for ME, not her. She still wavers about what she likes. I don’t know if I’ll ever find a recipe she really likes.)
But I was having blender issues. If the Vitamix is the BMW of blenders, it seems my little Oster was the VW bug of blenders. It was either forming a little pocket of air at the bottom and doing nothing or it was spinning like crazy and only blending the bottom half of my smoothie. I had to add more and more milk to thin it out so the blender would actually blend the entire smoothie.
I put a new blender on my Christmas list.
Which really irritated me because I own an Oster Kitchen Center with nearly every possible attachment, similar to this one:
It transforms from a blender to a chopper to a slicer to a mixer to a juicer to a . . . it does everything but clean itself. We got one as a wedding present from my husband’s parents and about 10 years ago, it died and I replaced it at our church’s WHALE of a Sale. Since all Oster attachments are interchangeable with every Oster made, I even bought a newer countertop blender 
So I was not looking forward to having a different blender on my countertop. It was going to mess up my system.
FirstHusband surprised me with an early Christmas present: An Oster Milkshake blade for my blender!
My little Oster just got tricked out!
And THIS ONE
facebook fragments: fighting the frump, a subliminal message, a free transmission and Chester.
Here’s a peek at my day…
11:00am
Done: 1 HIIT mile and 1 yoga class.
But I’m still in my workout clothes…still wearing shoes. If I can just stop myself from taking off my shoes, there’s the possibility of another mile or two. So…what are YOU doing to be a good steward of the body God has blessed YOU with today?
11:15am
courtesy subliminal message: m&ms taste like brussel sprouts. you don’t want m&ms. (you’re welcome)
4:00pm
Looks like my van’s getting a new transmission for Christmas. Second one this year. At least this one is free (warranty).
4:15pm
right knee. ice. heat. ice. heat. ice. heat. anti-inflammatories. don’t know if I twisted it in yoga or stressed it jogging. I didn’t move it for an hour this afternoon and it started to stiffen up. Gotta MOVE it! FavoriteHusband…will you please fix my bike?
9:00pm
I narrowed it down. It was the half bow pose in yoga today. NEVER doing that again. more ice. more heat. more anti-inflammatories. epson salt bath. aspercreme.
10:45pm
FirstHusband: “Sit down. I don’t want you walking around. You’re limping.”
Me: “I’m not limping. I’m just walking without bending my knee.”
FirstHusband: “How is that different from limping?”
Me: “It doesn’t hurt to walk if I don’t bend my knee.”
FirstHusband: “Have you ever seen Chester on Gunsmoke?”
Me: “Yeh. so?”
FirstHusband: “If you don’t sit down I’m going to start calling you Chester.”
healthy doesn’t just happen.
What I wanted to do: “Sit here curled up on the couch in front of the Christmas tree with a blanket, coffee and a book, listening to my December rehearsal CD.”
What I did instead: “Walked/Jog one HITT mile before going to BodyInUnity yoga.”
Because healthy doesn’t just happen.
I want to be a good steward of this body God has blessed me with!
And I want to be stronger in the long run, more than I want to be comfortable in the moment.
Did I mention what I wanna do?
#thankful: faith and health
I’m a day late on this, so I’ll have to do two: I’m thankful:
1. that everyone in my immediate family knows God, loves God, desires an active relationship with God and strives to serve God in their every day lives.
2. that no one in my family is battling a life-threatening illness.
anti-candy strategies.
How to make sure you actually still HAVE Halloween candy by the time Halloween rolls around:
1. Buy candy you hate.
2. Have your spouse take the candy to work until Halloween.
3. Have your spouse HIDE the candy somewhere in the house.
4. Buy replacement candy after you’ve vandalized your house looking for hidden candy.
Thankfully, at the present time, I’m closer to #3 than #4.
because she can’t.
I’m blessed.
Today, I’m specifically reminded that I’m blessed because God has revealed to me – not through my OWN trials – but through my empathy for others experiencing trials – how blessed I am to be alive, to be able to get out of bed every morning on my own, without assistance. How often I take that for granted.
I’m blessed because this OVERWHELMING awareness motivates me to STRIVE to be a good steward of this body God has blessed me with.
Today, I’m exercising because this sister in Christ can’t. (Click HERE to find out who I’m talking about)
Think you need a gym membership, the latest workout DVD, or some special equipment?
NO.
You need shoes.
Put on a comfortable pair of walking shoes. Then say to yourself: “Well, I’ve already got my shoes on, I might as well step outside.”
Then open your door and walk to your mailbox. The end of your driveway. To the parking lot of your apartment building.
Then, turn around, look toward your front door and say to yourself: “Well, I’m already out here, I might as well walk for a minute.
Tomorrow, do it all again, but walk for two minutes. Rinse and repeat, adding a minute every day until you get to 20. Pay attention to the world God has blessed us with. Feel the wind on your face, the sun on your (SPF protected) skin and thank God for your body and the blessing of being able to walk.
Micro-actions have cumulative effects. Walking builds stamina and strength, and paying attention to the miracles in the world around you can bring spiritual renewal through gratitude and praise.
And the endorphins don’t hurt, either.
fight the frump: August fitness goals
In my continuing quest to be a good steward of this body God has blessed me with, I’ve set my August fitness goals.
How did I do in July? shhhhhh. Let’s not talk about it. July was pitiful.
pit. i. ful.
no excuses. wasn’t sick, not overwhelmingly busy, just easily found other things to do.
But I MISS sweating, believe it or not. And I miss the sore muscles that come with the knowledge and satisfaction of working them to failure. The way I see it, strength training that doesn’t fail the muscle is a waste of time – and if I’m going to take the time to do strength training, I want the time to be well spent.
But I digress.
It’s the fourth day of August and I’m back on track with my fitness goals. Here’s what I’m shooting for this month:
In addition to averaging two 6.5 incline miles & one 2 minute forearm plank EVERY day,
I’m trying a three day rotation this month:
1st Day – Work Upper Body
(20 BOSU push-ups, 20 shrugs (holding a 12 lb dumbbell in each hand), 30 tricep dips, 3 sets of “21s”)
2nd Day – Work Lower Body
(20 Lunge Walking Steps, 20 one leg chair squats, 40 Abductor Leg Lifts, 40 Adductor Leg Lifts (ALL each leg), (2) 30 second wall squats)
3rd Day – Work Core
(20 balance ball back extensions, 15 (each arm) bent rows, 20 balance ball oblique crunches each side, 20 Jackknife Sit-ups), 10 balance ball leg lifts
sweat and repeat.
And my FAVORITE yoga classes start up again the week of August 22nd!
So far, so good. To check my progress, CLICK HERE to see my fitness log.