Why I choose to stay agnostic on the subject of “programs”
When I first decided to start blogging, I didn’t feel comfortable about taking sides in the debates over low-carb vs. low-fat and countless other debates that rage amongst dieters, nutrition experts, and those that profit from either side. First, I just don’t know enough. Second, I am suspicious of nearly every “study” that comes out, because they’re all funded by someone, somewhere, that has an agenda.
My attitude has been, and will be, do what works for you. But, do it.
Oddly enough, I found a similar mindset in an unlikely place: Star Jones. Star has written a frank essay for Glamour about her weight loss, going public for the first time with the words “gastric-bypass” rather than “medical intervention”. While I’m always suspicious about the sincerity of celebrity mea culpas, I found some great advice:
Gastric bypass is a very serious procedure with its own set of risks. I’ve been afforded the luxury of consulting numerous doctors, specialists and colleagues who concluded that this surgery was the only way I could regain control of my life. It worked for me, but if you face a similar struggle, you’ll have to find what works for you. It isn’t an easy fix, and the recovery doesn’t end when you come out of anesthesia—that’s when the real work begins.
So weird to find myself in agreement with Star Jones, but there you go.
As for the idea that she wanted to “own up” to having gastric-bypass surgery… Why? First, she’s entitled to her privacy with regard to her medical decisions. But, she makes the point that it’s been therapeutic to share with people on an individual basis. Ok, it’s your business whether to share or not share. But there is an element of being embarassed about it:
But the complete truth is, I was scared of what people might think of me. I was afraid to be vulnerable, and ashamed at not being able to get myself under control without this procedure.
Hey, I’m not in the public eye so I can’t pretend to understand the fishbowl she lives in, much of which she takes responsibility for creating. But, making decisions to take the steps necessary to live a long, healthy life is never something of which to be embarrassed.
Here’s the takeaway: Find what works for you. Do it. You don’t owe anyone apologies or excuses.
Tags: diet, programsDay 1/100
Yes, I know I have a lot of “Day 1/100″s. I had a good excuse this time. Yeah, that felt worse than it looks.
But, here we are 6 weeks later, ready to rock and roll. Last night was a 1-mile, 20-minute walk - nothing strenuous, just nice and easy to break in the muscles and sweat a little. Man, did I sweat. Muggy can’t describe how bad it was - oppressive comes closer.
I took along a walking companion to keep me honest about taking it easy. I do that every few days to force me to keep it short and easy, so my body has time to recover after a few of the more strenuous days. Tried to get my daughter out on her new rollerblades, but she wasn’t feeling confident yet so she stuck with doing circles on the back porch.
So, I’m feeling satisfied. I did the hardest thing - I took the first step.
Did you?
Let me know in the comments or on the forum!
Welcome, welcome, step right in, make yourself comfortable
So, here we are.
The move is complete, but I’ve still got some cleaning to do around here. Whaddya think? Like the new digs?
So, I’ll be finished getting the structure of everything I want this site to be in a few days. But, I’m ready to rock and roll - my exercise motivation is back, I spent Saturday morning working with the neighbors to fill every freaking hole on the road so I won’t have to worry about stepping in any more holes, and I have my blog ready to chart the journey.
Woot!
So, next up is getting a forum installed, along with some minor tweaks to the sidebar. It’s also possible that there’s a slight formatting issue with the first post on the page - we’ll see in a moment, I suppose. I have a bit of SEO work to do on the old posts, but you won’t be seeing any of that. The SEO tools available for WordPress make this move worthwhile, to me at least.
So yeah, I suppose you can tell I’m stoked!
Tags: exerciseGetting ready for a change!
I’ll be moving this blog to a new host, moving to the wordpress client, and moving to the primary domain - www.hundreddayheadstart.com !!! No more of this subdomain stuff, we’re jumping in with both feet!!!
It’s not live yet, but should be ready to rock and roll by Monday - hope to see you all there!
No tag for this post.Ch- Ch- Ch- Changes, and some plans
Ok, we’ll start with the health stuff first: I’ll be starting back walking tonight. Day 1/100
Woot!
I still have soreness in the ankle in the morning, and when I get tired in the evening, but I’ve been exercising it lightly using exercise bands I bought at Wal-mart for $20. I’ve also been playing with my new Wii. Baseball and golf are tough on the ankle due to the spinning motion you need to use to get it to work best. But boxing kicks ass! Very much like cardio-boxing. I’m trying to come up with a simple way to rig the exercise bands and the Wii remote/nunchuck so my arms and chest get a resistance workout as well.
As for changes…
If you know much about domain names, you’ve noticed that I have this blog, and several others, on sub-domains of hundreddayheadstart.com. The primary domain is where I post about the sponsored review industry, but when I first picked up the domain it was intended to be for this blog and subject exactly.
I used this domain earlier this year to just get some thoughts off my chest, not really sure if i would stick with that subject or not. The good news is that I did, and I also restarted this health blog. So, I’m making some changes.
I picked up a new domain for the sponsored review blog: Bloggerista.net. Over the weekend, I moved the posts from HDHS to the new domain, now hosted at godaddy.com and powered by Wordpress. I’m really excited about making the move to WP and excited about the capabilities. It takes a bit more technical knowledge to get set up than Blogger; Blogger is definitely the most intuitive, easy-to-use platform for blogging. But, WP does so much more.
So, that move is done, mostly. The HDHS domain has a redirect script for now, until the search engines catch up. In a couple weeks, I’ll be making another change: I’ll be shutting down the subdomains and moving this health blog back where it belongs: www.hundreddayheadstart.com. I’ll also be moving it over to Wordpress as well.
That’s all for now. I’ll report in tomorrow, let you know how it goes tonight with the ankle and all.
Tags: exercise, walk, Wii, wiisportsRecovering from the Ankle Sprain
The first 10 days there was no improvement - none.
The last few days, though, big time improvements. I can bear weight and climb up stairs. Can’t go down stairs yet, though - can’t bear that much weight. It’s still painful, but manageable. The big challenge now is to not do too much.
I’ve been researching how to rehab this thing since I can’t afford to go to physical therapy 3 times per week. Looks like I’ll need some exercise equipment. Probably the most useful for this injury looks to be an exercise 
band. I can hold it with my hands or my good foot and loop it around the bad foot and gently work the ankle through X and Y axis with some resistance.
I’m also looking forward a bit to when I can finally start walking again. I’ve found recommendations to continue wearing a brace during exercise. I’ve found those elastic things at the drug store to be craptastic, but I saw one site that showed someone using their air cast. Not a bad idea, especially since I can’t afford a hinged ankle brace like the “real” athletes might use.
Ankle ligament injuries are a bitch, let me tell you. I’ve been through this too many times, and if I can get some surgical repair approved later this year, I’m doing it. My brother swears by it, says it is the best thing he’s done for his ankle.
How to get children exercising (without them knowing it!)
I’m still out of commission, but I came across a solid article from Dr. Sheri about exercise for kids. It mirrors my own thoughts on getting my kids moving throughout the week. Here’s an excerpt of her suggestions:
Additional suggestions to get your kids moving more:
# Whenever your kids have ten free minutes, encourage them to walk around instead of sitting down.
# Get your kids more involved in helping doing physical chores around the house, like cleaning, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, and washing dishes.
# Make a game out of raking the leaves in the yard.
# Take your kids with you when shopping for groceries (as an added bonus, use the time to teach them about which foods are healthier to eat).
# Put on some music and have an impromptu family dance.
# Send your kids outside to kick or hit a ball around or throw a Frisbee.
# Get a basketball hoop to set up in your driveway and send your kids outside to play regularly, or walk to the nearest neighborhood school and use theirs.
# On nice days, take your kids to the nearest park to walk or play.
# Encourage your kids to take the dog out for a daily walk (it needs exercise, too!).
# Always have your kids walk around the house while talking on the telephone.
# Have your kids walk in place, dance, or simply move while watching TV – at least during the commercial breaks.
To these I’ll add a couple of the things I’ve been doing:
- Races. My daughters LOVE to race in the yard and around the house. I time them with the stopwatch function on my cell phone and they enjoy hearing that they are getting faster. Timing helps by letting me know when they’ve done enough - if the times start getting longer, they’re tired or hot. Time to stop. In effect, this serves as an interval workout.
- My oldest daughter likes jump-rope, and can jump for 15-20 minutes at a stretch.
- Playgrounds! I’m a believer that there is no better workout for a kid. It’s a full-body workout done for an extended period of time at a variety of speeds and levels of effort.
- We live in Florida, so swimming is big. We don’t have a pool, unfortunately, but we take advantage of every offer to have the girls swim with friends or family. We also have the
beach.
It’s summer. Can you challenge your kids to do something physical every day until school (and PE and fall sports!) starts? Can you challenge yourself to make it fun for them? What are your ideas?
Tags: children, exercise, kids