Day 68: Back On Track !

 

Thursday October 24, 2024

Here is the link to my original Day 68. It was Tuesday March 12, 2019. My headline for that day was "The Road To Success". This was a reference to basically finding my way along the weight loss and exercise journey. There were no major "a ha's" in the blog. It was still early in the journey and I was stumbling along trying to figure out what works and what doesn't works. Reaching back to the original journey does help me somewhat, though I'm realizing many of the behaviors that led to me gaining the weight back are still an issue. I know what the road to success is, I just have to stay on it !

Breakfast was 160 calorie waffles with sugar free syrup followed by an 80 calorie yogurt. Morning snack was a 155 calorie vanilla shake with peanut butter powder. Lunch was the other half of my buffalo chicken wrap. Afternoon snack was an 80 calorie cheese stick and 120 calorie crackers. Dinner was 220 calorie creamy chicken alfredo over riced cauliflower. Evening snack was a 120 calorie oatmeal chocolate chip square with whipped cream.

It was after 9 am when I got up, mostly because I was awake until after 1 am. Minnie had her usual morning nap in my lap until around 11. Once she got up I finished up a round of Cookie Jam and got up to make the bed, get dressed, make my shake, put my mums back inside (I brought them in last night because of the wind), filled my vitamin box, made a second cup of coffee, plugged both tablets in to charge and then searched the house for stray bottles of vitamins. Whew .. I did a lot ! I was searching for stray bottles of vitamins because I could swear I had a plastic tub with extra bottles in the pantry. Well, it wasn't there and I have looked several times. I finally decided to check the tubs in my office and finally found it ! I finished a bottle of zinc and my vitamin E & calcium are low but I don't need to buy anything as I have extra bottles of everything ! Considering I'm unemployed now, I'm glad I don't have to go out and spend the money to buy refills anytime soon ! I made the mistake of taking my multivitamin before I ate my yogurt and my stomach did not like that. I had wanted to start my exercise day at 12:30 but decided to go with 1 pm so I'd be feeling better.

Today is a crucial day when it comes to exercise, since I took yesterday off. As I said in yesterday's blog, I don't intend to use every Wednesday as a non-exercise day. I need to straighten out my sleep issues so avoid being tired. I am struggling with putting something on the tv that will allow me to just listen, instead of actively watching. I used to do that with Post10 video's but his content has changed and I've kind of lost interest in it. Same goes for several other channels I watch. Right now I'm obsessed with letsdig18 but you have to actively watch those video's, so it's not really something that would help me sleep. Last night I ended up putting on a rain video with black screen and that did the trick. I used to use those all the time, so I think I'm going to start with those again. I find the sound of rain and distant thunder very relaxing. My bedroom has also been warmer the past few days due to the warmer daytime temps, so the flannel sheets and winter comforter were a bit warm and I needed the fan. The noise from the fan means putting the tv volume higher, which is jarring when ads come on. It's a vicious cycle ! I might just move my DVD player upstairs and start throwing a movie in. At least there would be no ads ! Temps have dropped until at least Wednesday of next week, so my room will likely be 65 degrees or so at night now, which is perfect. I really hope that setting my thermostat lower saves me money this winter ! 

I just happened across an article about vitamin B12 and that led to to another regarding vitamin D. Turns out the D supplement I am taking exceeds the daily max ! The daily max is 4000 IU and what I'm taking is 5000 IU ! As much as I hate to waste money, I removed it from my vitamin box and threw it all away. Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin, so it can build up in the body and be toxic ! I'd rather throw $20 in the trash instead of dying ! I found a D with only 1000 IU on Amazon, so I'm going to order that if I can't find something at Walmart. I'm glad I've only been taking the D regularly for a week now ! I need to take a look at the other vitamins I'm taking to make sure I'm not doing more harm than good ! But first ... it's 1:04 pm and it's time to get off the couch and get on the treadmill !

As of 1:40 pm the first workout of the day is in the books ! It was 20m12s on Lafayette Beach. My heart rate maxed out at 140 today. The workout didn't feel quite so hard and if this continues to be the case, I am sure I will be ready for the Atlas Mountains walk on 11-18 ! The speed is slower but it's just over 32 minutes, so you're still working hard. Intervals are still a good thing as the up and down speeds are good for fat burning, so I may throw in the Lafayette Walk a couple times a week once I transition. I really felt good when the workout was over and I recovered pretty quickly.

After my workout I did some more research on vitamins. I found that Walmart sells a 400IU vitamin D, which is perfect. I also found that the 180mg of vitamin E I'm taking is way too much. This is also a fat soluble vitamin so it can build up in the body. The iron I'm taking is also way too much ! WTF ! I'm taking 325mg and the recommended max is 45mg. The potassium I'm taking is fine. It's only 2% of the RDA. The zinc I have exceeds the max. So here's what I did: Iron - trash. Vitamin E - trash. Zinc - trash. That certainly simplifies my day. I will take a multivitamin, potassium, calcium and B12. I don't think a week of these mega doses is anything to worry about, but I'm glad I looked into this before too much time had passed !

Workout #2 was in the books at exactly 4 pm. It was 21m10s in Italy as I continue the Road to Recovery series part 2. My heart rate maxed out at 121 during this workout, probably during the brief 5% incline. I was peeing before the workout and I happened to notice the label of my Viactiv calcium supplement in the storage cabinet. To my surprise, vitamin D is included in the supplement. It provides 63% of the RDA for vitamin D and 50% for calcium ! So it was never necessary to take an additional vitamin D and I'm not going to buy any. I am so glad I took the time to study the vitamins I was taking. I'm also glad I had the courage to throw them all away. I hate to throw "cash in the trash", but it would be stupid to keep taking them. The money was already spent and it's gone, whether I take the supplements or not. I'll save in the long run as I won't ever buy them again ! I have to wonder why our government allows vitamins with massive and potentially toxic doses to be sold. There are probably millions of people blindly taking them, thinking it's ok. Unless the actually check the labels and do some research on recommended amounts, you'd have no idea. Now, there are those that say the dosages are super high because you don't absorb it all ... but that seems like a gamble to me as everyone likely absorbs them differently. I have to believe it's a little tough on the liver and kidneys to filter all that crap out. I'm going to finish the bottle of potassium I have and then stop that. Same with the B12, unless I feel like it's helping me. I may start taking the magnesium I had bought as it's claimed to help you sleep. During my cancer treatment I was always very low on magnesium and the bottle I bought has a safe dosage. Ultimately I will settle on just taking a multivitamin, calcium and possibly magnesium. I had been taking selenium but I stopped that recently when the bottle was empty. Now I just read too much of that can cause hair loss ! Makes me wonder if that contributed to my thinning hair. I was thinking about starting to take biotin, but I think I'm just going to stay away from all the stuff for a while.

Since workout #2 started late, #3 was pushed to 5:30 but it was actually 5:40 when I started the workout. I finished 19m22s around 6:10. My heart rate spiked to 174 during the first part of the workout, which is slightly beyond my max heart rate.

Workout #4 limped to the finish line at 8:50 pm, but all that matters is I got it done ! I rounded out the day with 19m24s. My heart rate maxed out at 162 at the beginning of this workout, which is just under my max. My left hip gave me some reminders that it's old. I had 2 brief periods where it was a bit painful, but it resolved and I continued on pain free.

My total workout time today is 80m8s plus 28 minutes of warm up/cool down for a grand total of 108m8s. I'm at 84 workouts for 2024. My goal for 2025 is 500+ workouts and that is very reachable. As of 11:24 pm, Fitbit says I completed 14,899 steps and burned 3,626 calories. A great fitness day !

After my last workout, instead of flopping down on the couch I went outside and brought my mums onto the porch. The low for tonight is 34 so we may see a frost. I also put Minnie's leftover wet food outside for the strays and then cleaned the litter boxes. Once all that was done I could finally put on my nightgown and relax. All that was left to do is take a shower, do skincare, have my evening snack and brush my teeth when I go to bed.

I managed to finish off the remaining items on my checklist by 10:30 but still have to make sure I brush my teeth when I go to bed ! I'm so happy I managed to motivate myself enough to get 4 workouts in today. Minnie spent more time in my lap today than she usually does and I will never push her off my lap to go exercise. I treasure those moments too much and the exercise can (and did!) wait. Was I tempted to skip the last workout ? I absolutely was, but I didn't ! It's nearly midnight so I need to put myself to bed !

Below is what I achieved today. I am focusing on what I do each day, and not looking back to what I did or didn't do any other day. I hope that one day soon I won't need a checklist to ensure I do all of these everyday tasks !   

Make the bed - x

feed cats - x

have breakfast - x

get dressed - x

exercise - x x x x

clean litter boxes - x

take vitamins - x

have morning snack - x

have lunch - x

have afternoon snack - x

have dinner - x

have evening snack - x

shower - x

skincare - x

brush teeth - x