2011 walking thread

Hi Ladies keep up the good work! I am down 37 pounds since May.I saw a coupon on the living social website for 40% of all kind of dance lessons for a month.I am tempted to take the pole dance lessons. I probably will settle for zumba.

mscal: 37 pounds since May! that's a serious amount of weight. How did you do it?

mscal: that is great  -- size 18 to 12/14. I used to be a 10/12, but with weight gain over the last two years, most of it in the last year, I've gone to a size 16 and I'm short, so now short and fat. I feel gross! I've now started to use the program FitDay to record every morsel that passes my lips. When I look at my food intake for the day, apart from keeping the calories down, I do strive to get enough fiber and enough protein. 

Despite all the clothes I have, I find it hard to find something comforable to wear even to go for a walk. I can't afford, and don't want to, keep buying bigger sizes. And I'm still clinging to all the size 12s and 14s. I finally got rid of the 10s.

Boiling half a dozen eggs at a time is a great idea. I must start doing that.

Did you lose weight from your DIEP surgery? It must have been hard to keep up your exercise in the weeks immediately following that as you had a lot of healing to do.

Mary: As soon as I had my 2 week check up, I started walking. My PS encouraged it and was so happy that I asked if it was okay? It is hard for us women to lose weight especially when we are taking some type of medication that promotes it. If I eat a large meal one day I know that I have to eat  a small meal the next day in order to maintain. It seemed so easy for my DH to lose weight. I was really jealous at how fast he lost it without really trying. I am going to start aerobic and zumba classes hopefully next week. I am 6 ft tall and I still look in the mirror sometimes and think that I am too fat. I don't want to get obsessed with weight loss. It used to be so easy for me to lose it, now I have to work twice as hard.

Gma:That is really great! If I miss walking I am so unhappy. The bicycle and ellipitical are no match for walking. I often think about countries where people walk everywhere.

Yes, we can lose a lot of inches and build muscles. As long as my clothes fit looser,I will settle for that. I think that way everyday. Sometimes I have a protein shake for breakfast to help encourage my muscle building.

I buy whey protien powder and make smoothies with almond milk and fresh or frozen fruit.

Do you get the protein powder in the supermarket or pharmacy? Any brand suggestions?

Gma: In order for medication to fix one problem it causes another. When my DH and I watch prescription commercials, we pay more attention to the side effects than the product.This whole ride is emotional in itself. Walking will help you grow stronger, mentally and physically.

Mary: I get my protein powder from Walmart.

Today was my first semi-real walk since coming home from the hospital (I walked down the road to the little store to buy milk and some other stuff a couple times on Sunday but that's so close I don't really count it as a "real walk" if that's all I do) -- getting a faraway parking space to the cancer center to have my rads for today. I would've done that yesterday except I was running a little late for my rads, so I used the parking garage.

Claire, absolutely on that walking improves your figure business; it's part of why I started doing it -- at the time I was trying to lose weight, and I succeeded. I continued walking because I LIKED it and wanted to maintain the better body and slightly higher metabolism. But I HATE shopping. I did have to do some since I lost enough weight to need smaller clothes, though. I gave the "fat clothes" to the thrift shop and bought some smaller things to fit my "new" body there. Anyway today while driving home from the cancer center, passing the street where the heating oil company is in town, I remembered that to have been within "far" walking distance (round trip) because walking there to set up my heating oil account was the last "real walk" I took the end of last fall when it just hit the too cold mark for me....so now that the weather is beautiful I should make a walking route out of it...if I have enough energy, that is. Recovering from kidney failure and having radiation treatment simultaneously is not particularly motivating for physical activity.

OK so I did the parking lot and no elevator thing this afternoon, wondering if I have the energy to take what I think of as the little-ish walk to and around the town common (very hilly, about half an hour round trip). 

I can't wear flip flops or any kind of backless shoes; I have to concentrate too much to keep them on my feet -- dunno why but they always wanted to come off before I stopped even trying them. I like sandals and sneakers best, and wear one or the other depending on weather when I go for a walk. Today is a sandals day.

Good going on getting started with your walking Gma -- at the time I started walking I was on Femara (rather than Arimidex). I'm trying to remember now if walking made any dents in the joint pains/bodily feel of being 90 years old and can't.....

Lena, sounds like you are making a great recovery. You sound positive and motivated. So glad you are home and on the mend. How many more rads to go?

well, I walked at lunch Mon and Tues, which is good, but it was raining this afternoon, so I didn't get to walk.  I'm also stuffy/coughing/achy so maybe the rain isn't so bad.  I walked along the water instead of 1/2 over Brooklyn Bridge.  Both are good walks for different reasons.  The water route doesn't have the hills the bridge does, but it has more time in the shade and less tourists.  I'll probably stick to the water route while its in the 90s, esp in Aug.  I would think tourist traffic would go down in September

I am wondering if a high energy snack might help with the fatigue after walking, GmaFoley.  I know that I use energy gels when cycling and they shorten distances by one half, and make hills half as high.

So something like 4 fig newtons??  Important to have enough fuel, and the stored stuff on your body doesn't help when your body is craving quick energy. 

I would give that a try.  I found I didn't have energy reserves after finishing radiation, so snacking during training was really critical.  Larabars are great as have fruit and nuts. - Claire

mmmmmmm, fig newtons.... haven't had those in ages!

Four flights of stairs for me today (at the cancer center after rads) and that was it. I was so tired today my sense of timing messed up and I left about 20 mins later than I had originally planned, so there was no TIME to try to find a faraway parking spot and walk anyway -- I made it in on time by the skin of my teeth using the parking garage (which is immediately adjacent) and took the elevators -- 2:58 for a 3 PM appointment! I normally plan my departure times so I arrive at my destinations 5-10 mins early. Dunno what happened to me today. But, I took the stairs on the way out.

Claire, what is a high energy gel? 

Lena.....those of us who do endurance events use some strange stuff to go the distance.  So I have a stash of electrolyte drinks, GU gel (the energy gel which is sugar and fat), energy bars, and electrolyte candies (Clif Shot Blocks).

Most people don't need these, but an example of where I did, was the 43 mile ride I did on Sunday.  You run out of energy after about 20 miles of cycling and just have to eat something.

However, after chemo and radiation, I didn't have my normal energy reserves, so I used these almost every time I went out.  They really made a difference.

I would suggest to anyone exercising during or after active treatment that they carry something high energy with them.

You don't need the performance gels.....fig newtons or something similar will do the trick.

The idea is to come back from a walk energized as opposed to shaky and half dead.

Make sure too that you drink enough liquid, and electrolyte replacement if you are out there for hours. - Claire

(Arimidex isn't always the reason you have leg cramps.)