What are the "secrets" to your success?

Fear of recurrence! I've lost 6 lbs. since my mega chemo gain. Started walking mid may, and watching diet. I got a fitbit pedometer and really find that motivational, I've actually gotten out of bed once and onto my treadmill to make my 10,000 steps! Plan on loosing 25 more.

I wear a pedometer and try to get in 10,000 steps a day.  You can get a fancy expensive one but mine's a $5 cheapie from the big box store.  I've tracked miles walked since BMX in Feb 2010.  Some days it was all I could do to get the mail, but tried to do a little something every day.  As of this morning's walk, I've logged 3,645.69 miles.  (see my signature line, that's how I keep track.)

I eat a healthy diet, nearly all organic.  While not gluten-intolerant, I avoid wheat.

Have managed to lose the chemo weight and now am working on the longer-term fat.  Middle age, chemo-pause, and tamoxifen are NOT helping.  What does help is support from the ladies on the Let's Post our Daily Exercise thread, and the E-LAB thread (E-LAB = eating like a bird).  And I think it helps that I give myself a break for being a little pudgy and enjoying an indulgence from time to time.  :-)

I do the things mentioned already by badger. I religiously post on the 'Wednesday Weigh In' and 'Lets Post Our Daily Exercise' threads & sporatically using loseit.com (which is really great because you can 'earn' back calories through exercise). The threads are great because they make you accountable & you get to hang out with some great ladies with the same goals & challenges as yourself.

The other thing I do to have an exercise notebook. Years ago I heard Richard Simmons say that a person needs 4 hour of aerobic exercise and 3 hours of toning a week to be healthy, so every week I flip the page and write the week on the top 'Week 1', 'Week 2' etc. and then make two columns: 'Aerobic' and 'Toning'. Below the Aerobics I block out 4 hours in 15 minute incriments, and three hours under the toning. As I exercise I 'X' off the 15 minutes. I am so anal retentive that I HAVE to have them all crossed off by the end of the week. (I go Monday-Sunday.....so if I am busy during the week, I will have to exercise more on the weekend.)

If I walk 45 minutes tomorrow and do 30 minutes of toning, this is what my chart will look like:

                                Week 1

Aerobics                                          Toning

15   X                                               15 X

15  X                                                15 X

15  X                                                15

15                                                    15

15                                                    15

15                                                    15

(etc. to four hours)                            (etc. to three hours)

I'm like Claire and am driven by signing up for events to keep me on my training schedule. Every year I set a very big, very scary goal and work all year to meet it. The year I finished treatment I walked the BC 3 Day walk, 20 miles each day for three days and DID IT ! Along with Weight Watchers I lost 10% of my body weight. The next year I hiked the highest peak in Colorado, Mt Elbert. The third year I ran a half marathon and last year I ran a marathon! Not bad for an overweight grandmother.



The secret is an appropriate training schedule and mostly sticking to it. This year is my most scary goal ever, climbing Kilimanjaro to raise money to fight cancer.



Because I was never a serious athlete I don't look back at what I did when I was younger, because I am surpassing what I ever did before. I keep surprising myself.



Boo

This month I celebrate my 6 year cancerversary, which is also my metserversary. I've been lucky my cancer responded to treatment. I had no evidence of disease after 5 months. I was 50, 100% ER positive and so the cancer couldn't have known what hit it without all that estrogen.

I started walking after my first chemo infusion, hoping to get side effects under control. I've been walking and doing some sort of exercise everyday since. I'm always changing my routine because I'm easily bored and I'm afraid I might stop exercising altogether if I don't do something new. I buy myself exercise toys and videos. I am at the gym at least 3 times a week. In winter I'm there every day some weeks.

At some point early on I hired a personal trainer. I was such a newbie at fitness I had some learning to do.  I couldn't use any of the machines in the beginning. The trainer had to help me lift at the lowest settings. Before my dx I had lost more than 10% of my weight in a short period, including muscle mass, without trying, that is. I couldn't carry my own bag then. With a lot of work and a lot of pain (the good kind), I got stronger and could eventually do weights on my own. It pays to be persistent.

It also helps that I have an active family. We go skiing, biking, and hiking together. To be able to keep up with them, I have to stay fit.

I'm constantly researching on the Internet on the beneficial effects of exercise for keeping cancer at bay. These are mostly about mice but I'm not picky. One of the first studies I looked at investigated exercise in metastatic mice. The exercise group lived significantly longer than the sedentary group. They didn't say anything about quality of life, though I suspect the mice weren't on antiestrogen therapy. That's another big secret to getting my ass moving. I had much less pain when I exercised. If I could only stay in the gym or bike outside all day....