Diet and Fitness Craze ... or Just Plain Crazy?

Anyone who has known me for any length of time knows that I am an all-or-nothing kinda gal.  I will latch on to a new idea or behavior and go full steam ahead with it, until I ultimately lose interest entirely, or burn out.  Be it diet, fitness, writing, crocheting, quilting, a business venture such as my eBay business ... I tend to be very focused on that one thing to the exclusion of just about everything else in my life, and we all how how well that works out.  It doesn't.

I've tried various low-carb and other sensible eating programs (including Whole30) over the years.  They worked, and I lost a lot of weight, with almost no effort.  But I'm a diagnosed carb addict (yes, it's a real thing), and once you let any amount of carbs back in, whamo - the weight comes back, along with the cravings, because the addiction is always there.

I started running again a couple of years ago, (really just a walking pace for most of you, but a running gait), and once I got going, I was up to running a minimum of 3-6 miles a day, almost every day.  I even had aspirations to work up to a half marathon, as slow as I might be.  Nothing wrong with that, right?  Well there is if you're competing with yourself and become obsessed with time, distance, splits, etc.  I would neglect taking the dogs out for any exercise, or when I did, I would rush to adjust the apps when I got home to reflect how fast/far we actually went, because all their sniffing and taking care of business would cause my Garmin watch to stop and start, resulting in inaccurate data.  Again with the obsession.  Who cares about all that?  No one sees it but me!

It wasn't a lot of fun. And I'm now 60 years old, have osteoporosis with high risk of fracture, crazy high cholesterol, and overweight.  Not a good combination to be doing any distance running, especially since I usually go alone in remote areas.  I'm also pre-diabetic, but my blood pressure is good, and my heart is healthy, but I don't think I have to run miles a day to keep it that way.

I had to stop running early this year because of severe sleep deprivation, and it's taken until last month to decide it was time to get back into it.  I had gained all my weight back, and was eating way too much, and all the wrong things, even binging on occasion.  I started to run again a couple of weeks ago - not very far, but wanted to work back up to getting those 10k distances in.  I also decided to try some Leslie Sansone walking/workout DVDs that I borrowed from the library, just to break things up a little.  Well in typical MA fashion, I went out for a short run the next morning, then proceeded to do several 20-30 minute workouts from the DVDs throughout the rest of the day, then repeated the behavior the next day.   Do you see where this was going?  I was obsessing again!

My Three Amigos - Molly, Jethro, Phoebe
© Marie Anne St. Jean

I had a good talk with myself and said no more.  To prove I could do it, I took each of the three dogs out for a walk twice the last few days, allowing them to set the pace and do what dogs do, and just be dogs.  And I liked it.   It didn’t seem like a chore, or that they were holding me back from something I wanted to do.  I love these critters to pieces, but I hadn’t been being fair to them while I was focusing on what MA wanted to do.

So, my new goal is to not really have a goal.  I’ll be practicing moderation, or at least trying to.  I’ve done well the last week or so on a nutritional level, little to no junk food and NO binging,  but not counting carbs either. I plan on running a mile or two several times a week, if I feel like it.  I’ll also still be doing the other workout videos because I did enjoy them, and I’ll be finding others and reviewing them here on this blog also. But no more marathons with several sessions a day, especially on a day I've already run.

Will I pledge to never allow a cookie or potato chip to pass my lips again?  Nope.  And if I’m feeling froggy, I might hit the road for a 5K or 10K on occasion, but those distances will be the exception rather than the rule.  And of course if a friend wants to hit the trail for a gab session, I’m all for it.  Give me two minutes to grab my shoes and I’m there!

I do need to lose weight.  I do need to make better food choices.  I do need fresh air and exercise.  But while I need all three of those things to maintain a healthy mind and body, obsessing about any of it is not healthy.

And that's the end goal, right?

~ Marie Anne

Hiking Hopewell Mound Group in Chillicothe, Ohio

Jethro is ready to go
©Marie Anne St. Jean

I needed a break from walking the short distance up and down my boring road several times a day and remembered that there was a walking trail at Hopewell Mound Group just a few miles from my home, so I decided to take Jethro out early this morning. The trail begins from a parking area on Sulphur Lick Rd. in Chillicothe, right near the intersection of Maple Grove Rd., not far from Frankfort.  It starts out in a more open area with a packed sand/fine gravel walking surface on fairly level ground, then begins to wind up a hill to a wooded area.




Once in the woods, watch for roots on the trail that might trip you up.  Depending on the time of year, you'll also need to be careful of wet leaves and hickory nut pods, those wonderful green balls that can send a body flying if you step on one just right.  At one point you'll find a few stairs set into a hill, but they're very widely spaced and not steep at all.  There is more than one footbridge, but they're also easily traversed.

Lots of wet leaves, but we got this!
©Marie Anne St. Jean

The trail continues in a complete circle if you go all the way around to Sulphur Lick Rd and walk along the bike path, or you can turn at any point on the wooded area of the trail and come back the way that you came.  Since it was Jethro's first time to hike Hopewell Mound Group, I elected to keep our jaunt a little shorter and stayed on the trail.  The longer footbridge (photo below) was covered in wet leaves, and since I'm not as sure-footed as I used to be because of a bum knee, I decided that was a good place to turn around.  My Fitbit registered approximately two miles for the ground we covered today.

Longer footbridge where we turned around
©Marie Anne St. Jean

The walking trail at Hopewell Mound Group is a pleasant one, and not too difficult.  Anyone who can manage small inclines for short distances should be able to navigate this trail without difficulty.  The park is open during daylight hours year round, with an adequate parking area and bathroom facilities available.

Almost there ... let's go home, Mom!
©Marie Anne St. Jean

I hope to make this hike twice a week, alternating which dog will come along (I have three).  I think adding Hopewell Mound Group to my short list of walking areas will help to break up the monotony and keep me moving.

Keep putting one foot in front of the other ...

~ Marie Anne






Looking for more dog-friendly places to hike in Ross County, Ohio?  Yoctangee Park in downtown Chillicothe is an easy option, and Great Seal State Park on the outskirts of town affords a little more of a challenge.

When Is a Day Off From Training Not a Day Off?

I scheduled today as an off day from my training for the virtual 5K, so I didn't do a walk/jog, but I wasn't a total slacker, and actually ending up doing more than I'd planned.

This morning I got on the recumbent bike for 30 min, then later took the dogs for a walk for just under 30 min.  I have three of them now and it's really hard to get a good walk in when they're stopping to sniff or pee (and never at the same time), so I took each of them separately today.  Walking one at a time allowed for much more forward motion, rather than all over the road.  It worked out much better and I think I'll continue that, at least part of the time.

Since starting back up with watching my food intake and exercising more, I haven't really felt hungry at all, which has been a blessing.  Today, for some reason, I did feel hungry, and I'm not sure what's going on there.  I sipped water all day and will get my 8 full glasses in before it's over, so it's not dehydration.

To try to combat the hunger, I decided to get in another walk this evening, and even grabbed my 3 lb hand weights to see how that would work out.  It didn't.  I started off ok, but they're a bit too big to walk and swing my arms properly because they either hit each other if I swung to the front, or they hit my side.  I ended up dropping them after two minutes or so into the walk, then picked them up on the way back.  It wasn't so much the weight (although 3 lbs is probably too much to start with), but the actual size.  I think I'll look for some 1 or 1.5 lb hand weights to see if they might work better.

I'm still hungry, but since my day off from training turned out to not be much of an off day at all, I think I've earned a little snack while sipping the two remaining cups of water I need today.  I'm still within my calorie count for the day, so now just need to decide which to have -- peanut butter on celery, almonds, pistachios, or a hunk of cheddar cheese.

~ Marie Anne

Putting on the Dog

Yesterday was almost a day off from exercise, but I did fit in a short walk on my street, about 15 minutes worth.  I wish now that I'd made it a little longer trip.

Later in the day I got a phone call that one of the rescued puppies I had placed a few weeks ago needed a new home immediately, as the owner had been hospitalized for most of Aug and was going back in again this morning and couldn't care for him.  Someone else was going to take him but was a no-show, so either I took him back or he was going to the shelter this morning, so you know what happened.

McGee

I had planned on taking my two dogs out for a walk at dusk, but now with the third one thrown in, I wasn't sure how that was going to work.  The other lady that had him said she'd put him on the leash one time and he hated it, so she never tried again.  I started out with McGee on the tandem leash with one of mine and ohmy, he pulled back so hard he was choking himself before we even got out the door.  I switched and put Molly and Jethro on the double leash as usual, and put little McGee on the single lead by himself.  He didn't like that any better and kept pulling back and choking, so things didn't start out well.

Molly & Jethro

Since my two were moving forward, McGee finally decided he best do the same and did a little better, but would speed up and slow down, not keeping pace with the other two.  It wasn't long before I was switching hands and twirling around to try to keep three dogs and two leashes from becoming tangled, or worse, landing me on my butt.

It wasn't pleasant for me, and probably not a pretty sight for anyone who might have caught me dancing down the street, but I managed to keep things moving for probably just under 10 minutes.  That was enough; back to the house we went.

My legs didn't get much of a workout from the excursion yesterday, but my arms sure did, and I also got to work on my balance.  Errands took up part of my day today (I went shopping for running shoes ... that'll be a separate blog post) so I probably won't get a good workout in, but might make another attempt at dog-walking this evening.  A friend might be coming by with his two dogs later, so can I possibly do it with five of them?

If you're in the area, grab your video camera.  I guarantee it will be worthy of YouTube.

~ Marie Anne

Disclaimer:  No animals were injured during the conduct of this excursion.  It remains to be seen whether the same can be said for the human involved.