Damage Control

I had an interesting meeting this week. A 72 year old lady came to the clinic and of course getting everyone's weight the second we meet always brings comments about losing weight. Turned out she recently bought the Boss Bands from Cathe and was intimidated by them. I encouraged her to just keep at it to get more comfortable. It was nice to meet someone local who had even heard of Cathe! She mostly does indoor cardio workouts-none of Cathe's and is scared of step being too complicated. Anyway-it was refreshing to see!

I've had a week of being thrown everywhere at the office since my provider had her baby last weekend. Someone else has quit so there are now three full time spots that need filled. I did meet with my manager and have at least started training for the part time spot. I did a few hours of telemed training this week. Monday I get coumadin clinic training and Tuesday is allergy shot training. Then the plan is to shadow the position for a few days and start part time next week! My days of working are Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. I can not wait! DH also decided to stay on my insurance since he's been looking into all the medicare costs. That's fine. I'm basically working for insurance anyway.

Workouts-one upper body on Tuesday and then just walking. Sounds like you have a great plan with heavy weights followed by some cardio. I'm a bit worried Cathe won't have DVDs for this STS 2.0 and make it all streaming. I hope not!

DS2 broke up with his live in situation and is back in his bachelor pad in San Fran. Live and learn. It's only his second serious relationship. Hopefully he's learning what he wants.

Beth
 
Seriously, where does the time go. It's been a hectic week. My internet was out on Monday so I only got in 4.5 hours of work. Yesterday was supposed to be my off Friday, but I had so many things that needed to get done, and it was patch Friday. Patching is so stressful, takes so long and basically ruins the whole weekend. Needless to say I am dragging today.

Today is DH's birthday and we are going to dinner with his Mom tonight. Of course we have Father's Day tomorrow. The kids bought him more movies and new sound bar for the tv. We also got him a new natural gas grill, but it won't be here until Tuesday or Wednesday. Our back patio has natural gas so it is an easy hookup.

Two days this past week was only walking. Today is chest & shoulders followed by 20 min cardio. I may use my rower for the cardio. My rowing endurance is improving. I'm not gonna lie, it is harder that I thought it would be. I may try to get to yoga tomorrow morning.

Oh, I meet with the Dr. on Monday to go over my female panel lab reports. Not sure if I mentioned they weighed me on one of their smart scales-not really sure what it's called but I had two things in the right range and that was bone and water. They also recommended I lose 40#'s. I'll let you know how the appt goes and what my recommended options are.

Wow, its nice to meet other Cathletes. I recall my first roadtrip many years ago and it was very apparent the the folks taking her classes at the gym did not know about her videos. That has probably changed over the years.

I'm so happy for you that you finally get to go part-time. You are in such a high stress field it will be nice to lessen the load. It is also a nice transition to retirement. You have the time to figure out your interests and plan for retirement.

I agree about your son, but breakups are always challenging and difficult.

ttyl
 
40 #! Do they know how much you can squat and deadlift? I was glad to read your bones are good, but you must have a ton of muscle to be able to lift 114#. I loaded up my barbell on Sunday and did Slow and Heavy legs. I only had 50 lbs on and had to have help getting off after I was done with squats-DH was mad. It went on fine, but trying to get it off my shoulders and up over my head and down was not happening! Guess I'll have to use dumbbells for it.

I've been shadowing the new parts of my job. I think I'm going to like it ok. At least I'm not starting from scratch on the computer. Tomorrow we drive to Sayre (1.5 hours) for allergy shot training.

Part time starts next Tuesday!

Beth
 
My appt went very well. My muscle mass is good, but my bodyfat% is high. The Dr. doesn't think I need to lose 40#'s which is good. That would not be a maintainable weight for me. I would be good with 20-25#'s. My labs showed my testosterone was barely measurable. I'm taking testosterone shots once a week and I've committed to 3 months. They also prescribed Sermorelin which helps stimulate your body to produce more human growth hormone and should help me sleep better and other benefits. I do not sleep well at all and it is impacting every aspect of my life. I will take both of these for 3 months and see if it makes a difference or not.

Before I had my squat rack, I could only squat 65lbs. That is what I could safely lift from the floor over my head and back down. I've made significant improvements with my strength using the squat rack. It's hard lifting heavy with dumbbells, my forearms give out before my legs do. How heavy do we really need to go to be healthy anyway.

Yay for part-time!!!! I'm so excited for you. I want to go to Greece, are up for an International trip?

Gotta run, I'm working tonight.

ttyl
 
Testosterone! Wow. What specialty physician are you seeing-endocrinolgy? It sounds fascinating. Did they measure your estrogen as well? I am looking forward to hearing how your plan works. I just started using an app and tracking my food intake. It is so hard to get enough protein. I have to eat a can of tuna fish for lunch. And breakfast is the hardest. My cereal and soy milk have about 14 grams of protein-about half of what I'm trying to get. On the plus side, my fiber intake is good!

There is a gym here now called 365 fitness that has heavier weights and squat racks and big deadlift bars/trap bars. I might try it, but am first going to see about a yoga class.

Our big trip this year is going to see a Liverpool match in October! DH finally bit the bullet and bought tickets. When would you want to go to Greece? Of course I'm interested! I just renewed my passport.

Enjoying the weekend and hope you are too!

Beth
 
Wow, didn't realize it had been so long since I checked in. Just busy with work etc. I've been getting in my workouts. I've been following the other platforms June Challenge and she just added a bonus week. Today was Legs and I did deadlifts with 104#, and sit squats with 114#. Those are pb's for me. When I finish up this challenge I plan on doing RWH for upper body. I find it so effective and since they are shorter, I usually have time to add in the ab work.

Well I'm really wanting to go on vacation over labor day. It could be something much closer though, like Florida, California or even Mrytle Beach would be fun. None of my family wants to go with me though. Are you game for any of those places? Just a nice relaxing vacation.

What workouts have you been doing? Are you part-time now?? Do you have plans for today? We are just hanging out at home. Our neighbors will be doing fire works tonight so we will just sit out front and enjoy.

ttyl
 
Awesome personal best numbers! DS2 does those at his gym, too. Way to go!

I have gone part time! This is the second week. I work Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It is wonderful! I have my own office now and am completely out of the petty drama in the back. I can "visit" with the patients longer and am enjoying the work. I am seeing more elderly patients in the anticoagulation clinic so that is nice. Otherwise, I do allergy shots, hook up EKG's and Holter Monitors, give vaccines and other ordered shots (like Invega and Depo Provera) and check blood pressures. I get a lot accomplished every day and every day is different. Oh-I also do tele med visits with the specialists for patients who can't do zoom at home. It's on a big screen monitor and the nurse can get vitals for the visit, check legs for edema, and listen for abnormal lung sounds.

So I just might end up working longer than I had planned since I got this spot. Workout wise I have switched to 3 total body weight workouts a week-on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. I have been alternating Muscle Max and Muscle Endurance dvds. I think it helps to work both types of muscle fibers. I'm going as heavy as I can for both, taking rest breaks, and keeping a log of my workouts. I'm walking every day as well for at least 40 minutes. It feels good not to have upper/lower for a while.

We didn't do much over the holiday weekend. I ended up going into work on Sunday for 4 hours since they were desperate for a volunteer.

I'm thinking about the trip. I have to put in for the time off. What days were you thinking?

Beth
 
I've been doing a lot of heavy lifting and less cardio. It's been a body part split and I'm thinking full body is sounding good to me. My weight is pretty much the same. My body is just covered in fat so I'm hoping the Testosterone shots and sermorelin will help. It hasn't even been a month but I was hoping something would jump start the weight loss. I'm having to buy larger clothes and that is no fun at all. I hate menopause so much. I just want my pre-meno body back. Sorry for being such a downer.

Your rotation is great. I haven't done either of those in a very long time. I really like Muscle Max, but Muscle Endurance was never one of my favorites. There are benefits to going to failure with lower weights. So glad you are loving your new schedule. My sister in law retired last year and then went back to work part time-2 days per week. This way she gets her pension and a salary. She said she thought she could continue this schedule for 10 years. I'm counting down 10 years until I can retire.

I was thinking sometime between 8/31 and 9/7. It doesn't need to be for that long, but in that time frame. Any idea where you want to go? What about San Diego?

My sister in law stopped by yesterday and said we could start planning a Nov Intl vacation. I didn't think she would be up to it. She had her knee replaced and it is really not doing that well. She ended up with terrible nerve pain that they have been unable to manage.

It's 100+ degrees and miserable outside. UGH

ttyl
 
Well, I'm sorry to say that DH doesn't want me to travel without him! I'll work on him though it might not be for a while that I can go. I was thinking we should meet in the midwest -somewhere in the middle. Maybe Nashville? Or, I would love to see Mt. Rushmore some time (Bucket list). Or, I was thinking New Orleans or even Chicago. I've never been to any of those places. If I go to Cali, I'll want to see DS2! What do you think? I'm glad your SIL is up for an international trip. Have her go in a wheel chair if need be!

I'm really enjoying the full body. I've done MM and ME each 3 times and plan on doing a four week stretch (so another two weeks). My next month is going to be Push/Pull and Supersets, I think. I like not being rushed and going as slow as I need to. I'm too tired to do much of the abs at the end-hope engaging is enough!

Sorry that the hormones are not helping. It's just so darn easy to gain weight now. I'm trying not to snack and to eat just 3 meals a day. DH snacks all day so it's not easy. I'm focusing on the least process foods I can and aim for low sugar. I end up drinking a lot of water and decaf iced tea during the day. Dinner is earlier-around 5:30 now because I'm so hungry by then!

Beth
 
I've been to Chicago but would love to go back. I've never been to Nashville or Mt. Rushmore. Whenever we can make it happen it will be a fun trip for sure.

I had my weigh in with the hormone Dr. and my weight was up just over a pound, but my muscle had increased and my bodyfat had decreased which was good. My first weigh in was in the morning and this one was in the afternoon so that also could have been the difference. I scheduled my next appt for in the morning. I also met with their medical weight loss dr. They offer a 6 month medical weight loss program that includes phentermine, Lipotropic injections, meal replacements, weekly weigh ins and counseling and then a transition back to eating real food. She said this plan puts you in ketosis so the fat loss happens pretty quickly. It is $4K, and that is not in my budget.

I found it interesting that the hormone dr. is a fan of intermittent fasting, but the weight loss dr. is not. She prefers it for when you are in maintenance and not for weight loss. As a matter fact the meal replacements are 5 meals a day including snacks. The calorie intake is around 800 calories per day because the phentermine curbs your hunger signals and the lipotropic injections encourage your body to burn fat.

I usually workout sometime between 9 and 11 and afterwards have a protein shake with 1/2 a frozen banana, some spinach or kale, 1/4 of an avocado, almond milk and then I top it with 2 tbsp chia seeds. My problem is in the afternoon and I get hungry. I need go back to having cut up veggies and hummus or some other healthy snack. I do eat a lot of nuts, mostly almonds or pecans and sometimes walnuts.

I'm so looking forward to the weekend. Only 1 more week of work and then we will be on vacation.

ttyl
 
Up in muscle and down in fat! You are getting stronger for sure. Way to go! A friend of mine here has lost 30 pounds recently. She's doing this plan where you eat every two hours (about 100 calories) and then eat one meal a day. She eats between 800 and 1K a day. She eats no gluten as a personal preference anyway so it's mostly a higher fat/lower carb diet. She sets her watch on a timer and will have stuff like pickles, eggs, half a protein bar, a protein drink-whatever she can for around 100 calories. Dinner/meal is protein and veggies. It's been working for her, but I can tell she's not putting any muscle on since she doesn't work out with weights much-she does walk and bike some. I hope you find the best way for you. It sounds like more muscle and less fat though is great.

And now you're on vacation! Are you guys going to the timeshare? Not much going on here-just enjoying life.

Beth
 
I tweaked my back the other day, pulling weeds I think. I had a few days off from workouts. My back was feeling better today so I did a cardio/bi/tri ab circuit that was pretty good. I'm really looking forward to STS 2.0 was glad Cathe finally gave another update. I've been using my new rower a bit more and am really enjoying the classes. My legs were even feeling liking jelly after 3 days in a row of rowing.

We head to the mountains on Friday night or Saturday morning. My workouts will mostly consist of walking. I am taking my bands and found that my rowing app also has mat workouts, ab workouts etc. I may give a few of those a try. I'm just looking forward to relaxing.

I'm not sure I could get by on 800 to 1K calories a day without some sort of appetite suppressant. My SIL has lost 30 lbs in 3 months of using Ozempic. She is type 2 diabetic and overweight. I wish there was a weekly shot for those of us that don't have diabetes. I'm in the obese range now but do not have any underlying conditions. It's so frustrating being unable to get some weightloss help. I do a have my annual physical later this week and will bring my concerns up to my Dr. For now I'm just going to keep eating vegetables, protein, berries, and limit processed food. I don't eat much processed foot anyway.

Keep enjoying life and your new work schedule!!! I'm so happy for you. Eventually I will get there. :)

ttyl
 
I hope you are having a nice, relaxing time in the mountains! I have discovered youtube channels and am pumped to try some of the workouts. They have a ton of total body workouts. Do you ever use any of these?

Rowing is total body so I'm not surprised your legs are sore!

It's really hot here, so Thursday I went to the pool and just did my treading water workout for 25 minutes. It felt really good and I kind of miss the pool now! Not much else going on.

Beth
 
We are back from the mountains. It was so nice to escape the heat for a week. I did plenty of walking every day-45 minutes to 2 hours. I even did a couple of my row app w/o's. They have mat workouts, core etc, things you don't need the machine for. I also did some ab workouts from the power abs program. DS1 came up for a couple days which was nice. DH just stays at the Condo, but DS1 and I go out an about and walk a ton.

Laundry is done and now I just need to grocery shop for the upcoming week. The house is pretty quiet without the girls here. They are in Oregon with their Mom, her boyfriend and his 3 kids. I think they come back on Aug 3rd or 4th. Then they will need to start getting ready for school which starts on Aug 16th for them.

I had my Dr. appt before we left and my cholesterol is a little high. I have another appt with her this week for something else and she said we could discuss it. I really don't want to take any meds, I will try to lower it with dietary changes. Hopefully she will give me a couple months to do that.

What have you been up to?
 
Glad you could escape and relax a bit. I can't believe school starts in two weeks for your granddaughters! Although I think it would be a good idea to have year around school to help kids not lose the rhythm of studying. It would help parents too with having to find child care all summer. My cousin's daughters lived in a district in NC with year around school and they are both engineers now!

Things are good here. I'm reading a lot, playing cards, doing the total body weights 3x a week and walking around 40 minutes a day. I'm getting some deep cleaning projects done and just organizing stuff around the house that is driving me crazy that DH doesn't see. I started in the front foyer and am moving through the kitchen now. I just do a little here and there. Another project I'm working on is using up the stuff in the pantry! Last week I finished up the wheat germ that I've had for too long. Oh-and we're not buying any more spices until we use up what we have!

Our England trip got extended by a day-they changed the match from Saturday to Sunday. So DH has been busy getting all the travel arrangements rearranged. It will be nice to have a full day of being in Liverpool and we'll get to see DS2 longer this year.

Have a good weekend!

Beth
 
Where does the time go. I missed a few workouts this week for Dr. appts. Annual mammogram is done and a follow up with the Dr. to go over my labs and some skin abnormality removals on my face. UGH. My cholesterol is a little high, a little higher than last year. My Dr. told me to limit full fat dairy, beef and pork. I already don't eat much of those and I feel like I exercise sufficiently. I have another blood test scheduled for 3 months.

I'm feel like I'm always purging too. We just have so much stuff. I just had a donation pickup earlier this week. I just keep a box for donation and throw stuff in it all the time. Cleaning out my closet too. I go through a drawer here and there, but its a little depressing having to donate clothes that no longer fit me due to weight gain. I hate menopause so much.

The pantry is another sore spot for us too. DH just ordered a case of popcorn, the little individual bags, honestly...40 bags of popcorn. I don't know what he was thinking. I also have things things that I bought that won't get used. A lot of it I can give to the girls' mom, she eats all the healthy things too.

The next thing I want to tackle is our kitchen cabinets. We have a lot of stuff that we don't use. Since it is really bugging me, it may be time to go through them now. It's a never ending chore though.

I don't recall you mentioning you were going to England. How exciting to see a match in person. The energy of the stadium will be amazing. In person sporting events are so much more fun than just watching them on TV.

Not sure If I mentioned that DS2 was in a car accident in May-not his fault but his car was totaled. It took 3 months to get the payout from the insurance company. He is looking for a car now. He also found a new job and I am taking him to look at apartments today. His lease is up soon and he wants to find an apartment closer to his new job.

There is so much going on here, sometimes its overwhelming. We have 2 teenagers and their friends in the house much of the time. Honestly, I would rather their friends come over so we can get to know them.

Off to workout finally. Have a great weekend!

ttyl
 
Wow! You do have a houseful and a lot on your plate. It's nice though-you get to see your kids and granddaughters and that's worth all the chaos.

Have you had your cortisol level checked? I think you are under a lot of stress with your job and keeping everything in order at home. The weight gain is completely normal and the extra abdominal fat is from the changes in estrogen. I have to keep telling myself the same thing. I saw a you tube clip of Bill Maher yesterday about Americans "letting themselves go". He was reacting to a suit that a guy was wearing that had a drawstring instead of buttons and zipper. It made me mad because for one thing he's a guy and has never had to deal with estrogen, pregnancy, etc. Also-how can he just do a blanket statement that he's sick of Americans letting themselves go? Anyway-just his opinion, but not medically based. I am slowly weeding out my clothing as well. I don't expect to have a more professional job again, so am finally getting rid of my teaching clothes-it has been almost 15 years since I was in the classroom and none of them fit anyway!

Today I used up a spice called Cardamon. Yea! I'm trying to whittle down stuff to only buying what I know I will use and that is good quality.

I've been doing good. I am more of a float at work it seems. They just put me where they need someone. I'm ok with this-getting through 3 days a week is better than 5. Workouts are mostly total body metabolic right now.

I discovered another you tube person named Caroline Girvin. Yesterday was total body 30 seconds on-30 off. She used 27 lb. dumbbells in each hand (or one for some exercises). I used 20's. It was all compound moves and I was sweating buckets by the end. I don't think Cathe is going to do DVD's this time around-I think it'll all be streaming. She would have had a preorder, I think. My you tube streams better than the library of on demand I downloaded-I'm sure it has something to do with my cloud.

Yes! We are going to Liverpool in October. The match is on the 16th against Manchester City. DS2 is flying over from San Francisco for it. It'll be our visit with him for the year, I guess. We do chat/face time at least once a week, but it's still weird that he's all grown and living his own life.

Off to watch soccer! The league started two weeks early this year since World Cup will be going on in Nov. and Dec.

Hope you and DS2 find a place!

Beth
 
Hey! How was your weekend? What's new? All is good here. We're busy figuring out all the trip logistics (getting the ticket to the phone, cashless system, the rail tickets...it feels endless!) Otherwise, I'm reading a mystery novel set in Ireland by Tana French, working out with Caroline Girvin (also from Ireland!), and trying to get my long hair Calico groomed of knots-not an easy process!

Beth
 
Oh my gosh, I didn't realize it had been so long since I checked in.

Work has been very busy, really ramping to get some year end goal completed. I had a late night Thursday, worked until just after 11. My workouts are becoming more intermittent which I don't like. I am still getting in about 4 or 5 days a week and would prefer to be consistent with 5 days and maybe even 6 days.

DS1 just bought a used peloton from a friend. We just unloaded it and it is in the garage right now. Hopefully he will set it up tonight in my workout room. I'm super excited to give it a try. He even got the shoes, and they fit me. I'll have to see how much a membership is for it now.

Today will be legs and a 20 min row w/o. They also have no equipment exercises, abs workouts etc. They just have so many to choose from and I found an instructor that I really like. The one downside to the row app is the music is loud and makes it very hard to hear the instructor. They have received numerous complaints about this so hopefully they will a volume setting for the music, no music at all setting.

I looked at a couple of the Caroline Girvan workouts. They look really good and similar to some that I already do in the other platform. I like that they are around 30 to 45 minutes.

I certainly hope Cathe does dvd's for the new workouts. I don't really do any of the cardio dvd's anymore due to causing knee pain, but I definitely still do her weight workouts.

Sounds like you will be ready for your trip in no time. It's a lot of prep getting everything ready but you will have so much fun. Is DS2 going with you too? It will be a great family vacation!!!

Off to workout, check back later!!
 
How do you like the Peleton? I miss riding bike, but since DH fell and broke his hip on his, we have not been out together and I don't really like going out alone. I've kind of been looking for a used bike on craigslist for indoors, but DH feels like I do this all the time-buy something then not use it! My brother in law has a nice rower-I'm hoping he gives it to us!

So my cat got sick last week-stopped eating, then stopped drinking. We took her to the vet on Monday and she's been there ever since. They have found no blockage and blood work looks good. She is getting IV fluids.

My dad had his shoulder surgery yesterday. I reached out to them on Sunday to wish him well. They were very happy to talk. It might be an opening to at least have some relationship. We'll see. They called last night and said everything went well.

Last Friday my brother in law was admitted to the ICU-pneumonia. They did a CT scan using dye and his kidneys are now not functioning well. He's at 14 GFR-dialysis is anything below 15. So he's right on the edge. He's still in the hospital, but on a regular floor.

Workouts are a good stress release right now. I've officially started the Epic Endgame program. It's a lot of weights with one day of cardio-I'm not doing the cardio since I walk a lot. There is a 100 rep challenge at the end which is fun and motivating!

Hope your week is going well.

Beth
 
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