Lighten Your Limbs With Friends

Posted by Retired Teacher @retiredteacher, Oct 28, 2018

Hello all. I have Diabetes 2 and have avoided exercise for over 2 1/2 years. I am overweight and know that I need to get moving and lose weight. I have always had excuses not to do anything much before. I have a treadmill, and I look at it, but I never use it. A few weeks ago, I decided that it is time to lighten my limbs. I received my Mayo newsletter. and it included a twelve-week Exercise Plan. It was like fate that I had decided to exercise and Mayo dropped the perfect routine in my lap. Because it's 12 weeks and not years and years, as some plans are, the Mayo is doable. They're not asking me to run a marathon!
It's a way to get stronger and healthier. However, one part was missing: I need to be accountable to somebody else. I would love for other Connects to join me so that we could celebrate our success each week. I don't want to wait to January when all we hear is "New Year, New You." So I thought it would be good to start before the bombardment of ads for gym equipment and promises to lose many pounds too fast (and gain it back even faster). I needed a plan that will work for me and anybody else, and Mayo has given it to us.
Let's get a jump on 2019 by finishing strong in 2018. If we start the first week on Friday, November 2, 2018 (only four days from now), it will propel us through the weekend and keep us going. Just think: By January 25th, we will have completed the 12 weeks. Just when other people are trying to keep their exercise resolutions, we'll have finished 12 weeks. We'll be lighter, heathier, and stronger. We also will have gotten into the habit of exercising and hopefully, do another 12 weeks. Doesn't that sound good? To be able to say, "I'm healthier and feel so much better and have lighter limbs." For the first time I am excited to exercise, but I need others to come along with me. I need the accountability.
Please join me and give it a try. Come along with me so we can say it's not just my 12 weeks, but it's our 12 weeks. The first week asks us to do 5 minutes of warm up, five minutes of brisk walking, and five minutes of cool down. That's only 15 minutes. I can do that! The walking is the speed that you are comfortable with. The warm up and cool down are just slower walking. It can be outside, in your house, at a gym---wherever you feel comfortable and whatever time of day is convenient. Nothing required except determination and desire to make it 12 weeks.
I'll post the exercise times for each week once we get started. Let's give this gift to ourselves and improve throughout the holidays. If you have any questions, send me a note, and I'll answer what I have from Mayo.
Everybody's walking! Sounds great to me.

@retiredteacher
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I have a sage bush which required no care and comes back every year so I use lots of sage in my dressing. It is also good in dressing with pork chops.
My mother made "stuffing" with cold mashed potatoes in addition to the bread. It was also very good but very heavy on the tummy. Dorisena

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@contentandwell

@hopeful33250 Great topic, I plan to go back and read that link when I have a bit more time.
Yep, I will succumb to many of the yummy things but since I am bringing dessert for Thanksgiving I will probably make something that's not too tempting for me! I will bring an appetizer too and plan to do crudites and dip. I make a fairly healthy dip that has white beans in it and yogurt (all pureed in the food processor) so having some does not leave me too guilt-ridden. Since I have sporadic lactose intolerance I won't eat much cheese either.
Since the stuffing honestly cannot compare with my own (I know that sounds boastful but mine is really great, says everyone) I am not too tempted by that either. Only my son knows my "secret ingredient".
JK

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@contentandwell I also intend to enjoy Thanksgiving in moderation, and I am going to have a piece of pumpkin pie. I get tired of not being able to eat things I like because of my diabetes. There are foods that I love that I haven't had in over three years, like pizza. Tailgating without pizza is ridiculous. I have eaten bland, cardboard tasting food for three years. I feel that I've tried it all, except medicines, and I avoid those like the plague. My endo retired, but he always said if you fall off the wagon go on and have what you are craving and then hop back on the wagon----it won't have done that much extreme damage. So I follow his okay when I really can't stop myself. I don't drink, smoke, or do drugs, so surely a piece of pumpkin pie can't be that big a deal. My husband and I are going to enjoy spending the day together. and enjoy a Thanksgiving meal.
Carol

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@hopeful33250

You've got a great plan, @contentandwell. I know what you mean about stuffing if it is not your recipe!

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@hopeful33250. When we were kids my aunt and uncle had a big vacation home up north in North Conway - 7 bedrooms. Their family, our family, and another family of cousins would all go there for Thanksgiving - the turkeys were cooked in advance and warmed up for dinner. All of the kids would be making sure they got their own mother’s stuffing. Those are such great memories. We had the best times there. There were 12 cousins.
JK

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@contentandwell

@hopeful33250. When we were kids my aunt and uncle had a big vacation home up north in North Conway - 7 bedrooms. Their family, our family, and another family of cousins would all go there for Thanksgiving - the turkeys were cooked in advance and warmed up for dinner. All of the kids would be making sure they got their own mother’s stuffing. Those are such great memories. We had the best times there. There were 12 cousins.
JK

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@contentandwell Twelve cousins! I can't imagine, but I bet you had fun and laughter and maybe some disagreements, even. I know you definitely were not bored or lonely.
Carol

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@retiredteacher

@contentandwell Twelve cousins! I can't imagine, but I bet you had fun and laughter and maybe some disagreements, even. I know you definitely were not bored or lonely.
Carol

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@retiredteacher that’s just the cousins who were there! My mother came from 7 siblings so there were four more families of cousins. We were never very close to the cousins on my father’s side but there were about 5 more cousins there.
I wish my kids could have been as close to their cousins as we were but these days everyone is so busy with activities like sports and other stuff that it just doesn’t happen.
JK

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@contentandwell

@hopeful33250. When we were kids my aunt and uncle had a big vacation home up north in North Conway - 7 bedrooms. Their family, our family, and another family of cousins would all go there for Thanksgiving - the turkeys were cooked in advance and warmed up for dinner. All of the kids would be making sure they got their own mother’s stuffing. Those are such great memories. We had the best times there. There were 12 cousins.
JK

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I can't imagine any food tasting bland and like cardboard, diabetes or not. I don't follow a listed diabetes diet, either. I count the number of carbs in my eating and quit when I reach a reasonable level for me. Some of my mother's cooking was bland and overcooked, but I quickly learned to cook fresh, delicious food with a taste I enjoyed, and I purchased food on a strict budget. Perhaps my best cooking came from using the huge supply from my garden, and learning to hold food in the oven until my men came in from the fields late. I eat a veggie pizza with a thin crust once in a while and stay very busy to use up the calories. I find it is important for me to get protein in each meal and not to eat snacks which was a chore at first. If you don't bring high carbs in the house, then you check the computer to find interesting flavors in new foods, and soon you are cooking new foods that are satisfying, except for maybe quinoa. I never found a flavor in that product, whatever it is. And hummus. I tried, it a meal with my friend. I was polite. But no, it doesn't work for me. Rye bread has flavor. Parsley has flavor. Also, I cook veggies in the microwave. They taste pretty good warmed over the next day. I don't eat canned goods very much. Perhaps that is the secret for some foods. My home canned tomatoes taste better. My daughter leaves the room when I drink V-8 juice but I like the acquired taste. My poor husband would eat sour cottage cheese. Go figure. Put some cheese on it.
Dorisena

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Please include me in your walking program!! Don't know why I missed the post. I try to walk every day. At home most of the time. A couple of times a week at church. Has everyone else been reporting what they've done? I've been battling 2-3 pounds, up and down, for weeks now and would like to get over the hump. Please include me with the others!! I'm a month late. I'll just add on 4 weeks after January.

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@kateia

Please include me in your walking program!! Don't know why I missed the post. I try to walk every day. At home most of the time. A couple of times a week at church. Has everyone else been reporting what they've done? I've been battling 2-3 pounds, up and down, for weeks now and would like to get over the hump. Please include me with the others!! I'm a month late. I'll just add on 4 weeks after January.

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@kateia Welcome to the Mayo Walk. We did this last year, and by the time others were starting to make New Year's Resolutions to lose weight, we were almost through three months of exercising. I desperately needed exercise, which I had quit---bad attitude. Others didn't report unless they wanted to. I reported at each level just to have the accountability. It really worked well for me. I didn't lose a lot of weight, but I lost inches. Then, I had a setback that came from nowhere. Since March 2019 I have not been able to walk the program. I intended to continue, but I developed neuropathy in my feet and walking on my treadmill or walking at all was like walking on broken glass and having knives stuck in the soles of my feet. So, I had to stop the daily treadmill exercise. I am now house walking when I can and trying to move around more on days that the pain is not so severe. It is a wonderful program and we had fun using Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again" as our theme song. I think we are all doing what we can and it's always fun to have someone else join us. You already have a good routine and are good at exercising, so this program should not be hard for you. Sp glad to have you along for the walk.
Carol

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@retiredteacher

@kateia Welcome to the Mayo Walk. We did this last year, and by the time others were starting to make New Year's Resolutions to lose weight, we were almost through three months of exercising. I desperately needed exercise, which I had quit---bad attitude. Others didn't report unless they wanted to. I reported at each level just to have the accountability. It really worked well for me. I didn't lose a lot of weight, but I lost inches. Then, I had a setback that came from nowhere. Since March 2019 I have not been able to walk the program. I intended to continue, but I developed neuropathy in my feet and walking on my treadmill or walking at all was like walking on broken glass and having knives stuck in the soles of my feet. So, I had to stop the daily treadmill exercise. I am now house walking when I can and trying to move around more on days that the pain is not so severe. It is a wonderful program and we had fun using Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again" as our theme song. I think we are all doing what we can and it's always fun to have someone else join us. You already have a good routine and are good at exercising, so this program should not be hard for you. Sp glad to have you along for the walk.
Carol

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Is there a special place to report or just do you report here? I'm so excited to have incentive!! Thanks!!

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@kateia

Is there a special place to report or just do you report here? I'm so excited to have incentive!! Thanks!!

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@kateia There is no special place to report and you don't have to report if you don't want to. It's an individual choice. Some walkers reported when they had success---feeling stronger, doing more minutes, or just getting up and moving. Some people reported setbacks and some went along and were their own cheerleader. Since I started this, I reported, but some sent other suggestions to add or replace the gym or home exercise. As I said, I am not walking the treadmill because my feet won't allow it, so my walking is walking the house. Some people like water exercises and belong to a gym and do different types of exercises. The whole point is just to do something. You can keep a log or journal; I like that and wrote down every day; that's more accountability to keep me honest and having a routine. Now I am in limbo with doing what I can but my feet have stopped my progress. I am excited for you to join us and you can also probably suggest new ways to move. So post success if you choose or not. It's an individual decision.
Great to have you "On the Road Again" with us.
Carol

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