Let’s Go Walking! Join me for a virtual walking support group

Posted by Becky, Volunteer Mentor @becsbuddy, Feb 19, 2020

Many of you living with cancer or an autoimmune disease, like me, deal with daily fatigue. You know that exercise is so important to your health, but it’s so hard. There’s always an excuse: it’s too cold or hot, it’s going to rain or it’s raining, or it’s snowy and icy, or I just don’t want to. I, too, have all these excuses, but I have a new rescue dog who wants to go out and who doesn’t care about my excuses! And I’ve got traction devices for my boots.Now I just need a walking group who will keep me accountable. People who say, ‘let’s go for a walk.'

And I thought: What about my virtual friends on MayoClinicConnect?

Mayo Clinic has an easy 12-week walking program to get us started! Here’s the link:
- Get walking with this 12-week walking schedule https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/get-walking-with-this-12-week-walking-schedule/

So let’s form a virtual walking group. We can agree to walk every day and encourage each other through Connect. We can walk outdoors, in a mall, or in the red center, or in the hallways of our apartment building.

Who’s in? Who’s going to join me?

Come on, Let’s Go Walking!

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Just Want to Talk Support Group.

@jakedduck1

@sueinmn
2.6 miles and I'm out of my favorite M&M’s, white chocolate but the Carmel definitely deserves an honorable mention.
I haven't had any candy (or any other treat) in 2 weeks which is a challenge with 10 candy dishes staring me in the face.
Jake

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@jakedduck1

You have ten candy dishes? Any reason no treats in 2 weeks?
Maybe that’s why you walked 2.6 miles which is awesome. You know too much sugar causes inflammation and makes your joints hurt more.
Keep it up and we will appoint you our fearless leader of this thread.

I power walked home this morning when I saw the sky light up even though it didn’t look like rain. Can be a dangerous time of year here in Florida. Not always sure if what I hear sometimes is distant thunder. Eyes on the sky and always checking the weather report.

FL Mary

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@imallears

@jakedduck1

You have ten candy dishes? Any reason no treats in 2 weeks?
Maybe that’s why you walked 2.6 miles which is awesome. You know too much sugar causes inflammation and makes your joints hurt more.
Keep it up and we will appoint you our fearless leader of this thread.

I power walked home this morning when I saw the sky light up even though it didn’t look like rain. Can be a dangerous time of year here in Florida. Not always sure if what I hear sometimes is distant thunder. Eyes on the sky and always checking the weather report.

FL Mary

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@imallears
I truged 1.9 grueling miles. I detest walking. It's so boring. I never thought I would walk so far considering when I used to swim I would drive my car across the street to get an ice cream bar. Everybody at the YMCA thought that was so ridiculous considering I had just finished swimming 5 miles and couldn’t walk across the street. You swim 5 miles and see how far you want to walk, I don’t imagine it would be far .
I have ten candy dishes in my living room and a few others scattered about. After all variety is the spice of life. My new crystal irredecent candy dishes arrive Wednesday.
Jake

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@jakedduck1
Hey Leonard…wear ear buds or head phones and listen to music or an audio book when you walk. Might be a stupid question but are your candy dishes empty or full? How are you going to see the iridescence of you new dishes if they are covered with candy?

FL Mary

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I was diagnosed with leukemia 5.5 years ago and had a stem cell transplant. The transplant was successful, but I have had to deal with a lot of complications related to it. At one point I was on a very high dose of Prednisone and could barely move. One of my doctors encouraged me to start walking or I would end up in a wheelchair. At that point sitting in a wheelchair sounded so tempting, but I took his warning seriously. It was December in Michigan and I walked around the house, starting with 5 minutes a day and eventually increased it to 1.5 hours. 4.5 years later I am still dealing with fatigue, and consider walking as one of the medications I have to take every day. I may not enjoy it at the moment, but I feel like I have accomplished a lot when I am done.

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@alive

I was diagnosed with leukemia 5.5 years ago and had a stem cell transplant. The transplant was successful, but I have had to deal with a lot of complications related to it. At one point I was on a very high dose of Prednisone and could barely move. One of my doctors encouraged me to start walking or I would end up in a wheelchair. At that point sitting in a wheelchair sounded so tempting, but I took his warning seriously. It was December in Michigan and I walked around the house, starting with 5 minutes a day and eventually increased it to 1.5 hours. 4.5 years later I am still dealing with fatigue, and consider walking as one of the medications I have to take every day. I may not enjoy it at the moment, but I feel like I have accomplished a lot when I am done.

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Congratulations on getting moving under difficult circumstances. Many of us in the walking group struggle with fatigue or pain, and just getting out the door some days can be a major accomplishment, like you mentioned.

On tough days, I may "call a friend" in another town, and we chat while walking (sometimes she walks too.)

What do you do to keep yourself motivated, or to make walking more enjoyable?
Sue

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@sueinmn

Congratulations on getting moving under difficult circumstances. Many of us in the walking group struggle with fatigue or pain, and just getting out the door some days can be a major accomplishment, like you mentioned.

On tough days, I may "call a friend" in another town, and we chat while walking (sometimes she walks too.)

What do you do to keep yourself motivated, or to make walking more enjoyable?
Sue

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I like listening to music or podcasts. I also like to track my steps and usually meet my daily goal before I quit. This week I started a new job on the same university campus as my previous job. I originally paid for a parking spot close to my former job’s building, but now I have a couple extra blocks to walk. At first I wanted to move my parking location, but now I see it as a good opportunity to have to walk each time I work on campus.

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@sueinmn

I have convinced myself that walking entitles me to chocolate after supper - no walk, no chocolate.
Or I could let you wrangle my grandsons for a few hours...
Sue

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@sueinmn I read recently, I wish I had the source but it was a good one, that very dark chocolate in the morning and in the evening do not contribute to weight gain and can be very beneficial.

That's my excuse. I try to stick to at least 70% cacao, an ounce a day.
JK

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@contentandwell

@sueinmn I read recently, I wish I had the source but it was a good one, that very dark chocolate in the morning and in the evening do not contribute to weight gain and can be very beneficial.

That's my excuse. I try to stick to at least 70% cacao, an ounce a day.
JK

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@contentandwell
I would think it would
depend on how much dark chocolate a person eats and their activity level. I can eat dark chocolate if it has caramel berries or something in it to kill the bitter taste.
Jake

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@alive

I was diagnosed with leukemia 5.5 years ago and had a stem cell transplant. The transplant was successful, but I have had to deal with a lot of complications related to it. At one point I was on a very high dose of Prednisone and could barely move. One of my doctors encouraged me to start walking or I would end up in a wheelchair. At that point sitting in a wheelchair sounded so tempting, but I took his warning seriously. It was December in Michigan and I walked around the house, starting with 5 minutes a day and eventually increased it to 1.5 hours. 4.5 years later I am still dealing with fatigue, and consider walking as one of the medications I have to take every day. I may not enjoy it at the moment, but I feel like I have accomplished a lot when I am done.

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@alive
I'm sorry to hear you have leukemia. A lot of progress has been made in leukemia and other cancers. When Danny Thomas opened St Judes Research Hospital only 1 out of 5 patients lived, last I heard four out of five patients lived. Obviously that’s not enough but hopefully in the future researchers will make cancer a thing of the past.
congratulations on your walking. Hearing from people like you is indeed inspirational.
Thank you for sharing your. story.
Jake

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@imallears

@jakedduck1
Hey Leonard…wear ear buds or head phones and listen to music or an audio book when you walk. Might be a stupid question but are your candy dishes empty or full? How are you going to see the iridescence of you new dishes if they are covered with candy?

FL Mary

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@imallears
Not such stupid question after all. Only 5 are empty but worse then that my candy drawer is nearly empty. When I go get Halloween candy I'll stock up.
The only candy I've been having is what the Red Cross receptionist puts in my chart. So a couple small pieces every 2 weeks when I go donate platelets. We won't talk about what I eat at the snack bar afterward.
today when I went to the gym to be tortured she had me doing some balance exercises. She said I’m not allowed to do those unless she’s with me which is a good idea. I was falling all over the place and if she hadn’t been with me I would’ve been on the floor more than doing the eexercises.
I haven’t walked much yet today but I’m getting ready to go to the stinking grocery store to get some hamburger I want to put it in my beans in double up on the pro Tien to keep my hemoglobin level high.
The store has over 50,000 ft. so I’ll walk around in there a while.
Yesterday I ended up walking two & a half miles. last night when I went to bed I noticed I had a gigantic hole in my jeans in the back so I was handing out free samples & I never did get any takers.
“iridescence of you new dishes if they are covered with candy?”
I never thought of that. Have to figure out which is more important. I don’t think that’ll be a hard decision.
One of my kitchen windows has iridescent diamonds in it which I like very much and that inspired me to get the iridescent candy dishes.
Jake

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