More recalcitrant than recumbent

It is still school vacation week and I don’t know about you but being at home and out of the daily routine makes it hard not to eat all day. Granted my food allergies limit me to a sorry excuse for snacking, but I am still snacking more than usual. I am not going to beat myself up over it but it is worth my being aware of it. The autoimmune difficulties I have are being controlled by diet right now but that means that there is a lot that I cannot eat – and mostly I don’t cheat because it makes me so sick. I am allergic to/intolerant of milk (and milk products), gluten, and soy. Therefore, when I find myself camped out by the light of the fridge with my sweatpanted butt sticking out from behind the door, I am often reaching for celery & hummus, or jelly for the rice cakes, rather than chips, cookies, and ice cream like in the good ol’ days (up until a year ago). So again, I cannot beat myself up but I do need to be aware that it is not a big 1800’s water wagon that I am trying not to fall off of – it is a little red Radio Flyer and I need to hold on tightly!

Tuesday and Wednesday some of my cousins were here from New York. It was awesome to spend time with them, just visiting and chatting and watching the kids interact with extended family. We had a blast. Not to mention the fact that my cousin, Jackie helped me fold fundraising letters…thanks, Jack! I did get to the gym Tuesday morning for an hour. I did 20 minutes on the elliptical and 40 on the treadmill for a total of 4.75 miles. On the elliptical, I get a good workout if I hover around 160 strides per minute. Gotta have good motivating music for this. On the treadmill I am trying to stay at 4 mph or faster. I know that once I hit the streets this will be harder to do. I have found on the treadmill, that if I go much faster than 4.2 mph, I start to get that crazy, speed-walker, twisty hip thing goin’ on…not at all attractive. I also get shin splints so I try not to overly embarrass myself.

“If you don’t like swimming, you could try the recumbent bikes.” Yup…the orthopedist again. If you don’t speak gym equipment, the recumbent bikes are the ones where you sit with your legs out in front of you, therefore putting less pressure on the knees. I have tried (not hard) to use these and hate them only second to swimming. Like most women, I am glad that my butt is on the back of my body so that I do not have to look at it regularly. Therefore, using an exercise machine, of all things, that reminds me during the ENTIRE workout just how big my butt is…well…no, thank you! The seats on the recumbants are much bigger than on the upright bikes…not “pink Huffy with a banana seat” big but more “office chair” big. However, not too many office chairs can accommodate my keister without some overspill. When they make a Lazy Boy reclining model, then maybe we will talk. Until then, no sitting workouts for me.

Wednesdays are typically my days off from the gym but I was back in this morning for about an hour and 20 minutes. I did 5.75 miles (elliptical and treadmill). I will be bummed to head back to work next week because it will limit the time I have in the gym. I’ll keep on truckin’ though.

Thanks for reading. More later...