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Calcium, Vitamin D and Fish Oil . . . oh my!

Posted on June 12, 2009 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

In recent months, I have been trying to spend more time taking care of myself. Most of the time, this means working out either with EA Sports Active or Leslie Sansone. If you had asked me a few short months ago what I thought of exercise, I would have complained. Now I know that it makes me feel better. I have energy and love knowing that I did well when I am sweaty. Who knew that I would ever feel that way.

Another part of this was finally making an appointment for a physcial. It had been a LONG time since I had done this. I finally made the appointment and had the papers for blood work to do before seeing my doctor. She warned me that since I am still nursing JSL my numbers may be elevated in triglyceroids and cholesterol. I went the Saturday morning before my appointment early in the morning since I had to fast for the tests. In addition to the CBC, the doctor also wanted a lipid screen, A1C (my mother is diabetic), kidney function (I have gout), TSH (thyroid was enlarged when pregnant), and Vitamin D levels.

I went last week to see my doctor. My blood pressure was fabulous and she was happy to hear about my lifestyle changes. Of course, she was most thrilled that I had lost almost 30 pounds and was exercising regularly. The day I went I was quite sore after just starting EA Sports Active. The nurse went to track down my test results. As expected, my triglyceroids and cholesterol levels were slightly elevated. Most likely they are due to nursing. The part she was not happy with was the low good cholesterol number. In addition to that, my Vitamin D numbers showed that I have a major deficiency. This has become something that more doctors are looking into now with people using sun screen all the time and blocking the much needed Vitamin D into their body.

At the end of the appointment, I left with a list of vitamins to get and how much to take each day. Here is my new routine. Each morning, I take 3 Fish Oil capsules with Omega-3 Fatty Acids, 1 Calcium w/D, 4 Vitamin D, and a multi-vitamin. At dinner each night, I take 3 more Omega-3 Fatty Acids and another Calcium w/ D. For those keeping track, that is 13 vitamins each day. Below is a photo of my mini-pharmacy which also includes my inhaler and allergy pills that I take for a few more weeks (still boosting up my lungs after the allergic reaction to walnuts at Disney World).

In three months, I go back for a recheck on my lipid test along with the Vitamin D levels. With any luck, the combination should help get everything back on track. The best news is now that I know about the Vitamin D and work on it I may have more energy. I always assumed the exhaustion was from being an overtired Mommy. Sure, that may have been part of it, but my extremely low levels were a huge factor.

So my question for you this week:

Do you take vitamins daily? If so, what do you take and are you good about taking them regularly.

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the Mr. Linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #52

Categories:
allergies Aloha Friday doctor exercise health awareness me moments

Feeling the burn from EA Sports Active

Posted on May 31, 2009 3:45 pm by TheAngelForever

Last night JL and I finally took the plunge. My breathing was good enough from the new medicine, so we broke out the EA Sports Active for our Nintendo Wii. Both of us were quite intrigued since we have not heard a bad review for it yet. Before we left for Disney World we pre-ordered it and were surprised to find it had arrived at our house before the scheduled release date.

I was the one that "plugged" in, while JL worked out along side me. The workout for beginners was about 25 minutes long. It encorporated walking, running, toning along with the dreaded lunges and squats. What I really liked was that the "trainer" was personable and did not loop the same phrases like the WiiFit does. That looping of compliments and motivational phrases drove me bonkers with the WiiFit and quickly made me stop using it. The leg pouch fit nicely around my thigh and really seemed to register my movements with the Wii.

Half way through the work out I really was feeling my muscles burning. Of course, leave it to JL to mention that I also had sweat pouring down my back and face. Lovely, but I knew I was really getting a good workout. During the time it registered that I burned 153 calories and kept track on my journal for the goals. All I had to do was follow the easy instructions before each exercise and figure our where to wear/hold the WiiMote and nunchuk.

JL and I were so impressed that we went out to get another EA Sports Active accessory kit. This way we can both workout together while keeping track of things on the Wii. Of course, when we went out I was still feeling the burn. Walking and especially climbing strairs is tough today. The muscles in my upper thighs are feeling the pain today. Of course, I love this since I know it is a good type of burn from using the muscles and working them out. I would often feel this when I use the third mile of Leslie Sansone’s 5 Day Slim Down mile three that concentrated on legs with squats and lunges.

Another neat feature with the program is you can participate in the 30 day challenge. The first challenge just ended and a lot of the people did amazing. One participant included Alison Sweeney, the host of The Biggest Loser. She used the program to get back into shape after having her second child. Starting tomorrow there is a new June challenge. JL and I may try this since it looks like a great option. Of course, I still plan on wearing my pedometer and power walking with Leslie Sansone.

Happy exercing all!

Categories:
exercise jl me moments Product review

Tuesday Step Tracking – week 1

Posted on May 5, 2009 8:24 am by TheAngelForever

I am going to introduce a new feature here at Chez Angel called "Tuesday Step Tracking." I hope that this will help me to keep on track and get others to join the pedometer club with me.

Last Tuesday my new pedometer arrived at my doorstep. I had been anxiously waiting for it. I wanted to see if it was true. Lots of items I have read stated that the average person with a pedometer walks 2,000 more steps a day. Would this be the same for me? Would this little gadget prove to be a motivator to make me power walk more and get my rear in gear? Here are my results for the first week:

Tuesday, April 28th

Wore pedometer from ~3:30 in the afternoon once it arrived. Full days from this point on.
Did 3 miles Leslie Sansone DVD (45 minutes) 4,083 steps, 39 minutes of aerobic exercise
Total steps for day 5,793

Wednesday, April 29th

Watched The Biggest Loser on DVR and power walked for 51 minutes of aerobic exercise and 6,195 steps
3 Miles of the Fat Burn Leslie Sansone DVD, 38 more minutes of Aerobic and 4,144 steps
Total steps for the day 13,394

Thursday, April 30th

Watched Pushing Daisies on the DVR (while hubby was sitting and watching) and power walked for 45 minutes of aerobic exercise and 5,356 steps
Total steps for the day 10,311

Friday, May 1st (started the day off not feeling so great – so not a lot of movement)

Completed the entire 5 Mile Slim Down Leslie Sansone DVD, 66 minutes of aerobic exercise and 7,539 steps
Total steps for the day 9,807

Saturday, May 2nd

Watched Pushing Daisies on the DVR and power walked for 44 minutes of aerobic exercise and 5,257 steps
Total steps for the day 11,060

Sunday, May 3rd

Watched Pushing Daisies on the DVR and power walked and did Leslie Sansone like moves for 38 minutes of aerobic exercise and 4,065 steps
Total steps for the day 12,154

Monday, May 4th

Completed the entire 5 Mile Fat Burn Leslie Sansone DVD, 60 minutes of aerobic exercise and 6,078 steps
Watched television while power walking, 30 minutes of aerobic exercise and 3,159 steps
Total steps for the day 11,489

My goal was to try to hit 10,000 steps a day which is the magic number posted all over the place. As you can see I did this. Of course I never would have hit that goal if I did not put effort into doing the exercise DVDs and/or power walked while catching up on television programs. For me the pedometer has been an eye opener and motivator. I still need to recalibrate it since I am not sure if the mile calculator is correct. If it is, these are the totals for the week (remember Leslie Sansone calculates based on beats per minute to get her mile markers)

1.82 miles (did 3 miles w/Leslie Sansone)
4.22 miles (did 3 miles w/Leslie Sansone)
3.25 miles
3.09 miles (did 5 miles w/Leslie Sansone)
3.49 miles
3.83 miles
3.62 miles (did 5 miles w/Leslie Sansone)

My totals for the week:

Total of 23.32 miles (16 "miles" with the DVDs)
Steps for the week –> 74,008

As you can see the miles will not jive with the Leslie Sansone DVD’s, but those are amazing multiple muscle aerobic workouts, so no worries there (afterall I have lost 25.5 pounds since the year started). Typically I do 5-7 days of those videos, but this week was rough with all of the Disney World preparations.

Next week I will continue to track my steps while at Walt Disney World. I am very curious to see how many miles I will walk there since everything involves a lot of walking. Will post results when I get back. If you would like to join in please link on up in the comments below and tell all of your walking friends about this.

Happy Walking!

Categories:
exercise me moments Tuesday Step Tracking

Measuring my daily steps

Posted on May 1, 2009 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

It is confession time here at Chez Angel. When in elementary, middle and high school I was the student that could not stand PE class. I hated running, jumping, and climbing. The weeks that we did gymnastics I would cringe. Just the thought of getting sweaty and having to change made me physically ill.

Through the years I have always made excuses about not having time to work out. Several years ago I was lucky and lost a lot of weight with Weight Watchers and never did anything above and beyond that. This time around sticking to points did not cut it. I was older and my metabolism had changed after my second pregnancy. As I have previously mentioned on my blog, I finally found a workout that I really like. Leslie Sansone makes a Walk at Home DVD series. Sure walking sounds easy, but Sansone makes you move and use all of the muscles in your body. Over the last few weeks, I have grown to love these daily workouts and actually get upset if I skip a day.

As I was walking, kicking and sweating away, I was curious about how many steps I was doing. Everyone would always talk about the magic 10,000 daily steps that are key to your health. Was I getting these without my workout or did these 2-5 miles with Leslie Sansone push me over the edge? I started to investigate pedometers. I wanted something that was not going to break easily and that I could toss in my pocket. Below is what I finally found and decided to splurge on:

My new Omron HJ-112 pocket pedometer finally arrived on Tuesday. I quickly calibrated it and put it on. After a few hours I had 1,508 steps. Then it was time to do a 3 mile workout with Leslie Sanson. In 45 minutes I was able to do 39 minutes of Aerobic moving and 4,083 steps! So in the few hours that I wore the pedometer I had almost 6,000 steps.

Wednesday I wore the pedometer the entire day. In the morning, while I finished up my laundry and the little guy slept, I put The Biggest Loser on my DVR and watched it while power walking. I walked for 51 minutes (Aerobic according to the pedometer) and did 6,195 steps. Later in the day, the boys went outside to play. I stayed inside for part of it and did 3 of the Fat Burning Miles with Leslie Sansone. That was another 38 minutes of Aerobic exercise and 4,144 additional steps. For the day I had 13,394 steps.

I am hooked and love this handy dandy little gizmo. It motivates me to do more and lets me keep track of what I have done during the day. I can not wait to see how many steps and miles I log while at Disney World.

So my question for this week:

Have you ever had a pedometer or thought about buying one? If you have used one, do you find that you walk more when you use it?

_____________________________________________________________________________

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the Mr. Linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #46

Categories:
Aloha Friday exercise me moments milestone photos

Exercising up a storm

Posted on April 3, 2009 7:40 pm by TheAngelForever

This week I have really been kicking it into high gear with my work outs. I feel energized after I do them, and really want to be in better shape when we head to Disney World. I know that although I may not be close to my goal weight, I will be able to walk more while at Disney and keep up my energy levels.

This week I have "walked" 19.5 miles since Sunday, not including today. All of this has been by using one of my Leslie Sansone walk at home DVDs. Here is the week in review.

Sunday (3 miles) – While the boys went outside to play I did my new 3 Mile Weight Loss Walk. It is a "power walk" DVD and uses handweights. It is a fast paced 45 minute work out that really works all your muscles, strengthens your core, and makes you sweat!

Monday (5 miles) – I felt ambitious while the little guy was napping. I put in the 5 Mile Fat Burning Walk. This DVD includes five 12 minute miles that get your heart pumping, your body moving and fat blasted (73 minutes total). It went by really quickly and I felt energized. My only complaint is that I should have stopped to retie my sneaker. Apparently it was rubbing my poor foot the wrong way. I was limping thanks to a blister trying to form.

Tuesday (3.5 miles) – JSL was up and did not want to nap. Mistake #1 I tried to do the 30 Day Shred first. I just can not do that in our little space and if I do try it again need to figure out what I can do to replace Jillian’s love for push ups. With my wrist injury those are just not possible. The plan was to do the DVD from Sunday and do two of the fast second mile for a total of 4 miles. I started the DVD after about eight minutes of the Shred. The little guy let me get into the start of the fast 2nd mile when he started to flip out. One thing I can not do is walk with Leslie Sansone with a 22 month old on my shins. So I stopped cold turkey and put JSL down for a nap. Once he was asleep I put in the DVD from Monday and did 2 miles with that.

Wednesday (5 miles) – I wanted to target some different muscles. With JSL watching me the entire 82 minutes, I did the entire 5 Day Slim Down DVD. Mile 1 is the Classic Walk, Mile 2 Sculpts your arms, Mile 3 Slims your legs (psycho squats and lunges galore), Mile 4 Trim you tummy with lots of focus on the core, and Mile 5 speed walk. I felt very wobbly after mile 3 thanks to the intensity of the moves, but pushed on. Let me tell you, Thursday I was feeling the burn. My arms, legs and shoulders ached, but in a good sort of way.

Thursday (3 miles) – The boys were kicked out of the house to play outside with JL so I could do the Walk Away Your Waistline DVD (48 minutes). I opted to use the Walk Belt and it helped to stretch my arm muscles from the aches that I had from the previous day.

Today – Not sure what I am going to do yet. Since it is already late, I will probably opt for a quick 3 mile walk. I am also excited to check out the new Leslie Sansone DVDs that are being released at Target. They come with boosters that can be used. There is one in particular that I have my eye on.

So what have you been up to this week in the world of exercise?