redwarrior's Forum Posts

I want to be the person I am inside. I never lost the weight after having 2 kids, now I want to lose the weight so I can keep up with those kids! I’ve lost 7 lbs since the beginning of May, so I’m on my way!

Topic: Fitness Challenges / Lose 35 Lbs by Gyminee

This is definitely all timely advice!

I just started running a few weeks ago. I still alternate running with walking as I’m working my way up to more and more running, but I’ve also been battling shin splints all the way. With the terrain and other characteristics of my neighborhood, I’m stuck with either the sidewalks or the road to run on, with the sidewalks being a little safer. There just isn’t any decent grass to run on that might not be hiding a nasty hole to twist an ankle in.

I’m trying to listen to my shins and ease off back into walking whenever they tell me I’m overdoing it, which is hard because I’m eager to get moving. How do you guys know how much pain is just sore muscles and can be worked through and how much pain means stop and ice?

Topic: Fitness and Exercise / Shin splints?

The pain seems to be more to the middle or end of my run and then right after. Within a half hour the pain is gone without even icing. I have no pain with any other activities (walking, etc.) I’m suspecting that it might be the beginning so shin splints since it seems to be much better after I’ve taken a day or two off running and is worse after I have ran a couple of days.

I guess what I’m trying to do is gently keep working through it because I really don’t have many other exercise options besides walking…no equipment, no gym. :( I’m hoping that as long as I slow down to a walk whenever it is bad things will slowly heal and I’ll be back running.

Topic: Fitness and Exercise / Shin splints?

I’m new to Gyminee and new to running and this sounds like a great challenge to try. So far, I’m doing my 100 miles 1.25 miles at a time, but I’m hoping to slowly work up to more distance. :)

Topic: Fitness Challenges / Run 100 Miles by Gyminee

I donate blood regularly…and I have low blood pressure. Next week will be my first time donating since starting running, so I’ll be interested to see how it affects me. I’m doubting I’ll be as wiped out with this as I was with my pregnancies, but we’ll see!

Topic: Fitness and Exercise / donating blood

I have a similar bug. Things I did today show up as yesterday before today is over. I can even enter something in the evening that I just did and it shows up as having been done yesterday.

Also, perhaps an unrelated bug, ever since we moved to “daily burn,” my apples for nutritition goals met and my fires for workouts done haven’t kept up with what I’ve been doing, particularly the workouts…I checked to make sure they are indeed there. :(

Topic: Support/Help / Bug? Last entry was tomorrow

This is an interesting debate and I wanted to chime in. First, here’s my background. I was raised on a family farm (no animals) and my grandfather was a dairy farmer. As a teenager, I worked for a country veterinarian, helping to inseminate cattle, deliver calves, etc. I’ve been vegetarian off and on, but I’m a meat eater and a milk drinker right now.

I think a lot of this debate stems from the fact that we, as a society, have a profound separation from the production of our own food. The vast majority of us go to a grocery store and pick out our food in nice neat little packages, not having to give much thought as to how it got there. Those who work in agriculture in this country are alternately held up as a some kind of gold standard of what it is to be American and then vilified for doing exactly what consumers pay them to do.

Here is my perspective, which comes from experience on both sides of the fence. Factory farming is evil…I don’t think any of us can argue that housing hundreds or thousands of any kind of animal in cramped conditions with little regard to their welfare is anything to be proud of. There is, however, a big difference between the kind of attitude that goes on in a factory farm and what goes on at a family farm.

For one thing, most dairy farmers hold a great deal of affection for their cows. They name them and the cattle generally know to come by name. These cows are a large investment for the farmer and most dairy farmers worry over their cattle. Cows are impregnanted, but not nearly as often as some previous posters have assumed and more often than not, that offspring is raised to be added to the herd. Male offspring are often, sadly, sold since too many bulls can be a dangerous thing and most Americans don’t want to eat meat from steers of the breeds that we use for milk production. Some of these calves do end up as veal.

I have stayed up late nights with a farmer worried about a cow that had a calf breech. I’ve seen their sadness when we had to euthanize an aging cow who had been with him for years. I have also been around farmers raising beef cattle and hogs and seen how they work to give their animals the best life they can and are respectful of the sacrifice these animals make so that we can eat.

Do farmers see their livestock as less than human? Yes. Are they barbaric and cruel to them as a result? No, the majority are actually quite affectionate with their animals (I can already think of sheep jokes here! :) ) These animals are treated humanely and every effort is made that they not suffer, dying a quicker, less painful death than many of us will.

So…all that being said, why do I sometimes eat vegetarian? Well, meat has a lot of bad fats in it, the production of meat takes quite a toll on the environment, and the fact is that, for the most part, we just don’t need to eat as much meat as we do.

So…all that being said, why am I a meat eater now who’s happy to have the occasional ice cream? Meat is tasty. It is a very efficient way of getting a lot of protein. I just try to limit it to a healthy level and I do keep in mind that another creature was sacrificed so that I may eat, but to be honest, there are many days I would rather be a dairy cow, fed and content than live my own life!

Topic: Diet and Nutrition / Milk is actually good for you?

Another post regarding sports-specific workouts got me thinking. Summer softball season is starting in one week and I am a catcher for our company team. Is there some way to track this as exercise or should I just let it give me a little extra in my day. The games tend to be rather strenuous for me as I’m constantly throwing and squatting, then throwing again and the innings are rather short, so there’s usually not much time spent on the bench before you bat. Any ideas?

Topic: Fitness and Exercise / Tracking Sports Exercise...

I don’t have a heart rate monitor and I’m not sure if my exercise would be considered aerobic anyway. The only times I really get out of breath would be running bases. The rest of it is short spurts of sprinting to get a ball and a lot of throwing, which I guess could be considered some kind of weight exercise. I do definitely notice some soreness after the first couple of games, in my abs from swining the bat and in my throwing arm and often a little soreness in my legs from squatting and running, but I doubt I’m at my target heart rate most of the game.

I’m thinking I might be able to gauge by the soreness how it might match a weight lifting session….say a certain number of leg presses = catching a whole game and a certain amount of arm soreness = some weight lifting, probably with my triceps? No matter what, it would be pretty inaccurate. I might just leave it out and let it be my safety net in case my regular workouts aren’t as intense as I think they are. ;)

Topic: Fitness and Exercise / Tracking Sports Exercise...

Sounds suspiciously like shin splints. For mine, I just have to rest them whenever they act up by alternating running with brisk walking. I have decent shoes, but I have heard going to an actual running store and getting fitted by a professional can help. I have also found that trying not to increase my distance too fast helps…it’s kind of like my shin splints are the warning signal that I’m pushing my body too far too fast.

Topic: Fitness and Exercise / Leg Injuries from Running

I just started running a few weeks ago and I’m up to where I can run without stopping for about a mile. I would really like to train for my City’s most fun running event, but it’s a 15k that includes bridges (so, hills) and is held in early to mid-March every year. I have heard that this race is a blast and that there are walkers as well behind the runners and bands to motivate everyone and a great crowd, but as someone who is only running a mile now, planning to run just over 9 miles less than a year from now seems a bit daunting.

Does this goal seem realistic? If so, does anyone have any good ideas of a training plan? Right now, I’m loosely basing my own training off the “couch to 5k” plan, very slowly building up the amount of time/distance I run and keeping a good part of walking involved as I do. I’d rather postpone running the 15k for another year than get injured…I’m sure I could find a 5k or 10k next year to run if I have to…but that race does look like fun!

Topic: Fitness and Exercise / 0 to 15k in One Year? (Running)

I like walking shoes that are very light and flexible, almost with a moccosin kind of feel to them. I got mine from some place in the mall called the walking store or something like that. They have a very flexible sole that makes it feel as if I am walking barefoot without the pain of broken glass on my feet. I haven’t had sore feet walking since, once my feet and ankles got used to all the flexibility. :) The brand mine are is “Unstructured” if that means anything.

Topic: Fitness and Exercise / Walking shoes

Since joined, I have not on a single day eaten enough to meet my nutrition goals (I think I’ve had 1 or 2 days where I went over, but my average is well below what they said I should be eating.)

I have learned a lot about my eating habits, particularly that I ate a lot more carbs, particularly refined carbs, than I thought I did and I’ve adjusted accordingly. Still, I never meet any of the nutrition goals except sometimes the fat I’m supposed to be eating, which I think is mainly due to me trying to eat more protein. (I never meet that one, either!)

I guess I’m wondering if the nutrition goals themselves might be inaccurate? I am still losing weight and I’m eating far healthier…should I be concerned that I never meet those minimums?

Topic: Diet and Nutrition / Never Meeting Nutrition Goals

I don’t belong to a gym or have my own exercise equipment, so traveling is actually pretty nice since most hotels now have a workout room with at least an elliptical and some weights! Also, I love getting a chance to swim laps.

I always try to get a hotel room that has a mini-fridge (like in a dorm room, not a mini-bar) and a microwave. More and more mid-priced hotels now have these and it really gives you more options. I find this also helps me when eating out because I can divide up the food into a more realistic portion, take the rest back to the hotel and know I can eat it as leftovers. I definitely recommend taking healthy snacks with you for the car/plane rides, like some nuts and such. When driving, it’s often a better idea to stop at a grocery store just off the interstate and grab a pre-made salad there than stop in a fast-food joint with all the evil temptations there.

Good luck!

Topic: Fitness and Exercise / Exercise and diet on a business trip

I had sciatic nerve pain during my last pregnancy and afterwards bad enough that my doctor suggested cortizone shots. Rather than go that far, I first tried yoga (against his advice) and found that by doing some simple stretches when my lower back/sciatic nerve acts up, I can relieve the pressure that is causing the pain. I haven’t had problems since and any time I feel things start tightening up again, I already know what stretches work best.

I wouldn’t recommend this if you have a serious back injury such as a herniated disk, but if X-rays and such don’t show an injury and the problem seems to be soft-tissue related, it might be worth a try!

Topic: General Health / Chiropractors- Good for you or quacks?