ā¦as many of you know Winter can bring on, or be an excuse, to sit around too much and thatās exactly what Iāve been doing after my 4:30 supper-time. Also, early morning, like now, being online too many hours.
Iām looking for feedback on being much, more active mainly, to help me sleep better at night. I was not doing my walking, or my little 20 minute band workout for about a month, and hardly going out to the grocery story. I started walking again at least, 2 days ago but itās not enough. I only walk 30 minutes, but it luckily only took me 1 day of walking to do my regular speed the next day. First day I just couldnāt get into it.
Does anyone have a good routine that makes them āactiveā many more hours of the day? Iād like to especially spend my mornings online, late afternoon and evening sitting on my, well in my recliner watching TV. Last night, I felt like utter crap when I went to bed to read.
This is not the life I want, so hoping to hear some things that will encourage me to be way, more active. Any suggestions welcome, and I need a routine beside my mid-morning 20 minute workout, and my walks about 11:00 after breakfast, thanks much Denise
PS Forgot to mention Iāve finally ordered a fitbit charge 5 I got for a good price so I can begin to keep track of things, to encourage myself.
Denise, I was just thinking of you! Glad to see your face again.
I still do my rowing for an hour every night and yoga at some point in the day and walk the dogā¦ thought that barely counts since he is old and slow. We meander.
I read. A lot. So I spend a good many hours on my butt too. But my energy level is still good and I feel good.
You were so disciplined for so long, I suspect youāll find your way back to your old routines, and feel better and stronger. Itās hard when we step off and give in to apathy and atrophy. But we can do it.
I also suspect that just coming back to your support group here, will be inspiration and motivation.
Hi Denise.
Maybe Iām not the one to answer this, but I do have a winter routine. Walking is excellent. It is low impact and healthful. I know runners who try to keep running into their 70s and 80s, and develop joint issues. Then their ability to get out and do much becomes unpleasant or undesirable. So stick with walking. Although I donāt do this, I believe a morning swim is an excellent form of exercise which will boost your metabolism in the morning, and keep you burning a few more calories throughout the day. Two or three days per week of a morning swim is recommended.
I have been doing research for the last few winters, which occupies most of my day. Currently, my interests are in the areas of health and religious history. So, I end up sitting at my computer for most of the day almost every day. M, W and F I do weight/body exercises, and have been gaining some muscle. I do this in the evening before dinner. I follow it with a protein smoothie and then dinner - so lots of protein immediately after the workout. My research does give me something to do, and it is time consuming, but I like learning new stuff, and figuring out stuff which doesnāt seem to be widely recognized. That gives me purpose to my day, and some drive. Reading books may be along the same vein to keep the mind stimulated. If you are retired, have you considered volunteering? Our society is in need of so many things.
I hardly watch any TV anymore. I watch some sports, and Youtube videos on a wide variety of topics. I get most of my news these days from internet jounalists and some Youtube news services. I have found the quality of most TV shows and the MS news to have fallen to pathetic levels, and they donāt interest me nor inform me anymore - much less entertain me. Movie quality has also deteriorated, and a good flick is somewhat rare, but we do enjoy them as much as possible. There are even some decent older movies I have not seen. I want to continue to find ways to help people as I age - help them find health, spirituality and meaning in their lives. This is what continues to drive me and give me purpose.
Buy a sports watch and sign up to Strava, and you can see where youāve been, how long you went, what speed you did, how many kās youāve done this week etc etcā¦ no end of fun!
Make an appointment with yourself every day: 4pm, walk. No matter what, get your walking shoes on, go outside and walkā¦. BUT, give yourself license to stop and go back if after 3 minutes you are just not feeling it. I can promise you, that 99% of the time after 3 minutes you will want to continueā¦ the most difficult thing in exercise is getting out the doorā¦ do whatever deal you have to with yourself to get you out the door.
Arrange to walk with a friendā¦ if you know you will be letting someone else down by not going, you will go!
Find a local walking group
Download a Couch to 5k app (there are a few), and follow the instructions
Find your nearest parkrun, and go and parkwalk (yes, parkwalking is a thing, and many people do it). The community around parkrun is fantastic, and there are many people there who walk it. You might find some new friends to walk with during the week, many doing exactly what you are doing.
Drive and then park 2 miles away from your favourite coffee shop. Walk to coffee shop, have coffee, walk back. Job done.
Buy some new fancy walking shoesā¦ good new kit is always motivating
Reward yourself each time you finish a walkā¦ with whatever is your favourite thing to do (hopefully not eating carbs! )
A habit takes 30 days to stick. White knuckle doing a walk at a certain time of day every day (without fail and no excuses) for 4 weeks, and it will become the norm, natural for you, you will feel weird if you donāt do it.
Buy some good headphones, buy a good audiobook, and then listen to the audiobook during your walking only ie you can only listen to the book while walking. Want to know what happens next? Go for a walk.
I also suggest that you do some weight training: that does not mean going to the gym, it simply means using your bodyweight to stress your muscles a bit. Muscle atrophy is a major problem as we age, and it is very simple to stop: just do some simple bodyweight exercises 3 times per week. Try to get your muscles to burn! And then enjoy the recovery!
Swimming is also really good for general flexibility and is low to no impact, which can be helpful.
Best of luckā¦ hope 1 or 2 of these ideas help.
Cheers
Alec
Thanks Robin, Iāve managed to not sit down except for lunch which was about just a few minutes. I did a lot, my walk, grocery errands just two stores, then home then the lunch and right on out to do two loads of laundry. We have onsite laundry at my apt. bldg. I also took out some recycling and finishing up the my sheets in the dryer, about 10 more minutes.
I am so tired, but after dinner I hope to take my regular after dinner walk. Itās been beautiful today and that really inspired me. I feel pretty tired, butā¦oops, there goes my timer, gotta get my sheets, but thanks so much for writing. You are so right about this being a support group Denise
PS I made some Keto Sleep-bombs I so love, and hope they will relax me into a good nightās sleep
Iām exhausted, I did a lot, including 1.5 hours of walking, 2 separate walks, just got back and planning a Epsom Salt bath with some EOās I love. Iāll have a couple of my sleep bombs for a treat and to also help me be ready for bed, and my latest book.
I appreciated reading your info, and I love walking, and I do love my resistance bands workout. Tomorrow same routine, as I still have a couple of loads of clothes, and things I can do around my apartment. I do like to spend at least 2 hours on my computer reading some youtubes of interest, I have a bunch of interests, and I love some simpler gaming, single player thIngs, only did I think 3 hours of that total today though, and none in the eves.
I know if I keep this up I will need more fuel, so I eat a lot of meat (mostly red) and also Red Salmon, wildcaught. Anyway may more tomorrow, hit a couple other things you mentioned, Iām just so pooped out ty again, Denise
Hello Alec, thank you for the list, I am really toast, what a great day I had though. I hope Iām not too sore tomorrow, LOL!! I think I know my routine already, but will take a closer look at your suggestions tomorrow morning. Thatās when Iām going to be spending at least 2 hours online.
Denise, do you have any heart issues? Just curious, there can be so many causes of unexplained fatigue. Especially at our age. Have you had a co plate check-up recently?
I got a full 6 hours of sleep lastnight, felt so excellent! Iām not as sore this a.m. as I thought I might be but I did an Epsom Salt bath with EOs, and had a nice Keto Sleep Bomb before bed
My Fitbit Charge 5 will be here today or tomorrow Iām hoping! I had ordered it, finally, last week. Iām going to love it, especially since I got off my hind-end Right now, I am developing my routine but Iām not going to make a schedule for myself, I do better with just getting into a routine for now
I do listen to my body, and if Iām not up to something, I donāt feel bad about ending the activity so I do that. You are right about getting out the door, but I notice if I donāt let myself think about it, just get in auto-pilot mode, it works. Iām sure thereāll be times when it doesnāt. I can tell by your writing that youāve been there done that so thanks so much for sharing your tips
I did have a guy join me lastnight and it was so great, we had lots to talk about, and that hour of walking flew by! He would have gone further but I just couldnāt Iām hoping heāll join me again. Heās been walking on his own too I found out and heās improved so much! He had bad leg cramps so I recommended trying Mag. Citrate. He said he hasnāt had a cramp since and gave my idea 2 thumbs up
Ok I need a break now, so will explore your suggestions another time. I donāt want to be on here too long. Iāll keep this thread as my home-page and let folks know (my support group here) how I am doing Denise
Iāve been wanting a Protein drink during the morning or earlier in the day but was wondering what you are using/creating for yourself? Iām diabetic (T2) so I wonāt do sugar, if any, but can replace it with a little stevia.
Iād also love swimming but for now, Iāll stick with walking, and my resistance bands, probably already mentioned that somewhere. We do have a nice Municipal Pool here in town I can use if I decide to.
Iāve shied from running/jogging for same reasons you mentioned, read about the possibility of issues as well. But I just love walking way better than anything. I do feel a need to build/maintain muscle so I did the gym for my first 3 or so years on Keto. Then it got so I just wanted to save the money, so organized a neat area for me to do a resistance band workout. I love that, following heather Robinson on Youtube.
She has a ton more I plan to try with dumb-bells eventually. Also lots more I can progress into with harder band-exercises and more. Itās all at my finger tips if I will just not get lazy. So far so good with my reset
I think I may have mentioned my new Fitbit Charge 5, which happened to be a good fit for my small wrists. I also got an extra pack of nylon band w/velcro. It will be interesting, and helpful to know āaboutā what I am doing, and I especially like the heart-rate monitor.
I gotta tell you research is my main thing online, or just reading about different health info, studies, listening to podcasts, or just shorter videos from people like Ben Bikman, but Iām a very curious type and love learning. I seem to have a good sense of what to throw on the burn pile, and the info to keep;)
TV pretty much stinks, especially news. But I have some older shows like Poirot, Midsommer Murders, and yes, a few older movies, some classics, and I watched The Fugitive for the 2nd time with Tommy Lee Jones, and Harrison Ford. Great flic imo. I love the really old shows like Sherlock Holmes with Rathbone or Brett
I am thinking about volunteering as well, but not right now. Thank you again for all your help and Iām glad you decided to reply to my post Denise
We appear to be a bit more energetic in the morningā¦ Iām glad you told me youāre a diabetic - Iām sure thatās why sometimes you feel so tired. That is probably why youāre a member of this forumā¦yes? Since I have been doing low carb and keto, I have been much less tired in the afternoon. If you get feeling really tired, can I suggest just having some goat yogurt, coconut yogurt or maybe a coconut fat bomb? If that wakes you up, problem solved. I find the MCTs I get from my goat yogurt give me a good start to my day, and I have good energy throughout the day apparently from the other fats in my morning yogurt. I just think science has really overlooked the health benefits of MCT fats. These options should give you good energy without the insulin spike and eventual sugar crash(unless you are a T1).
OK on to protein smoothies. I do mainly two flavors - chocolate and vanilla. For both I use Orgain protein powder with Superfoods. I just use the recommended two scoops, which provides about 20 gr of carbs and 20 gr of protein. The carbs come from the āsuperfoodsā which are powdered grains and vegetables. Orgain does not use any added sugar. If you donāt want the carbs, Orgain also makes plain protein powder. Both flavors are mostly sweetened with erythritol, which doesnāt give me any problems., and is acceptable to me, as it is organic. I actually want this small amount of carbs to give my insulin a boost. Insulin is pro growth - the serious body builders all seem to use it, but I just boost it naturally. If you donāt want the carbs, like I said, Orgain makes a plain protein powder, or you can order some from a company like Sun Warrior. The Orgain protein powder uses pea and rice protein. Sun Warrior uses pea and hemp protein. The combo gives a complete essential amino acid profile, but I spike it with a scoop of BCAAs to make it more anabolic. I also add about 25 gr of whey protein. So my smoothie has about 45 gr of protein from protein powders. The Orgain gives it all a decent taste. I also add some bone broth collagen, which is more protein. Muscle also has collagen in it to hold the fibers together, and give it strength. To build muscle, you need collagen, so I provide it rather than hope my body is going to make it. This is all added to a base of either coconut or almond milk in my blender. I typically add a whole Haas avocado, and then the powders. This year I have also been adding some green whole food powders, which I believe have some stevia.
If you want a better taste, you can skip the collagen powder and use less whey powder. When I am making the chocolate flavor, I also add some raw cocoa powder to offset all the unflavored powders I am adding. As I indicated in another post, I have started looking for an unsweetened hemp milk, but havenāt found a source yet. Hemp is the perfect base for my smoothie, but if I canāt find it unsweetened (or sugarless), I may have to settle for raw goat or A2 cow milk for now, as I donāt want to have almond milk every day, and I think the coconut milk is making me gain some fat, as I am trying to raise my insulin some at the same time.
I used to just have one of these smoothies after my workout, but this year I have added another, the following day as my lunch. I typically am not even hungry, so use the chocolate flavor on my recovery day for lunch to make me want it a little more. This extra smoothie is necessary to bring my protein intake up to where it really needs to be to get decent muscle growth, but to get even 120 gr per day of protein into me feels almost like a chore. I have always considered myself to be a hard gainer, but three years ago, I surprised myself by doing keto, and getting good gains. Not sure my gains are quite as good this year, but I am still relatively happy with the gains I have made at about 2 pounds of muscle per month. That just seemed impossible for me in high school, LOL.
I do mostly body exercises like chin ups and pull ups, and diamond pushups. I do have a Nautilus machine I bought for $75, I use for the pull ups and dips, but I have not progressed far enough to need to add weights for these exercises - they are hard enough now, LOL. I do use added weights for squats and curls.
It may seem counterintuitive, but I have been doing my training at the end of my OMAD IF day followed by a smoothie. I seem to be getting results, so am just fine tuning it. Supposedly, the whey protein is fast and easily digested, while the plant protein is supposedly slower, and would give my body something to assimilate while I sleep. So, on my workout days, I am only getting about 80 gr of protein, which is about 1/2 the usually recommended amount for muscle gaining, and then about 120 gr protein max on my recovery day. So, I must be doing something right, because I am gaining at a respectable clip, and I just donāt really want to eat anymore. It seems 120 gr of protein is about the max I can force down myself per day, LOL.
No problem. I donāt pay for a gym. I just do all my exercises at home, and I keep the house in the sixties in the winter so save a little money on the heat bill, while keeping the house in the 60s to encourage my fat to become BAT. In fact I dress down to my skivvies to do my exercises in the cool to encourage this process along. I generally, listen to Pink Floyd or Dire Straits, etc to exercise to, and that seems to keep me more energized and on task while I exercise. Movies or videos are too distracting.
Yes, mornings are my most energetic. If I have to leave early, say, for a doc appt. or anything else, Iāll go right on through my lunch as I eat a lot of protein for breakfast. Usually sausage, eggs, cheese. I do eat a cup of spinach thrown into that mixture, only real carb I eat at all. I do use Olive Oil with my 2 main meals, and a sort of snack at lunch. That consists of Two Good Yogurt, blueberries, and walnuts.
I use a tsp each of these seeds, and nutritional yeast w/breakfast: Flaxseed, Chia Seed and Nooch (nutritional yeast).
The rest is only the Sleep bombs near bed-time, and only meat, fish or chicken at dinner so nothing else.
I was real tired today after a 30 minute walk, and then up and down stairs to do my laundry fold and put away. Thing is I probably over-did it a little yesterday so I let myself have 1.5 hour nap. I also make Fat-bombs using Cacao, coconut oil, walnuts, Sunflower Butter, and stevia, again, I donāt overdo stevia, one scoop for a whole batch sweetens it just barely as thereās a bit of carbs in those.
I donāt do any meds for my T2 so I wonāt let my sugar spike at all. My last a1c was 6.0. they flag that but doesnāt bother me, thatās low but they still call it pre-diabetes. Pre to me means before T2.
Anyway, Iām going to do my after dinner walk, maybe another Epsom Salt bath because I just want to feel good and rested in a.m. I think Iāll need a bit larger portions of things, add a egg, a bigger chunk of meant etc. I read today a lot of negatives about protein powder, but I donāt see a problem with it. I donāt like the whey or something like pea protein so looking at other types Scaper.
Iām 71, and I was lazy for almost a month, so me being tired in afternoon can be that, Iāve only done 3 days, today is 4 if Iām remember right so all seems normal for me. I am getting good energy after getting up, and after walks. The lunch/snack is pretty carby although it doesnāt spike my bg, it could make me tired, I agree
I had some bad migraines, about 2 weeks worth, and that contributed to my laziness. I was sick with headaches a whole month though so canāt blame migraines for all of it Discouragement too, but Iām getting back on track now.
I go make some notes on your recipes for protein drinks, and thanks so much!! Denise
PS I do use 1 scoop of collagen in the a.m. for my 1 cup of decaf. I also use Collagen in my sleep-bombs so that and with my diet, probably enough.
Part of your problem is most likely the time of the year and the weather if you are in the Northern Hemisphere. The days are still short and if your weather is anything like weāve been having in Virginia, frequently overcast. Short overcast days definitely put me into hibernation mode and decrease my motivation.
I think the best thing you can do is to get yourself outside in the daylight early in the day. Iāve listened to a lot of podcasts lately about sleep hygiene and that is a very common recommendation to get exposed to the early light to start oneās day. I think getting exposed to natural light early in the day may help give you more energy throughout the day.
Hi @VirginiaEdie, I know you are right about the weather. Weāve had more rain again this Winter, but Iāve been out twice a day walking, since weāve had 5 days in a row not rain. I feel so much more energy again, and even did my resistance band workout this a.m. for the first time in a month! The last two days have been in the 40s, no Sun, but dry so Iām out there.
I thought Iād have another good nightās sleep lastnight but no go, I may have nodded out just before midnght but woke again at 1, finally got up at 3. I didnāt go back to bed though, felt energetic and did my workout with bands and then did my walk after that. I took a nap just 1 hour, then got my dinner, and then just now got back from a 30 min walk.
Things are going well, not sure about the sleep but since I am retired, I can nap if I need to. I am also very lucky to have to larger āpictureā windows we used to call them, in my apartment, one being in my bedroom which I never close the shades. I get up before dawn anyway, but lots of light all day until about half hour ago
Denise
so all seems normal for me. I am getting good energy after getting up, and after walks. The lunch/snack is pretty carby although it doesnāt spike my bg, it could make me tired, I agree