Tag: Bike

New Diet

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Weight2 Comments

funny-diet-monkey-belly

I’ve heard so many times that the word “diet” is a 4-letter bad word, and that you shouldn’t go on a diet, you’re supposed to change your eating habits so you are eating a healthy diet all the time. I know this, but I also know that I love the taste of potato chips, chicken sandwiches, ice cream, pizza, jelly beans, Whoppers (from burger king, not the candy) and you know, just general bad stuff. What it is with food that I know I shouldn’t eat, but I just can’t help myself? If only those bad foods were actually good for me…

I went on a diet a couple of years ago and lost 70lbs, and frankly I have no idea what I did right and why I can’t repeat it. I wanted to keep losing, but as soon as we started bragging about losing 70lbs, the weight just stopped and suddenly I felt stressed out and I was maintaining the weight for a month straight. Then gradually over the next couple years the weight has slowly come back. I’m not back to where I was, which was 262lbs, but I’m getting close. I recently weighed myself early in the morning and I was 238. The next day I weighed myself and I was 240. Then I weighed myself and I was 245. What the hell is happening? How can I gain weight that fast? It’s like I just look at food and bing bang boom 5lbs. What the heck?

What I did to lose 70lbs was we started buying Weight Watchers Smart Ones frozen dinners, and I said the word NO to everything else. When my partner asked if I wanted to go to Taco Bell I said no. When he suggested we go to Golden Corral I simply said no. Every time he said that he wanted to go somewhere, I said no. He started buying cookies for himself and he would hide them in his living space in the living room, which is a good thing, because I didn’t want to know it was even in the house. One time he left a bag of doughnuts on the counter next to the toaster oven and I put my hand in there and I grabbed a doughnut and I ate it.

I have already made a few steps to lose weight by buying a Fitbit Charge HR watch to help motivate me to exercise. I bought that Schwinn Meridian 3-wheel tricycle to ride to the gym, and of course the gym to be a place where I can go to exercise and to help me lose weight. I know I don’t need a gym to lose weight, but if I make a commitment to go to a gym, then I make it a habit, then I will do it. If I don’t have a commitment to go somewhere, then I won’t do anything. I’ll just sit on the edge of my bed playing video games all the time.

I have the tools to exercise, now I need to eat healthy and I know I will succeed if I put my mind to it. Wish me luck!

Ahead of Schedule

On By Michel McDonaldIn HealthLeave a comment

The surgeon who operated on my leg told me on January 28th that I could put pressure on my leg in 6 to 8 weeks. Last Friday, Paul, my physical therapist told me that he thinks I’m ready to start putting pressure on my leg now, and that he would like to see me using a cane instead of crutches. I’ve been using a cane since I came home that day, and have been using a cane ever since. I’m supposed to start putting pressure on my leg in 2 – 4 weeks, but I’m doing it now.

Of course I’m not jumping up and down or walking all over town, I’m just walking to the bathroom or the kitchen. We went to Dollar General Market a couple nights ago and I did just fine, except for when my partner kept stopping to look at labels, or to look a greeting cards. Every time I had to stop and wait, it put pressure on my good leg to keep me upright, which really hurt. I could have put pressure on both legs, but I didn’t want to put too much pressure on my bad leg.

I’m excited because I wasn’t expecting to be able to walk for another 2 to 4 weeks. It doesn’t hurt as much as I thought it would, but I do feel pressure on the top of my bone at the knee. I can feel the pressure from the metal plate (or rod?) and screws when I wiggle my toes. It’s a strange feeling, but I’ll get used to it, I’m sure.

I haven’t gone out on my new tricycle yet because I’m afraid I might have an accident if I go out this soon. I’m having issues with the fenders, because they feel like they are too close to the tires. The back fender is a little bent from shipping. I am also having trouble turning right, which isn’t that big of an issue because I will get used to it, and my body will get used to how odd it is and it will compensate, but for now I’m just a little afraid. I’d like to take it to the grocery store on a test run soon. I still need to buy more chains and locks to chain the seat to the frame and another U shaped lock to lock the frame to the handicapped sign pole. I would love to buy one with an alarm, but they cost a lot of money.

The one thing I am happy about is that I am no longer bed ridden. I actually have freedom again. I can go to the kitchen on my own with my cup and get my own drinks. I can make meals, do dishes and laundry and I can feed the cats outside again. It still takes me forever to get anywhere, but at least I get there, and that’s all that matters to me.

2 Months

On By Michel McDonaldIn Doctor, Health, UncategorizedLeave a comment
Leg scar
leg scar

It has been 2 months since I broke my leg and had surgery. The picture on the left was taken last month  on 1/20/2016 and the one on the right was just taken on 2/18/2016. I wanted to show how it’s healing.

My leg still hurts from time to time if I twist my leg at the knee, but that’s about it. My partner was giving them to me every 4 hours like clockwork for the first month because he didn’t want me to be in any pain, which I appreciate. After so much time had passed, I guess he just forgot to give me the pills unless I asked for one. But that’s a good thing because I should only be taking them when I actually need them. They are so expensive that I’d rather only take them when I actually need them.

I go to Physical Therapy 3 days a week and that has helped a lot. I went to Physical Therapy at a place only a block away on the same street a couple of years ago for my back when I found out that I had scoliosis, and I didn’t like going there. I’m HIV+ and they didn’t want me to be in the open room with the rest of their clients, so they put me in a room by myself, which was very awkward because I had to ring a bell when I was done with my exercises and wait for the guy to come give me the tool for the next exercise. I didn’t tell this place that I am HIV+ because it’s not relevant. I’m not going to bleed or ejaculate on anything, so there’s no reason for them to fear me. That other place told me that they want to put me in a room by myself because they don’t want me to catch a cold from one of the other clients, but I’ve been going to PT at this new place for at least a month and I haven’t gotten since yet, and yes, there have been clients who were sick and I never caught their cold.

My doctor told me that I can put pressure on it in between the middle of March until the beginning of April. I wonder if I will replace the crutches with a cane by then. I sure do hope so. I am so sick of crutches. I will blog about that when that time comes.

Crafting Pains

On By Michel McDonaldIn crafts, Etsy1 Comment

I am a crafter. I think I was born a crafter because I love making things with my hands from raw materials. Everyone loves something that was made specifically for them to enjoy.

When I was 9 years old in the Cub Scouts, I learned to make keychains with 2 strands of Rexlace, or as some people call it “Gimp”. I made a few here and there at that age, but never went further with the craft until I was in my early 30’s when I remembered how fun it was to make, so I decided I wanted to learn all over again. I played around with the 2 strand keychains, but still didn’t know how to finish them, so I did what we did as kids, we burned the strands to melt them together with a lighter. That of course was the wrong way to do it.

Fast forward 10 years to a couple of years ago when I broke my arm and decided I wanted to make keychains again, but this time I learned how to properly finish them. I also learned how to make keychains with more than just 2 strands and in many patterns. I went overboard and opened an Etsy shop to sell my keychains. I wasn’t as successful as I had hoped, but it was fun.

I recently had an order for 200 mini DNA red and white keychains. Unfortunately my carpal tunnel syndrome got in the way, and I was only able to complete half of the order before I was forced to take a break. I shipped out the first 100 in the first week of October, and I just finished the second 100 and am going to ship those out in the morning.

This is a casual business for me. I’m not living on the profits, in fact, when I do get an order, which is very rare, it helps me buy some groceries, or it may help me pay for a new video game, or jewelry that I wanted to buy. I never intended on huge bulk orders like this. It’s nice that someone thinks highly of my work that they want a huge order, but my hands can’t handle the constant torture from pulling strands of plastic lace.

My hands are in so much pain that I wake up every morning in agony. When I go to the gym, if I have my hands up on the bars or on the top of the treadmill, the pain in my thumb is excruciating and I have to bring my arms down to swing.

As of right now, I’m retired from making anything in bulk. I don’t mind making up to 10 keychains,  10 mini or 5 regular size, but that’s it. I’m going to have to just stop the torture on my poor hands. I love the work, and appreciate the groceries and winter cycling gear I was able to buy, but it’s just not worth permanent damage to my hands.

Actually, as of right now I am on vacation from my Etsy shop lol. I honestly don’t even want to think about making keychains and earrings, or even the Friendship bracelets or anything that is repetitive.

Come to think of it, my hands are killing me from typing this blog post. I have to rest my right hand from typing every few minutes, so I’m just going to stop typing and get in bed.

Weight Loss at Planet Fitness

On By Michel McDonaldIn Exercise1 Comment

planetfitness1I have been going to Planet Fitness 4 days a week for a month now and I am already starting to see results. Not scale results, but I can see results in my face, my double chin is getting smaller and so is my stomach. The scale results haven’t changed because I’ve been building muscle. I don’t expect to see much difference on the scale, so I’m not stressing over it.

I am a little confused about something that I’ve been seeing on the interwebs. I went to search for the Planet Fitness logo, and I see images like these.

planetfitness_judgementzone 44073962 e18byg1 Judgement-Free-Zone-Judged-for-being-fitWhen I first started going to Planet Fitness, there was a guy in the locker room with his teenage son. I was getting ready to leave, and he was getting ready to exercise. There was a Planet Fitness commercial on the TV and I wasn’t really paying much attention, but it was one of the usual ones that play over and over with a drill sergeant. It’s this one.

He told me “You know what they are saying in that commercial? They are saying they don’t want you to exercise here. They are telling you that you can come here and hang out and take selfies if you want to.” Really? Because the message that I got was that they aren’t pressuring you to kill yourself at the gym. Hence the “No Gymtimidation” quote all over the place.

I think people are getting the wrong impression of Planet Fitness. You know what I see? I see people come in and exercise at their own pace for as long or short as they want. I see people who are happy who do whatever the heck they want without anyone yelling at them, like in that commercial.

You know what I do? I ride my bike there, which is about 25 to 30 minute ride, then get in the Total Body Enhancement for 12 minutes, walk on the treadmill for 50 minutes to an hour, get a massage, then ride home on the bike which is another 25 to 30 minutes. That’s the extent of my exercise. I see people who are using the machines and they have big muscles and no one is telling them they are in too good of shape to continue going to Planet Fitness. The day before yesterday they set off the lunk alarm because there was some obnoxious person dropping the weights and making loud noises. That’s the first time I heard the lunk alarm in the month that I’ve been going there.

For those saying Planet Fitness doesn’t let you build muscle, you’re wrong. For those saying Planet Fitness isn’t a real gym, you’re wrong. So I think if you don’t like the message Planet Fitness is sending in their commercials, go to another gym. Life is too short to act like babies. I’m serious about my weight loss. If you are serious about being a jackass, go somewhere else.

Baleaf Men’s Thermal Cycling Tights

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, Cycling, ExerciseLeave a comment

Winter is coming, and it’s going to be brutal in Bakersfield. People in the mid-west don’t believe that California is capable of getting cold, but trust me, it can get pretty chilly in Bakersfield. That’s the main reason I stop riding my bicycle for exercise when it starts to get cold in October.

I can handle a little bit of cold weather, but not on my bare skin. When I ride the bike, I try to wear tight fitting clothes. The only bicycle clothes I have are bicycle bib shorts, I never bought the pants because I could never afford them. I prefer to buy my bike clothes online because they are much cheaper than at the bike store. You can shop at the bike store, but they are going to jack up the prices and you won’t be able to try them on. Bike Nashbar is usually reasonable, but their prices are still a bit out of my price range right now. I bought my bib shorts from them only because they were on sale. I went back to their website for the bib pants, or even just a regular pair of bicycle pants, but they were too expensive for me right now.

My next option was Amazon. I searched for bicycle pants and found Baleaf Men’s Thermal Cycling Tights Size XL for only $20. The shipping was free if I bought $35 worth of stuff, but I didn’t have that much to spend, so I paid the $5 shipping.

These pants have a few features that I was hoping for. They are tight enough for the bicycle and they have fleece inside to keep my legs warm while I’m on the bicycle. They also have a drawstring which will come in handy when I start to lose some weight from going to the gym 4 days a week. They also have pockets, not that I really need them since I keep everything in my gym bag. I don’t like to keep things in my pockets on the bike because I’m afraid they will fall out. These pockets have zippers so there’s no chance of anything falling out. The pockets are good for those times I’m just riding the bike to the mall or to Michael’s because I will have a place for my wallet, phone and keys.

This makes me so happy because I really like exercising, but I hate that I can’t exercise when it’s too cold outside. Now I have a reason to keep going to the gym this and every winter.

Update: Well, so much for this idea. Unfortunately, my calves and thighs are way too big. These pants were so tight that there was no possible way I could put them on without the seams bursting lol. It would be a shame to waste $25 on a pair of pants I would probably end up having to throw away because the seams kept coming apart. So I sent them back. I have awhile before it starts getting too cold, and I have a pair of sweats that I can just wear to the gym for now.

Planet Fitness Day 1

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

Screenshot_2015-09-13-16-29-18Today was my very first day at Planet Fitness. I rode my bicycle and it took me 25 minutes to get there and I logged it into the Planet Fitness app manually and that was 275 calories burned.

When I signed in, I bought a gym bag because I needed something with a zipper. I saw they were only $10 on the PF Store in the app. I also asked for a pair of earbuds and a neoprene armband to hold my Dell DJ, but they didn’t have that. Instead, they showed me that they had a sale going on the gym bag with a pair of earbuds, a sports bottle, a combination lock, a hand towel and a rubber band bracelet with Planet Fitness written on it. Well, I had already bought a combination lock from Albertson’s and a sports bottle that was actually better than what came with this special, but I went ahead and bought it anyway. You can never have too many locks. The sports bottle would have been okay if it were better than what I already had, but it was worse, WAY WORSE!

The hand towel that came with it was a white towel with the logo printed on it. Well, you know what happens when something white with something inky gets wet? Just imagine putting in a red shirt in a load filled with white socks and white underwear. The ink runs all over the towel. Well, when you are wiping it all over your sweaty head for an hour, guess what happens. You get the ink all over your skin. My forehead looked like I had a major sunburn.

After I bought the bag with all the stuff I really didn’t need, besides the earbuds of course, I used the Total Body Enhancement chamber. Oh, I had to go back to buy a pair of “Peepers” to protect my eyes from the bright red light. They would’ve given me a pair to use, but I figured if I’m going to be using this machine every day, and possibly the tanning bed, I might as well own a pair and not use something someone else has used. The Total Body Enhancement was pretty cool. It vibrated my whole body. I honestly don’t know if it did anything, but I liked it and I’m going to do it before every workout. I asked if it’s before or after and the guy said you can use it either before or after, it doesn’t matter.

After that I went to the treadmills and got on one and did 30 minutes. It did a 5 minute cool down which is why it logged as 35 minutes in the Planet Fitness app. I plugged my earbuds in the machine and was able to watch I Am Cait on the E! channel. It ended in the middle of my workout, so I switched it to Naked and Afraid lol. When my workout was complete, I used the PF app to log my exercise and the app has this feature that all you do is tap Snap a Workout and you choose your machine then take a picture of the summary on the screen. It processes and eventually posts your workout in the app. Pretty cool eh? I didn’t have to enter anything manually into the app.

I didn’t stay to do anything else because my back was really hurting halfway through my Treadmill workout and it was agony when I finished. I went to the desk to sign in to use the massage chair and the guy gave me 2 tokens and that gave me about 5 minutes in the chair. It was a heck of a lot better than the Shiatsu massager that I have for my desk chair. It does a lot more than even the massage chairs at the mall. It helped a lot. I forgot to bring ibuprofen with me, so while I’m thinking about it, I better put the bottle in the gym bag now. I’m in absolute agony so I’m going to take some now as well.

I considered taking a shower before I left, but I figured I’m going to ride my bike home, why would I take a shower when I’m just going to have to take another one when I get home. I bought a bottle of water on my way out and rode the same distance, only it says 4.03 miles and I rode for 29 minutes this time. The reason is because my legs were so exhausted from riding the bike, then walking on the treadmill, then riding the bike again. I was really dragging ass on the way home, but it will all be worth it when it conditions my legs to allow me to do more at the gym in the future.

Tomorrow instead of using the treadmill, I think I will use the elliptical machine. It’s too soon for me to even think about the stair machine. There’s really no point in using the bicycle machine since I ride one to and from. It’s a bit redundant to ride the bike, then hop on a machine that rides like a bike, then ride my bike home. It would be like walking there, then getting on the treadmill and then walking home.

Anyway, I had a fun time and tomorrow I plan on tanning and using the hydromassage bed instead of the massage chair at the end of my workout. I hope to burn many calories and lose a lot of weight so I can be a skinny bitch again.

New Year, Noom Me… Again

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Exercise, Health, Noom, Recipes, WeightLeave a comment

Noom Logo

What do we always do on January 1st?  We make a new years resolution.  What is the number one resolution?  Say it with me.  To lose weight.  I did just that in 2013 with Noom and I plan on doing it again starting today.

We have already been to Food Maxx to buy our Weight Watchers Smart Ones frozen dinners which is what helped me to lose 70lbs in 2013.  We also have our frozen veggies and fruit in the fruit bowl.  I start physical therapy on January 3rd and I will most likely ride my bike to get there and use the Noom cardio trainer app to log my bike ride and my PT.  I took the Noom app off my phone and put it on my Nook HD+ because I like the bigger screen and because I need the space on my phone.

Like i said, last year I was lucky enough to lose 70lbs and every week I had weight loss, and no gain.  I would love to do the same exact thing this year, but even I know that is nearly impossible.  If you try hard to do something you did before, you won’t do it and you will become frustrated and you will end up doing the opposite, so I’m just going to relax and hope for the best.  If it happens, it happens, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.  But I hope it does lol.

So from right this moment, every breakfast I will measure the exact amount of cereal and pour the exact amount of soy milk and slice exactly 1 banana into it for breakfast.  For my snacks I will stick with fruits and lunch and dinner I will try to stick with veggies and the weight watchers meals.  That is how I did it in 2013.

It’s not difficult to do something if you set your mind to it.  I said that I will NOT eat chocolate or cookies or ice cream, and I kept my word.  Instead of eating those bad things, I substituted them for fruits.  Instead of eating chocolate ice cream, I chopped and froze a banana or cantaloupe and blended them in the food processor and made my own healthier ice cream.  Instead of eating store-bought cookies, I made my own from a recipe that I found.  In fact, here are all of my healthy recipes that I found and altered to make them healthy.

I don’t drink soda or any alcoholic beverages, so that’s a blessing, but I do drink coffee with creamer and no calorie sweetener.  I did okay on the diet last year with the coffee, so that’s not a problem.  I tried to drink water, but I just can’t stand plain old water.  I drink Crystal Light, or well the Food Maxx generic version of it anyway.  It’s 5 calories per 8oz which is not too bad.  Although people are always telling me to cut out the sweeteners and blah blah blah, but again, 70lbs last year speaks for itself.

Anyway, so that’s my plan and I am hoping to drop down to 160lbs this time.  I would like to get down to 150lbs, but I’m just going to try for 160 and see how that goes.  If I find myself wanting to drop another 10lbs then I will.  Once I get to my main goal then I will continue using the Noom app to maintain my weight.  And of course I will start blogging every weigh in day again.  My weigh in days in 2013 were Fridays, so how does Friday sound?  Sounds good to me.  So it’s settled.  This coming Friday will be my first official weigh in and blog post.

Weight Gain

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, Diet, Food, Noom, Pain, WeightLeave a comment

WeightGain

We went to the doctor’s office today so I could get my clearance note for surgery to remove my parotid gland.  They had me step on the scale and I was shocked to see that I was 205lbs.  So yeah, I’m a bit verklempt lol.

One of my issues with exercising is that when I walk or ride my bike or do anything that burns calories, the Noom app tells me that I can eat more calories, so I end up eating those extra calories, but then I might even go over those extra calories because I think to myself that I did such a good job that it’s okay.  Well, that’s not how it works.  I should still stick with 1400 calories, 1500 at the most.  Even if it says I can eat 1700, I should draw the line in the sand at 1500.

I’ve been using the Noom app for my cardio, but I decided to download the Noom Cardio Trainer.  I’m sure that it will still show the extra calories in the Noom app, but I just want to see how it goes with the Noom Cardio Trainer.

I’ve been eating those Quinoa and Tofu burgers every day with hamburger buns which is not a good idea; I should be eating them without any bread.  Here is my typical day:

Every morning I will either have a bowl of Malt-O-Meal or a banana for breakfast, which by the way the Malt-O-Meal is a green food (which means healthy) and the banana is obviously a green food.  For my morning snack (second breakfast?) I usually have a banana.  For lunch I normally eat a Weight Watchers Smart Ones frozen dinner, although I’ve been eating the Quinoa and Tofu burgers, both by the way are green, except for the bun of course.  Afternoon snack (linner?) is typically a banana or crackers or sometimes I will have a bowl of broccoli.  That has been consistent.  Dinner is typically a Weight Watchers Smart Ones, but I’ve been eating the Quinoa and Tofu Burgers.  For evening snack I’ve been eating a lot of crackers.  I need to stop doing that, but I get so hungry that it feels like I’m famished.

I’m assuming that my issue here is the bread and the crackers.  I also have to admit that I’ve been eating candy corn, but not daily.  I’m guessing that the amount that I’ve eaten so far is finally catching up to me, so I will stop eating them for the rest of the season.  If I am having this much difficulty from the candy corn, just imagine how it’s going to be when Eggnog is available in stores.  I’m going to go crazy because I just LOVE eggnog lol.

So getting back to the Noom cardio trainer, I have set up 5 days a week to go riding on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.  I’m going to go out 5 days a week to do at least 11 miles per day, if I can do more, then great, but I’m not going to push myself that hard.  The app suggests 5 days a week, so I’m giving myself 2 days off, but not 2 consecutive days which is why I chose Sundays and Wednesdays as my days off.

balance ballI am also going to buy that Gaiam Total Body Balance Ball Kit which is sold on Amazon for $20.  It has an exercise DVD with it which I can watch while doing the exercises in my bedroom.  The doctor at Physical Therapy told me I should buy one so I can do exercises for my back since I only have 3 more sessions left.  My insurance only pays for so many sessions, then I’m on my own.  My back isn’t in as much pain as it was, but anyone who has, or anyone who knows anyone with scoliosis knows that the pain is really bad.  The only thing that really helps my pain is the exercises.  Pain meds don’t do anything for my back pain, they help my parotid gland pain, but not my back pain.  $20 is a small price to pay for pain relief.  I wanted to buy one at Target, but they were the same price, but without the DVD.

I really hope I can get back down to my comfortable weight of 192lbs and possibly get back on track with my weight loss so I can get down to my ultimate goal of 170lbs.  Considering I lost 70lbs this year, 35lbs shouldn’t be that difficult to lose, although it’s harder than I thought.

So to recap, my goal is to stay away from Halloween Candy and any other holiday sweets, bread and to exercise more and to try not to eat more than 1500 calories per day, even when the app says I can eat more.

Ready… set…  GO!

Picture Of My Bike

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

By the way, here is a picture of my bike as is.  Not including any lights that is.  It has the frame bag with the tire repair kit, mini pump and hex tools.  The cup isn’t there but it’s black so you wouldn’t see it but if you look hard enough you can see the cage that the cup goes in.  Yes, the bag is big but the cup does still fit in it.  And as you can see my helmet.  To see full size click the image below.