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| It's trick or treat season. Here's our jack-o-lantern, which reminds me I'd really like one of those pumpkin muffins every coffee shop sells right now. I'm trying to trick myself into more exercise and fewer of those muffins. |
I'm also coming off a couple weeks of Prednisone for a lung infection, so didn't get a lot of exercise for about a month. The Prednisone always zips me up, taking away a lot of the ET-related fatigue and with the added side effect of making all the all the back and neck pain I have from a severe spinal curvature away. For two weeks I felt 45 again! Now that the course of Prednisone is done, I feel like I've been hit by a Peterbilt.
Needless to say, I need to get moving again, but I'd rather just read a book. So I'm gonna have to use some tricks, and here's what works for me:
1. Use the stairs. My classes are in a two-storey building. Faculty office is on the first floor and my class is on the second. Usually I take the elevator (I know, what a wuss), but the first few weeks of class the elevator was out of order, so I was forced to take the stairs. Now that the elevator is fixed, I'm continuing to climb. I can even go outside the building and take the outdoor stairs, which gives me a short little walk when the weather is nice.
2. Put your hand weights on the back of the toilet tank. Upper body stretches with light hand weights help you keep your upper body strong and can stretch out the kinks I get from my usual office chair slump or incessant knitting. Thing is, I can always find an excuse to ignore stretches, so I put the weights on the back of the toilet tank. Every time I go to the loo, I pick up the weights and do 30 reps of something after washing my hands. It takes less than a minute, and since I take a diuretic for blood pressure, I'm in the bathroom a lot anyway. It's a pretty painless way to work these exercises in.
3. Exercise in bed. I have a short routine of stretches I can do before I get out of bed in the morning. I find that this is kind of a pleasant way to wake up instead of immediately stumbling to the kitchen in a fog to wait for the coffee to run through. It helps.
4. Do yoga when the sun shines. My husband recently installed a patio. It's shady and cool in summer and sunny in autumn when the leaves come down, and it's a great place to do yoga when the weather is nice. I have a short routine I try to do at least a couple times a day, so before I let myself settle into my lounge chair with a book, I do my yoga routine while thinking improving thoughts ... or just clearing my mind of the irritations of the day so far.
5. Cut your sweets in half ... literally. It is pumpkin muffin season. Every coffee shop in Michigan has these things, and I am a sucker for them. I try not to get more than one a week. I also cut them in half and give the other half to a friend or family member. Soon it will be peppermint season, and temptation will be gone.
Hoping that these "tricks" will get me back on my stationary bike on days I can't take my evening constitutional.
I'm still writing down everything I eat, but we only had four trick-or-treaters at our house for Halloween, and there are about three pounds of mini Kit-Kat bars left over. I put them into a sack and will take them to class tomorrow for the students. It will remove temptation for me and perhaps sweeten the mood in class.
I have my yearly hematology check-up this month. Lots of questions for Dr. Blood. Hoping to dodge chemo, but I think it's inevitable at some point. I'll keep you posted.
Meantime, be well!
Related: My self-improvement kick: Update #1
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ET is a serious disease that requires specialist care. Discuss anything you read here with your doctor. No comments promoting "alternative" or "natural" cures (yes, this includes Rick Simpson's Oil) will be published.