You’re so vain. I bet you think this song is about you. You’re so vain.
My achy breaky body
Posted by: Susan Marshall | Posted in: Health, Living Intentionally, Never too Old, Personal resources, Susan's MusingsMonday, September 01, 2008
I want to get physical, let’s get into physical, let me hear your body talk, your body talk.
Dem bones, dem bones.
I loved Jane’s blog last week—after all, I’m only three years behind her. And right now I’m particularly feeling the horrible reality that my “body refuses to fall in line.”
It’s no secret that I’m on a personal journey, one in which I’m trying to achieve a healthier body, and more importantly, a healthier lifestyle. That means eating less and moving my body more.
And my journey may be your journey of midlife renewal. In Changing Lanes, we write that getting healthy is a necessary first step for reinventing yourself and lack of health may stop you in your tracks.
Quick update on my weight: over the last 10 weeks: I’ve lost 14 pounds. That period includes a frustrating plateau of no weight loss for more that two weeks, then an almost instant melting off of three pounds.
The eating part is becoming easier and I don’t feel hungry all the time. As an added bonus, Rick has chosen to pick up some of my new healthier behaviors. If there is a special event (like Jane’s birthday or dinner out with friends), I don’t obsess. I try to make healthy choices, but I don’t go out of my way to ask for special food preparations. Rather, I enjoy the moment.
Now my body is another issue altogether.
Over the last three weeks, I experienced two separate injuries that slowed me down. First, I strained my intercostals—the muscles that wrap the rib cage—when my ego got the best of me in a yoga class. {Ego is a big problem for yoga practitioners: it leads you to push past a point of pain in an attempt to show everyone you can do a certain pose.} Well, I did the pose exactly as my instructor asked, but it came at an expense: my back became painfully sore during and after hiking.
On doctor’s orders, I took slowed-pace walks that didn’t require big gulps of air on my part. After ascertaining that my rib-wrapping muscles were sufficiently healed, I embarked on a fast-paced 8-plus mile walk with a friend in Denver. It wasn’t until later that night that I realized that I had injured an ankle tendon from the constant pounding of my feet on all the cement sidewalks. I was too used to hiking on dirt trails.
I did rest the offending foot for a couple days, but mostly I’ve grinned and bared it, icing my injury when it was particularly painful.
During this time, I also asked my registered dietician about regulating my heart rate during my hikes and walks. If you’ve ever worked out regularly, you might have researched the benefits of maintaining a targeted heart rate during exercise. It’s a pace at which you receive the most health benefits while burning mostly fat stores. Getting your heart rate too high means you start burning carbohydrate stores and the fat just sits there on your thighs.
It’s not a number, it’s a range—generally 55 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate—and it lets you measure your initial fitness level, then monitor your progress in a fitness program Calculating your maximum heart rate is simple: 220 minus your age.
Rick owns a heart rate monitor and so it’s easy for me to see my measured heart rate at all times during my exercise. There are two other ways to approximate your heart rate. One is to actually stop and measure your heart rate with your fingers, but some people can’t measure their pulse or don’t want to take their pulse when exercising. I personally find it hard to feel and count my pulse.
If this is true for you, then try using a "conversational pace" to monitor your efforts while walking, hiking or snowshoeing. If you can talk and walk at the same time, you are not working too hard. If you can sing and maintain your level of effort, you’re probably not working hard enough. If you get out of breath quickly, you’re probably working too hard — especially if you have to stop and catch your breath.
Now let me take you back to my personal experience. Immediately upon donning the heart rate monitor, I was certain it wasn’t working. Why? My resting heart rate was over 100. That’s not good. It had to be wrong because every visit to the doctor and every donation trip to the blood bank included checking my pulse. It’s always been between 72 and 76.
A trip to the doctor confirmed that, indeed, my pulse was 110. The doctor suggested that one of my IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) medications could be the culprit. A simple test meant going off the medication for three days, then checking my heart rate again. I did as told and noticed that it did account for maybe 10 points of my heightened pulse, but certainly didn’t explain the 30-plus point increase.
This past week, I trotted off to the doctor’s office for a stress test. I was able to pretty comfortably get my heart rate up to its theoretical maximum of 163 (but I can guarantee that no conversation was taking place!) So, other than confirming that my heart is strong and showing no signs of disease, there was no new insight as to my high heart rate. The doctor’s conclusion is that it’s the IBS medication. So, I plan to slowly wean myself off of it in hopes that the other things I doing to control my irritable bowel will be sufficient.
Another serious issue for me has been hydration. Every one that visits or lives in Colorado hears about the importance of drinking water—lots of water. I’ve discovered that wearing a hydration system such as a Camelbak® is better than carrying water bottles. It’s easier to sip water regularly through a tube than constantly stopping to retrieve a water bottle.
Studies have found that a loss of two or more percent of one’s body weight due to sweating is linked to a drop in blood volume. When this occurs, the heart works harder to move blood through the bloodstream. This can also cause muscle cramps, dizziness and fatigue and even heat illnesses. I know this only too well, as last year I had to leave a sea kayaking trip in Mexico early due to heat exhaustion.
Finding the right amount of fluid to drink depends upon a variety of individual factors including the length and intensity of exercise. There are two simple methods of estimating adequate hydration. The first is monitoring urine volume output and color. A large amount of light colored, diluted urine probably means you are hydrated; dark colored, concentrated urine probably means you are dehydrated.
The second is weighing yourself before and after exercise. Any weight lost is likely from fluid, so try to drink enough to replenish those losses. Any weight gain could mean you are drinking more than you need.
I’m exercising generally at altitude, which increases my fluid losses and therefore increases my fluid needs. Exercising in the heat also increases fluid losses through sweating, whereas snowshoeing in the winter, as we do, impairs our ability to recognize fluid losses. In both cases it is important to hydrate.
If you sweat a lot, like I do, you are at greater risk for dehydration. Again, weigh yourself before and after exercise to judge sweat loss. And, of course, if you exercise for long periods, you’ll need to drink more and more frequently to avoid dehydration.
OK, enough about sweating…and injuries.
I think you get the point. While our bodies are merely the shells that house our souls, they are very complicated things. The irony is that if we don’t take care of our physical selves, we age in such a way that we become infirm and can’t live out our dreams. Or our quality of life just sucks.
And by trying to take the necessary steps to keep our bodies vital, we run a variety of risks, most of which pose no real threats as long as we are educated and attentive. But it does feel as if it’s harder and harder just to keep up with our bodies. Despite our best intentions, it seems that we just get farther and farther behind!
Regardless, treat your body well so you can make the journey with energy and purpose.
This is the fourth of my progress reports. If you missed previous discussions on weight and health issues, check out my June 2, June 30, and August 4 blogs.
Better yet, read stories of individuals who dealt with health issues—and gain insights as to how health plays a role in your midlife reinvention—in our book, Changing Lanes: Road Maps to Midlife Renewal.
