Tag: dancing

Week 22 to Wellness

by annemariedemyen, posted in Health and Fitness, July 2022

I am still pretty much in a holding pattern as far as progress is going!  I am not terribly concerned or even disgruntled by this.  I am not losing ground, which is good and I figure for the time being the progress is just going on beneath the surface. 

My blood pressure is still holding really good.  I have been averaging 120/76 over the past month and that was with a couple of little spikes. I don’t know if the improvements is due to my daily workouts or the beet juice but I will keep doing both.

I am also still doing the sauerkraut.  I don’t know if it is helping my digestion any but it is sauerkraut and I love it and it came highly recommended so sticking with that as well.

I have been partaking in a cold shower every day or two and I can’t say how much I am enjoying them!  I don’t even like hot showers but I feel SO good after a cold shower.  It reminds me of a Mark Manson quote that Genie shared with me a couple of weeks ago..  “Wanting positive experience is a negative experience, accepting negative experience is a positive experience.” So much more profound than “No pain no gain.” 🙂

And the good news this week!  After a couple of ‘challenging’ walks with Molly this weekend, we had a great one this morning.   If she hadn’t gotten excited and jumped all over the hard hats at the Regent Park exit it would have been an A+ for her.  To be fair, I think they wait for her now and they do get as excited as she does when they see us coming,  so it isn’t ALL her.

Pathway in Patricia Park
We walked all three parks again and the only other visitors we met out and about were a couple of old crows. 😢
Molly was proud of herself today – and deservedly so.

The weather was perfect! The mosquitoes were tolerable. The litter was not too bad. All in all a beautiful way to start the day, and again not something I plan to drop from my daily routine.

That’s it for today. Take care and have a great day!💞

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Five Weeks In!

by annemariedemyen, posted in March 2022

I am five weeks into my spring fitness routine so it seems like a good time for another update.

First I just want to say that last week there was a full moon from Hell. If it could go wrong, it did, and on Saturday things went right off the rails.

NOW for the good news!

  • I managed to get through it all without coming unhinged. One step at a time… And I kept up my dancersize EVERY day. And yes, I had my glass of wine almost every evening – four out of seven for sure – but on Saturday I had two. 😂
  • I lost a pound and a half this week. I know, that is meagre and it could come back next week, but it is better news than putting on a pound and a half. I am feeling better and that is what it is all about. Also, my body is tightening up and my weight is shifting so my clothes are starting to fit a bit better. 😉
  • My dog, Kat is doing MUCH better today. I heard her cough/choke a little bit once this morning but she may have been faking it because she loves her coconut oil/honey/cinnamon mixture – Like Maddy used to do after I gave her a mini ice cream bar for a sore throat one day. (She even got her siblings on board. It sounded like the plague had hit when they came over. 🤣)
  • Sun is shining, snow is melting, and my seedlings are sprouting like a darn. 🌞
  • Yay! Another week of spring fitness down. 🤗
‘Zdancerliz’ has a number of YouTube videos that I have been working out with. This military themed one was a new one that I tried this morning. Despite the fact that I have the grace and co-ordination of Gumbi’s girlfriend, I was able to keep up with most of it without injuring myself. 😉
I have used this You Tube meditation by Rasa Pura a few times lately and find it super relaxing. 😌
Kat – looking, and I am sure feeling, much better. 💗

That’s it for today. Take care and have a great day. 💞

February 16th – Chronic Illness

by annemariedemyen, posted in Updates - February 2022

Chronic illness is no stranger to me – I have suffered from respiratory issues for the better part of my life. It affects me every day and there are cases of bronchitis and pneumonia that are debilitating. Since early 2020, my respiratory issues have been acute and ongoing. I have gone from asthma to COPD to bronchiectasis as I discussed in this blog post from November of 2020.

https://seclusion101withannemarie.com/2020/11/26/chronic-illness/

As much as my lung issues are frustrating, there are definitely things that I can do to make them less detrimental to my overall wellbeing. Keeping physically active is important, as is managing my weight

Being physically active is pretty doable – especially since I retired and am no longer tied to a desk nine hours a day. It is just a matter of getting up and getting active. It’s not always what I want to do – but it is something I should and can do.

Managing my weight is a different story. I have two basic weights – underweight and overweight. I was my ideal weight for fifteen minutes in 1986. 😉

When I am underweight, I feel terrible and it is a battle to do anything. Taking out a bag of garbage, shoveling snow, or pushing a lawn mower are herculean tasks. When I am underweight, nothing I do, or eat, adds bulk to my scrawny frame.

More often than not, I am OVERWEIGHT. When one is 5′-1″, it takes very little extra weight to make a big difference. Thirty or forty extra pounds makes a huge difference and when I am carrying it around – it is not going anywhere. I walk, I exercise, I live for weeks on lettuce and lean meat and nothing! Well not nothing – the last time I went on a mission to lose weight I gave myself a hernia and gained five pounds. 🙄

Right now, and as has been the case for a number of years, I am overweight. Being a little stubborn and not one to back down from a challenge, I am once again on a mission to rid myself of the extra poundage.

As incentive, I started by purchasing a neoprene work out body suit. I have had it for a couple of days now. If nothing else, I should lose a few pounds getting it on and off. Any other activity I engage in should be a bonus. 👍

This is not me…

As an incentive to eating healthier (ie lettuce and lean meat), I have been washing down my supper with a glass of red wine. For entertainment, I have been using the silicone wine glass that came with this bottle of wine Dan bought. I can’t imagine who would have thought a silicone wine glass would be practical, but it is definitely amusing. (It bounces – much like I would if I fell over in my neoprene body suit).

So, that is my update on my journey with chronic illness. Having recovered from my hernia surgery, I am back on track to do what I can to manage my respiratory issues. 🙂

That’s it for today. Take care and have a great day!💞