Livin' Right

[luvthelighthouse]

How many here are actually living a healthy lifestyle? I mean, eating right and working out regularly.

Try as I may to stay on track, it's hard! I keep joking that I'm going to take a five day vegan challange to boost my metabolism. I try to do some sort of exercise every day, but there are days I just can't bring myself to even take a walk. I do try to do my eliptical machine four times a week though, even if only for a half hour.

What is everyone else doing?

[GlennLover]

Nothing. I need help!

[AzEaglesFan]

I start the day out great but by evening I'm a very bad girl. I need a lot of help but don't know where to even begin to correct years of bad habits.

[Prettymaid]

This is a great topic LTL. At work we did a biggest loser challenge this year - it ran from the first week of January to the last week of April. Only five of us did it - we weighed in every Friday and put $2.00 in the pot (I know... we're cheap!) Percentage of weight lost was recorded, and yours truly won! Don't get too excited - I only lost six pounds! That tells you how everyone else did! Since then I've lost another four pounds, basically by eating less. I already consider myself a fairly healthy eater - it's the excercise that haunts me! Naturally in the summer months I'm more active so it's easier to keep the weight off, but man, I gotta tell you, it's hard to do! As AZ said, bad habits are hard to break, but I know it can be done, so I'm tryin' to do it!

Also, livin' right to me is keeping my mind in the present moment, appreciating all the beauty around me and thinking positively. It sounds much easier than it is!

[sodascouts]

I've been gaining weight steadily since I went to graduate school and, like all my friends, starting existing on fast food and living most of my life in front of the computer writing my dissertation. I have a gym membership but it languishes and now I'm almost embarrassed to go back. I think the thing that is really keeping me back is how inordinately tired I've been after work for weeks now. I don't know what's wrong with me. Some of my friends have mono and I wonder if I've managed to catch it.

I know things need to change, but I have so much stress in my life right now that I'm putting it off until things calm down. I wish I had Glenn's attitude about it, but frankly I loathe "Livin' Right." I loathe exercise, I hate giving up yummy foods. I have a huge appetite and I hate being hungry. In short, "Livin' Right" makes me miserable. I figure I'll endure the suffering that is "Living' Right" when I have fewer other problems.

[EagleLady]

I am bad about Livin Right, but the video is hilarious with Glenn, the lazy slug turned into the gym ethusiast

[Lisa]

That is super-great!

Running Shoes are where everything is right now! They have to be long enough (with space at the ends when running--toes not near any seams when foot is extended in a running stride, by about over a thumb width & under a thumb and a half width amount of space when running; not just in the shoe store when you check the ends(!))-- to fit and protect your feet. And supportive--the foot has to hold at the mid-upper and catch by the end of the lace run--toe-wards--so that you don't stub your feet when you run and damage them. (The size has to be the correct fit for the biggest foot, if your feet are not the same size).

The down economy has the shoe industry in its hold, because shoes are expensive to make.

I don't think the shoe size numbers on the running shoe box are certain--you could have to take a size or two larger to be safe--the numbers just are not what they should be here. And running shoes are costly, so you end up having to try them on anyway. (I'd say the shoes are about two sizes off right now--you'd have to look at a shoe size two sizes larger than the one you expect to wear).

If the running shoe is no longer supportive (at the mid-foot, for example; or in its foam padding); or if the running shoe size is too small--the shoe has to be replaced by a different pair of running shoes to prevent harm.
(You could bruise a toe or toes, or even stove the joints at the foot, if the shoes don't have enough empty space around the toes when you run with your foot extended, and your toes reaching, gripping, and pushing off).

A running shoe that is too big will not hold your foot at the mid-upper--and your foot will slide through the midsole past the end laces into the shoe toes and you'll still stub your feet when you run even though the shoe is too big, and not too small; also not the size to buy! Running shoes in a too-large size also could chafe your heels even through running socks when you run in them.

I've been wearing Nike Lady Pegasus + 28 this year (a year-old model for the sale price), for a standard running shoe (trainer) brand name and model. It is a relatively soft shoe.

I mention this with some trepidation, because the Pegasus is only my fourth choice of a standby standard quality model; it is a trainer intended for running and durable enough to take wear in running mileage-and, I know it will be a big enough seller to maybe get a season through the down economy's effect on brand name running shoes. It has a history of being a very popular model for Nike, and it moves off of the shelves. (I wore the Pegasus as an alternate for the Air Craft in 90,91--around when these trainer models were introduced (!)).

Running shoes, trainers, really cannot be made cheaply--and the pattterns have to be cut to the size and not skimped on at the sewing stage. Also, the toe pockets have to be substantial 3-D pockets. And, there has to be enough of an amount of foam padding and a sturdy material for the under sole.
A wide triangle flared-out toe box space is really necessary in a shoe to run in. And your toes and the insides of your feet can't ride the side seams, or run into any of the the leathery-plastic sturdy-sewn center supports, as well as can't run into the toe front supports. Your toes can't ride the front seams, either.

Many of the runners I see every week at the track club are wearing Saucony's and New Balance shoes. The past two shoe years have been the most difficult in which to find decent running shoes, and I've been wearing Nike's (but not the same model) since 1978! So, I know from very careful window-shopping that my old favorites will be modified too much until maybe the Olympic Games bring a surge in the market (2012 Games!)

My (genuinely) favorite running shoes have been: The Nike Air Craft (1990, 1991), A green swooshed white Nike Reax pair of lightweight trainers from after the Atlanta Games market (1997); and two pairs of Nike Xccelerators from 2005. (All of these usually-nice models will be so modified, at this point, that the mainstream and biggest seller Pegasus has a better chance of getting you by). I can't wait for an economic turnaround so I can get new shoes again!

This is the first year that I've had to buy out of a half-size, or at most a size difference in number range--all of the above-mentioned shoes and years are closer to the numbers you'd normally expect to be close to the right size.

I suppose my favorites were the ultra lightweight post-Atlanta games Reax with the green swoosh. They went right off of the market a year after they were introduced. Then the Air Craft, and then my older-year Xccelerators. I really liked both of my 2005 Xccelerators, but the newer model Xccelerator (don't know the year) has a cheaper and changed toe box, and isn't flexible enough to give the kind of torsion response that I prefer to find when I jog. Nice shoe, normally--I hope it gets redesigned and introduced again!

Running shoes on today's market seem to be in flux--they are too much like sneakers inside to cut costs, and their padding and foam loads are likewise compromised by cost cutting--no one can safely run in sneakers, although they look great in attractive designs.

The recent offerings are sort of a cross between sneakers and roomy "moon-boots." Is this usual? No, the good years produce sort of cushy track shoes (without spikes). Call them "trainers." Quite a disparity in what to expect from a shoe.

I am pro: injury-free, comfortable, and safe running and jogging.

To decide whether you like your running shoes, you have to wear the running shoes for two or three months until the foam padding conforms to your foot. Running shoes change with wear. Not knowing this can make you not like a shoe that may be a good shoe after its foam-setting period. You would want to avoid any fricton or abrasion pockets in the pads, or in some kind of shoe inner-surface contact. In any new running shoe-- no friction. The pads will gradually individualize.

[Lisa]

I was going to add that today I saw that Runners World has a March 2012 issue that reviews 23 new shoes for Spring 2012--I was thinking that the "new shoe issue" usually is around April--I don't know if this is it this year.

Once a year--you can read about the new editions out on the running shoe market. Of course, there are other sources for shoe reviews, especially now that there's an internet!


I've read through the March 2012 article--this may be the "shoe issue" for the year 2012! It's that kind of a shoe choice line-up.

**Yesteday I browsed the website for the magazine, and it reports 4 shoe issues, spring, summer, fall, and winter--that would be a four times a year update of new runnning shoes, not just one issue a year. Long ago, there was only one "shoe issue" a year--shows how times have changed!


Where do I look for running shoes? Famous Footwear, Sports Authority, (which is where I found the Pegasus), you could try a specialty running store, but the prices will be closer to retail--the staff may be able to help advise you on what would be a good choice for you.

(I did go into DSW to look!)

[sodascouts]

OK, I decided tonight to do a taste test on "Skinnygirl Cosmos."

My verdict: 6/10

Not as bad as the Skinnygirl margarita, but not as good as the Skinnygirl sangria.

However, approximately 25 calories an ounce is not bad. Not bad at all. I think of all the three cocktails, this one is the least calories, and it's not awful. Therefore, it's the best of the three for me!

[Topkat]

Well, my working out is finally starting to pay off. I lost 8 pounds. I upped my eliptical workout from 30 minutes to 45 minutes & I can burn about 350 calories in that time. Then I do 1/2 hr. of weight training. I do this 3 or 4 times a week.

Today I tried on a pair of pants that I really liked, but were in my donation pile because I thought I could never fit into them again, but today they fit me. I was shocked because a few weeks ago I couldn't even zipper them. So now I will be keeping them! Yeah!

I haven't really changed my eating that much. One thing I did, because I wanted to give up diet soda & I really don't like water is that I take bottled water & squeeze a slice of lemon in it & add just a drop of Splenda to it. It's better than plain water & not bloating like soda. Try it, you may like it.