Good Morning. Your mama!

 Frail  IS   SCARY  .. agreed .......


This is one of the reasons im afraid of TOO  MUCH PROTEIN...its been shown to  decrease bone mass....   

I  may not be crazy about my final weight ....but  im STRONG  as a HORSE  on  my  high  complex carbohydrate diet ....

and FRAIL  ... well that word  just does NOT  apply to me.   For what its worth  ....  i can still  lumberjack five  trees and  cut em up and  carry away the pieces  and im not exhausted but Exhilarated at the  end  of five hours doing that .... ( did that last weekend ) 

and my back doesnt hurt a bit ... 

Have you ever tried deep water running?
I used to do it because I blew my knee out hang gliding a few years ago.
It was awesome for high resistance without pressure on any limbs or
spine.
Just an idea :)

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Michelle from Canaduh

Gina - I KNOW I've lost muscle mass and am too a weakling most of the time.  That's when I have to call the reinforcements in. 

Its interesting that my muscle tone in my arms is quite pronounced when I'm doing zumba - just in the resistance mode.  Not sure if it makes me any stronger, but my arms look better - lol.

A gym across the street is an awesome idea.  If you walk past it you can feel guilty for not going.  Mines "out of site out of mind"... I need to get going again, and I need a personal trainer to learn how to do the machines correctly too.

Oh - the facials, spa isn't a bad thing either!

Go for it!!! Get a trainer, so that you can learn the correct way to use hand weights and the machines. Weight training WILL help you to feel stronger and preserve the muscle that you already have. I don't know how many calories/day that you are eating, but if you are eating enough, then you may be able to build up some muscle. When I did weight training years ago, it did help me to feel stronger and made my muscles more defined. A trainer can work around your physical issues, so that you don't hurt yourself.

Yesterday, I made an appointment to meet with a personal trainer to set up a program for myself. I have lost a lot of muscle mass and really need to tone up and preserve what muscle I have left. I am also much weaker than I was before, but stronger than I was, when I was discharged from a 2 week hospital stay. Spending time in a hospital will make one very weak and cause a great loss of muscle mass. I need to correct this. A personal trainer will help with this.

Gina,
I think I understand how you feel walking around without your stripes that once gave you immediate street cred. How long have you been retired?  That's a huge part of your identity to lose.  It was a built in billboard that automatically got people's respect, courtesy, and yes, even fear.  Fear of ticking you off if they were fellow military.  And at least caution if they were civilian men looking for a weak victim.  They couldn't predict what was in that little package.  Whether you were actually a Mighty Mouse in reality or not, the uniform and stripes gave that illusion. 

Other people hide behind status clothing, big cars, tattoos.  you name it.  They are all security blankets and we all want to protect the illusion they bring us.  We want people to believe we are so much more than we believe we are don't you think?  I think one of our goals in life is to strip ourselves of all of it and just be who we are and be okay with that. 

You are the same strong, competent mighty force that you always were inside but it was nice when your stripes announced it to everyone.  All that matters is that you still know it.  But it is a loss to be mourned and adjusted to. 

And heck yeah....go to the gym if you want. Ten-hut! 

I think you hit the nail on the head. I was in for over 30 years and an officer for 26 years. I retired 4 years ago this month. Some days I really wish I was still in uniform then I smack myself silly. lol 



--g
 

If you want to feel like a Badass, take Crossfit! It's designed to make you feel (and even be) a badass.

Alternately, you could just buy these socks:

http://www.sockguy.com/product1627.html

Me, I'm not taking any chances.. so I do both.

Seriously, being able to deadlift your own body weight is quite empowering.

Yep, that being tiny thing is sort of a new thing for me too. But I am a fan of weight lifting and think it is helpful for feeling good, looking good, osteaporosis, and longevity.

I can accept the slender part....but don't wanna be 'frail'!!!

deb366

If you can get a trainer or someone to give you guidance that would be super...and you can start with light weights...