dralicephd Member

So glad to hear you are feeling better, @claireychn074!!! HRT has been great for me, too. Mostly. I've had some issues with spotting and irregular periods (I used to be as regular as a calendar!), so the doc has adjusted things a couple of times. This has been a little rough, as each dosage change causes some side effects.…

I've been off the forum for a bit, so maybe you've gotten past this by now.... In any case, just wanted to say that the pufferfish thing has happened to me also, but it went away after about 2 months of hormones. Give your body time to adjust. I've had some issues over the last few months with changing hormone levels to…

Update: the cravings, bloating, and weight gain hung out for another couple of weeks, and then one day, it started to subside on it's own. I'm finally back to normal eating and back to 143-ish pounds. Yay! The HRT symptoms were rough for the first couple of months, but they have really quieted now. My period is still…

It's been awhile since I've posted... I've been keeping up with 3x elliptical per week at about 40-ish minutes each time. I've also found that I tend to go a bit faster when I play music instead of watching YouTube. :) I've tried to increase the strength training to 3x per week, but haven't been able to be as consistent…

Thanks for letting me vent, everyone. I appreciate the support. It's why I still lurk around this forum. :smile:

Hi! I figured it is probably time to check in, since it's been awhile since I've posted. For the last month I've managed to keep to 2-3 days per week of elliptical and 2-3 days per week of strength training. My elliptical pace has increased a little bit and I've even been able to increase some weight on some of the…

Just an update, several months on.... I still like it and have gotten used to wearing it. Yes, it has to be a little tight to pick up on the heart rate, but it doesn't bother me anymore. I still have trouble reading the screen indoors, but that may just be my aging eyesight. *gestures broadly to the reading glasses spread…

Saturday: Kept it simple and played some driveway basketball with the kid (before the sky opened up with rain and hail). Sunday: did full-body strength training routine. I'm really loving my app to help me keep track of what I did in the last workout. It's keeping me honest. :) Today: 40 minutes on the elliptical. I played…

I took an impromptu week off due to illness (thanks for bringing that one home from school, kid!). Anyway, I'm back at the elliptical and strength training this week. I've decided to add a day of strength training to the week (instead of adding weight) in the hopes to increase things a bit without injury. Other than that,…

This weekend involved some yard cleanup, so my first real workout on the new elliptical was today. Here's how it went:* Wow. This machine is SO MUCH SMOOTHER than my old one. * Smoother = "woah girl, slow down!" :D * The MPH and mileage reported by this machine are VERY different than the old one. Looks like I'll be…

Today was my last elliptical session on the broken machine (the new one will be delivered tomorrow!). I did a moderately-paced 30 minutes. I followed this with 2 circuits of the full body strength training stuff I do (low weight and body weight exercises). I got a new app** for tracking the strength training, so that was a…

Added to my day: a half hour of elliptical on my broken machine. I went faster than my usual, and it felt good. Although, I can feel it in my muscles now. We'll see how I feel tomorrow. Also: Oof.... I realize how clunky my old machine feels after having tested out some new ones. It is definitely time to replace it.

Saturday: 45 min on the broken elliptical, followed by some strength training. Today: I'm not sure how long. I went elliptical shopping and did a few minutes on several models. :smiley: Life Fitness machines felt the most natural to me. Octane machines are right out! Not because they are bad, but they don't seem to work…

Oh my goodness. What an invaluable resource! Thank you for pointing this out. Thanks @nossmf for writing this up! There's some great ideas in here.

@Djproulx Hang in there! And yes, please keep posting. :) 30 min. elliptical session today followed by a full-body low/body weight strength training session. Part of me feels like I can probably kick up some of the weight, but I'm afraid to do so. Every time I've done that in the past, I've gotten injured. So... I'll just…

30 min. easy elliptical session. I intended to go 45 min., but pieces of the foot pedal flew off mid-workout. It made for an exciting session! :D Guess I'll be shopping tomorrow. Oh well. I think I can still use the old one in it's current condition for a little while longer. I think. We'll see.

Quick 35 min. elliptical, moderate pass. Foot pedal is still holding up... fingers crossed.

Thanks to my husband (an his efficient use of glue!), I was able to use my elliptical today. Woo hoo! I'm dubious that the fix will hold for the long term, but at least I'm able to use it while I shop for a new machine. Anyway, an easy 40 minutes today, just to reinforce the habit and get some blood pumping. Feels good.…

Thank you. Me too!

Thanks! In mine, the flywheel seems ok (I hope), but one of the foot pedals has broken. The spring mechanism has been loose for awhile (it's floppier than it should be) and now the actual pedal plastic has cracked and broken. I've been searching for a replacement part, but the company has been out of business for awhile…

Yesterday did a repeat of the strength training that I did a couple of days ago. We'll see how two days apart sits in the body. In the meantime, going to try a fix on the elliptical and see if I can get it to limp along for a little while longer while I shop for a new one.

I second this idea! I gave up on traditional swimsuits a long time ago. I could never find anything that supported the girls well enough, so sports bras and yoga tops have been the norm for me for awhile. For bottoms, I've used leggings, bike shorts, and swim skirts. At some point I realized that regardless of how…

The elliptical is still broken, so just strength training to get the blood moving. It feels weird not to do cardio, so I added some exercises to my typical routine. I'm keeping the weight low (or just using my body weight) to avoid injury. squats (actually 2nd position plies, but same idea), bicep and tricep curls, "I's"…

Thanks to both of you! I will see if there is one of those near me. Great ideas.

I think you may have already gotten what you need, but I'll throw in one more thing... If you truly enjoy eating cereal at night (and not just boredom eating and you grab cereal because it is easy), then I say eat the cereal at night. The caveat is that calories are calories and if you want to stick to your weight loss…

Thanks for the reminder to check for used. :) I don't have a shop like that near me, but there are occasional sightings of used machines on Next Door and Craigs List. But before I do any of that, I'm going to have to go try some brands out in a store and see what I like. It's not a great time to buy right now with the "new…

I haven't posted in awhile, because life, but I've been keeping up reasonably well with my ellliptical and strength training. Well, until last week when my elliptical decided to die! :( The machine is about 17 years old, so I should be happy it lasted as long as it did. Unfortunately, the company is out of business, so I…

I enjoyed my holiday. I ate and drank all the unhealthy stuff ALL DAY on the 24th. I mean that quite literally. I did a lot of snacking on cookies and stuff. Anyway, this showed in the scale as 2.5 pounds the next day. It's funny to me how much undigested food (and water from all the carbs) can weigh. Although, considering…

After my "mostly normal" elliptical and strength training on Saturday, my old shoulder injury reared it's ugly head again. I think I need to realize that taking several weeks off due to illness has put me almost back to square one. :( Oh well. Such is life, eh? My shoulder felt better today, so I'm back on the elliptical…

This cracked me up. I know this feeling well. :D