Investing in Health

We've been working on our health the past few months. Since I was scheduled to do physiotherapy, we took the opportunity for the boys to be checked further since they've been taking maintenance meds.

Prevention is better, so the boys both saw an endocrinologist, nutritionist and dietician. It's an overhaul for our lifestyle since we're all not getting any younger. 

Miggy is enrolled in the exercise program and has been required to walk more daily. We decided to invest in a treadmill. It will be more economical than enrolling in a gym, plus both Miggy and Sweetie can use it everyday. The stationary bike is mine, but I'm not allowed to do heavy exercise for now. 

We canvassed across a couple of stores and found a suitable and cost effective one at Olympic Village. The staff was very knowledgeable. They also came the next day to unbox and install the treadmill. 

Cheers to healthier living!

#BeKind #StaySafe

How My Stamina Improved!

I finally resumed pulmo rehab yesterday. My PT asked for updates first. I haven't seen her since the first week of November, just before I got very sick! My doctor had me rest first before I resumed. I told my PT I improved a lot after Christmas. Here's what I've been doing since mid-December which helped improve my stamina:

(1) Use the CPAP machine - I've been using it for 6 to 8 hours daily. My doctor explained, it's been helping me get the right amount of oxygen while I sleep. Getting proper sleep helps the restorative process. My Fitbit sleep score has improved a lot too. 

(2) Meal plan - I'm on a 1200 calorie deficit diet. I chose the heart meal to ensure I'm eating the right kind of food. Eating kutsinta sized brown rice shocked me in the beginning. My tummy has since shrank, the tiny sized rice has since become very filling! 

(3) Daily exercise - my neuro advised me to exercise. She said, "Do something you like doing." I'm doing pulmo rehab so I could progress to biking. I'm months away from reaching that goal, so I garden daily for now. I started watering plants for 15 minutes in mid-December, I now garden at least an hour everyday. I read it's a good workout since you use most of your muscles while working. 

(4) Doctor added supplements - aside from vitamin D3, my doctor added vitamin B to my daily supplements. It's helped me be more stable. The late afternoon gardening sessions also help with my vitamin D insufficiency. 

(5) Grow in faith - I still get stressed out sometimes. It's usually from things I cannot control. I'm practicing mindfulness and so I could control how I react to things. Read more about it here.

My quality of life has improved a bit. I'm able to do a bit more stuff everyday. My doctor reminded me to check my oxygen saturation especially when I'm gardening. This is to make sure I'm okay, so I could stop when needed. Miggy has been on-point when it comes to stopping me from over-working. He's very strict and I appreciate that since I have a tendency to keep doing stuff when I feel I have more energy, haha. 

I'm happy with the improvement. I have to ensure I stay stable so I can improve more :)

#BeKind #StaySafe

Wellness Wednesdays: Anchoring Self-care Routines

I have lazy bones. Never really liked sports. My Dad was an athlete and was always moving (tennis, basketball, jogging with friends). I never saw my Mom workout though. Yes, never. She would do gardening everyday until now. She's 87 and still does the same thing everyday. 

To make sure I complete my 40-day self-care challenge, I anchored the routine to something I do regularly so I don't forget. I do some stretches before I get up. Skin care after my morning shower and drink my pre-breakfast meds before going out of the bedroom. Wall push-ups while I'm preparing coffee. I do the leg up wall yoga pose after brushing my teeth. 

Part of my self-care challenge is to move more. There are days I do only 800-1,000 steps. Moving more helps give me more good days. There's still a lot to organize at home, so I anchored my movement to a daily target to fix something. Sometimes I overdo it and end up flat on my back the next day. I just rest until I feel better. Sweetie reminds me not to overdo things. 

I've been more productive since I started the challenge. There are still bad days and I think I can still improve. It's just been hard to get an appointment from my doctor. My aim for now is to stay stable and be at least 1% better than the previous day. Anchoring my "program" on something I do regularly has helped improve my well-being :)

#BeKind #StaySafe

Powering On

Just got back from my physiotherapy session. I went back a few weeks ago when my physiotherapist said they were open again. Started it slowly with just one session a week. Promptly got a little sick after two sessions, but I've gotten better after a few more sessions. From today I'll be doing two sessions per week again. 

To be honest exercise has never been in my vocabulary. My PT though said I should think about exercise like how I brush my teeth. Like it's something that you need to do everyday. My Dad was super active. He played tennis and basketball. He played HS and collegiate basketball and so exercise came naturally for him. My Mom though... I never saw her exercise in my entire life. Her exercise is gardening. I guess I'm like my Mom, I've come to love gardening.

I started doing physiotherapy because of back pains. I started having it around late August last year. I thought it was just gonna go away. It didn't and by October my respiratory doctor sent me to see my orthopedic doctor who took a peek at my x-ray and referred me to a spine doctor. The spine doctor said that there's some degeneration happening.

And that's how I ended up with the most amazing physiotherapist. I admit, I'm probably one of the hardest patients to take care of because of the many considerations my PT needs to manage. Too much makes me sick, too little may trigger back pains. I think my PT knew from the beginning that if I got scared I would probably give up and not come back.

I think the most important thing she did with me is build trust. Even though the back pains came back during the two months when the clinic was closed, I trust with her guidance and care we'd be able to bring back the strength we built before the circuit breaker. So even though going to my sessions every week is hard, I push myself to go because I know it's for my own good. I hope in a few weeks my PT will allow me to go on the bicycle again because that's the only exercise which I equate to fun.

What about you? Do you like exercising?


#CB//91 #WFH67  #StuckAtHomeDay/121 #StayHome #BeKind

Wellness Tip from my Physiotherapist

I've come to love my twice a week physiotherapy sessions. I used to dread it, but after two months of regular sessions my body has adjusted and look forward to the workouts. I've also tried to swim two to three times a week, but it's been suspended until the pandemic is over.

I told my physiotherapist today that the highlight of my week has been seeing her for our sessions. We've been following the government advise to only go out for essentials so I only head out for my PT sessions, nothing else.

So soon I hope I'd have real exercise photos haha.

How I felt about my PT changed a lot when I started working from home twice a week. I requested for the accommodation because I was getting sick from juggling work stress with the physical requirements of the PT sessions. My doctor recommended the accommodation since it would not benefit my body if I just kept getting sick every other week.

It took a long time, but now I realize why my doctor had been insisting for me to do yoga since my heart surgery. I tried a few times, but it was just unnatural for me to exercise or even just do some stretching. I thought I'd be forever young (haha!) and I thought it was enough that I was making an effort to reach my daily step target.

See how we try to integrate exercise during our day.

My physiotherapist explained that we were not trained to exercise our body like how we brush our teeth. She said that if we eat candy or anything else we all automatically brush our teeth. Sitting all day at work is just like candy for your body. To "clean it" you need to exercise to get the effects of sitting all day reset. I told her that it's strange that we all had PE (physical education) growing up. We were never taught though that we have PE to require us to continuously exercise our body. I guess we really won't think that way because we only have PE once a week at school.

That was a great perspective she shared with me today and now I understand even more the value of why you need to exercise. It's just like brushing your teeth! :D

How I Work-out

I always wondered how my Mom managed to keep slim all her life. I never saw her participate in any sports activities like my Dad. She doesn't go walking every morning. And, mind you, there are times she eats more than I do! All along I thought it was her metabolism and I hoped that I inherited it. Unfortunately, my metabolism has slowed down a bit and there are days I have to do some extra activities so I don't go beyond my weight limits.

I used to play badminton and tennis, but both are extreme sports for me now so I try to stick to my weekly malling regimen. My doctor thought I played bowling and burst into laughter when he realized that I meant mall-ing, the act of walking around the mall and window-shopping all day. He said I was his funniest patient. Due to some health restrictions I realized that the best way to keep slim is to be my wriggly self all day in different ways. Here's what I do:

1. Cooking - when I was still living with my Mom I did not have to do any chores at home, save for the occasional days I had to wash dishes. But now I turn into Cinderella at 6 in the evening when I have to prepare dinner for my boys. It takes me an hour or two to cook dinner depending on what dish I'm making. I rarely turn on the fan in the kitchen when cooking so I could sweat a bit. Cooking exercises both my arms and legs.

2. Dish Washing - may be strange for some, but I love washing dishes. I hate bringing out stuff to the sink, so Miguel does that for me. My kitchen is small so I have set-up different drying areas for pots and pans and that forces me to walk around. More exercise for my arms!

3. The Laundry - doing the laundry allows me to carry around the dirty clothes bin. I first roll it down the stairs (hehehe), sort the clothes into separate bins and then carry them to the laundry area and pop the clothes in the washing machine. They come out almost dry so hanging them gives me a chance to do some stretching.

4. Sweeping and Mopping - I don't usually do this, but my cleaning lady has been sick for more than a month now and I don't trust anyone else to come to the house to clean for me. I do this by area since I'm allergic to dust. Aside from a complete workout, the best thing about doing this is taking a long cold shower after.

And the best work-out for me...

5. Garden Weeding - I have a tiny garden and my Mom insisted I plant some grass on it. I thought it made sense since grass kinda helps cools down your house (versus pebbles!). My Mom's gardener has been MIA too for awhile now so I had to cut the grass myself too and do some weeding. I spent two hours in the garden the first time I did some weeding. I could barely get up and I was drenched with sweat (kinda like how my boys are sweaty after a run). I was really surprised but liked the workout since I was being productive at the same time. And that's when I discovered what my Mom's secret is at keeping slim. Weeding and gardening!