Beautiful song and video ....Amen

I'm a silly one! Move over knee pain; little spasms have been happening in my lovely legs. With my eagerness to progress I cancelled out the wisdom of building a steady increase in cycling time. I'm looking for safe stretches to do while standing, massaging spasms for comfort and pulling back on time to ease my way forward anew.

There is a great soft tissue manipulator in Superior. Charles Avery at Better Bodies 822-1040. He has worked miracles with my back and several others have seen good results, even my mom came here just to see him from Washington. There is also a good stretching book he recommends but I loaned mine out so will have to get the name of it for you. Take Care, Wendy

Thanks so much for the information, Wendy. I'll keep it in case there's a future need.

I poked around on some arthritis sites because I've been skittish about doing traditional stretching. I'm still babying the right knee. I did find some stretches I can do leaning on the wall and lying in bed and they made all the difference in feeling less taut! My hour ride today was great! Onward!

Tomorrow is chicken salad day as I try out the new recipe at long last.

OK... SO now I'm riding 65 minutes daily and adding one minute each day so that I g-r-a-d-u-a-l-l-y gain ground without hurting myself and needing to backtrack.

My eating has been easier to manage with every passing day. I do believe the exercising plays into this reality.

There are a few bags of candy sitting in the cupboard, organic don't you know, which have been there since last February. Usually, I would have one or two or twenty after dinner. They simply do not appeal whatsoever to me. I'd much rather have a refreshing chocolate-blueberry smoothie for a snack treat. Letting go of that candy monster was a struggle initially. Each day of positive choosing solidified by rich language, either rejecting or enhancing a particular choice, has been a sure and certain strength training.

I've lost nearly a third of the weight I've set as my first goal to take pressure off my joints. I would never have chosen a specific number had I not hit the knee crisis.

I'm ever grateful for HHO, Carla the humble genius and everyone on the forums.
Happy Weekend to All!

That sounds like a lot of riding, I hope you're not overdoing it. Herewith the name of that book:Stretching by Bob Anderson and a link to it on amazon. It has stretches for specific parts and also for pre exercises like biking.
www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_kk_2?rh=...8&qid=1282400567

Thanks soooooo much, Wendy! I just ordered the book. It really looks excellent!

Thanks, too, for your expressed caution about overdoing the riding. I've chosen to focus on the endurance aspect so I can take the pounds off more swiftly. It's become my new part time job and I'm hoping to work up to 120-180 minutes of rising five days a week with a day of total rest on one of the days I'm watching my granddaughters and a 60 minute ride at the end of my second day with the girls.

My knees are faring well in all of this (I haven't needed to ice nearly as frequently)... it's the muscle spasms calling me to s-t-r-e-t-c-h. IF my knees begin to act up with extended length, I'll simply have to honor that reality and set different time goals. When I had my initial meeting with a trainer, I agreed to the rule to stop is anything hurts while moving.

This will not be my forever life. As the weight continues to go, I'll eventually backtrack on time goals.

Anyway, thanks for prompting me to ponder aloud about all of this.

My knees like it when I break my riding session into two segments.

I went to a BBQ yesterday and had a delicious splurge: a burger with tons of veggies and the skinniest sliver of a decadent lemon cake. Readily back on track today and delighted with the little treat.

Well, my goal to increase riding time is being challenged by a sore ankle and my other knee acting stressed. I suspect the compensating of my left side is catching up with my body, soooooooooo, I will honor the pain and be happy with my two 30 minute segments of riding for now.

For some reason, I have been feeling fatigued and I'm aware I want to soothe myself with sugar in the evenings. (Dead bones rising from the past.) I think of one of Carla's previous posts and am glad I don't keep tempting sweets around because I would have to really work the craving eliminator process to quash the sugar nonsense... nevertheless, the siren of disease provoking sugar plums have danced in my head in the last few days! Recycling here we go. Craving eliminator and rich language must flow to protect me and my hard-earned progress. I'm visualizing myself as the star of my own version of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, gracefully, deftly, gratefully sailing beyond and rising above anything attempting to pull me from my goals.

My Goodness! How fickle are arthritic knees!!!

Yesterday I was quite uncomfortable and while I awoke rather stiff today, I put in the Tai Chi DVD for the first time and luxuriated in the most gentle movements I have ever followed!

When I went to the club, I experimented with some tips I found on a weight loss activity calculator site. The alternating hard pedaling with slow pedaling compelled me to sit in different ways as I adjusted speed, I sweat a lot more and the best part: MY ANKLE DIDN'T HURT ONE BIT!!! I'm looking forward to my return trip in a few hours.

Last night I did have a small bowl of ice cream with just a little chocolate sauce and some cashews. I ate slowly and enjoyed every bite. I spoke aloud about how something sweet had been on my mind all week and how I want such treats as only an occasional experience.

I also identified the fact that I had purchased some Diet Rite Cola (no caffeine) for a guest and had been drinking the leftovers quite frequently last week. Soooooooo, back to ice water for me and I'll see what that does with my cravings. It will be interesting to be mindful about how this affects me.