One Step at a Time

@LaMaria Ya, I try to head to bed at the same time every night. It can be a challenge to fall asleep sometimes, but at least once I'm asleep, I sleep through the night without a problem. And to help prevent too bad of food cravings, I just eat a cookie from my grandma once in a while since I normally have room in the calories area to spare that.

@liza It's definitely a lot more fun way to spend the days instead of just sitting at home all the time (which I'm really bad for since I'm a big homebody lol). And I'm definitely very glad the meds have helped. Everything you described there has definitely helped life to be very positive :)


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Well, today I finally crashed. My energy has been low all day and I'm pretty tired. I think it's cause I've just been doing so much more and I've now worked with the horses for a solid 7 days straight, plus added in a workout for the last 3 days. So I think it's kind of catching up to me lol. That, and eating fewer calories.

Despite being tired and not wanting to do anything, I still managed to get myself to work the horses. Once I started, I got a bit of a energy boost since when I'm with them, I tend to forget how tired or hungry or sore I am and instead only focus on them. Definitely got a workout there. While Sam was fine, Jack decided to spook at one of the new exercises I was teaching him. He spooked bad enough I actually fell into the dirt lol. But I recovered quickly and by the end, he got things figured out. So there was definitely a good workout in there today.

I'm thinking that I may hop on the bike for a little bit today instead of more intense exercises because I am tired and want to give my body a little bit of a rest. Also plan to go to bed early and hope that helps as well.

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You look a touch slimmer to me - nice! :)
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And just as I posted that you wrote again, saying about how you've crashed, to which my response is: Hey! - look after yourself! Make sure you're eating enough to cover all your energy out put. I well understand how being so totally engaged with the horses keeps you going somewhere beyond your limit, and once in a way I suppose is fine, but you don't want to get run down. There's wiser people around here than me, so I won't attempt any advice, but do take good care of yourself.
 
AnnSparks said:
I'm thinking that I may hop on the bike for a little bit today instead of more intense exercises because I am tired and want to give my body a little bit of a rest. Also plan to go to bed early and hope that helps as well.
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Yes I agree about taking good rest (maybe consider skipping the bike if you haven't done it already--sounds like you got plenty enough done today!)Hopefully you will be able to work out a good balanced routine that involves your workouts with lots of good rest time for your muscles and energy to recover...and a good amount of food to feed that hardworking body :)
 
If it helps your brain accept the rest: your muscles can build upfaster if they get regular rest. At least one day a week (gentle movement is of course allowed), two while your body is getting used to new stresses. I have tendency to overdo it when I'm in the groove, just because it feels so good, and it usually ends with me crashing, lying on the couch, and eating every easily-digestible thing in sight. So be smarter than me!
 
So I didn't go on the bike yesterday. I just went and laid in bed and couldn't fall asleep for a bit anyway, but I did get more rest. Today my energy level is higher, though still not where it was. But I'll definitely come up with ways to alternate days of the workout so I don't burn myself out too much. I'll take your guys advice and see what I can get going.


As for today, I didn't really want to work the horses much and I figured I'd give Sam a rest day since I've worked him like, 8 days straight pretty much. So I went with Jack and just reviewed things he knew before hopping on him and went for his 2nd ride. We just walked around and he did pretty good.
When I went to put him away, Sam came over and practically put his head in the halter so I figured I'd take him out and do a bit of work with him since he seemed to want it. We did a review of things he knew before I hopped on him as well. Again, we just walked around since I'm taking things back to basics with him. He did have a spook moment which I managed to stay on. Surprisingly, I didn't even lose my balance that time. In the past I've always lost one stirrup and half come out of the saddle. Today I remained perfectly in the saddle so that was nice. Guess I'm building up my core muscles after all which is helping my balance.

So ya, today has been a pretty relaxed session with the horses. I'm going to hop on the bike for a bit today yet but then call that good since I am still a little low on energy.

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Sounds like a really good day Ann. Glad you are slowing down a bit to take care of yourself. And sounds like you got a good amount in with the horses. Very sweet sounding, Sam practically putting his head in the halter wanting a workout :)
 
Lol, when you're around horses a lot, that was definitely considered a low energy day.

And @aiminglow I'm sure that definitely was part of it haha. The boys do tend to get jealous of each other when I'm spending time with one and not the other xD
 
I think I figured out why I've been low on energy the last few days. I'm also lower energy today, but still have more than the days prior. But I think the reason for this is because I've been out in the sun a lot more than I normally am or would be since I don't have work. I also got a bit of a sun burn (I never tan, only burn xP ) and when it gets overly warm out and I burn, that tends to just drain my energy and it takes a while to build it back up. I don't do well in overly warm temps tho I also don't do well in overly cold temps either. But heat does tend to just drain me. I usually have to be careful that I don't over heat too much and get a bit of a sun stroke. Nearly have once before and it's not fun.

Anyway, today I'm doing better and once again, went out to the horses. Worked with both boys and rode Jack again. Managed to get him to walk around more but he's still not totally getting it but we'll get there.
As for Sam, we started to make some break throughs when riding. Normally in the past I'd have to do my best to hold him back cause he'd always want to race around. Well, today, thanks to the training I've been doing, I managed to get him to slow down and keep a steady pace. Even got it to the point that if I sat deep in the saddle and leaned back slightly, that was his cue to stop and he would. So I could get him to speed up and slow down without having to the use the reins which is a first and it's absolutely amazing to know that he's starting to listen so well to my cues now. So I think another day or two of this and we'll be able to go into the bigger arena and work there and then I'll definitely get a bigger workout since we'll be doing a lot more stuff. Thinking I might be a little sore after today since I haven't ridden this much in a little while lol.

Again, did more work in cleaning the horse pen. Here are some pics from it. I just scooped what I could since there's still hard snow/ice under it. The manure is about 3-6 inches deep so while it doesn't look like I did much, it was a lot and it's heavier than snow to work so my shoulders and back are a bit sore from that ><

So ya, that's about how my day has gone. More progress with the horses and I think I'm going to give it another day or so before I start actual workouts again and try to plan it out better this time. Also bonus pic with me in it cause I figured this thread isn't supposed to focus purely on the horses even though they're fun to talk about xP I also typically don't like pics with myself in them but this one I don't mind so there's that too.

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This is some of the work I got done in the pen. As you can see, there's a lot for me to go through ><

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The picture of you is lovely as you look so happy. Ann, are you drinking much water? That may account for your low energy at times. I know I feel so much better after a big drink of water :)
 
Cate said:
The picture of you is lovely as you look so happy. Ann, are you drinking much water? That may account for your low energy at times. I know I feel so much better after a big drink of water :)
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My water bottle holds 4 cups of water at a time and I get at least 2 full bottles down, but I agree, I do need to try to drink more in a day and that'll probably help. Working on bringing a full bottle with me when I go to the horses so that I always have water one me while there.
 
Lovely photo of you! :)
That's really great, that Sam has learned a new cue, and that you can control him (or at least give him signals!) just by shifting your weight in the saddle - really promising!
 
Great picture of you Ann! Thanks for sharing that.

AnnSparks said:
But heat does tend to just drain me. I usually have to be careful that I don't over heat too much and get a bit of a sun stroke. Nearly have once before and it's not fun.
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Yes the sun and heat tend to exhaust me as well, especially at the beginning of the season as i'm not used to it. I don't know if i end up getting used to it really or I just need a reminder every summer about the tiring effects of it!
I think it's great that you get so much natural exercise in the good outdoors but yes good to be aware of staying safe as we move into hotter weather and avoiding any sunstroke!

Sounds like you got another good workout with the horses and pen cleaning!
 
Being in the sun exhausts me as well, don't know why. The area you dug up may not look like a lot when compared to thd entire pen but that's a lot of shovelling you did! Also: great picture of you.
 
Thanks guys :) And it's interesting to know there are other people out there who get drained by heat just as much as I do. For the most part, everyone I've met in person around where I live love the heat and sun and want warmer temps. But it's nice to know I'm not the only one that tends to not do so good in too warm of temperatures lol. Wish you guys the best of luck as well then with us coming into summer time.
 
Weekly Update

I've basically stayed the same weight. Throughout the week it's fluctuated between 208.5 - 210 and hasn't really budged from there. So I'm not quite sure what's caused the weight loss to slow down but I'm sure with a bit more work I'll figure it out.

I'm wondering a little if it could be the fact that some days I have eaten less than a 1,000 cals. I read somewhere that if you eat under that, your body doesn't want to lose weight or causes something to go on, I'm not entirely sure. But I'm getting low on groceries again so in a few days, I'm going to go get some more and do a bit of meal prep so that I actually eat consistent meals instead of forgetting meals here and there.

Nothing else to really say. No more weight loss has happened this week. My energy is getting better and better every day. Yesterday I didn't do much and I might not again today cause yesterday we had a rain storm and today it's supposed to be close to the same thing so we'll see. I may just hop on the bike instead of do anything outside.

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Opinions seem to differ about the possibility of ruining your metabolism long-term but it´s definitely easier to get a healthy mix of nutrients in if you eat a little more plus you´ll probably lose less muscle mass along the way. Both of which are excellent reasons for not undereating. By what you´ve written here I´m guessing you´re retaining water as a result of all that physical activity you had this week.
 
Love the action shot! :)
 
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