Mastering Menopause

[AgileGrrl]

First day of my exercise journal (and first time doing a journal) to get back into shape, get rid of the menopausal belly, and hopefully lose some weight in the process so I can be healthier & stronger overall. Overwhelmed with so much to find on Darebee, but I've picked some programs, found a bunch of workouts I like, and have started the slow road to a healthier me.

Day 1

Might have overdone it a bit, but no pain, no gain, right?

 

[aku-chan]

 

[Antheia & Colossus]

 

[GentleOx]

Welcome

 

[agc]

Might have overdone it a bit, but no pain, no gain, right?

Nothing wrong with doing tonnes of workouts at once! As long as it doesn't ruin your next day.

Consistency is key, try and do something every day, even if it's just the Exercise of the Day on the front page. Welcome!

 

[MangoTux]

Welcome, and best of luck!

 

[Anek]

Hello and welcome!

 

[Fremen]

Welcome

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 2

Very sore, but not enough to stop me.



Added some new workouts and took away some that weren't jiving. Go me!

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 3

Not as sore, except for the abs and upper thighs, so squats are too painful to do as many. Added in extra kettleball work instead.

 

[Mamatigerj]

Welcome to the Hive!

 

[VLogan]

Welcome to the Hive!!!

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 4

I'm tired from doing too much today, but I got through almost everything that I wanted to do. Yeah me!

 

[TopNotch]

Greetings!

Darebee programmes are actually designed to be done one at a time. You can certainly do more than one, but they've been carefully designed to work independently. There are no scheduled rest days - all rest days are active rest days, and if you're doing more than one programme at a time, you might not get the rest your body requires for it to grow strong and fit. You will get there, eventually, but the process may be slower and harder than if you take it a bit easier. There are programmes that can be done with other programmes. These are listed as Add-On programmes.
Vitality is quite a light and gentle programme and pairing that with another programme would be fine, but to do five programmes at the same time... I really, really don't want to sound discouraging because it's great that you're here and working on your fitness, but consistency is key and if you do too much, you might stop because you're tired (like today), and nobody wants to see that. Least of all you.
There is a tremendous amount of really good stuff here. It'll keep you busy for years!

All that said, it's wonderful that you've decided to join us and I hope you continue to share your fitness journey.

 

[Fitato]

Forget conquering menopause. I think you're trying to conquer the world!! Haha. If it's working for you, that's great! If it gets to be too much, don't hestitate to push a few back and do them later. Either way, you'll be making progress - and you are doing a fantastic job so far!

 

[AgileGrrl]

Greetings!

Darebee programmes are actually designed to be done one at a time. You can certainly do more than one, but they've been carefully designed to work independently. There are no scheduled rest days - all rest days are active rest days, and if you're doing more than one programme at a time, you might not get the rest your body requires for it to grow strong and fit. You will get there, eventually, but the process may be slower and harder than if you take it a bit easier. There are programmes that can be done with other programmes. These are listed as Add-On programmes.
Vitality is quite a light and gentle programme and pairing that with another programme would be fine, but to do five programmes at the same time... I really, really don't want to sound discouraging because it's great that you're here and working on your fitness, but consistency is key and if you do too much, you might stop because you're tired (like today), and nobody wants to see that. Least of all you.
There is a tremendous amount of really good stuff here. It'll keep you busy for years!

All that said, it's wonderful that you've decided to join us and I hope you continue to share your fitness journey.

Thanks for the advice. I really appreciate it. I picked some programs that were classified as light to complement the Foundations one to do throughout the day. I stagger all of my workouts in between working on my computer to break up the 14+ hours of sitting time I do. Most of the programs and workouts are a good 10 minute break, and not super taxing, but enough to start me on my way towards bigger and better workouts down the road. I just happened to be judging a dog sport this weekend, where I had put almost 25,000 steps under my belt each day, hence being a bit tired.

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 5

Tried a couple of new workouts to help offset all of the arm work that came through the programs. Two bad knees make a lot of the cardio programs a bit out of reach right now, so a lot of step jacks and marching steps happened, on top of the 23,000 steps I did today judging dog agility.

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 6

Chose to have a light day, so only did programs and challenges with no extra workouts. Not that sore when I wake up in the morning, which means I am either not pushing enough or my body is adapting to the exercises and getting stronger. I am choosing the latter reason. LOL

 

[TopNotch]

You don't need to be sore to be improving.

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 7

Pulled a muscle in my abs shovelling snow, so I spent more time doing cardio and upper body work today.
Found some new cardio workouts that I want to try over the next few days while I give my abs a rest.

 

[AgileGrrl]

WEEK ONE DONE!

Spent a week doing so many different challenges, workouts, and complimentary programs. There are more workouts I'd like to try but a lot will have to wait until my lower rectus abdominis strain heals up from shovelling snow the other day. Total bummer. Either way, the stats don't lie. I did a ton of exercises and as I get stronger those numbers will surely increase. This is what a week mostly looked like for my body...

Onwards & upwards!

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 8

Started doing some of the extra credit aspects of the workouts. Let's see how the ole bod feels in the morning.

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 9

Very long (14+hrs) working on the computer today, so no extra workouts for this chickie. Just enough time to do my programs and challenges, including those that are abs based once I found some comparable exercises to protect the ab strain (thank gawd for dead bug and bird dog).
Onwards & upwards!

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 10

Had to drive 3.5hrs to judge an agility trial the following day, so I ended up powering through the programs & challenges before my drive, and then I did some extra workouts when I got down there to help me sleep. Didn't work, but at least I got some cardio in.
Onwards & upwards!

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 11

Spent the whole day judging an agility trial in a horse arena after only 3hrs sleep where I did over 20,000 steps and then drove 3.5 hours home. It was a long freaking day! Didn't think I could do it but I finished my day's programs and challenges before heading off to bed. Tomorrow might be a lazy day to recooperate.

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 12

Was fighting a migraine most of the day, but after taking a bunch of electrolytes (plus some pain meds), I was finally able to start tackling my evening programs & challenges. Joined the Battleground, so added two new workouts to enable strikes, and accumulated 1475 points towards the dark side. Boo-yah! Did a shitload of punches, so we'll see how the arms feel in the morning. LOL!

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 13

Added some new workouts to help with Battleground and accumulated 4875 points between punches, knee kicks, and palm strikes on top of my programs and challenges. I am one pooped out chickie. What doesn't kill me makes me stronger, right?

Nightie-night!

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 14

I went a bit above and beyond by not only doing all of my programs & challenges but also trying to do a Knuckles workout every 2 hours or thereabouts for the Battleground. I was able to do eight level 3 sessions in total by the end of the day, along with adding a bunch of palm and knee strikes, to accumulate 8,610 strikes for chocolate cake. I am so proud of myself for pushing through but my arms are like jello and my back is not a happy camper right now. Of course some of my programs happened to be arm heavy today of all days, friggin'ell. Tomorrow will have to be a light day no matter how much I want to help the dark side win. This menopausal body is not used to such abuse.

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 15

15 straight days of doing programs and challenges along with paticipating in the Battleground has left me sore in many areas but I keep going. Once I'm through this set I will incorporate more 'normal' programs and pick some new challenges to tackle, hopefully continuing to get stronger. I'm striving towards the day when I'll be able to do full versions of many exercises instead of the modified ones I am currently doing to protect my bad knee (no acl/mcl/10% meniscus left) and ankles, but every little bit helps, right?
Onwards & upwards!

 

[TopNotch]

Happy Badge Day!

 

[Fremen]

Congrats

 

[aku-chan]

Congrats on reaching 15 days!

 

[CODawn]

Congratulations!

 

[Rissa]

Happy Badge Day!

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 16

Was competing at an agility trial all day and then got home to work on the computer for 8 hrs so did not do any of my programs or challenges, BUT I did put over 15,000 steps on between running my two dogs along with building courses, which also involved moving equipment, so some natural strength work. All in all I did approx 11km/7miles of movement over an 8hr period. Go schmee!



For those wondering what dog agility is... here is me & my Papillon competing at Worlds.

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 17

17 hrs of straight computer work and I finally finished my project just in time. I needed sleep badly after that, so instead, and not to lose my continous exercise streak, I did 20 knee pushups, 30 back & side leg rises (15 each leg), and 100 punches - then it was off to bed. Something is better than nothing. I felt like a zombie afterwards.

 

[Fremen]

For those wondering what dog agility is... here is me & my Papillon competing at Worlds.

The best part is when he jumps into your arms at the end

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 18

Back to my regulary scheduled programs and challenges. LOL! For a good chunk of them, I am more than half way through now. Can't wait to earn a bunch of badges . Such a great little extra motivator for someone like me. Slowly learning what my knee and ankles can and can't take along with what exercises are of a smiliar nature and can be interchanged easily.

I'm so happy I found this site and community. I might not have started losing weight yet, but I am feeling stronger and know that it will all pay off in the end.
Onwards & upwards!

 

[AgileGrrl]

WEEK TWO DONE!

Just another motivator for me to see what I have accomplished. Punches, knee & palm strikes are overinflated due to the Battleground competition and will not be the normal amounts from week to week. Don't think my arms would be happy campers. LOL.

 

[CODawn]

Congratulations on Week 2!

 

[Jaga]

Well done! congrats.

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 19

I need to do more regular weight bearing exercises. After I finished my programs and challenges I made sure to do some dubbell/kettleball workouts before heading off to bed. They aren't much, but they are better than nothing.

 

[THew8]

Hi AgileAngel,

Just started here a few days ago. Enjoying your posts and learning from you. A silly table formatting question: how do you color the background of your table cells? I’ve only figured out how to change the color of the table font.

Thanks a bunch!

 

[AgileGrrl]

Hi AgileAngel,

Just started here a few days ago. Enjoying your posts and learning from you. A silly table formatting question: how do you color the background of your table cells? I’ve only figured out how to change the color of the table font.

Thanks a bunch!

Hey THew8. Welcome to Darebee! Like you, I am very new to this community, so I'm still learning as I go along. I love your sailboat. I lived on a boat for a few years with my family and absolutely loved the experience. Wish I could do it again. Where are you moored?

I hate to tell you this but I keep track of my workouts in an excel spreadsheet and then just make a picture of it to post here. I like things to look pretty. Alas, there isn't an option to add colour to a darebee table, just the text. But you can make it pretty of sorts with bold and changing text colour.

WORKOUT​	DONE​	FINISHED?​
Sit Ups​	​	​
Sit Downs​	​

Hope you enjoy your experience here on darebee (and the small gift). hehe

x

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 20

Working through my programs and challenges diligently, as much as possible. Decided to take on the February challenge because, why not?! Decided to weigh myself for the 1st time in 2 weeks and nothing has changed, yet. I do know that eventually the muscle will take over and the fat will dissipate without that friggin' needle ever moving, so I will try to be patient. I really want to be 20lbs lighter by June, so I can run faster for my dog at our Regional Championships. Fingers crossed.

 

[THew8]

Hey THew8. Welcome to Darebee! Like you, I am very new to this community, so I'm still learning as I go along. I love your sailboat. I lived on a boat for a few years with my family and absolutely loved the experience. Wish I could do it again. Where are you moored?

I hate to tell you this but I keep track of my workouts in an excel spreadsheet and then just make a picture of it to post here. I like things to look pretty. Alas, there isn't an option to add colour to a darebee table, just the text. But you can make it pretty of sorts with bold and changing text colour.

WORKOUT​	DONE​	FINISHED?​
Sit Ups​	​	​
Sit Downs​	​

Hope you enjoy your experience here on darebee (and the small gift). hehe

x

Hey! Thanks for the warm welcome — always nice to meet a fellow (menopausal) newcomer

And thank you for the sailboat love. We are currently moored in the Spanish Virgin Islands and continuing our way down the chain until we arrive in Grenada. Living aboard is such a freeing experience, isn’t it!

Your spreadsheet-to-picture system made me laugh — I fully support making workouts look pretty! If I’m doing burpees, they deserve some formatting flair. Thanks for the tips (you are so good at it) and the sneaky little gift!

 

[Lady Celerity]

Belated welcome! As a menopause survivor I highly recommend this program: SOMA 40+ and this collection: Menopause Workouts Collection
Keep up the good work!

 

[TopNotch]

so I can run faster for my dog

I wouldn't think you'd be able to run faster than your dog! That's a nippy little thing all right. Phew.

 

[AgileGrrl]

Belated welcome! As a menopause survivor I highly recommend this program: SOMA 40+ and this collection: Menopause Workouts Collection
Keep up the good work!

Thank you so much for the suggestions. I am going to go check them out right away.

 

[AgileGrrl]

I wouldn't think you'd be able to run faster than your dog! That's a nippy little thing all right. Phew.

The little one has slowed down significantly now that he's 14.5 yrs old. It's the young border collie I need to speed up for. Gawd help me!