One of the favorite things I have heard from a patient is: you’re a doctor, you don’t have to worry about blood pressure. Implying, of course, that doctor’s don’t struggle with their health.
I most certainly do struggle with fitness and health, like many other Americans with sedentary jobs and a proclivity to eat treats. One of my goals is to make sure that I get my 150 minutes a week of moderate exercise (or 75 minutes of high intensity exercise, which probably won’t happen). I will see for how long I am willing to document my progress Saturday to Friday.
This week I got a head start, as I was finishing up my vacation abroad in Greece. My husband and I always walk a ton on vacation: seeing sights, getting lost, strolling, getting lost, etc. Too, I’m always surprised at how much mileage my Fitbit measures just in the airport. On return home, the weather had changed, and walking in the dark and cold to get to work had less appeal. However, I did get some exercise in before work, courtesy of early hour waking due to jet lag.
- Saturday: More wandering around Athens, including walking up to the Acropolis (again). Walked 147 minutes.
- Sunday: We took a long walk out of the heavily touristed areas, and enjoyed actually stretching our legs. Our goal was the National Archeological Museum, which involved a lot more walking (but museum walking isn’t quite the same). Walked 134 minutes.
- Monday: Our travel day. It was quite uncomfortable sitting on a plane for over 10 hours, after having done so much walking the prior week. I did get caught up on some movie watching. Total walked: 27 minutes.
- Tuesday: Totally jet lagged, but still on vacation. Went for an early morning walk before dealing with laundry and catching up on office emails and charts. Walked 70 minutes.
- Wednesday: First day back at work. Lots of catch up to be done at the computer. Jet lag is still kicking my behind, and there was no exercise after work. Zero exercise today.
- Thursday: had time to do some yoga before getting ready for work. I timed 23 minutes (this might be light exercise rather than moderate, but I will count it anyway).
- Friday: Fell asleep last night before finishing charting. Spent the early morning hours catching up. A little walking around the hospital, but zero time counted towards exercise.
Total: 378 minutes walking + 23 minutes yoga= 401 minutes exercising. Vacation gives a clear win on the exercise front. However, the trend on returning home (and to work) is not promising.