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 was doing well enough that I added a second goal of 60 minutes of strength training a week; I’m still working my way up to that part of the goal.
- Saturday: Walked partway home from work. 24 minutes.
- Sunday: Did some strength training. 24 minutes.
- Monday: Walked on my lunch break. 28 minutes.
- Tuesday: Strength training before supper. 21 minutes.
- Wednesday: I brought good shoes to walk home from work, but work got very busy, and by the time I left, it was too dark and cold to walk. No exercise.
- Thursday: I thought again about walking home, in the not-quite-as-good shoes under my desk. Again, I didn’t get out of work until it was too dark and cold to have a pleasant walk. No exercise.
- Friday: I didn’t even try to exercise. The day lasted forever.
Total: 52 minutes walking, and 45 minutes of strength training, for a total of 97 minutes of exercise overall. I was feeling confident at the beginning of the week that I’d either meet my goals, or at least get close; instead, I totally missed it. We’ll see if I can do better next week, though I suspect I’ll have to wait until my rotation in the hospital is over.