Just because I am a doctor, and encourage patients every day to exercise, doesn’t mean that I don’t have my own issues with getting sufficient exercise. Long hours, tiring days, family obligations, illness: they are all stumbling blocks, no matter what your occupation.
I have been recording my exercise weekly, mostly to keep myself accountable for reaching my goal (sometimes this works, sometimes I miss). If anyone reads this, I hope they will take this as encouragement to keep going themselves; acknowledgement that it isn’t always easy.
The last few weeks have not been particularly successful. I kept getting sick, and my hours at work kept stretching longer and longer. Last week I only walked 15 minutes, and that’s because we parked the car on a side street for a few days due to construction on our road.
As a reminder, my goal 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).
This week, however, I made a turnaround. I didn’t feel as sick, and my workload went back to reasonable.
- Saturday: Walked to a street festival and back. Somewhat slowly after the last 1-2 weeks of low activity. 77 minutes.
- Sunday: No official activity per my Fitbit. However, I did tidy the house for guests.
- Monday: Ran an errand during lunch (something I never do!) and then walked part-way home. 51 minutes.
- Tuesday: Walked part-way home. 26 minutes.
- Wednesday: Walked part-way home. 25 minutes.
- Thursday: Walked part-way home, 28 minutes.
- Friday: Got a ride home, but then walked home from the business district. 35 minutes.
Total: 242 minutes walking. Verdict: a clear win! Getting out of work early enough to walk home was particularly helpful, as was getting over my summer crud.