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, acknowledgement that it isn’t always easy.
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).
I had wanted to work on strength training, but that fell by the wayside after several attempts to do this on my own. In September, I made arrangements to work with a trainer, as my last ditch attempt to incorporate this into my fitness regimen. That was working great, until I developed a medical issue and was asked to abstain from lifting weights until things settle down.
- Saturday: Went for a long walk by myself in the afternoon. 53 minutes.
- Sunday: Walked with a friend. My Fitbit got confused, and at first only registered half the walk. Ultimately, it counted all 50 minutes of our walk.
- Monday: Walked part-way home from work. 28 minutes.
- Tuesday: Walked part-way home from work (from the same office to the same pick up point, so I’m not sure about the difference). 20 minutes.
- Wednesday: Travel day, no walking.
- Thursday: Playground time with my brother’s children. Then a walk home sans children, 26 minutes.
- Friday: A walk with my husband in my childhood neighborhood. 54 minutes.
Total: 231 minutes walking in my current city and my hometown. Most of these walks were lovely. I wish I could do this all the time.