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: Travel day, no exercise happening.
- Sunday: I was exhausted after our Thanksgiving travels, but late in the afternoon I went for a walk with my husband. 36 minutes.
- Monday: Walked part-way home from work, 26 minutes.
- Tuesday: No time for walking today. Zero minutes.
- Wednesday: Had to go around the hospital complex during the day, then walked part-way home, 50 minutes altogether.
- Thursday: Walked part-way home, 24 minutes.
- Friday: Went for a coffee run at lunch, then walked part-way home from work, 28 minutes. Out for the evening, and walking to and from the parking garage brought the daily total up to 63 minutes.
Total: 199 minutes walking. Verdict: Squeaked by to make my goal. Walking for my commute helps a lot, but I need a good weekend walk to get the time in. Or a date downtown.