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 have been trying to incorporate strength training, with many set backs. At the start of 2020, I plan to start working (again) with a trainer, which has so far been the best way for me to do the work. My ultimate goal is to spend 60 minutes a week on this, though starting at 30 minutes a week is perfectly fine.
This week started with a family visit, and lots of time chasing small children. Which, as I often tell patients, doesn’t really count as aerobic exercise, no matter how exhausting it is.
- Saturday: In the wee hours, the guests arrive. The children wake up early, nonetheless, and need supervision through breakfast, lunch, playtime, dinner. Somehow, somewhere, my Fitbit registered 12 minutes of walking. It must have been at the local museum.
- Sunday: I did a fair number of stairs on our second trip to the museum, but the Fitbit isn’t fancy enough to count them. No official exercise.
- Monday: We ran around, helping get organized for the guests to leave. Afterwards, my husband and I sat on the couch, somewhat dazed. No formal exercise today.
- Tuesday: No exercise registered today on the Fitbit. Even though I had to get around the hospital, and usually that will register as 10 to 20 minutes.
- Wednesday: I got a ride to run some errands, and then walked home. My first real exercise in a week. 35 minutes.
- Thursday: Busy work day. Without an appointment with the trainer, I am sure I would have skipped exercise. But I made it to my appointment and spent 30 minutes weight training.
- Friday: I felt pretty bad about my poor showing this week, so I made an effort to walk around the complex at lunch time. My Fitbit registered 8 minutes of walking.
Total: 55 minutes walking and 30 minutes strength training. Verdict: a failure as far as exercise goes. The family time was nice. I am feeling a bit more sympathy for my patients with small children.