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 started working (again) with a trainer, which has so far been quite successful at getting me to the gym. My ultimate goal is to spend 60 minutes a week on this, though starting at 30 minutes a week is perfectly fine.
- Saturday: After last week, when I got insufficient exercise, I took a walk this afternoon. My husband kindly didn’t comment on my grouchy mood until after I returned from my sojourn, much happier. 63 minutes walking.
- Sunday: A walking date with a friend fell through. I walked on my own for 31 minutes.
- Monday: My walk home was cut short by unpleasant weather. I went 15 minutes before asking to be picked up.
- Tuesday: I was exhausted and the weather was poor. No exercise today.
- Wednesday: I had an early session with my trainer, 30 minutes of weight training. She made things tougher. I walked home anyway, it took 28 minutes. After work, I walked part-way home as well, for an all-day total of 53 minutes.
- Thursday: I didn’t walk home today (too sore after the workout yesterday!), but did walk around the hospital complex I was surprised to see my Fitbit counted a total of 20 minutes.
- Friday: Though I did walk around the hospital, this time nothing was noted on my Fitbit. C’est la vie. Zero minutes exercising.
Total: 182 minutes walking and 30 minutes weight training. A successful week overall.