Each week I have been logging my exercise. Mostly this is an exercise for myself; it has, on occasion, prompted me to get up and move (“for the blog”). It is also meant for encouragement, in case a busy reader wants to know how other people get their recommended exercise; I don’t think it’s easy, and I think it does people a disservice to imply that it is. Our lives are busy.
And yet, you have to take care of your health. It’s not any easier if you are the doctor rather than the patient.
Last month, my husband got in on the credit card rewards game. He has a new card, and has to spend $3000 in 3 months–or $1000 a month. If he does that, he will get a very nice sign up bonus: enough miles for a round trip ticket to Europe.
I figured this would be easy-peasy, considering our monthly expenditures. But it is turning out to be a little more challenging than I thought.
Nothing I wrote this weekend felt ready to publish.
Instead of skipping another week, I thought it might be time to post links to some interesting articles; I picked three on dealing with medical student loan debt.
I was so proud of getting back on track with blogging. All I had to do Thursday night was put a photo in here and press publish. And then the power went out.
What keeps you going? A question that seems deep and philosophical. Which it might be, but I have a slightly different question in mind. Maybe I am asking, what helps you stick with a routine, or a habit? How do I motivate myself to continue a project?
Last month, one of my partners left the office a little early to arrange for life insurance. She wasn’t quite sure how much she needed, so she had decided to use the rule of thumb of 8 to 10 times her annual salary.
We talked about this a little, and I realize this is a somewhat silly rule of thumb. Sort of like saying you need to save 12x your salary before you retire.
One of the favorite things I have heard from a patient is: you’re a
doctor, you don’t have to worry about blood pressure. Implying, of
course, that doctor’s don’t struggle with their health.
I most certainly do struggle with fitness and health, like many other Americans with sedentary jobs and a proclivity to eat treats. One of my goals 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 was doing well enough that in February I added a second goal of 60 minutes of strength training a week, which remains a challenge.
The last 2 weeks, I did walk part way home most days of the week, but didn’t quite meet my 150 minute challenge. As for the strength training, that didn’t happen at all. I was very excited to start exercising again this week. As I was off the ACP (Amercian College of Physicians) meeting, I was pretty sure I’d be walking plenty: in the convention center, for sure, if not also around the City of Brotherly Love.
William Penn looks out from the top of city hall. It was clearly a morning for indoor exercise.
I’m just back from ACP 2019, the annual meeting of the American College of Physicians, held this year in Philadelphia. I had a great time, and may talk about it all week.
Since I usually blog about financial stuff on Mondays, I thought I might write about some of the money issues around attending such a big meeting.
One of the favorite things I have heard from a patient is: you’re a
doctor, you don’t have to worry about blood pressure. Implying, of
course, that doctor’s don’t struggle with their health.
I most certainly do struggle with fitness and health, like many other Americans with sedentary jobs and a proclivity to eat treats. One of my goals 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 was doing well enough for a few weeks that I added a second goal of 60 minutes of strength training a week; but then I backslid like crazy. I did turn things around, but long hours in the hospital can make things challenging.
