The FitBit 30 -- Day 0, and What does being healthy look like to me?

So, I've been off the radar . . . residency interviews and applications, travel for the holidays, you name it.

I was having a conversation with my husband a few weeks ago and mentioned that it was funny that I *felt* fat that day, since I'd been about the same weight since I'd met him 17 months prior to that.

Then it hit me.

Despite a year of actively trying to lose weight, I've pretty much been +/- five pounds of the same point since we met.  Now, maybe my muscle mass has fluctuated, etc., but it's ridiculous that I claim to have been actively working on something for 17 months and have nothing to show in terms of change.

Which means, either:
A) I was doing everything right and my body is beyond broken.
or
B) I wasn't working as hard or consistently as I thought I was.

While there's a smidgen of A that is probably true, let's go with B, shall we?

Well, consistency is the key to success.  You don't have to be perfect every day, but you have to be good more often than not.

Anyhow, I'd like to be more intentional about a lot of my day-to-day life, and one of those things is working on being healthier.  I'm 33, y'all, and am about to dive head first into residency (which will likely be hell) and haven't even added kids to the equation yet.

What does being healthy look like to me?

Emotionally/Spiritually

• Daily time spent in
• Prayer
• Bible Study
• Meditation (seriously guys, this can lower your blood pressure by a lot)
• Journaling/reflection
• Frequent quality time with my husband
• Date nights
• Weekly budget/to-do check-ins

Physically

• High aerobic capacity
• Better core strength -- I'd like to make it through the year without an L5 exacerbation, but hey, we might have to get rid of our futon for that to happen.
• Increased flexibility
• Eating more whole foods
• Decreasing intake of refined sugar
• Not reliant on caffeine
• Ability to listen to my body's cues on food, not cravings

Career

• Staying up to date on advances
• Reading at least one peer-reviewed article a week
• Listening/viewing at least one FOAM resource a week
• Networking
• Going to conferences whenever possible
• Reviewing
• Picking at least one concept/disease to review per week
• Find a mentor to help guide me through the craziness of residency

So for January, 2017:

I'm going to be working on a lot of these things on the side.  I can't totally change my life all at once, and some of them I've been doing in fits and starts.  But I'm going to write out what "healthy" looks like for me, and keep it visible on my bullet journal, so I can keep it in mind.

But for January, let's build some new habits:  hence, the FitBit 30.

I like the FitBit.  It calculates my daily energy expenditure (DEE) and can prorate the calories I have left for the day based on that.  I'm going to attempt to maintain a daily 1000 calorie deficit (according the the FitBit) for the 30 days, which should result in an 8ish pound weight loss compared to tomorrow.  It'll also build good habits.

Rules:  

I can not go OVER the calories prescribed by the FitBit -- must be "in the zone."  If I go over, I'll have to "earn" those calories back.

Can I go under?  Yes, but here's why:  sometimes, I go to bed still in the target zone, but earn enough calories while sleeping to push me under it.  So I can't be too strict about that.

Bonus wins:  Meeting the FitBit goals for water, sleep, activity, and steps.  But hey, let's keep it simple and focus on the calories for now.

Consistency is the name of the game.

Happy 2017 everyone!

Where in the world is Doc Doc Goose?

Guys, I'm here!  I swear I am.  I just was doing residency applications and getting married, so life got crazy for a bit.

We got home from the honeymoon Sunday, and I'm already eyeballs deep in my next ER rotation, so I'll update more ASAP.  I'm currently pondering a 30 day "refocus on health" challenge, using my FitBit and r/Bodyweight Fitness and r/Flexibility from Reddit.

More to come soon!

5k a day -- Wrap Up of a Semi-Failure

Guys, I failed.  I have been MIA but not out of avoidance -- but because I failed and had nothing to share.

I didn't do 30 days of 5k.  I did try, and try valiantly.  But I failed to account for what would be required during this "active" 30 day challenge:  a hour of time commitment daily, that has to work with the weather, and I have to have a safe place to walk/run alone at a safe time of day.

Admittedly, the biggest part of this problem has been the shifts I've been on for this hospital rotation.  The ER I'm working at right now switches our schedules around from night shift to early AM and back and forth -- meaning I've literally been spending all of my time either at work or catching up on sleep, because my body is so messed up.

"But Doc Doc Goose," you might say, "isn't that exactly the time you should be even more diligent about self care and personal time?"  Well, yes, probably. But I certainly didn't take into account how hard it would be to fit in that time within all those restrictions.

So I failed.  Lack of planning, lack of . . . I don't know, willpower?  Maybe.  But more like my priorities changed from improvement to survival.

At one point I was so tired this week I put the bag of popcorn away in the freezer.

So what did I get from this?

Well, one of the biggest things is recognizing the difference between active and passive challenges.    There's always time to *not* do something.  It's the doing something that can become cumbersome.  And that's okay, but if I'm going to do an Active challenge in the future, I need to be very purposeful and aware of how much time I'll be able to squeeze into my schedule.  And 5k a day while rotating, prepping for and taking boards, and planning a wedding just wasn't feasible, and I should have seen that.

I'd like to do this challenge in the future.  It was good for me, and I enjoyed it, but it will have to wait for a rotation when I know my schedule far ahead of time and that schedule is more unchanging.

Maybe it's good to fail.  Keeps me humble.  Makes me focus on the journey, not the destination.

---

Been talking to Paul about what my next challenge should be.  I still want to keep doing the 30 day effort, and I have just enough time to fit one in before the wedding.  If it's gonna be active, it'll be something that doesn't take much time.  Maybe passive would be better.  

Do you guys have any suggestions for a 30 day challenge to improve my wellness?

5k a day -- Day 23

I had a crazy schedule the past few days and a stressful day with work, so I was looking forward to my walk tonight -- after running for two days, I had planned on a nice, relaxing walk.

Super humid out, but I just walked with no music.  So I'm not quite sure why Pokémon Go! is such a huge addiction for people.  But I will say I had no music or audiobook or partner for my walk tonight, and it was nice to have running in my hand and just forget about it.  And then, every so often, a pokémon would appear, which added a little variety to keep me awake.  So I guess it was a nice tool to have?  But I'm still not getting it . . . maybe because I never played/watched it as a kid.

The 5k:

5k in 1:13:02

23:34 min/mile average pace

Splits: 22:13/23:23/24:37/29:39

I mean, I may have been pausing frequently for pokémon.

The Workout:

84 squats

90 seconds plank

32 modified push ups (these are feeling much better)

5k a day -- Day 22

I *think* I ran my fast mile in quite a while today, but I can't tell, because MapMyRun doesn't seem to keep track of that as an option, which is a bummer.  I'd love an option that tracks how my mile and 5k times change over time.

It was hot, and we're out of sunscreen, but I went out anyhow.  My first mile was 11:02, which included a 42 second phone call with Paul, during which I walked (yes, I answered . . . we were waiting on important news) and I ran the rest of it best I could.

So even though it says 11:01, I think it was more like a 10:45 pace!  Yay me!

The rest of the workout I did intervals for -- God, running in this heat sucks.

The 5k:

5k in 42:09

13:37 min/mile average pace

Splits: 11:01/17:22/11:58/18:07

The Workout:

82 squats

90 seconds plank

31 modified push ups

5k a day -- Day 21

Yes, yes, I know.  I purposefully switched my schedule to start running in the morning.  My ER shifts have been crazy -- they end anywhere from 4pm to 5am.  So the only way to do this is to run before work.

But on days like today when I got home from work super late last night and actually wanted a full night's sleep, it means I don't get to start running till it's way too hot for my taste.  And that's what I did today.

I ran 1.6 miles, then hit pause for a quick water break at a park drinking fountain I pass (our city water actually tastes decent!) and somehow actually "ended" my run on MapMyRun . . . which is hard to do, since you have to slide to end it.  Anyhow, I restarted my run, obviously.  But I can't really post averages or splits since it's all broken up.  I did intervals for the last 1.5 miles.  I hate hot weather.

I was complaining about it to Paul when I got back (because what else are fiancés for?) and he wondered if I'd acclimate to hot weather running if I did more of it, instead of avoiding it like the plague.  I wonder about this.  Would I?  Would my body adapt more?  Or would the fact I live in a very air conditioned world undo any acclimation?

Anyone have any thoughts?

But anyhoo, all I can tell you is my overall time for today and the pace for my first mile and my last mile.

The 5k:

5k in 43:00 . . . ish.

?:? min/mile average pace

Splits: 11:57/?/?/15:09

The Workout:

80 squats

90 seconds plank 

30 modified push ups

Apparently my butt is looking a lot different.  Too bad it's kinda hard for me to tell, what with it being behind me and all.

5k a day -- Day 20

I didn't run yesterday.  This wasn't an oops or a "this doesn't matter to me" or anything like that.  This was I had gotten home late from a shift in the ER and had two options -- spend an hour doing my 5k (even with running, there's changing, showering, etc., so more than 40 minutes) or go to sleep so I could be up for my next shift.  And at the end of the day, I looked at my options, and I *had* to sleep.
I was talking to Paul about this whole challenge and the difficulty I was having with it, and he basically said, "Well, you decided to do an 'active' challenge where you have to find/make time to do something every day during one of the busiest times of your life."  And it's true.  Boards, wedding planning, crazy shifts in the ER . . . probably poor planning on my part.

And that's not to be an excuse -- in the future, I just need to look ahead better at the 30 days the challenge will cover before I decide what it'll be.  For example, I'd probably have less problem doing Whole30 again this month, but that's cause it's more passive.

Anyhow.  Gotta make choices that are best for long term.  And when it came down to 5k vs. sleep so I can make it through the shift that might be helping me earn a residency, I picked option B.

So today, we went on a walk together to catch up, cause we actually haven't seen much of each other lately.  Unfortunately we had pizza for dinner, and my stomach wasn't having it, requiring our route to swing back by the house half-way through.  Also, the tummy upset pretty much prevented the workout part of the 5k.

The 5k:

3.16 miles in 1:08:32

21:39 min/mile average pace

Splits: 20:35/21:08/22:58/22:56

So, I'm not sure if I have any readers, and really, this is more for me, but I was thinking about whether the people reading this would be disappointed I took another day "off" from the challenge.  I mean, that's #3, right?

But for me, I have to balance intent, life priorities, and long-term consequences.  So maybe I can learn from it better -- plan out my days better, etc., but I've gotta be gentle with myself in the meantime.