F is for...

Fear, Family, Fitness, and Fitbit Flex.

The Fear came about this summer as the result of spending time in hospital, orthopedist, and cardiology waiting rooms. It really culminated during my recent observations and conversations in a cardiac stress test waiting room. There were 11 patients there, 10 were noticeably overweight, and at least four shared that they were diabetic and had high blood pressure. While I sat there and watched patients enter and leave the waiting room to undergo testing, there was only one man who could walk easily and without help. He was also the only patient physically able to walk on the treadmill for the "stress" part of the test; all of the the others were there for the "nuclear/chemical" option. The nuclear part involves the injection of a radioactive substance into the patients' bloodstream to measure blood flow into the heart muscle at rest and during activity. These 10 patients were not able to exercise on the treadmill, so their hearts had to be chemically stimulated to dilate the arteries and speed up their heart rates. I was not one of the patients, but I felt as if I easily could be in the not-too-distant future, thus my Fear.

I'm 58, probably 30 pounds overweight, and will never be called athletic. John and I make a real effort to do our 3-mile walk, but I can also be the queen of excuses. I'm too tired, it's too hot, too humid, too rainy. I don't like to walk alone, so I rarely go when John is traveling (which is often). I'm physically active, but gardening, weeding, and mowing are not daily habits. Reading and knitting don't provide many aerobic and cardiac benefits. Ryan will hopefully be getting his PhD in the next three or four years, and I'd like to be there to see it and be able to attend graduation without using a walker. Justin doesn't yet know what he'll be doing in the future, but I want to be around to see what it might be and offer help packing and lifting boxes as he'll probably be moving out west to do whatever it is. I love my Family and want to be here to enjoy them for a long time. After I thought long and hard about the Fear, it was quite clear to me that I needed to do something to improve my Fitness.

So I decided on a Fitbit Flex. I've dismissed this in the past because I'm not a gadgety-type person, but after looking into it further, I decided that this might be just the thing to really see exactly how active I am, improve my fitness, health, and keep myself honest. Excuses are futile when you can see precisely how many steps you've walked and how many active minutes you've had. I think it's working so far. I don't achieve my goals of 10,000 steps and 45 active minutes every day, but now that I'm starting my fourth week, I think I am making fewer excuses, making exercise a habit, reaching my goals more often, and holding myself responsible.

It's amazing how excited I am when my Fitbit buzzes and flashes! And then there are the silly Fitbit badges I've earned that I'm inordinately proud of. None of this is a guarantee that I won't eventually be in the orthopedic or cardiac doctors' waiting rooms as a patient, but it is improving my fitness and health now, hopefully staving off the dreaded chronic disease difficulties (high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, lack of mobility...) and maybe compressing my morbidity in the future.

If you've read this far, I thank you. I wrote this mainly to document, remind myself, and keep holding myself accountable. Feel free to ask me if I'm keeping up with my 10,000 steps and active minutes in the future!