Another week done! As I write this it is the close of week 3 of the Sarcastic Dog Healthy Dog Healthy You challenge I’ve participated in. If I had to summarize the entire week, I’d say I did fair. I did come away with some unexpected surprises that I would categorize as “wins” so let me break it down.
Week 3 – Challenges
My 30 day challenge goal is to take 10,000 steps at least 5 days per week, however I only made it 3 days out of the week. However, I will not beat myself up too bad about it because 2 of the days I came close. One day I was about 1500 steps away from my goal and the other day I came close with only about 850 steps away. Despite how close I came; I was just too tired at the end of the day. One of those days I fell short because I had my annual physical appointment and here is where my “wins” come in.
Achievements
Although, I didn’t make my 5 day a week goal of reaching 10000 steps I have made some progress. First, my activity level has increased and I’ve been averaging at least 30 minutes of daily activity for the week, so that’s great. That’s a far cry from where I started. Second piece of good news is I visited my doctor 2 weeks ago for a physical and she took blood work, vitals and weight. I was explaining to her how I just had joined a 30-day Challenge and looking to get fit again. She was happy to hear it and gave some pointers of ways to shave off calories as well.
So fast forward 2 weeks and I got the results of my blood work and they retook my vitals and weight. So after 2 ½ weeks on the challenge and to close out week 3 I have lowered my blood pressure by 10 points so it’s in the healthy normal range of 120/80, I’ve lost 2 pounds and my glucose is 88 and AC1 is in good shape in normal range. My cholesterol is excellent too at 167.
Noticing small changes
The small changes in my blood pressure and weight mean the most to me. It’s the most change I’ve seen since the last visit. I’m happy that even though I’m not perfect, my effort is paying off. That’s what counts.
Weaknesses
My weakness is for breads, pastas and sweets so I’m trying to eliminate unhealthy processed carbs slowly. Instead of always going for a sandwich with baked chips, I’ve been trying this past week to have leafy green salads at lunch time to get more greens in.
Goals & Final thoughts going into Week 4
It’s the last week coming up and my goal is to increase my water intake and keep hydrated. Also, I want to really give an extra 110% to reach my 10000 step goal all 5 days this week. In the morning or before bed time I need to add my stretches. I haven’t been consistent this week with that. I’m so close I know I can do it.
Comment & share below. Have you participated in wellness challenges before? How did you do?