Official Day One - January 31st

HRA Results:

-          muscular endurance: fair

-          flexibility: poor

-          VO_2max:50^th percentile

-          BMI: obese

Risk Factor:

Goal: Increase muscular endurance by working out

As stated previously, I am not concerned with how much I weigh as much as I am concerned with my fitness level.  I do feel that I am not as fit as I could be.  I used to run cross country so I know I am capable of achieving a better fitness level.  More importantly, increasing my muscular endurance will hopefully decrease the consistent pain I experience.

The steps I want to take to ensure I can reach this goal are:

1.       Set up a work-out time and commit to it daily.

2.       Do  at least 30 minutes per day of cardio

3.       Do 30 minutes of strength training every other day

4.       Work up to running 1 mile in 15 minutes.

5.       Work up to running 3 miles in less than 30 minutes.

6.       Compete in a 5k race.

The timetable to reach my goals is as follows:

By the end of the week, I should have a committed work-out schedule that includes cardio and strength training.  By the end of the month, I should be able to adequately run a mile.  By the end of the semester, I should be able to participate in a 5k.

HEALTH BELIEF MODEL

Perceived susceptibility ↑

Perceived severity ↑

Perceived benefits ↑

Perceived barriers ↓

Cues to action ↑

Self-efficacy {J}

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wow... according to my BMI, I am obese.  I have a calculated BMI of 31.8.  I am pretty sure that is wrong though.  I know that I'm overweight (My height is 5 feet, 2 inches, and I weight 149 lbs).  I used this: http://www.active.com/fitness/calculators/bmi.htm and it gave me a BMI of 28.  Yeah, I know, what's the difference in 3 numbers??? A massive difference to me!

Normal weight = 18.5–24.9
Overweight = 25–29.9
Obesity = 30 or greater

Just those three numbers takes me from "overweight" to "obese".  I don't consider myself obese, but either way, I'm guessing this says I have a lot of work to do.  =(

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

January 24

**Health Risk Assessment in Class**

After doing this, I felt really discouraged.  My muscles hurt so bad! ugh!

January 22

Day Thirteen – January 22

So, overall this week, I’ve done pretty well.  I have seriously limited my late-night snacking and I’m going to bed at approximately the same time each night.  I haven’t started working out consistently as of yet.  I have also spent the last week learning about my condition.  I discovered that, due to the fibro, I will probably be in more pain when I start working out, but after I consistently work out; the pain may or may not become more manageable.  I feel slightly discouraged about this.  I want to strengthen my joints and muscles but working out may or may not decrease the pain.  This means that I may still end up being on heavy narcotics by the time I am thirty.  This scares me but I don’t want to let it scare me so much that I withdraw from my goal.  It seems like the more I learn about fibro, the more it scares me, and this condition isn’t fatal.  How do people who are diagnosed with cancer, lupus, or any other fatally debilitating condition able to work through the mental roadblocks I am now experiencing?  Is there a personality more likely to succeed, such as the “type-A” versus “type-B”?  How do I, as a public health person, convince someone to make healthy lifestyle changes?  Why am I so worried about helping others make changes, when I have yet to find the drive within myself to change?

January 14

Day Five – January 14

So, as of yet, I have not been motivated to work out.  I have monitored my food intake and I am trying to get on a regular sleep schedule.  I know I should be making these changes because they will improve my overall health, but I just don’t seem to be able to encourage myself.  If I, as a well-educated individual, cannot get motivated to make a change I know I need to make, how am I going to encourage someone to change?

January 10

Ok, I actually started this diary a couple weeks ago. Since I just recently (as in today) opened my blog, I think I should basically copy and paste what I've already done.  Here goes:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day One – January 10

Today was the first day of class.  We discussed our diary assignment.  I have decided to being mine tonight, seeing as it will be a continuation of a behavior change I have been consistently working on for 2 years now.  Since the health risk assessment hasn’t been preformed yet, I cannot choose something based off the assessment.  I know that I am going to do something involving my weight and pain management.  I am not obese, but I am overweight according to my BMI.  I also suffer from fibromyalgia, a condition in which, as studies have shown, the more weight a person has, the more pain the person will experience.

My ultimate goal for this project is to lose approximately 40 pounds; although, I am not concerned about how much I weigh, per se, as much as I am concerned about my fitness.  Ideally, I would like to be between 110-120 lbs.  I understand this is not a realistic objective in 8 weeks.  I don’t think it is even possible to lose 5 pounds per week, and still be healthy.  I want to consistently lose weight each week, no matter what the total number of pounds lost is.  By the end of this project, I feel I should have lost between 8 and 10 pounds.

The smaller steps I will use to implement this change are as follows:

-          Set aside a designated workout time

-          Monitor my food intake (amount and type)

-          Stop late night snacking

I feel that these steps should be vague just because I know my personality.  I obsess over things and can become fanatic about weight lose.  I do not want to be unhealthy in the way I go about this.  Previously attempts as losing weight have been along the lines of this:  I would run daily, if I didn’t run far enough/fast enough, then I didn’t let myself eat. I would weigh myself daily and if I didn’t meet my goal weight for the day, I didn’t eat. Et cetera

Here is the summary for food/activity that I did today:

Food:

-          Breakfast -> nothing to eat, flavored water to drink

-          Lunch -> 4 peanut butter cups, 2 bags of peanut butter M&Ms, flavored water to drink (at 5 pm)

-          Dinner -> 4 fun sized Milky Ways, 3 pieces of licorice, 4 handfuls of cheezits, 2 handfuls of peanut butter M&Ms, 1 20 ox Mellow Yellow (between 10 pm and 3 am)

Activity:

-          Walked to class, took stairs instead of elevator

By the end of this week, my goal is to eat better and do some sort of physical activity each day.  By the end of this project, I should have a more balanced diet and I should be able to do at least 1 hour per day of cardio exercise.

I think I may add sleep to the list of things I need to deal with.  It may or may not become a goal this semester, but it is 4 am and I am awake.  Typically, this is due to the pain I am in, but because I have class at night, I don’t have a regular bed time.  Ideally, working out and eating right will have a positive effect on my sleep, which in turn will give me more energy to workout.

Health Risk Assessment

On Monday (1.24.11), I participated in a health risk assessment during my Social and Behavior Sciences in Public Health course.  This blog (Great idea Viann!) is going to be a diary of what I'm doing in response to the assessment.