Walk for Health

The company I work for has started a "Walk for Health" program today as part of the employee wellness initiative. I love that my employer has invested in our health! We each received a very detailed health assessment (as in more detailed than I received at my doctor's office for my annual physical) a couple of weeks ago.

The results were eye-opening that's for sure! I was surprised by some of the numbers. Both good and bad. A lot of my numbers (cholesterol/blood pressure) fell into the normal range but there were a few things that were a little high. My triglycerides are a little high and I still have weight to lose. Of course seeing in black and white that you are "overweight" is never easy but it was the extra push that I think I needed. I have reached a plateau and haven't lost any weight in awhile. I also haven't been working all that hard at it. Obviously working out isn't enough. According to the wellness assessment, I should lose about 24 pounds. Yikes. I'm not sure that I'm going to use that as my goal necessarily because focusing strictly on pounds can lead a person to insanity.

We are going to be re-tested at the end of the year so I'm pretty motivated to work on this! Also, I have a feeling that as health care costs continue to rise, that our "wellness numbers" will at some point be used to determine out health insurance premiums. That is really motivating! Another motivator is the fact that I'm getting married in three months and I'd love to look fit in the photos!

As part of the employee wellness program, we are doing this "walk for health" incentive. We are event planners so we are "walking" to one of our trade shows. 120 miles (or 240,000 steps) total but we have about 7 weeks to get the miles in. We all received a pedometer to track our steps throughout the day but other activities count too! We have a steps conversion chart which is great news for me and my tri training. If I cycle for an hour, that counts as 12,180 steps! Swimming for an hour counts for 17,400 steps! This sort of program is more geared to those that aren't currently active but you bet I have gotten out of my desk chair a couple more times than normal! I forgot to put the pedometer on when I got up this morning and put it on when I got to the office so I know I missed some but at lunch time I was only at 342 steps. Boo! To reach the 120 miles by June 13, we have to average 5,000 steps a day. It's a darn good thing I'll be getting 17,400 steps on Thursday morning after swim practice!

Did anyone else read the recent weight loss issue of Runner's World? Weight loss can be tricky while training for a race. You NEED calories for the energy to train and race but it's a fine line when trying to lose weight. The first step that they tell you about in the article to to take good notes. Write down everything you eat. I've done this before and it does work but I think I'm going to take it a step further and start blogging about what I'm eating. Not because I think you care but because I need to care more! I doubt I'll fill you in every day but I'll be keeping track on my own. It also suggests keeping track of the time and location that you eat. I think that is going to be the most eye opening. I think I eat more in my car and at my desk than I realize.

Here goes! So far today, I have eaten:

7:15 am/kitchen table: Light, Multi-Grain English Muffin with Olivio spread and a glass of grape juice.
10:00 am/at my desk: FiberOne chewy bar
11:00 am/at my desk: Cadbury Caramel Egg (Damn that wonderful Easter bunny!)
12:00 pm/at my desk: Amy's Country Cheddar Bowl (It was all organic/vegetarian with some tofu hidden in with the cheese and potatoes, but at 400+ calories, it's not exactly healthy). About 1 cup of fresh strawberries and some water....oh, and a Hershey's Cookies and Creme Bunny. Damn.