A few months ago, I blogged about my health and some things I wanted to do to improve my fitness as well as my well-being. The doctor recommended I lose five pounds and I ended up gaining 11 so that was a downer for me. While I was disappointed, I wasn’t surprised because I stress eat during the spring semester. Spring is a very busy season that consists of lots of track practices, track meets, year end activities at school and STAAR, STAAR and STAAR. It is during this time I am inconsistent with working out and with me still being uncomfortable with going to the gym, my activities are limited on longer work days and/or practice days. The good thing is I found some resourceful ways to help me create healthier habits.

One of my biggest motivations was joining a group for the month of April that I have to be accountable to. Our campus is participating in a Million Mile Month Challenge and as a team we have to try to walk/run one million miles during the month of April. You are required to set a goal and it tracks your progress daily. Not wanting to disappoint the team has me moving a lot more these days. Between walking during my conference period and after work, I am logging 4-6 miles daily.

In addition to the Million Mile Month Challenge, I am back on track doing challenges through the RunKeeper app. I completed challenges throughout the spring and summer of 2020 and I would push myself to meet the goal every month. I recall having one mile to run to successfully complete a 30 mile challenge and while I didn’t want to do it, I felt I had come too far to quit. RunKeeper sets the challenges and I can accept them if I feel up for the task. This definitely kept me on course with staying active daily. I’m hoping for a repeat in 2021.

One of my biggest fears has been the idea of not being able to get my blood pressure under control. I count calories everyday but it seemed it wasn’t working. I finally started using the Samsung Health app to track more than my daily steps. I’ve started logging my food at the beginning of the day. Because I prep my breakfast and lunch plus my morning and afternoon snack, I can log those food items in the morning. This gives me an idea of how many calories I can acquire and still not exceed the recommended intake by the day’s end. The greatest feature of doing this is the app also highlights my intake of nutrients including protein, fiber, calcium, iron, saturated fat and sodium. This has helped a great deal in understanding why my blood pressure is high and what foods I need to remove from my diet to get back on track. I would have never thought a prepackaged salad bowl had that many grams of sodium in it. And no, I don’t read the packages before buying. Having that resource has opened my eyes.

Needless to say, using the Samsung Health app has me feeling thrilled about the progress I can make in the next 30 days. While the goal is to lose weight and get my blood pressure under control, I realize a lifestyle change is also necessary beyond the 30 days. This process is the beginning and I hope my desires of being healthy and happy continue to grow.

What are some of your fitness ideas and what do you guys do to maintain a healthy lifestyle?