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State of the Weight Wednesday: Engagement Health

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Welcome back to another State of the Weight Wednesday!

SOTWW is a weekly series about weight loss and healthy living. Being healthy is about more than just the numbers on the scale; it’s about making small changes you can live with.

State of the Weight Wednesday, Finding Walden

If I had written this post two weeks ago when I was really still very angry about this, this would probably be a jumbled, ranty bunch of nonsense. But I’ve let myself simmer a bit and now that I’m not about to boil over because of micromanaging, I can talk about this and hopefully make a little bit of sense.

(See, Dan. This is what I told you would happen. I get angry. I rant. I get over it. We all live happily-ish ever after.)

So. Engagement health. Have you heard of this program yet?

Basically, it’s a way to get people who are overweight and unhealthy to be less overweight and less unhealthy by forcing them to check in each week and be held accountable for making changes in their lives by penalizing them financially if they don’t.

(Okay, okay, negative slant there. I admit it.)

(Why do I bristle at this? Probably because of the way it was all worded in the enrollment packet that came home. WORDS MATTER, insurance companies!)

Getting healthy is a good thing. That’s what I’ve been working on since April. Now I have to work on it 5 times a week and report that I’m working on it (or I’ll get a nastygram from someone working in an insurance call-center tracking my fitness!).

Okay. No more snark. I promise. ::fingers crossed behind my back::

I’m enrolled, for now, in the “steps” program. I have to log a minimum number of steps in a week. 70,000, I think. But I want to switch to the fitness program. The fitness program requires that I work out for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week, and that’s where I’m struggling right now.

I can make healthy food choices by not buying junk at the grocery store. I can prepare healthy meals for us to eat and then portion them out. I have a hard time making myself go to the gym because there are always excuses not to go.

I’m tired. I’m unshowered. The kids are whiny and will probably have meltdowns. I haven’t seen Joshua all day. There are clothes to wash. Blah blah blah. Excuse excuse excuse.

The positive of this engagement health program is that there are no more excuses. I HAVE TO do something strenuous 5 days a week, whether it’s here or at the gym.

Yesterday I saw a tweet go by about a 7 minute workout and while I have absolutely ZERO delusions that 7 minutes a day is enough of a workout by itself to make a difference, I downloaded the 7 minute workout app anyway and did the workout in my living room.

You guys.

7 minutes is not a long time. But that is a pretty decent entry-level full-body workout. My thighs and butt and abs are the kind of sore that tells me I did something good.

One of the commenters said that s/he does the workout three times, making it a 21 minute workout. I can tell you that after doing the workout once, doing it three times in a row, or even three times a day, would make this a pretty intense workout. So now I have something I’m comfortable doing here at home on days I don’t or can’t get to the gym.

The app is free and has videos to show you what each move should look like. It counts down the duration of each exercise for you and tells you when to rest and switch to a new exercise. (In case it isn’t clear, I get nothing for sharing this app with you. It helped me. It might help you. Cool.)

So that’s where we are. My goal now has to be 5 days a week of exercise. In addition to whatever other goal I set.

Weekly goal: 5 days of exercise.
Weight goal: 31 pounds gone; 5 pounds to go. (I was up a pound this morning. I think I’m stuck at a plateau which might be next week’s topic.)

Are you working on the state of your weight? What were your successes and setbacks this week? Let’s chat in the comments!

State of the Weight Wednesday, Finding Walden

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Sunday 6th of October 2013

I am proud of you, and I think it's amazing for you to find a way to meet such a tough goal. I'd also be annoyed by this program. Supporting you? Yes, please. Putting you on the spot and judging you? No way, man.

You're doing great. Love you.

Amy O

Saturday 5th of October 2013

Keep up the good work! Committing to anything for yourself is hard - especially when little ones are constantly demanding your time/energy/attention!!!

John (Daddy Runs a Lot)

Wednesday 2nd of October 2013

I love the 7-minute workout . . . can be done anywhere & all you need is 7 minutes . . . and I might be a bit more familiar with working out than you are, but I don't know if I could picture trying to do it three times in a row (three times in a day, possibly). Really, it's a great workout for those times when you don't have the time to work out in a more traditional sense.

Thanks for keeping these posts coming, Miranda.

Miranda

Wednesday 2nd of October 2013

Three reps of the workout would probably be too much, particularly since I can barely do a push-up. LOL

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