One of the courses I’m covering in school is Fitness, although it won’t be for a long, long time. However, since my blood pressure has been wacky and my heart rate has been high, and Anatomy and Physiology has been a bit dry, I decided to bite the bullet and look ahead at some of the assignments (the joys of online classes!).
One of the things I enjoy about the courses is that we’re supposed to experience many things first hand. For example, when we get to the Toxicity and Detoxification class, we’re all supposed to undergo some kind of detox program. And way before I get to the practicum, I’ll have already done a Lifestyle Asessment on myself first.
Anyway….since I’m feeling a bit better at random points during the day, I decided to try my best to fit in a 15-20 minute workout. Currently this consists of a brisk walk. Considering that I used to run and was fairly active, the idea of a brisk 15-20 minute walk doesn’t sound as though it’s gonna do much good.
I have a heart rate monitor which also keeps tally of my calories burned and I’m told it’s fairly accurate. I’ve worn it two days in a row, to see what’s going on and I was very surprised at the results.
Day 1: I was a little down when after being up for 10 hours, I had only used up about 1000 calories. I took a 15 minute brisk walk at my usual bedtime–bear in mind that my current bedtime is 7:00. And yes, I kept chewing my gum throughout the walk–if you don’t “get” this, where have you been? When I settled down, I was taken aback that my calorie counter had jumped to an extra 200 within the first five minutes. After an hour, it jumped a total of 490 calories consumed. This continued throughout the night when I checked it again. Without the walk, I would’ve gone to bed having burned no more than 1311 calories for the day, but ended up at 1989 (total after 24 hours was 2436). Adding in that quick walk (just walking, albeit as briskly as a morning sick pregnant woman can be) really made a difference. Also I know I ate WAY more than 1311 calories that day. Ha! I may be sick but the only foods which make me feel well are high fat, high protein foods.
Day 2: I’ve always heard that the most effective time to exercise is in the morning, so to compare the two days, I chose to do a 20 minute walk in the afternoon. Not only did I see a big jump in calories burned after it was over, but it continued throughout the day, showing higher numbers than the day before. It hasn’t been a full 24 hours yet, but so far my little counter is reading 3156. (Have I mentioned that OCDers love numbers and little gadets such as this?)
Point is, I tend to be a perfectionist and will sometimes skip a workout, because I feel if I can’t get in a full 60 minutes, then why bother? But this proved to me that even a 15 minute walk can do a lot of good. Also exercise is a good way to get blood pressure under control. As for my heart rate I have a feeling that’s not going anywhere until after the birth.
And this also gets me excited about being able to jump back into 60 minute workouts, first thing in the morning! And of course I’m gonna keep monitoring this to determine the consistency of each reading.
For now though, I think it’s safe to say that if you’re trying to get in some kind of fitness routine and can only get in a 15 minute walk each day, you’re still doing something! 🙂
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