Am I living a healthy life??

Living a healthy life is not so easy. There are a lot of things to take care of and these habits need to stay with us for life. That is very very difficult. I have been trying to make healthy habits but, they do not stick with me. I just do not have the will power to exercise regularly, eat properly and take care of myself. When it comes to my son or DH, I am so cautious and careful. DH always tells me to put myself first and take required rest when ever needed. I do not listen to him most of the times even though I know he is right. Now, all this carelessness is taking a toll on me. I have been feeling very weak for the past few weeks. I do not feel like cooking, cleaning.. nothing. All I want to do is just sleep. I feel sleep deprived even after 8 hours sleep at night. So, I went to the doctor and she had some blood tests done to check for anemia, blood glucose, thyroid problems and cholesterol. I am still waiting for the results.

I know that I am at high risk for both diabetes and high cholesterol levels. My mom has had diabetes for a long time and my dad has both high blood glucose and high cholesterol levels. My dad has undergone a bypass surgery long back. So, I am definitely at high risk. Am I doing anything to prevent it from happening to me?? NO! It is scary.

On the weekend, I thought a lot about all this and the very thought that I am not doing anything scared me. When I was pregnant, I was at my healthiest. I ate properly, drank the recommended 3 cups of milk, ate my fruits and took my prenatal vitamins every single day. The minute I delivered, I stopped caring about myself. When Sarath started eating solid foods, I gave him all the veggies and fruits every single day but never remembered or cared to eat them myself. Now, I can vouch that he has better food habits than me.

But, I know I need to change. I need to make better habits to feel good, be a good mom and stay healthy and in shape. So, I decided to start changing things around the house. DH is going to help me with all of this. It is not going to be easy, that I know. I am willing to put myself through it for my son. I decided that Sarath is going to be my motivating factor. I am going to remind myself everyday that:

1. I need to be healthy to raise a healthy well behaved child. So, I need to take care of myself.

2. I am going to put myself first and relax when needed to.

Eating right is the easier part. Exercise is the major thing. I can always find a very good excuse not to exercise. I am an expert at this. Exercising everyday is going to be the most challenging thing for me. But, I am going to do it. I look at my mom and mother-in-law who are in their fifties and are healthier than me. I am happy for them. But, I need to be healthier than them. I am still in my thirties. They are going to be my motivation for exercising. DH and me have started the 30 day shred again – for the third time. We have lots of fun doing it and encourage each other. Hopefully, we will keep doing it. I am planning to join a gym and go there at least 3 times a week. If I look at other people exercising, I’ll probably get motivated too. Hopefully I will put all my plans into practice. Please wish me Good Luck!

Heart Healthy..

Yesterday my DH had a health check up at his office. His company arranged for a free health risk assessment and they checked the height, weight, Body Mass Index (BMI) and a blood test to check the levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL and HDL.

BMI is fine, he is not overweight but has above normal levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, and very low amounts of HDL – all of which are high risk factors for heart disease. Frankly, we were not that surprised by the results. We eat right but we lack exercise. If I had a blood test done for all the above factors, the numbers would definitely be high. Although we knew we needed to exercise, we always had excuses for it. But, now that we have seen actual numbers, we are more determined to get them to normal levels.

So, we have already started exercising. But, this time instead of hitting the treadmill or starting the 30 day shred again, we took it outside. This week the weather is perfect for outdoor activities and since it is going to get better as summer sets in, we decided to play tennis everyday. We have a tennis court within walking distance. So, yesterday we hit the tennis court and played for a half hour. That is the form of exercise we really love. The best part is it doesn’t feel like exercise. My son played with the extra tennis balls and he had fun running around the tennis court. We had lots of fun.

Now, food plays an equally important role in reducing those numbers. So, I did an analysis yesterday on our food patterns and the required amount of different food groups. We actually eat a lot of veggies. We rarely eat a meal without vegetables. Even my son is pretty good when it comes to eating veggies. We use olive oil for cooking and eat a lot of whole grains. Few things that we need to improve on are eating more fruits, using less oil for cooking, cutting out on junk food and eating some healthy snacks. So, now our focus is primarily getting exercise everyday and eating healthy food.

We are probably going to cut back on eating out of home and even when we eat, I am going to make sure that it is healthy food. So, now I am on a mission to make a variety of heart healthy, tasty, easy to prepare dishes. Hope we succeed in getting those numbers down and keeping them that way.

30 Day Shred

I have been thinking about starting an exercise regimen for ever. I have never been able to do it. My husband encourages me but it never worked. So, when I read about the 30 day shred by Jillian Michaels, I was not sure if I should buy it. Last week I was telling my husband about this DVD and he was instantly interested in it. Even he is trying to establish an exercise routine. He told me he would do it with me so that we can encourage each other.

So, last night we went to target and bought the DVD. Good thing is it only costs $10.00. We saw the DVD last night just to get a glimpse of what the workout would be like. It was okay. Nothing that we do not know. So, this morning, we get up and pop in the DVD and start working out. It is only a 20 min workout but she makes you work very hard. 10 min into the workout, my husband couldn’t do it any longer. I continued and finished the 20 min. The cardio and the ab exercises were okay. Strength training was horrible. I did a few moves with out the weights and it was still hard for me to do. We started with 5lb weights and realized that is too much. So, I am going to get 2 lb weights. We’ll eventually move up to 5lb weights.

At the end, I liked it. My legs are hurting like crazy now. I know I have to do it everyday to actually get results. After I was done, my husband said he was proud of me and he wants to be at least as good as I am! Now, that is going to motivate me.

Keeping Fit

I have been thinking of loosing some weight and keeping my body fit for quiet some time now. I always start out with an exercise regimen and somehow it does not get the high priority on my list. When I was pregnant with my son, I promised myself that I will be back into my pre pregnancy clothes as soon as possible. Well, later I realized that “as soon as possible” is not the term to be used. I was a full time mom staying at home with a lot of time to myself. I still did not make it a priority. After my son turned 1, I slowly started loosing my weight I gained during my pregnancy. I started managing my diet a little bit and I lost much of the weight without exercising.

Now, I still have some fat around my tummy which I would love to loose and fit into my old jeans. Also we have some history of cholesterol and heart problems in my family. So, I decided I have to do something to make exercising a priority. We have a treadmill in our basement but we never used it to its full extent. Now, I am not going to make any promises but just decided to exercise 30 min everyday. Hopefully, I will be strong this time and loose weight.