Day Twenty-Two

I wore my new pedometer today. It read 7294 steps. I had cereal and coffee for breakfast. For lunch I had a small serving of pasta and a chocolate chip cookie. I also had about half a glass of soda-it was yummy! For dinner, I had a turkey burger, garlic fries, and a Manhattan. I thought that I was ready to try for 26 minutes on the treadmill, however once I was on the treadmill for about 4 minutes, I developed a cramp. I only was on the treadmill for 15 minutes. I started my new challenge and avoided the elevator with only one exception. I had to walk a patient to the ED and since she was lightheaded, we had to take the elevator. I did not feel like running a rapid response or a code blue if she fell down the steps and hit her head.

Fourth Seven-day challenge

My next 7 day challenge is to take the stairs if I am going one flight up or two flights down. Before I had the chiari surgery, I was compulsive about taking the stairs thanks to a tragic elevator accident at college that killed a coworker. I was terrified of elevators and would walk the fourteen flights to my dorm frequently. Once I had the craniotomy in graduate school, I would get a headache and become lightheaded while walking up and down the stairs. You burn about 10 Calories walking up a flight of stairs and 7 Calories walking down a flight of stairs. While not drastically large numbers and I am not going to stop other forms of exercise, those are Calories that I would not have burned anyway.

Update on Third Seven Day Challenge.

I achieved the 7 day challenge of no soda. It was difficult because there were tons of temptations of soda everywhere. While I will definitely try to drink water and diet soda when I can, I do not think I will totally give up on drinking soda.

Day Twenty-One

Today was an errand and shopping day. I was able to walk on the treadmill for 25 minutes today. I bought a pedometer and plan to start using it tomorrow. My old pedometer read 3086 steps. For breakfast I had french toast, low-fat bacon, and coffee. For dinner, I had the chicken dish, salad, and risotto.

Day Twenty

I failed at my seven day challenge for the treadmill. It was not until I was in bed that I realized I had not walked on the treadmill. I was threatened with abandonment if I walked on it. I had a very fattening dinner of Roquefort chicken and lemon risotto with two glasses of white wine. I did manage to stick with my other challenge and I had milk with my hamburger happy meal. I did not have my pedometer on for most of the day, but it read 2563 steps.

Day Nineteen

Heath and I had a fight today, but I still managed to walk 15 minutes on the treadmill. I had a bagel and coffee this morning for breakfast. I had a cheese sandwich and a vitamin water for lunch. Heath and I had Mexican food for dinner. I also kept up with my challenge and had no soda. My pedometer read 5264 steps.

Day Eighteen

I remembered to take my lunch today after vowing all week that I would take it. I got up this morning and had my usual bowl of cereal and coffee. For lunch, I had my cheese sandwich (from home) and water. I took the easy way out and had Taco Bell for dinner. I was not even health conscious in my choices. I had a burrito supreme and a soft taco supreme. I forgot about my soda challenge and Heath ordered me a drink. I thought he might be irritated if he spent $1.00 on water, so I knew I had to get something. All the diet drinks had caffeine, so I had to go with fruit punch, which I am sure is just as unhealthy as soda. I was careful not to drink it all. I also had some Sweet Tart bunnies for dessert.

I walked 24 minutes on the treadmill, did 2 reps of twenty with the hand weights, and did 50 crunches. I spent more time between 2.8-3.0mph than I had previously. My pedometer at work read 3722 steps.