Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

I'm not sure of the exact date, but late last December, after two wellness challenges, better eating habits and increased exercise, I reached my goal weight. It was a lot of hard work and the result was normal blood pressure, good cholesterol numbers and optimal glucose levels. Plus my waist size went from 44 down to 34 inches.

There were a few comments along the way that I still hear at times, even though it has been a year since I reached my lowest weight. The first comment comes from those that knew my sister had anorexia. They assume that automatically I would "catch" anorexia, even though my goal is to be healthy. Only another sibling of an anorexic can truly understand what this feels like. The only way I can describe it is if one sibling is an alcoholic, someone will feel the other sibling is an alcoholic because they had one drink. I know people say these things because they care, but it just shows how misunderstood anorexia really is.

I was at McDonald's the other day ordering unsweetened iced tea when I overheard a grandmother talking to her grandson. She was asking him what he wanted to order and when she asked what drink he wanted, he said "Soda"! She replied that she don't normally like him to have soda but it's the holiday season so why not?

This was actually refreshing to hear. After witnessing so many kids refilling their sodas at the self serve soda machine, it's nice to know that some people understand that soda shouldn't be an everyday thing (ideally, you should always avoid it).

The results are in for the United Healthcare Walk-A-Thon!

My workplace did not win, as I already knew. But I'm pleased that I had the second highest steps at my job. I reached my goal and then some, by walking 836,560 steps over the course of 8 weeks. I did the same as last year, with over a million steps in 10 weeks.

I just finished the United Walk-A-Thon challenge last month and now I'm in another one. This time, it's the Greater Waterbury YMCA's Ironman Triathalon challenge. My friend at work must be right, I guess I'm obsessed with competitions.

This challenge is more about accountability. It's making sure that everybody is exercising. I'm already using the treadmill 5 days a week, why not just keep track of it for the Y? It will be fun to see how much I actually do at the end of the challenge.

I found out that the Waterbury YMCA is open on Thanksgiving, so I decided I'm going to get my workout in before eating a big meal! Do you know the average Thanksgiving dinner is 3,200 calories? Not that I care so much about the calories, but exercise is important.

I do take a couple days off from the gym every week, but since I usually work out on Thursdays, why not work out since they're open.