Healthy Habits Pay Off

Noteworthy headline, eh? BORING!!! But, as I found out in the past week or so, it's really true. All those things they tell you about exercising, and eating fruits and veggies, and drinking water, etc. really ARE true! This is how I know.

A year ago in June I had my annual check up. Nothing out of the ordinary. Things were Okay. Could be better, but no alarming things were mentioned that I needed to take care of.

A year ago, right AFTER my physical, the Staff Association at work started their T-FIT program. That stands for T-Bird Fitness Initiative. We were hoping to get more FIT and help with the insurance and just general well-being. We had monthly challenges, we had teams and competition and prizes and it was FUN! That's not to say it wasn't hard, but the committee worked really hard to make it do-able and to make it fun. I liked it. I liked the team competition aspect and specific challenges (drinking water, number of steps per day, counting your veggie servings daily, etc.)

I'd kind of gotten a little lax with Water Aerobics. I like it, but going to the pool is such a hassle with all the stuff you gotta do to get in and out. So I tried Yoga. Liked that... but I'm not really very consistent with that, either (seeing a theme here?).

Well, anyway, some of those things are more of a habit now. I did not win the grand prize or participate 100%, but I gave T-FIT a go. And now I am convinced that it was WORTH IT.

Do I feel any better? Did I lose weight? Nope, on both counts. I still feel the same. I still weigh the same. But look at these numbers:

Cholesterol 2010, 191
Cholesterol 2011, 171

LDL 2010, 131
LDL 2011, 119 (!)

HDL 2010, 27
HDL 2011, 34

Triglyceride 2010, 163
Triglyceride 2011, 90 (!)

Yeah, a table would be much easier to read, but I don't know how to blog that. Sorry.
I was also told I don't have diabetes, do have good liver and kidney function, good blood pressure, etc. It was a good trip to the Dr. that day. (The mammogram was also good.)

So, go out there and drink lots of water, walk more, try some yoga, and eat more fruits and veggies. See if YOUR counts don't improve!! Thanks, T-FIT.

I gotta go eat some more fruit now. :-)