Health Psych Project, Days 1 and 2

I should start off by introducing myself. My name is Mackenzie, and I'm a 19-year-old rising junior at Washington University in St. Louis. I recently switched from the pre-medical track to a psychology major with minors in biology and Spanish. I'm enrolled in two summer school classes, Developmental Psychology and Health Psychology, and for my Health Psychology course, each of us is required to complete a three week health behavior project through which we work to increase the frequency with which we perform a health enhancing behavior or decrease the frequency with which we engage in a health compromising behavior. The area I chose to focus on was exercise, as it has always been a struggle for me and something that I've been very inconsistent with. My goal is to engage in moderate physical activity (walking, yoga, etc.) for 30 mins 5 days per week, and to engage in more strenuous activity (like an exercise class or a gym workout) for 30 mins 2 days per week. Yesterday was Day 1 of the project.

6/22/07
I decided that in order to stick to this project successfully, I needed to enlist some help. In addition, I'm constantly concerned for the health of David, my boyfriend of three years, as he is obese with a BMI of 33. So yesterday afternoon, I explained to him how difficult this project was going to be for me and asked that he join me in it so that we could keep each other accountable. Always eager to please, he agreed, and because he had happened to walk to downtown Albany, NY to run errands yesterday (a 3 mi walk!), he had a head start. Last night I went to dinner with my best friend, and when he left around 8:30 p.m, I headed out for a walk around my condo complex. I was in a good mood, a bit tired from a long day of class/errands/laying out at the pool/dinner with a friend, but looking forward to the productive weekend ahead, and I called David at the beginning of my walk and talked to him throughout it to make the time pass more quickly. I didn't wear a watch but had him time me, and I think that made it go faster because I wasn't constantly looking at a clock. At the end, I was out of breath and sweaty, but felt good about successfully completing Day 1!

6/23/07
Today got my exercise somewhat unintentionally. I'm a bit obsessive about cleaning my apartment, if I do say so myself, so this morning I set out on a cleaning marathon (bathroom, dusting, glass, floors, stove, microwave, sink, counter, dishwashter, laundry, etc.), and after two hours, I was sore and sweating! I think all of that scrubbing the tub and shower DEFINITELY counts as exercise. I could tell I was getting far in excess of my intended thirty minute workout without even having to make time for it! David's been at an amusement park with friends for the day, so I'm sure he's gotten his exercise by walking around the park in the heat all day, but I'll check in with him tonight. The accountability is good for both of us, I think. Hopefully we're working towards building healthy lifestyles that we can pursue together in the future.