![Day[9]TV](/images/header-logo.png){kind=logo}
Heart Health
Eric Burkhart Health, Fitness, Food DK30 New Year 2023 3 3
Description
February is American Heart Month. I’m starting DK30 a bit early with my focus being on heart health. I’ve been eating too late (especially sugary snacks), going to bed late, failing to get in my daily walks multiple times a week, and skipping regular runs for over a year. I’ll be tracking each of those daily and trying to improve my ‘score’ throughout the month.
Recent Updates
On a score basis, I fell down by about 2 points on average since the start with most of the losses going to daylight savings impacting my bedtime.
Overall I ran 15 miles this month. That’s 0.5 miles/day compared to 0.3 miles/day last month. Still a lot of work to get back to one mile daily but compared to last year where it was zero I’m happy with the progress. I’m also happy about being able to run an 8 minute mile again.
I’ve had a positive score 19/21 days and I’m happy with that. A major change to my habits has been getting back to running, with an average of 1/3rd of a mile per day. That’s low compared to the 1 mile/day I was doing from 2017-2020 but the first step feels good! Next up adding in weight training.
Here’s my scoring method:
- Bed time: 10pm = 3pt, -1 every 30min late
- Avoiding alcohol: 1 drink = -1pt
- Daily walk = 1 mile = 1pt
- Run: 1 mile = 1pt
- Body weight training: 100 reps = 1pt
- Stretching: 10 minutes = 1pt
- Vegetables: 1 serving = 1pt
- Eating earlier: 6:30pm 0pt, +/- 1 point for each 30 min earlier/later
- High Sugar or Salt food: -1pt per serving
Estimated Timeframe
Feb 20th - Mar 22nd
Week 1 Goal
- Make a habit out of daily tracking of scores
- Get my annual physical and bloodwork
Week 2 Goal
- Improve on week 1 scores
- Identify opportunities to modify routine for better scores
Week 3 Goal
- Improve on week 2 scores
Week 4 Goal
- Improve on week 3 scores
