myHealthScore Assessment

I woke up this morning to a normal craving for a big cup of joe.  The craving was there, but sadly, there was no cup of joe for me.  Instead, I traded it for a large cup of hot water.

I am not crazy – on this anyways – and did it for a very good reason.  Come to find out, via a yogi friend on Instagram, drinking a little bit of hot water is not only approved for fasting, but also flushes out the kidneys and kick starts your digestive tract.  Who knew?

Why I got the idea…

I recently joined a gym close to where we live called Life Time Fitness.  As I was taking the initial tour of the place, all that kept running through my mind was how I could never afford to become a member at a place like this.  They have about a million different cardio machines, rows upon rows of exercise equipment, a loaded schedule of group fitness classes, basketball courts, racquetball courts, an enormous swimming pool with a water slide, hot tubs, saunas, steam rooms (<- obsessed) and a pretty impressive locker room, just to name a few things.

When I heard I could have access to all of this for just a little over sixty dollars a month, I screamed a little inside. I have only been to the facility a handful of times so far, but I am in love!

myHealthScore Assessment

Part of becoming a member of the gym includes two complimentary consultations: one for training, and one to test your overall health.  After meeting with a trainer last night, I have now committed myself to a few exciting fitness goals coming up which I will be sure to share with you soon!  For now, I will let you in on how the health testing went.

A huge factor of testing your body fat, weight, cholesterol and glucose levels is diet, specifically the day before.  I was told to refrain from eating or drinking anything – besides a little bit of water – eight hours before the appointment.  Fasting is not an easy thing for me to do, and now you can see why I tricked myself into a warm cup of joe water this morning.  In some weird way, it comforted me!

Around 11 a.m. I got in the car and made my way to the gym with plenty of snacks to dive into directly after.  I had a few Premier Protein bars left from the shipment they sent me and brought the Yogurt Peanut Crunch with me to enjoy after all of the tests were over. (I am loving them by the way!)

The assessment went pretty much how I expected it to.

It started out with a prick of my finger to get a blood sample.  Then measured my blood pressure.  While waiting for results, my weight was taken on a very high tech machine that also told me my body fat and body fat mass levels.  I then went onto the treadmill and did five minutes of power walking, followed by a measurement of my heart rate and blood pressure post-workout.

Next, we moved into the tests that brought me right back to middle school P.E. class.  Does anyone remember having to test your flexibility by sitting down, pressing your feet against a box and reaching forward to a number? I sure do.  I remember reaching up and out as far as I could to compare with my friends who could reach the furthest. <- Can we say competitive much? Oh, the things we remember from grade school!

The testing ended with a lot of pushups.  The trainer asked me to do as many “girl” pushups (on my knees) in a row, keeping a consistent pace and form.  I started to slow down around 32 and decided that was my number.

When the results were in, I received a print out of them and became pleasantly surprised with a score of 100!

What? I have not received 100% on anything in quite some time.

To be honest, I was a bit concerned with what my blood pressure and cholesterol levels were going into the test.  Both of my parents are on medication to control their high levels, and both of them eat extremely clean.  I know that genetics will catch up to me eventually, but I was very happy to hear that both of those levels are completely normal.  Whoo hoo!

Lunch

After the test, I went to my friend Yana’s house for lunch.  She said she would make us some soup and when she showed me the bag I was instantly excited.  I have been wanting to try Bertolli Meal Soup for quite some time!

All we needed was a stove, a cup of water, and about ten minutes.  After a good simmer, we had a fantastic lunch!

The soup tasted very good, and I would never have guessed that it came from a bag.  Extra chunky chicken and a savory vegetable flavor was all I got!

YUM.

Since I was still very hungry from fasting in the morning, we had a few cut up cucumber slices, followed by a few very random things on the side.

Like a few slices of bologna, for example.  It had been ages since I had a slice of bologna! I could not help but to think how I used to cut little eyes out of it, hold it up, and push my tongue through it growing up to make a bologna face.  Yeah… I was special.

To get a little hydration back in, we finished lunch off with a glass of Pomegranate Mint Mamma Chia.  Chia seeds are great for re-hydration!

This one was good, but my favorite will always be Drink Chia!

Thanks for a great afternoon, Yana.

Now back to unpacking I go!

Questions of the Day

• Have you ever taken a health assessment test?  How did it go: did you do better, worse, or how you thought you would do?

• Do you remember doing physical examinations in P.E. classes growing up? Which one stands out the most?

This was my first “real” health assessment.  I have had physicals before, but never anything like this at a gym.  When I heard my score was 100, I became very excited to know I am treating my body well and that it feels the way it is supposed to.  It was great affirmation to know what I am doing, is in fact healthy.

My favorite test growing up in physical education class had to be the monkey bars.  I can not even remember how well I did, but I just loved shooting across the playground!