Know Your Numbers

Starting a health journey can be daunting. So many things to do and a lot of conflicting information. Do you start with nutrition? Do you start with movement? Do you start with medications?

To me, it all starts with your “why”. Why do you want to change your health? Maybe its to be able to play with your children, or grandchildren. Maybe its to be healthy enough to take that dream vacation. Maybe you just want to be able to walk up a flight of stairs without becoming breathless. What ever your reason, you want it to be clear and motivating. 

Once you have your “why” you need to decide on what aspects of your health you want to tackle first. This is where knowing your numbers comes into play. What numbers? These are your biometric data, or the numbers you might get at the doctor’s office. They include things like blood pressure, cholesterol, blood glucose levels, and more. The idea is that if you know what your numbers are, and what the medical establishment says they should be, you have a way to monitor and motivate your progress. 

Say, for instance, you go to the doctor, and they say that in your recent labwork, your A1c is 6.4%, what do you do with that information? Well first, you ask what the A1c is. It is a measurement of your blood glucose levels over approximately the last 3 months. It’s an indicator used to determine if you have diabetes, or are going towards it. Ok great, what should this number be? Well, the healthy range is between 4% and 5.6%. At 6.4% you would be in the Pre-Diabetic range. This means that you are trending towards diabetes, but you have time to make some changes and return to a healthier place. 

Awesome! Now we know where to start. In this example, we would be concentrating on the types of foods you ingest, the times that you eat and the types of movement you get through out the day. By knowing you numbers you can find a direction and decide on a goal. 

How do you find out your numbers? Go to your healthcare provider for regular checkups and you can even invest in at home equipment like a blood pressure machine or a pulse oximeter to test yourself at home to follow your progress.

If you are interested in learning more about health coaching, and if it is right for you, schedule a call to discover the possibilities.