Wellness Report Card - Year Two

The company I work for, as part of its health benefits program, offers us wellness counseling with a company called Well Now.  If we sign up, we get a break on the cost of our health insurance, as well as biometric screenings and a “Health Risk Assessment”.  It’s all private, between the employee and Well Now (bypassing the actual employer) and I always like to save a little money, so I signed up last year.

The Health Risk Assessment tracks things like whether you smoke (nope) and drink regularly (nada) how stressed you are in life (hey, who isn’t?) and whether or not you drive like a maniac (no comment).  Then they compile that data with your blood test results and factor in your BMI (oh how I hate the BMI… so useless!)  Last year I was a little disappointed in my results – despite a good blood screening, minimal bad habits and normal blood pressure they scored me as a “C” for health based I think solely on my weight.  My doctor was disappointed too, she told me she’d score me as a “B” (thanks Doc!)

This year I signed up again, the health coaching was really useful and encouraging to me and I still love a discount.  However I am expecting the same grade as last time in advance because I’m not any lighter than I was last time around.  Hopefully they don’t drop me to a “D” for failure to improve.

I know I need to set that grade aside and look at the facts instead.

This year I’ve devoted myself to regular exercise despite the setback of a serious ankle sprain.  I’ve given up artificial sweeteners and cut my caffeine intake to almost nothing.  I include healthy fruits and vegetables in my daily diet and I have stopped eating white cane sugar treats on a daily basis – limiting them to one or two times per week.  Snacking… eh, still trying to get a handle on that one.

I’ve also successfully recovered from a nasty bout of anxiety disorder and moved myself forward professionally by becoming a grad student.  Okay, it’s true I don’t yet love what I see in a mirror, but still there’s a lot to be happy about!

In short, I have made some real positive improvements over this year.  And despite not being smaller, I know that I am healthier and stronger than I was the year before.

For this – I award myself one pat on the back (and, in two weeks, a couple of new piercings too).  I also got myself a really slick red snakeskin patterned cold shoulder shirt to go dancing in with my girlfriends next weekend.  Yay rewards!