66 year old female

This assessment is for a 66 years old female, 5’2” tall, 180 pounds.

PAR-Q Rating

            Using the Par-Q in “Fit to be Well” (Thygerson & Thygerson, 2009), the only question she was not able to answer “No” to was Question #5 because she had a knee replacement and my knee surgeon has restricted the activities that she can do.  She is not allowed to run, although he said she could walk as much as she wanted (even do a marathon).  Also her range of motion on that knee is only 90% and that restricts the exercises that she can do.  For example, she cannot get down on the floor and it hurts to kneel on that knee.

Health Status

            Her overall health status is good.

General Medical History

            She has always been in good health and has never had any major medical problems.  She has a strong constitution and rarely get ill. She has health insurance through her husband’s job and they do yearly health assessments and the one that she took this year showed that her weight is a problem, that her triglycerides and glucose are slightly elevated (Home Depot, 2012).

Assessment Results on testing CRF, Endurance, Flexibility, Strength

            For the fitness assessments, I used the Senior Fitness tests in the “Fitness Professionals Handbook” (Howley & Franks, 2007) and evaluated them using “Measuring Functional Fitness for Older Adults (Jones & Rilki, 2002). The results of the test are as follows: Chair Stands = 14, Arm Curl = 15, 6 minute walk 500 yards, 2 minute step = 75 steps, Chair sit and Reach = + 1.0 inches, Back Scratch = -2.0 inches, 8 foot up and go = 5 seconds.  These are all within the normal range for her age.

Risk Factors and Precautions

            The health assessment that she took at her husband’s work showed that her waist measurement was over 40 and her triglycerides are slightly over 150 that there is an increased risk of heart disease. Her glucose was also slightly above 100 which slightly increases her risk for diabetes (Home Depot, 2012).

Medications

            She is not taking any medications.  She takes whole foods multi-vitamin daily, probiotics and a calcium supplement.

Health and Lifestyle Behaviors

            Using the Healthstyle Self-Test in “Fit to Be Well” (Thygerson & Thygerson, 2009), it was determined that her overall health is Good.  In the section for tobacco, alcohol and other drugs, she scored Excellent.  For eating habits, she scored Good, for Stress Management, Good and Safety, Excellent.  The only area that she scored Poor in was Exercise/Fitness and that is because she is not currently engaged in any regular fitness activity.

 

Body Composition

            To calculate her Body Mass Index (BMI), I used SparkPeople’s BMI calculator (SparkPeople, Inc., 2012).  At 5’2” and weigh 180 pounds, her BMI is 33 which puts her in the obese range.

Nutrition

            Overall her nutrition is good. She makes an effort to eat a variety of foods each day, including fruits and vegetables, whole-grains, lean meats, low-fat dairy products, seeds, nuts and beans. She limits the amount of fat that she eats, although she does eat butter, she uses a light soft butter with canola or olive added. She does eat low fat cheese on occasion and avoids fatty meats. She tries to avoid too much sugar and does not eat many sweet snacks and rarely drinks soft drinks. One area that she admits to having a problem with is her salt intake.  She sometimes salts her food at the table, especially with starchy foods and cooked vegetables. While she does not eat many sweets, her downfall is salty snacks. A three-day food analysis’ showed that, she does not get enough dairy or eat enough fruit.  She is trying to lose weight and regularly uses MyFitnessPal to track her food and exercise.  She tries to stay within a calorie limit of 1500 calories.  With this limit, she does find it hard to get the variety that she needs because she only drinks milk at breakfast and rarely eat snacks. A 1500 calorie limit that only gives her 500 calories per meal and it is hard to fit snacks into that. She does not enjoy eating breakfast, but has learned to eat it.  She tries to get her dairy and fruit there by doing smoothies or eating whole grain waffles or pancakes with homemade real fruit sauce.

 

Readiness for Change

            Using the Stages of Changes Questionnaire in “Fit to Be Well” (Thygerson & Thygerson, 2009), I have determined that she is in the Contemplation Stage.  She has been thinking about exercising regularly and plan on starting to within the next few months. She believes that regular exercise is worthwhile but is having trouble finding the time to do it.  She and her husband and have decided that they will definitely find a way to do it no later than the beginning of the year.

Motivational Strategies and Techniques

            Motivational strategies that seem to have worked for her has been to track her diet and fitness using a program such as MyFitnessPal.  She feels that when she does this she is more likely to eat a good diet and exercise regularly.  She believes that working toward fitness with her husband would benefit them both.

She has fitness equipment in her home including a treadmill, exercise DVD’s and the Wii Fit. I recommend that she take advantage of this equipment to incorporate flexibility and strength training as well as aerobic exercise.

I feel that it would be helpful for her husband and her to encourage and support each other to eat well and exercise and play some of the active Wii games together.

Exercise Prescription

Frequency	Intensity	Type	Time
5 days a week	3 mph at 1% incline	Walk on the treadmill, walk outside or use Leslie Sansone’s Walk-at-Home DVD’s	30 minutes a day
3 days a week	5 pounds	Lift weights	15 minutes
3 times a week	Beginning	Wii Fit Strength training	15 minutes
3 times a week	Beginning	Wii Fit Yoga for balance and flexibility (with assistance where needed and within her limitations).	15 minutes

I encourage her to continue to take track her food and participate in a regular exercise program. She admits that she knows that she should be doing this. I recommend that she make an effort to decrease her salt intake and increase her intake of dairy products and fruit. I encourage her to make a pact to start a program of regular exercise by January 2013 and for her husband and her to work together to support and encourage each other.

References

Home Depot. (2012, January). My health matters. Retrieved from www.livetheorangelife.com

Howley, E. T., & Franks, B. D. (2007). Fitness professional’s handbook. (5th ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Publishers.

Jones, C. J., & Rilki, R. E. (2002). Measuring functional fitness for older adults. Retrieved from http://www.lnactiveaging.com/resources/measuringfunctionalfitness2.pdf/at_download/file

SparkPeople, Inc. (2012). Body mass index (bmi) calculator. Retrieved from http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/calculator_bmi.asp

Thygerson, A. L., & Thygerson, S. M. (2009). Fit to be well, essential concepts. (2nd Ed. ed.). Jones & Bartlett Publishers