Fitbit Issues

I really count on my Fitbit to help me.  It tracks my heart rate, my calories, my steps - all things that help inspire me to do more, move more and be better today than I was yesterday.

But I don't think my step rate is accurate.

I've been walking the track every day.  I am now up to 6 laps (yay me!).  But the same 6 laps that I walked on Monday counted 2800 steps while today only counted 2200 steps.  I walked the exact same track, in the same spot, for the same amount of laps.  How could that be off by 600 steps??  And when I count my steps in my head, it takes over 700 steps per lap - which times 6 laps should be 4200 steps!  Clearly something is wrong, and since my data is what keeps me going, I've got to figure out what to do.

I did just read that you have to adjust your walking stride (duh - I should have realized that, but I thought it was a smart tracker that somehow just "knew" what I was walking).  So I will figure out my stride and reset and see if that makes a difference.  But that still doesn't explain how I can be off by 600 steps walking the exact same route from one day to the next.  It's not like I do astronaut jumps or anything ...

So, I'm a bit frustrated.  I can't decide if I need to go ahead and buy either the surge or the blaze.  Both are super ugly, so I don't know.  But, the Fitbit community is the best and the data, charts and graphs are super inspiring, so I don't really want to leave Fitbit.  Meanwhile the Charge HR (which is what I have now) is falling apart.  It's got some kind of defect in the band - this is the second one I've had (they did replace the first one with no hassle, so that was nice), but given the accuracy issues and the band that is falling apart, I don't really want to do the Charge HR again.

On the bright side of things, I'm still managing to walk and I'm keeping up the increased distance - I almost thought I could make it one more lap today, but didn't want to push it given that my hip joints have been sore.  Still, I'm proud of myself.

I'm also still doing the bowflex for strength training, so I'm also proud of that.  I got a new weight bench for Christmas, but have no weights for it yet, and I'm going to start looking at what that will cost (my hubby says it will cost more than the bench did, so I may have to wait for Christmas this year to get the weights).

All I can do now is wait and see if my work will eventually pay off.  And try and pat myself on the back for what I'm doing in the meantime.  Oh, and try not to get discouraged when the weight doesn't come off quickly.

I still have issues with eating - especially now that I'm exercising.  I seem to be starving all the time.  If I remember from the last time I lost weight, when I upped my protein, that helped, so I'll try and do that.  I just love food!!  And when I'm starved, it's so hard to choose right.  I'll keep trying, though!

Beginning Week 2

Week 2 begins!

Got up early for my walk.  I increased my reps around the track so that I managed 6 today!  Last week was all 4-5 laps and today I made it 6!  My legs do feel like rubber, but I'm pretty happy I made it!

I walked 5 out of 7 days last week.  I couldn't do Friday morning due to a doctor appointment requiring fasting, and I overslept on Saturday, but I made it Sunday.

Now I just have to modify my eating!  I have stopped drinking which is good - no more empty calories!  I plan to drink for the 4th of July week in Virginia, but I'm going to try and hold off on the glasses of wine I like to have at night.  They are bad for 2 reasons - 1) I lose my self control and tend to eat everything and 2) empty calories.

At any rate, all I can do at this point is take it one day at a time.

And enjoy the morning view (today's sunrise):

Perks of an Early Morning Walk

So, I got up even earlier today so that I could be at work earlier.

As a reward, I got this:

It's still super warm, even this early, but watching the sun rise is a nice perk to making myself get out there and move!

This pic was at the end of my walk so I got to watch it rise through the trees on every lap.  Very pretty!

Starting Over.

This year has just been ridiculous.  I've had so much to do - one fire to put out after the next.  This week is the first week I've had to breathe and I'm latching onto it with all my might.

I got pretty sick back in April and May - couldn't shake it - and THEN, allergies kicked in.

But I'm better and things have calmed down for this brief moment.  I started walking again on Monday as well as lifting on the bowflex.  I have a new weight bench that I got for Christmas but no weights to use on it yet ... one thing at a time, I guess.

The only thing I have to sacrifice to give myself time is sleep, so I've started trying to get out to the park/track by 6 am.  At that time, it's light enough that I'm not afraid of getting attacked and I'm able to get my walking done and get back to my desk for work before 8:00 a.m.  Still, I am used to being at my desk and working before 7 a.m. so I still feel like I'm losing time.

My muscles are all sore in that good way that tells me I'm doing something.  Hopefully I can keep this up.  Nothing looms for the next few weeks to stop me, so cross your fingers.

I'm well over 200 lbs again.  I am going to try and take measurements today and break out all my tools to keep myself on track.  I've got to put myself a little higher on my priority list or I'm going to keel over.  I do have blood work to be done on Friday, which will tell me about sugar levels, B-12 levels, cholesterol levels, etc.  Not really looking forward to those results.

Writing here helps keep me on track, so I'm going to make an effort to report in my progress.

Feel Good Today.

I've increased my time on the bike, which feels wonderful!  I rode for over 40 minutes today and then did some calisthenics (crunches, leg lifts and then squats on the Total Gym) for 10 minutes after that. It feels amazing to MOVE again.

Does not cancel out the candy bar I ate last night, however.  I did well with dinner - one helping, but then something snapped and I ate a candy bar.  Oh, and popcorn.  Not doing enough art, I guess.  I'll just keep working on it.  If I can increase my exercise, at least I'm moving in the right direction.

I didn't sleep well last night - sore throat to the point that it woke me up.  And then I have lovely gobs of snot going down the back of my throat (TMI?) so I kept getting up and drinking water to try and ease the pain in my throat and wash down the snot.  Got up 5 times last night.  I'm sure that probably messed up my Hubby's attempt at sleep.  I won't know how he feels until after he's had his coffee - lol.

Have a kid home sick as well.  She's lost her voice and has that nasty chest-cough.  Two of her siblings have had it as well.  Nasty bug.

Seems like there is always something and it's so easy to blame those "somethings" on why we overeat, or use them as an excuse.  I'm working on overcoming that.  Knowing I do it is half the battle, though it doesn't stop me from using things as excuses.  I'm just aware when I'm doing it.

One step.  At a time.

Losing Already!

It's amazing how fast the weight drops when you first start simply because you cut out obvious things.  I'm down to 206.8 today which is already 3.6 lbs.  The only different things I've done is cut out my wine (boo!) and stopped snacking after dinner.  Oh, and increased my water drinking.

I imagine I'll lose some weight pretty fast just from that but I know I will hit a point and stop and then have to work for it again.  Not that going without wine isn't work!

Once the house is fixed and I can have my weight lifting things back up, I will add in that.  I'm excited about doing that.

I actually did some yoga stretches this morning and it felt simply amazing!  I'm glad to be moving again!

I will keep you posted!

Hello, January.

It's time to get this show back on the road!  I've been doing okay - just not eating a bunch of goop every day is helping, I'm sure!  Too much goop in the house for the holidays!

I got lots of fun low calorie and other weight loss oriented cookbooks!  I've been using my actifry as well - modifying regular recipes to use in it and have had a lot of success!  Decedent food that is actually good for us!

Unfortunately, I have topped back out at 210 again.  After losing all the way down to 190.  What a shame.  The good news is that I've done it before so I know I can do it again.  I'm back on the stationary bike in the mornings again.  Our basement had a sewage issue, so I can't lift weights right now, but as soon as the downstairs is back in order, I'll be adding that back to my routine.  Bowflex as well as free weights.  I really like the feel of free weights but I can't go up too much since I don't have a spotter, but I feel like I get a better work out with free weights.

The treadmill will also be set back up again and I plan on using that.  I have my fitbit all ready to monitor my steps.  Well, the band is falling apart, so I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to have it, but I'll have some kind of step and heart rate tracker once the fitbit finally dies.  I'm hoping they have fixed the band issue.  I really like the fitbit.  I've been using it for years and it's fun to have other people on it too, so I can "compete" for motivation.  We'll see.  They might replace this one, but if the new one falls apart, then I'm going to definitely have to change to something else.

I'll try and post recipes, but I never measure anything, so it may be hard to do that.  I'm going to try since I really need to measure in order to count the calories in a dish.

I've really noticed that my back hurts more when I'm heavier and I really do feel so much more tired.  I don't understand why it's so hard to behave myself at night.  It's like I'm a split personality.  I have some plans to take care of that:  the doodling at night, drinking ice water at night and having ready, planned snacks for each night.  We'll see.  My weakness is strong enough to kick my butt, so we'll be a work in progress.

Glad to be back on track, though.  I feel better already.