New Fitness Gadget: The FitBit

The FitBit

My friend Lauren (over at Dimples Does It) has had this little contraption for a while now so she is much more experienced with it.  I just got it on Sunday and used it for the first time yesterday but I will tell you what I know so far!

Basically, its a little clip on tricked-out pedometer that you can wear anywhere on your body (I wear it on my bra, TMI?  LoL).  I have the FitBit Ultra which tracks steps, calories, distance, and stairs climbed (not on regular one).  It syncs wirelessly with your computer to upload data to the FitBit website where you can see all your data (OMG graphs!!!) and log your food and other activities throughout the day.  You can make goals and have friends on the website also.  It costs $99 and I believe is available at Best Buy.

Food Log

When you start your day, it gives you a baseline calorie target for the day based on if you were to lay in bed and not move the entire day.  My target intake for the day is shown at the top here.  It shows how much I have eaten so far (178) and how much I have left (1386).

Then as you begin moving around and logging activities, it will increase your calorie intake for the day as shown in the second box.  So far today, I have moved around enough to increase my calories by 52.

Additionally, I have mine set to have a weight loss goal of 0.5lbs per week until I reach 140lbs.  "Easier" is the 0.5lbs per week.  It shows the date I should reach my goal all the way on the right.




Sleep

One really cool thing about the FitBit is that it will monitor your sleep. It really just watches how much you move around but it is still pretty cool.  Apparently I don't move at all when I'm sleeping!

I think this feature will really come in handy!  Only issue is, when do I charge it then???  Well, this morning, I put it on the charger while I was in the shower and then just tracked "Standing - preparing for bed" for 10 minutes.  LoL!

Activities & Steps

This one is pretty self explanatory.  You just track what you were doing during a certain time.  You can track everything throughout your day including things like sitting at your desk, cleaning the house, etc.  If you click on the picture to the right, you can see where I tracked standing this morning.  I will probably only track major workouts in this.  I guess it just helps to give a more accurate picture of the calories you burned throughout the day.  It works with the readings from your FitBit for better accuracy.  Below, you can see my Calories Burned chart for today so far.  You can also view steps, floors and your "active score".

Ok, now you guys can all see why I love this thing already!  Lauren has been just raving about it for months.  I wanted it but didn't want to spend the money and find out I didn't like it.  Of course I love it!  Look at all those charts and graphs!!!  But seriously, this is really going to help me get back on the band wagon.  I have been struggling a lot lately.  Here comes confession time.

I've gained 2% Body Fat and 6lbs  (7 yesterday but I lost 1 since yesterday)

This summer was emotionally rough.  Then the moving, then school started.  I just haven't been able to get into a groove.  I'm finally feeling more like myself now though and armed with my new gadget, I am totally ready to tackle this weight loss thing again!  I took my measurements immediately when I set up my FitBit yesterday morning:

My tactic is going to be the same one I used to lose the weight the first time.  I'm going to think about my calorie differential (difference between how many calories you burn during the day and the calories you ate, i.e. calories in, calories out).  And the FitBit basically does all that for you with the way it increases your calories intake the move active you are.  I'm going to concentrate a lot on building muscle so I'm going to make sure I eat at least 1500 calories per day (under 1400 and you break down muscle) and take my measurements every few weeks, not just weight.

Also, I'm just going to use the FitBit website to track everything and not Spark People.  I know!!!  I love Spark People but now its just going to be to check in with friends and maybe do some team stuff (been too busy for that lately).  I will always love Spark People but I've got to pick one place.  I am really excited though!  How many people do you know get excited about fitness and weight loss??  Here we go!

Weekend Plans and Goals

It is shaping up to be a fabulous weekend!  Tonight, I am excited to head over to Atlantic City for the race expo and packet pick up!  That's right!  Its race weekend!!  Then probably dinner out with Rob (since I'm sure we'll be short on time and famished).  Then hopefully home for some quiet time.

Tomorrow is a full day of Rugby in Lancaster, one of our favorite places.  We are going up early to stop at a little tiny Amish pie shop for some ShooFly Pie.  Yum!  Then its off to the Bards after the game as usual!

Sunday is the big race day!  My plan is to walk/run it and just finish.  Don't care about the time at all.  I haven't run since my last race, the Philly Rock and Roll Half!  The first weekend, I just skipped my run due to rain (I know, bad excuse!) and then I got sick and couldn't run!  What can I do?  Well, I can complete this weekend without getting hurt!  And then start up my running seriously again immediately.  A light run on Monday, even if I'm sore!  No excuses!!!

It is looking like it will be a great day for a run too!

Perfect running weather!!!!  I am pretty excited about this race.  I wasn't really a week or two ago but now I am.  I really like running the AC events, even if it nothing but boardwalk (but its ALL flat!).  Its funny because this weather calls for a light long sleeve shirt and I'm debating on wearing the same shirt I wore for the past 2 years for it!  HA!  I guess its that time of year for a light long sleeve?  LoL.  What do you think?  Or should I change it up?

Oh, and I will not be ordering the same thing I got at the Bards last time...  (Remember my boating experience?)  I'll get a pumpkin ale maybe but not the stew or the gelato...  We don't want any issues on race day!  It is always so tricky figuring out what to eat the day before a run.  You would think I would start tracking such things, especially me with all my graphs and charts and data!  This has always been one thing that's slipped by, the correlation between a good/bad workout and what I ate that day/day before.  Maybe a goal for next month?

(Old graphs and charts from old blogs - see I love data!!!)

Oh what's that?  I'm planning on making goals for next month?  That's right!  Angela is BACK!  And I'm going to be setting up a personal challenge for myself that anyone can participate in at any fitness level.  I will let you all know about it when it gets closer to November!  I hope some of you will join me!

Source

Motivation - It Doesn't Last

This is a topic that pops up a lot in weight loss: motivation.  Everyone wants to know how to get motivated.  Honestly?  I think they are all asking the wrong question.

Motivation to me is external.  It is when you are looking for something else, outside of yourself, to get you to want to do something.  Maybe it is an upcoming event, a cute outfit in a smaller size, a friend who has lost weight, etc.  But thing about motivation is that it doesn't last.  After that event passes, then what? When you finally can fit into those skinny jeans, how will you stay in them?  Envying your friend's weight loss isn't going to get you anywhere.

So instead of motivation, I think people should be thinking about determination.

That is how I lost weight.  When people ask me how I did it, I have a hard time replying because honestly, one day I just woke up and decided I had had enough and was going to lose this weight for good.  I was determined to do it.  I had no "motivation", no dream outfit, no big event.  I did have goals though and that is critical.

Determination is deciding to do something.
Goals help you figure out how to get there.

My first goal was to run a 5K and I did it.  And to get there, I had to train.  Once I was determined to lose weight and run this 5K, it was easy from there.  How do I do it?  Well, I had to eat better and I had to learn how to run.  By deciding on a specific goal, it was easy to figure out the how.

So I just want to tell everyone out there struggling to find motivation that you should stop looking for it right now.  Just decide today to do whatever it is you want to do.  Be determined to do it.  Don't let yourself fail because failing's not an option.

When Plans Aren't Working

Things aren't working right in the weight loss department lately.  Yes, weight loss and not "health".  I feel frumpy and blah, like I'ved gained weight.  My scale even played a mean trick on me this morning.  In my frumpy-ness, I decided to weigh myself just to make sure and it displayed a 147.6!  ACK!  That would have meant a gain of almost 4 lbs!  I got off and got back on again (because sometimes it need to calibrate) and it said 144.2 the next 2 weigh-ins.

Anyway, this was maybe just the little shock I needed.  Thinking I was up 4lbs.  For the last few months, I've been hovering around 143 which has been fine with all the craziness that has been going in my life but now I feel like I've had enough.  Mostly because the last week or so has been nothing but junk eating and minimal exercise.  It's time to do something about that and that means going back to Spark.

Tracking my food, tracking my workouts.  I  haven't used it nearly enough lately.  But I also have another issue.  I'm tired of training and yet I have 2 half marathons and a full marathon that I need to train for!  I have my calendar all filled out but it makes me moan just looking at it.

I have a half this weekend and nothing I will do this week will help me get any better for it (I could get worse by going too hard) so this week is going to be all about doing whatever I feel like.  Nothing but cardio though, I don't want super sore legs for the race on Sunday.  But Monday through Friday is all fair game (tapering in intensity toward the end of the week).

After that, I am going to sort of train for my races.  I mean, I will definitely be doing a lot to prepare but I'm not going to stress over getting it exactly right.  I plan on having 2 days a week of strength training and 3-4 days a week of cardio, one of which will be a long run day.  I think I will mostly due speed work like sprints, intervals, hills, and tempo runs.

As for nutrition and diet, the plan is to eat as clean as possible and try to keep it under 2000 calories.  That might not help me to lose anything (inches or weight) but it will keep me from gaining too!

Hopefully as my training increases, I will see some more definition and feel a little less frumpy.  I am a little worried about fitting this all in with all the school and work I have but its gotta happen so that I can run that marathon.  I don't want to be disappointed for my first one (like my first half and this half).

And most of all, I miss being a good example of health and fitness.  That might be a little vain but its true.  I like being a good example to follow.  No one wants to be the bad example, right?  So I feel like I'm failing other people when I'm not doing well.  Remember my blog about being a Healthy Living Blogger?  I need to remember all that I said in that again!

I feel like lately, I just keep making plans and plans and more plans on how to get back on track.  But all those plans were very open with lots of loop holes.  This plan still isn't exactly rigid but its more strict than I've been so I'm going to do it.

Track Food.

Track Fitness.

Long Runs once a week.

Strength Train twice a week.

Cardio 2-3 times per week.

Eat under 2000 calories.

That's the new plan.  Be a healthy living blogger and role model!  Here we go!

School Dilemmas

I seriously don't know how people do this all the time.  How do they have time for anything?  This school and work thing is crazy!  And honestly, it wouldn't be that bad but for the 2 hour drive.  What was I thinking???  (Well, I was thinking "ooh free PhD, ok!").

By next semester, I need to have decided what research group I want to work with.  This will mean I will be on campus 5 days per week which means I will get an apartment down there.  Once I'm down there full time, things will be much easier to handle.  I will have lots more time (4 hours a day taken out of driving!).  Of course, I will miss Rob tons and only see him on the weekends but its something that needs to be done.

But for now, this whole commuting thing is killing me!  I wish there was a way I could just do the full time school thing and nothing else!  But until then...

Oh, and I got homework in both my classes yesterday.  I spent all of last night playing with the kittens working on one problem.  I think I've got it figured out but that is 1 problem off 1 homework set!  And he hasn't even taught the stuff for the other questions yet!!!  Ugh, I will be doing lots of reading this weekend.  At least we don't have rugby yet.  I am thinking about investing in a lap desk to take to the rugby games with me.  I can sit on the bleachers and do homework, pencil in one hand, camera in the other?  LoL

Anyway, here is my health update for the day:

This week, I've...

Not been drinking my water.
Not worked out since Saturday.
Been eating lots of veggies (yay!).
But also lots of ice cream and treats.
Been making it a priority to get enough sleep.

Today, I will...

Not pig out on the ice cream I have at home (how did that get there??)
Make an effort to drink my water when I'm on campus
Try to get in some simple workout (walking on campus or maybe pushups and stuff when I get home)

Tomorrow, I will...

Not snooze my alarm clock for an hour.
Avoid the sweets.
Do some sort of workout, even if its just playing on the Kinect!
Be stuck at work all day with endless access to a water fountain and a bathroom (aka drink all my water!!!).


Now, its time to get back on track!!!  I even tracked my food today just to be accountable.  Here we go!!!

Busy Bee, Goal Progress

Wow things are crazy right now.  I never got around to working out yesterday.  I was just so completely exhausted from work and school.  Work is always a little stressful.  I try not to talk about it here but there is always a certain atmosphere there.  We'll leave it at that!  School is never *truly* bad, but I did get homework today!  LoL, no one likes homework :)

I'm here for met today to think back to my "goals" for September and see how I'm doing!


Goal 1:  Eat healthy 85% of the day.

Overall, I think I am doing ok with this one!  I did have some ice cream over the weekend and I should be banned from Godiva, but other than that, its really not that bad.  I do think there is a little too much snacking when I'm at home.  We bought goldfish and ginger snaps for the storm but I keep wandering to the cabinet where they are kept!  Ack!

Goal 2:  Workout every other day. 

Uh oh...  I worked out on the 1st, the 3rd, and... yep, not again.  Monday (Labor Day), I planned on working out but that all went up in smoke.  I had these lofty plans for yesterday for working out when I got home and came home utterly exhausted.  The type of tired where you could fall asleep standing.  Today, I snoozed my alarm for about 45 minutes!  Maybe tonight?  It's not an option, right???

Goal 3:  Keep in touch on FabFit and South Jersey Sparkers

I've been doing well on this one!  I posted on a few threads in SJS and have been keeping up with FabFit on facebook.  But as FabFit's fearless leader Carolyn pointed out, your fitness minutes should be greater than your computer minutes... Oops, definitely not here.  In my defense, I work on a computer and am stuck here on campus now.  That student gym membership is sounding pretty good...

Goal 4:  Continue blogging.

This one is obviously going well!  It has definitely been hard but I am trying not to stop because I'm worried I might slip back into other old habits too (and gain weight, eek!) if I'm not accountable to anyone.  Must keep doing this!!

Ok, so the most important two (1&2) are the ones I'm doing the worst on!  LoL, actually #1 really isn't that bad.  I just need to forget about the snacks in the cabinet.  My plan for tomorrow is to just get up early.  If I feel like working out right away, then ok, but I really need to get into the routine of getting up at 5, no matter if I have a workout or not!  (I may use yoga to stay in the habit of morning exercise).  And I need to really think about the gym membership here.  I would be nice if I could throw on my running gear right now and do a few laps around campus!  Just need a place to shower!

Happy Hump Day!!

Oh, September. Here Already?

To make goals or not?  I thought about not but I think I changed my mind (in a matter of 15 minutes or so).  I really enjoy making them, tracking them, etc.  But I don't want them to be overwhelming this month.  So instead of making concrete goals, I'm going to make things I should track and see how I do.  Sound good??

• Eat healthy 85% of the day.
• Workout every other day.
• Keep in touch on FabFit and South Jersey Sparkers.
• Continue blogging.

So that's the general plan.  Eat well, workout, blog, stay active on Facebook and SparkPeople.  Easy, right?  Haha, not with my schedule!  One thing I might do is bring back my food blogs.  I haven't been tracking my food on SparkPeople just because it takes too much time that I would rather put into other things.   I have actually been doing really well with this because I've been cooking a lot.  So to document that, I'm going to attempt food blogs again (I say "attempt" because I already missed 75% of what I ate today so far, lol).  I will also report on my workouts in my blogs.

Anyway, time for class (using school wifi!).  I will hopefully blog tonight with a report of my day!

?What are your goals for September?

Grad School Jitters

I am terrified.  Terrified of going back to school.  I mean, I am really excited because I like going to school but there are a lot of questions around going back.  Did I choose the right field (I had 2 majors to pick from and went with the unexpected one, should I have gone with the safe one)?  Is this is a good school?  Is it worth the drive there and back every day?  Am I going to be able to survive financially?  Will all my undergrad math come back to me?  Will I do ok in my classes?  Will I find a research topic I enjoy and succeed in?  Will I be able to pass the qualifying exams?

See, aren't you terrified now??

So I was thinking about a team I'm on called Fabulous Fitness.  It is a great bunch of mostly ladies (don't worry, I didn't forget you Mike!) who are all healthy, active, supportive, and just plain wonderful.  I never really was too active with any of the teams that you can participate on in Spark People but for some reason when FabFit moved over and opened a page on Facebook, I started to pay more attention.  Actually, I've made some many friends there from the FabFit team that my Facebook feed is 75% FF friends and only like 25% people I know in person.  Ha!  But I like it that way, they keep me motivated.  Anyway,  they have a saying for this team

Be Brave.  Be Bold.  Be Fierce.  Be Fabulous.

I started to think about how that fit into my life with fitness and health and then I realized its about how to live your entire life, not just your health.  I thought about how it would fit into my journey going back to grad school. 

Be Brave:  I took the steps to apply for grad school.  That was a huge step because I knew it meant I would actually have an opportunity to go back to school.  And then all those quesitons above starting popping into my head.

Be Bold:  I got the acceptance letter and I immediately sent back my reply that I would be attending this fall.

Be Fierce:  I am going to apply this to my studies, my classes, and my research.  I know I am a smart girl and I know that if I put my mind to it, I can totally succeed.  I just have to be determined.  Fierce is the perfect word for this.

Be Fabulous:  I am also a little worried about losing the self I've built over the last 2 years.  I want to be keep running, I want to keep eating healthy, I want to keep looking sharp.  I am going to continue to take care of myself while I go back to school so that I can be fabulous!

And as for my mantra, It's Not an Option, that is easy to make a list:

It's not an option to not go back to school (especially at this point!).
It's not an option to not succeed in my classes.
It's not an option to not pass the qualifiers.
It's not an option to slack off on my research.
It's not an option to give up my healthy life.
It's not an option to doubt myself.
It's not an option to not finish.

I posted a funny cartoon yesterday about why someone would go to grad school.  It is so true and made my laugh.  Why am I going back?  Well, its just something I always thought I would do, get my PhD.  Why?  Well, because I want to.  And then it dawned on my that most people don't have this crazy ambition of getting a PhD.  The fact that I even want to pursue one has already skyrocketed me in my field.  I always have a little self doubt, even though I do excellent in my classes all the while being a total procrastinator and a bit of a slacker.  I find math comes pretty easy to me (when I have a good teacher anyway).  So why am I so worried?  I know it will be hard but deep down inside I know I can do it.  This was a complete revelation for me.  All this time I was so worried about failing when I really knew that I would be fine.

Classes start on Monday.  Terrified.  I just have to remember...

Be Brave.

Be Bold.

Be Fierce.

Be Fabulous.

And as for not succeeding?

It's Not an Option.

Refocusing

My life has been changing a lot lately.  Things last month were really stressful.  Then I had to move in less than 2 weeks.  Now, I am going from being a full time researcher to a full time graduate student.  Wow, I feel like I've been bucked off a horse or something.  Disoriented. 

As of next week, I will be a full time graduate student with a part time job (where I work now, they are awesome letting me stay on).  I am a creature of routine.  I love doing the same thing every day on a regular schedule but that is going to completely change.  I will probably struggle for the first few weeks until I establish a new routine.  It should be interesting!

Oh, I also need a completely stress free place to work at home.  My apartment is still a wreck!  I need to work like crazy this week to get it into a more presentable condition so that I can concentrate on my schooling once it starts (Monday). 

On top of all this, I have 2 half marathons coming up and a full marathon in March.  I may have to accept the fact that I might walk quite a bit in the first one.  We'll see.  I need to fit more runs in on a more regular basis.  I have been seriously struggling with getting out there lately.  Thanks to a challenge for a group I'm in, we had to discuss our "matras".  I posted about mine, It's Not an Option.  I had sort of neglected to use it lately but not anymore!  I might even most a nice print out of those words and frame it to hang in my apartment somewhere where it will motivate me to do my best!

Anyway, this is just a lot of babbling today.  I have a lot of things I need to do today to get everything together for school.  I guess I'm just laying all these things out there for myself.  I need to remember to eat well and exercise (the eating has be terrible along with the lack of exercise).  I need to make time for myself.  Maybe I should schedule time for myself?  I can see my calendar now:  4:30 Meeting with Bob Harper  6:00 Meeting with Nike Running Sneakers.  LoL.  I just need to do it!!!  Because skipping is not an option here!!!

It's Not an Option

"It's Not An Option"

I actually stole this mantra from a book I read when I first started out losing weight called Secrets of a Former Fat Girl by Lisa Delaney.  She used it as her mantra when she was losing weight and I just loved it.  I also recommend the whole book as it is highly motivating but that little sentence is the major component that I walked away with.

Basically, the mantra takes away your choice.  There is no "should I work out today?" because *not* working out here is "not an option".  Should I order the greasy junk food?  It's not an option.  I use it a lot especially when I'm running.  Stopping short of my scheduled distance isn't an option (unless I'm hurt or feel like I will hurt myself by continuing of course).  Skipping a run altogether isn't an option.  I use this the most when I'm really feeling whiney and I know that is all it is, me being whiney.  It shuts me up instantly (Lisa calls it your "inner whiner").

The phrase stops any excuses, whines, or complaints in their tracks.  There is no reasoning here.  No way to argue around it.  It just cuts off the argument completely, stopping me from continuing the whining.  It is like that final "no" that a parent gives to a child.  If there was never a choice in the first place, then you don't have to think about what you should do, you just go do the right thing.

When I'm at a restaurant, eyeballing the deep fried whatever, I just remind myself "that food item is not an option for me" and all of the sudden, my list of choices gets shorter and simpler.  Picking between 6 different healthy meals is a lot easier than having to choose from the entire menu.  The choice becomes easy since that junk food wasn't even on *your* menu in the first place.

Getting home after a hard day at work, thinking about skipping my workout suddenly goes out the window.  I think about skipping and remind myself that it isn't even an option.  From then on out, I just keep repeating it in my mind as my body goes on auto-pilot, putting on my clothes and running sneakers.  Before I know it, I'm out the door sweating my butt off.

Now, this mantra may come off at first as a little negative.  Some people might here it in their heads as a "no" and have a temper tantrum and do what they wanted anyway.  It could also sound a little drill-sergant like but to me its not either of those.  To me, its just reminding yourself that you choose to have a healthy life.  With that life, there are certain things that go along and certain things that do not.  The ones that don't fit aren't going to be on your list of choices in the first place.  You still have choices but they have changed.  Instead of "should I work out?" it is "what workout should I do today?".  Instead of "junk food or not?" it is "healthy dish 1 or 2?".  Like is said, this saying just stops you right in your tracks from veering off the healthy path and its kept me in line many times and will continue to do so whenever I need that extra kick in the pants!