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!

Long Days Ahead

Good morning everyone!  I was entirely too busy yesterday to be writing a blog.  Did you miss me??  Haha.  I just had school and homework all day!  I actually would have had time at school since both my classes were canceled again!  But I didn't bring my laptop (lesson learned?).  And I can't say I got any work done really at school either.  I had to hang around all day to make sure the afternoon class was canceled.  Then I headed home to Rob, ate dinner, and got cracking.  Got a lot done and good thing since its due today!

Anyway!  What to say today...  How about I tell you about my scale again?  I know, lots of people say you shouldn't use it but I don't think that.  I think it is a good measure *sometimes*.  Like today.  I ate crappy all weekend and yesterday and was feeling frumpy this morning.  Let's just say I did NOT like the number it showed me.  Just goes to show that I can't eat whatever I want just because I ran this weekend (it does qualify me for 1 big splurge meal though!  But just 1 meal, not 1 week!). 

Yesterday I ran into some issues with nutrition.  I was tired.  I mean really, really tired driving home.  I made it a half hour from campus and decided I needed to get out of the car immediately.  I pulled into a Dunkin Donuts and got a pumpkin coffee AND a glazed donut.  Let me tell you though, that sugar carried me home.  Not the best choice health wise but it was brilliant when you need instant energy.  I was totally awake after like 20 minutes, singing along to the radio.  LoL.  On the bright side, I discovered this cute market with all locally grown fruits and veggies along with lots of spices, jarred items, etc.  They are only open until the last week of November.  I will have to stop again!  I got some "Pumpkin Butter" and can't wait to try it!  I wonder if I could use it in place of the "J" on my PB&J.  Hm...

So after that horrible nutritional moment, it got worse!  It's fall and one of the things I forgot on my Fall Love blog was Boo Berry Cereal.  My sister said she got some on her Facebook and I knew I was doomed from that moment.  I had actually forgotten about it when I was grocery shopping but then there was a huge end cap display at the store!  I grabbed a box and it was all down hill from there.  I'm not upset with myself though.  I have it once a year.  Usually, I don't even finish eating the whole box.  So I'm content :)  But it really needs to be controlled so next time, I'm measuring 1 serving and that is all I'm having!  All about moderation :)

Exercise?  Well, i've accepted the fact that it won't be happening on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I get up for work at 5:30 AM and get home from school at 8:30 PM.  Yep, not happening, so I need to make adjustments in my training schedule.  It is just hard to work around my long runs on the weekends!  I think Mondays and Wednesdays will be strength training days.  The only problem there is that I use those nights to get homework done.  Ugh, I need more hours in the day!  Or one of these:

I'm coordinated enough to take pictures while I run.  Do you think I can do Quantum Mechanics while I run???

That's it for today.  Lots to do!  Still not done that homework!!  Have a great day!

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!

Changing Direction: Maintenance

I know, I am always changing up my methods but I think that is what keeps me on track.  Doing the same thing every day is boring.  Anyway!  I've decided to change my weight loss methods.  I know I haven't talked about it much here but I've had my tracker on Spark People set to lose about a half a pound per week.  I decided to change it.  To maintenance.

Last night after my awesome run, my husband said to me "Well, maybe its good to take off for a while and stuff your face".  LoL, gotta love him but he has got a good point!  I was thinking that yes, I probably did need a break.  I was putting lots of pressure on myself to exercise and not really getting it done.  My runs were crap and I wasn't enjoying myself.  I needed to step back.

Also, maybe trying to limit my calories wasn't the best idea.  I mean, it really worked for me to lose the 50lbs but maybe that isn't what I need anymore.  I still want to lose a little fat but I know that losing fat doesn't necessarily mean losing weight.  And that to lose fat, I need to also build muscle.  I know this!!  But sometimes even when you know something, its hard to accept and practice.  So I'm going to stop being hard headed. 

I'm going to run a lot in the next few weeks and after my half marathon on September 18th, I'm going to add weight lifting back in.  I just want to get into a routine first and then start working on those sexy muscles again (FYI I thought my arms looked awesome in my tank top the other day after carrying a bunch of heavy boxes!  Woohoo biceps!).  But I'm going to make sure I'm enjoying my runs and not putting any pressure on myself.  I'm also going to eat to fuel myself.  That means about 1800-2000 calories for me.  If I lose inches then fabulous!  But if I don't lose weight, no biggie.

I am debating on using my body fat calculator in the meantime.  I think this weekend, I will take some before pictures and some baseline measurements (weight, body fat, inches).  I will also post some of my "before" and "after" photos from the past 2 years for fun.  Then I'm going to go off on this new maintenance adventure and see what happens! 

Saying Hello to the Old Me

I feel like I've been hanging out with an old friend lately.  My old self.  You know, the self from about 2 and a half years ago who had no clue what nutrition really meant or that exercising had to be done on a consistent basis in order to get anywhere.  Yeah, that old self.  The one I never wanted to see again. 

Its really not so nice seeing her again.  You would think it would be easy to fall back into old times like a familiar blanket but it's the total opposite.  I think we've grown apart; we really have nothing in common anymore. 

She really doesn't have any motivation to do anything active.  She is always tired and a little slow to go.  It’s like she has no energy.  If only she knew that getting out there would actually give her more energy.  If she would just throw on those dusty running sneakers, she might feel better.

As for meals together, they are very difficult.  It is nothing but quick packages meals and take out.  She is rather busy right now but I'm hoping that when her schedule opens up she starts to cook more.  She really needs to add more vegetables to her diet though and drink more water.  She tries to get 8 glasses but it always seems a struggle.

I've been spending a lot of time with her the past week or so out of necessity.  With the time constraints on the move, I ended up seeing her a lot.  She kept ordering pizza and stopping for fast food since we didn't have time to cook a real meal anyway.  She also keeps saying we don't have time to work out.  I kept whining about this one but she won out anyway.  At least I got her to carry some heavy moving boxes and walk over 10,000 steps moving all the stuff out. 

I'm really not happy seeing her this much all at once.  I hope that our times together are few and far between from here on out.  This week and a half spent together has been too long.  This afternoon, I am going to leave her behind and head out for a relaxing, easy run.  She might pop in now and then for the next few days but I hope she’s pretty much done her stay at our place.  I’m sure I’ll see her again when I need someone to share a mega ice cream sundae with but just not on a daily basis again.  Her way of life is nothing like mine anymore.  We’ve just drifted apart, going our own ways.  It was a nice reminder of the past though and how far I’ve come, but it’s time to move on and be the healthy, fit person I am now.