Thursday, May 22, 2014

Just keep walking...


As promised, first a review of my Fitbit...

I've had my Fitbit for about four weeks and so far so good! It's not a magic bullet and I haven't lost 30 lbs. in the last three weeks, but I really think it's helping to motivate me to move more. I find myself checking my status -- how many steps have I taken? How many stairs have I climbed? Have I been active for at least 30 minutes today? And, those are good things.  I wish it was a miracle gadget that once in use the weight was just shedding itself in a pool around my feet. It's not. But, what it is, I think, is a wonderful tool to help me shed those pounds over time.

Here's my attempt at "screen capturing" what my dashboard looks like (almost):

As you can see, it keeps track of so much!  The screens are fairly self-explanatory - but I love that it keeps track of my active minutes, steps, calories burned v. calories eaten -- so many good things about this tracker. Oh, and then there's the "gamification" - my husband is my Fitbit "friend." On this screen I can see what his total steps for the week are and where I am in comparison. Well, he always beats me -- I swear it's because he's taller than me and it counts his steps double :) At least that's what I tell myself :)

I lost 2.5 lbs. in the first week -- AMAZING!! I was so excited to see those lower numbers on the scale! But, alas, the 2nd week wasn't as amazing. In fact, according to the scale, I didn't lose an ounce that week. But, I was hoping that that meant other things were going on. My mother saw me, on Mother's Day, after not having seen me since Easter and she said I looked like I'd lost a few pounds. And, she wasn't aware that I was back on my weight loss agenda -- so that was nice. She noticed that I looked "healthier."

Then, Mother's Day weekend repercussions hit and all I can say is "ugh." Even though my family and I went on a very lengthy hike in one of our beautiful state parks - almost 8 miles - I still managed to gain back 2 of the 2.5 lbs. lost. Talk about depressing! But, that's what happens when you eat sushi rolls and Chinese food one night and follow it up with a very wonderful Italian restaurant the next. So much for the thought that I earned my indulgences. But, the only thing I could do was move on.

And, move on I did. Back to the gym, back to walking daily, back to making 10,000 steps per day and back to logging all of my food. And, now I am happy to say that those 2lbs. gained are gone and another pound to boot. I'm now down 3.5 lbs since starting this journey. Like I said, the pounds are not melting off, but I'm happy they're at least steaming away slowly :)

So, all in all, I have found that the Fitbit is definitely the motivator I need to get me moving, to get me watching what I eat, to really think about what I'm doing to make myself healthy. And, ultimately, it isn't about being skinny - oh, who am I kidding--yes, it is - but it's also about being healthy. I have two teenage sons who I want to see grow up. I want to be around when they go to college, I want to be around when they graduate, when they get married, start their own families, have children of their own. I want to do everything in my power to stay healthy. Oh, and being skinny won't be so bad either :)





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