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Tag Archives: Fitbit

Resistance is Futile

Resistance BandsI got my resistance bands yesterday and since I woke up a little later than normal I decided to try them out instead of going to the gym this morning. I tried a few of the suggested workouts in the pamphlet that came with the bands. I can tell I need to try experiment more with the bands and find the right tension. Either it was too easy or too tough but I didnt want to wast time trying each one this morning., i will take another crack at them tonight. I also need to watch some Youtube videos to find some good exercises with them. I cant really tell if I actually got a workout from the or not. I think I prefer weights but I am not discounting the bands yet. I am willing to believe it is more operator error than anything else.

In other news my first week back fitbitting and I am successful for getting my 10k steps and 5 miles or more each day. Pretty happy with that accomplishment. Was able to get all of my steps in yesterday even with having a friend over to watch a movie. If you haven’t seen John Wick you should cause it is awesome. 2nd viewing was just as good as first viewing.

Fitbitting it Again

FitbitI have had my Fitbit One for a few years now. A few months ago it wasn’t syncing so I put it away but I decided to try and get it working again. Today I got it to work so I will be tracking my steps and working on doing 10k steps a day again. I will also be using the Fitbit site to track calories too. I even synced my Aria scale with the right WiFi so now that should update my profile as well. When I am back in the states I will get one of those fancy new Fitbit Watches that tracks if I am dying and stuff. The mark up here in India is ridiculous so it will be cheaper to pick up while I am in the States.

Aside from that I have been hitting the gym successfully everyday or doing exercise at my apartment doing body weight exercises and yoga. I am doing my protein shakes in the morning before I go to the gym and then immediately after along with one protein shake before bed. The morning I have 2 eggs either hard boiled or prepared another way. My lunch is salad with chicken strips. Dinner is a vegetable dish with some other prepped meat mutton, chicken or rumaki this week. I have cut out the snacks for now and extra fruit. Drinking a good amount of water. I feel great. I get a solid chunk of sleep. I am able to even get a couple hours of gaming in the evening and an hour of reading. Plus 30 minutes of meditation in the morning and 30 minutes at night. Its a packed day with work but it is a good day.

220

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This morning I weighed in at exactly 220lbs. Since I started I have lost 60lbs. Since I have started weighing myself with my Fitbit scale I have lost 20lbs towards my goal. My current goal is 210lbs which I feel is very attainable though perhaps not by my birthday. I had a few weeks of staying steady at 225 and that kind of put me off target. I cut back this week on my caloric intake which I was apprehensive about at first but I found to be easier than I thought. I switched up my breakfast to be a little bit lighter as well as lunch and dinner and cut out a chai latte and reduced the size.

Once I hit my goal weight I may aim for another 10lbs lower but I will pretty happy at 210. Like I have said before I am lighter than I have ever been in my adult life and most likely thinking back probably mid-high school.

As it gets colder here getting in my walks outside have been switched to walking in circles in my apartment. Not that exciting but I have my tv going while I do it and so I am able to catch up on shows as I walk. I still try to get in some strength training with pushups, planks, mountain climbers and crunches but they are not that exciting.

I Should Post More

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My apologies to anyone who actually reads this. I totally have been traveling every other week and then not posting. Here is a post though. I have been working hard at my current goal post being obese. That goal has a date attached to it which is my Birthday in November. As of today I am Halfway to my goal from when I set it which was 15lbs ago. I am actually 16lbs down but lets just call it half. So the goal is 210 by my birthday. I feel pretty good about it. Definitely think I will make it.

Fit bit is still my favorite tool for keeping me on course. My scale gives me three fun numbers to play with. My weight, body fat percentage and my BMI. Sure people say BMI is bullshit and it might very well be but you know what is cool watching all these numbers go down. I will take it.

Of course as I lose weight my fitbit page adjusts my calorie intake to reflect how much I should eat to meet my goal. That number also keeps going down which means I need to make some sacrifices in my eating or kick up my activity level. First compromise which has worked well is switching from my beloved Venti Chai Latte to a Tall (or Mezzo as they call it here). That little move shaves off 120 calories each drink and since I am an addict I have 2 a day and that saves me 240 calories. That is awesome. Means I can eat like half a sausage or something stupid.

My daily meals routine is roughly the same.

Breakfast: 2 pieces of Bacon and 1 egg

Morning Snack: Banana and a tall chai latte

Lunch: 2 sausage and some peppers. onions and mushrooms with tomato sauce

Afternoon Snack: tall chai latte

Dinner: Beef stew with carrots, mushrooms and onions

Desert: Maybe another Banana

Activity for me is on average 10k steps. Though I am working hard to get more than that in a day to help offset the ever decreasing calories I am able to have with my lower weight. More activity means more food and I like this reward.

Also with Winter looming ahead I need to find an activity that will replace some of the walking that will not be happening in the snow. Walking was easy and getting myself to walk more wasnt much of a challenge. But what to do when walking isnt an option. Considering more Yoga, some of those 30 day challenges or maybe even P90X.

I am hoping my all or nothing behavior will kick in for one of these and I will ride the train to awesome fitness. We will see.

Till next time stay groovy.

State of the Chris

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So life has been good. Today I earned my 15lbs lost badge on Fitbit. This based on from having my Aria scale for about a month now so the amount lost is from my highest weight I hit while having it 153 and I am now 137. Which is great and an all time low for my adult life. I keep repeating this because seriously I have been obese all of my adult life. That is kind of crazy to think about but it is true. The reality is I was obese all of my teenage years and a good portion of my youth. So now at 35 I am making the right changes to make that not the case. I am well on target for a personal goal I want to achieve before the end of this month. Then I have another for my birthday in November.

I was gaining weight or really maintaining weight and not really understanding why. I was doing lots of stairs, doing my 10k of steps and 5 miles a day. I thought I was tracking my calories correctly (no reason to lie to myself about what I was eating). I cut out fruit, I briefly cut out my Chai Lattes and still just standing still or losing then gaining.

So I looked at my intake and realized I was missing some important information. Liquid Calories that were not being recorded. I drink a lot of water but I also drink Almond milk because it is way tastier than water. I was drinking a lot of it. Since it is 80 Calories a cup and I was pounding down more and more a day I was not tracking it well enough to realize I was blowing through extra calories. So I cut out the Almond milk, increased my water, had a chai or two and looked at my portions as a whole and BAM back to a steady weight decrease.

For food I have cut down my breakfast portions slightly. I was doing 2 eggs and 3-4 pieces of bacon for breakfast and then a bunch of fruit for a snack in the morning. I now moved to one egg, 2 pieces of bacon and a banana for breakfast. No more fruit. Lunch is still baby spinach salad and I add raw mushrooms and some grilled chicken strips. Dinner this week has been a small pork chop and some Brussels sprouts and carrots. Keeping the portions reasonable and recorded. I might now be over estimating my calories vs before where I was underestimating but that is ok.

I still try to do 9 flights a stairs at a time but if not I at least do bursts of 4-5 at a time. I am averaging about 40-50 flights of stairs a day. I am steadily doing 10k steps a day with the occasional rest day. Like Saturday I did 500 steps total which was me moving from my bed, to kitchen to couch to bathroom etc. It was a blissful rest day. I watched a lot of episodes of the Vampire Diaries. This week I have been working on going to bed earlier and waking up earlier to fit in some Yoga in the morning. So far it has gone well and have done it 3 days in a row. I started some Yoga in the evening as well right before Bed. We will see if that one lasts but I do like that I am able to add some more healthy habits as I go along. I may get back to Dance Central as a periodic cardio thing to break up the other stuff or as an addition but for now I feel I have made great strides from being sedentary to being more active.

Every day is a change for the better. Any step backwards I analyze and improve upon. I will be the perfect me.

Bitch loves his Fitbit

Fitbit-logo-1024x337So I have to say I love my fitbit. Since I acquired the fitbit I have been trending towards a more active and balanced life. Doing paleo is great and I feel better and eat better but it wasn’t getting me to be more active. Or maybe it was but not to the extreme I have taken things at this point.

I actively strive to hit my daily goals. Over the last few weeks I have been slowly hitting my goals across the board. It makes the experience very personal and something I enjoy. Where I would have just sat on my couch when I get home, I instead look at my fitbit and go for a walk instead. If I see I am near an achievement I will put in some extra time to do it.

This week I hit a number of cool goals. I lost 10 lbs on my aria scale. I did 75 flights of stairs and then the next day I did 100 flights of stairs. I have made it into the top 5 of my friends which is kind of hard since the 10 3 exceed my 7 day totals by a good bit but in time who knows.

I also balance out my eating plan by tracking my daily intake. Not something i have to do but something I do just to get an idea of my eating habits and see when I may stray. I am being honest which is important because when I see fluctuations in my weight I have pretty good idea how it happened and now what to cut out as I go forward.

There is probably a bad habit of checking numbers and my scale. I weigh myself every morning. I may be a little obsessed with it. I am ok with it though because it keeps me on track and don’t get discouraged I get encouraged and determined to better myself.