Fitbit Observations

So far I’ve been wearing my Fitbit for almost three weeks and have come up with a few interesting observations about it. For the most part I really enjoy tracking everything and having a record, but at the same time there have been parts which have been depressing.

My water intake is really good, I drink plenty each day without even trying. I get more sleep than I thought I did, but I’m not confident in the awake restless times it tracks. It could be something that is built into me from all those years of pretending I was still asleep in the morning so I could get five more minutes before school. Now I’m so good at it Fitbit can’t tell I’m really awake.

There have been a few instances where the GPS when tracking runs has been off by a bit, but nothing enough or frequently enough that will stop me from going to it only for tracking my runs soon.

The biggest observation which I’ve make that is depressing is the lack of movement I do in the run of a day if I don’t specifically force myself to do something extra. Most days I’ll go for a run. A 5k run typically takes me about 30 minutes and I get about 5000 steps in during that time. The rest of the day combined, especially on days I’m working, I struggle to get that other half by the end of the day. If I don’t run it is almost impossible.  The other thing is it is far to easy for me to go grab something extra to eat that I don’t really need.

If I don’t watch myself every single day and be extra vigilant it is now very easy to see why my weight can go up so quickly. Since starting to track I haven’t really lost any weight, but I haven’t gone up either. To get down to where I want to be I’m going to have to cut out the snacks all together and focus on moving even more. It’s probably about time Jillian Michaels and I get reacquainted again.

Make it a Dozen

Many things in life seem to come in twelves. The number really does seem to have a hold in our daily lives. When I wake up in the morning and look at the time it is in the twelve hour format. Most clocks analogue or digital have twelve hours. Continuing with time there are also twelve months in a year, twelve signs in the zodiac, and twelve animals in the Chinese zodiac. Along with time there are also other measurements like 12 inches in a foot.

Many things come in twelves. One common item is going to the store to pick up a carton of eggs. You can then use those to bake many delicious things like a dozen cupcakes. Road trips used to include a box of twelve donuts. A case of pop comes in twelve, or one of my old favourites a case of beer. Most of these things I try to severely limit or have given up entirely.

This time of year we end up doing a lot of celebrating. We have Christmas and New Years and as part of that you often hear or sing about the twelve days of Christmas, but that isn’t the twelve I’m thinking of right now. Today I should be out buying a dozen roses, and I would but, Jen doesn’t really like when I buy her flowers. Today marks our twelve year wedding anniversary!

Twelve years ago today I was on a river boat on the Mississippi River in New Orleans getting married to my best friend. We’ve been through a lot over the years all of it making us stronger and my love for Jen grow even more. She brings out the best in me and I can’t imagine a better wife, mother, or friend in this world. I’m looking forward to many more years celebrating our life together.

Wedding Day – Then
Beach Day – Now

 

Snowy Run

It’s been a couple days since I’d been for a run and I was missing it. The weather has been cold and snowing so I wasn’t looking forward to going out. Today I was missing it though and decided I needed to go out. 

Dressed up in a few layers and put on some of my new winter gear to head out and it was actually really nice. I didn’t feel too cold at all even though it was around -11. There was one short length in my loop where the wind was blowing the snow right in my face and that wasn’t great but other than that I didn’t mind it at all.

Things did go a bit slower as there were some slippery spots and snow built up where the plows hadn’t been by for a while. Took it easy and didn’t fall or even really slip at all. 

Now that I have the first one out of the way, Jen is convinced I’m crazy, but I feel good about heading out running in the snow now. It was actually really relaxing and peaceful. 

   
 

First Real Snow Fall

It was forecasted for a few days now, so we knew it was coming, but we were still hoping things would change. Unfortunately it finaly hit and we now have a fair amount of snow on the ground.

It’s still falling as I write this, but it slowing down and I think most of the accumulation is done. I’ll have to go clear the driveway soon.

We took advantage though and have been using this time to get our house back in order after a mad Christmas. I even went through all my closet and storage container to get rid of clothes that are too big for me. In the past I’ve always held on in case I went back up in weight. That’s like giving my self an excuse that it’s OK to do that. Not anymore they are all going. Part of my motivation for this was when I posted a comparison family picture from six years ago to this Christmas. I still had the same sweater I was wearing and I wore it a few days ago, even though it floated on me. Time for it to go.

Once all that was done it felt like a good time to make the most of the snow and get out for at least a short walk to enjoy it. I could only convince Noah to come with me, but he and I went for a little trek into a little wooded path. As much as I could do without it, the snow really is beautiful.

snow-storm

Christmas 2015

It’s amazing how much a difference a day can make. Yesterday was Christmas Eve, and it was a bit overwhelming. All the kids seemed to have too much stored energy and it was coming out and not always in the best ways. There was lots of bickering and arguing going on. It was a busy day with Jen and I working to get lots of headway made for today and meals last night.

Christmas for me is all about getting to spend time with family and friends. We are lucky enough to usually celebrate with multiple meals between getting together with my family and Jen’s. In years past though we have always had meals with Jen’s family at our house and meals with my family at my Mothers house. This year though we are doing both sets here.

There are lots of upsides to this because everyone gets to come to us and we don’t have to travel and hurry from one place to the next. It also means a lot of work getting meals ready, cleaned up, house presentable etc. Getting to be with everyone is worth it though, and the food is always excellent.

With all the prep work yesterday and the kids the way they were I ended up going for a run more or less to clear my head and get some time alone. I always feel better after a run and indeed it did help.

Today has been a different story. Because of all our hard work yesterday there wasn’t as much to do today. The kids let us sleep in until shortly after 7:00am which was lovely. We opened gifts with Jen’s family and celebrated my Mother In Laws birthday at the same time. My sister and her family came over for what has become our Christmas lunch tradition of enchiladas and quesadillas. Once we were done we took advantage of some amazing weather and went for a walk all together at the marsh. There were many other people out with the same idea.

When we got back I peeled some sweet potatoes for dinner and then, strictly because of the beautiful weather, I decided to go for a run again. For Christmas I had received a couple items of winter running wear but I’m very thankful I didn’t get to try them out today. Instead I went for my first short sleeved run in quite a while.

After a delicious Christmas/Birthday dinner in which I was able to control myself and not over do it on the desert, unlike last night, it was very nice to sit and relax for a bit.

Once everyone left though we did a final cleanup of the gifts so that we can make it through and sit in the living room without squishing anything. Now with the kids off to bed we can really relax, just Jen and I, with just the lights from the Christmas tree.

I’m very thankful to have so much family close by who we can share these special holidays with, it really does make the little bit of stress that comes along with the busy time of year all worth it.

Fitbit vs Runkeeper

For the past few days when I’m out running I’ve been tracking my runs with both Runkeeper and my new Fitbit Surge. Even if I was extremely happy with Fitbit’s tracking I would still be doubling up with Runkeeper at least until the end of the year when my goal is reached.

The first day I ran with the Fitbit I was impatient and didn’t wait for it to find GPS and hit quick start. It seemed to be taking a really long time to find and I just wanted to go. Since then I’ve waited for it to connect to GPS before starting out though. Today I started both Runkeeper and the Fitbit within seconds of each other and the results were pretty off. It looks like Fitbit didn’t really have a good GPS signal after the first km it seemed to catch up and track things properly.

Fitbit should have started pretty much the exact same spot as the end.
Runkeeper is right on the money

You can see the difference between the maps above, Runkeeper on the right is pretty much bang on what I ran. Fitbit on the left should have started the same place as the ending is marked.

Has anyone else had issues with the GPS in their Surge? It’s not a really big deal, but I’d like to be able to depend on one and so far I love everything else about the Surge so I would like it to be it.

Getting Close

Sometime this week I will be hitting my goal of 500km in running. I’m really excited and even though it isn’t really a lot compared to many runners, some weeks it has been a battle to get my 25km in that I needed.

This past week was one of them. I had started out with great intentions to get ahead for the week by running 10km but that didn’t work out. Shortly after starting I had to turn around because I wasn’t feeling well. Self inflicted by eating to much bad food. That caused me to pretty much get all my running in from Wednesday onward. I ran two 10k’s and a 5k with a rest day on Thursday. I much prefer to spread thing a out more but it felt good doing two 10k’s in a week.

Because of that, and the new FitBit, I’ve been doing much better at eating well this week, especially these last two days. It’s been motivation for me to track what I’m eating again. As much as I dislike doing that, with FitBit it is easy and it really keeps me accountable.

Christmas Shopping with Noah

Today I was able to get out on my first shopping date with one of the kids for the year. We’ve started drawing names so each Jen and I take out two kids individually to pick out small gifts for their siblings and have a treat with Mom or Dad. 

We had some ideas before we went on what he wanted to get them and as luck would have it we could get all three at the same store!

We timed it around lunch time because for his treat Noah wanted a cheese burger. Trying to be good I packed a wrap and apple for myself to eat right before we pulled in so I wouldn’t be tempted by McDonalds food. 

Once I had Noah all setup with his happy meal I tried opening his toy for him and knocked over my full hot coffee all over my foot and floor. Just the kind of scene I wanted in a busy restaurant. Noah thought it was kind of amusing and we were both impressed the have me a new one when I went to tell them what I had done. 

Besides that mishaps we had a fun time. Looking forward to getting out with Alexandria very soon as well. 

 

Stepping It Up With FitBit

Today I jumped on the FitBit band wagon. Only I won’t actually be on the wagon because that won’t up my step count 🙂

This is either going to be a real good thing for me or a bad one. This could be the push and the motivator for me to get back on track. It could also make me a bit obsessive. It put it on around 4:00pm today and was at times walking laps around the main floor of the house just to make it to 5000 steps. 

I also started tracking my food and water intake as well. At least I drink enough water. I tried eating well today and still ended up way over the calories. Tomorrow I’ll do better and I’ll also burn more calories. 

The FitBit is one of the newest benefits from Automattic which is amazing. We have a group setup and I know there is no way that I’ll keep up with some of my coworker leaders but it will be good motivation to try. 

I’m looking forward to trying out the run tracking on it tomorrow and seeing how many steps I get on a regular full day. 

  

Zeus, Me, and the Christmas Tree

For most of the afternoon I suffered from a headache. After school the house was pretty hectic for a while which didn’t make it any better.

After dinner everyone went Christmas Caroling at a local nursing home. It was too late for Noah though and Alexandria had riding lessons. They were only there for a bit and I went to pick them up. After dropping Alex off at riding I brought Noah home and got him to bed. I went strait back into my jammy pants that I had only taken off for the short time going to get them.

That left just Zeus and I to hang out on the couch enjoying the quiet. Nice and peaceful and to top it off my headache is gone.