More Fitbit: My First "Cheat" Meal--Was it worth it?

Yesterday was interesting!  I messed up on calories at dinner for the first time.  I'll get to that in a moment.

Let's focus on the positive.  I got this Fitbit badge yesterday!

Not bad for the first week.  I wasn't even expecting this one, but, yay!

My left knee was still bothering me a little bit, so I decided to do the Jane Fonda Walkout for my morning's exercise.  Afterwards I went for a walk outside on a cold, but beautiful, morning.  (Great weather is just around the corner!  We can hardly wait!)

Actually, I went for that extra walk because I had a hair appointment coming up and I knew I'd be sitting for almost 2 hours.

Breakfast:  A smoothie with 2 bananas, 2 oz blueberries, and 16 oz homemade almond milk

Lunch:  PBJ (or is that an ABJ?) with 2 pieces of Dave's Killer Bread (The Good Seed,) 2 tbsp almond butter, 1 tbsp organic raspberry jam

Hubby and I went some friends' garage sale and then wondered how else to enjoy the amazing weather.  We decided to take a drive to Toutle, WA with Mount St. Helens as our view.

40 miles later we were hungry.  It was around 3pm. We pulled into Parker's Steakhouse in Castle Rock.  And the dilemma began...

Let me back up for a moment and say that the day before yesterday I broke a "decade" on my weight loss--one that I haven't seen for ages.  The scale said 1_9.4 (the "_" is to give me little privacy.)  And yesterday the scale said 1_9.0!  I really didn't want to mess that up.

So, we're in Parker's and I'm looking at the menu.  Sandwich?  Salad?  What to do?

It's only one meal.

I have 950 calories left for today.  The meal I order won't be more than than...probably.

I'll walk it off when I get home.  

I'll get back on track tomorrow.

I won't eat the whole thing.

My metabolism must be faster after all of the hard work I've been doing, right?

Don't obsess!

These are all of the things that were going on in my head.  Like I said, I have a bad relationship with food.  Or is it that food has a bad relationship with me?  

Then Hubby ordered this:

Their famous seafood fondue.  Parker's famous appetizer.(Yes, I made the picture small on purpose.)   And I had some.  (So much for no dairy!) Maybe 1/3 of the bread.

Then I ordered their Luau chicken sandwich and a side salad.  The sandwich had boiled chicken, ham, Swiss cheese, lettuce, mayo and pineapple--which I didn't get.  Oh yes, and fries.

It was huge.

I enjoyed my salad, guilt-free. (It is so nice to eat guilt-free!)  I picked at a few fries, the first fries I've had in weeks.  Ate half of the sandwich and it was wonderfully yummy.

Now, in the past I would've eaten everything on that plate and hunger would've been a non-issue.  I'm really trying to not do that anymore.  I was full and I didn't want to bring the other half of the sandwich home.  I opened it up and picked at the remaining chicken and ham.  OK, done.

We love our lake.  I know I say that all the time, but look at it!  I took this picture yesterday.

When we got home I went for another walk around the neighborhood and around part of our nearby lake.  Really, the day was just too beautiful to stay inside.  I also wanted to hit 15,000 steps.  As far as that meal I had just downed..well...I wasn't really sure how to count it except to give it all 950 remaining calories and start fresh with better choices the next day.

Above is my activity chart from yesterday.  The Walkout and then an outside walk are shown in the morning.  The middle green is from walking the doggie.  The green around 6pm was walking after that meal.

The plan this morning (Sunday) was to not weigh myself, but I was curious.  I knew I would go up.  Meals like yesterday's stick to me.  They always have...

And....I was at exactly the same weight this morning as I was yesterday!  No changes up or down.

Was it worth it? Not really.  Progress is more gratifying than that meal.

Did I obsess too much over what to order?  Maybe.  It would've been a lot easier if I had stuck with something lighter.  And look at the work I had to do just to maintain yesterday's numbers.

It was a good lesson, though. 



P.S.  Another Fitbit recruit!  I was telling my hair stylist about it yesterday because she is interested, and the stylist at the station next to us was listening in.  She decided to go get a Fitbit after work.  :-)

More Fitbit: Progress Keeps You Motivated

We all have our sluggish days.  Mine was this morning.  Bailey (my doggie with cancer) woke me up 3 times last night to go potty outside. This made me wake up later this morning.  I'm a creature of habit and like starting the workout videos at 7:35am.  That was not going to happen today.

The only thing that was really going to give me a push this morning was to see some progress on the scale.  I didn't weight myself yesterday.

And...woohoo!!!  ONE full pound down from 2 days ago.

That got me putting on my workout clothes in record time!

So, yes, it's later than usual, but my sweat session is done.  And the chart above?  That's a snippet of a screen shot of my weight loss progress over the last 6 days.  I like the healthy, gradual, but consistent, loss on this chart.  That's what I'm aiming for.  Sorry, no numbers for you!  I can't post everything.

What does this tell me?  First, not to expect these kinds of results--3.6 pounds in 6 days--to happen consistently, because we all know that it usually gets harder the closer we get to our goal.  That's the negative, or realistic, thing.

But what it really tells me is that our bodies are willing to work with us if we work with them.  I've been working with mine lately, especially with the way I've been eating the last few weeks.  It isn't just about quantity of food, but the quality.  I'm a little thick.  I should know this by now, right? 

I'm still plugging through the Jillian Michael's book on metabolism.  It's a little wordy, but it does give some insight on real food vs. diet food.  She listed a day of meals that she used to eat.  Ugh.

Diet Coke and power bar for breakfast.

Diet Coke, white bread, a few slices of lunch meat for lunch.

Diet Coke for a snack.

Diet Coke, non-organic chicken, non-organic veggies for dinner.

Yuck.  Who knows what the sizes are on those Diet Cokes?

**People who eat lots of diet foods are more likely to gain weight.  Your body doesn't know how to interpret the diet foods and stays hungry, making you want to eat more. (From the book.)

Then she listed the ingredients in the power bar.  Most of them were unpronounceable.

Now, in the health section of Fred Meyer, where I do most of my grocery shopping, you are still forced to make choices.  I've bought coconut oil there, and olive oil. Good choices.  My Vitamin Water, which still has a few questionable ingredients, is there.  A medium choice. 

But there are other things there that I would never eat, like tons of protein bar/power bar choices.  I've never found them to be very filling, or tasty!  (Cardboard, anyone?)  And there are lots of canned soups, cookies, cereals and pastas.  We do keep some cookies in the house, first the Back to Nature Fudge Mints and now the Newman-O's Mint Sandwich cookies.  I dip into them sparingly.  Maybe 2 cookies a day.  And the calories get logged.

Speaking of cookies, I looked at the calories on 1 cookie at Quiznos the other day--350 calories.  My breakfast this morning didn't even add to that. Yikes. 

I got off of my original topic, which is staying motivated.  This morning's scale results really did that for me, and it was motivation that I needed at the time.

What I'm also hoping with the Fitbit is that I don't see plateaus as I continue.  And if I do, I'm hoping they don't last for 2 weeks like the one a while ago.  Because I can now see calories in vs. calories out, there is no reason why that should happen.

Visual break!  Here's my "dashboard" this morning: (Click on it to see it full-sized)

As I'm still learning, I added some features to my dashboard today.  The steps, distance, and activity are all new to what I immediately see when I go there.  Again, I'm not worried about the "red zone" on calories, because with my -1000 calorie deficit in the food plan I've selected, I just have to burn more during the day.  And I always do.

This morning's breakfast was 1 yolk/2 whites of an egg, an apple, and a banana.  My body feels clean and happy.  A little better than a Diet Coke and a Power Bar, right?

OK, off I go.  It's a beautiful day today.  Time to get burning.

My Homemade Tomato/Vegetable Bisque Recipe

I have invented exactly 3 recipes--very simple.  All of them were invented in the last 6 months!

Thinking about the way I've been eating lately, I realized that the only real processed food that I hadn't weeded out is canned soup.  Progresso's Chicken Corn Chowder is so stinkin' good!

And then the lightbulb went off.  How about trying to make my own soup?  Something different than Mom's Chicken Soup (still fab) that would be great for lunches or as a side dish.

Voila'...

Today's lunch: my soup, 5 organic crackers, water, and a banana

It was really, really good!  It is tomato-based, so keep that in mind.

Recipe:

1 14.5oz can of petite diced tomatoes

1 8oz can of tomato sauce

1 sliced zucchini

1/2 onion sliced

1/2 cup baby carrots

2 cups of water

10 petite white mushrooms, diced

Garlic salt and Montreal steak seasoning, to taste

Instructions:  Put everything but the mushrooms into the blender and blend until smooth (I did 90 seconds on the "blend" setting, because having a few veggie chunks is OK.)

Combine mixture and the diced mushrooms into a pot and boil, then simmer for 10 minutes.  Add the salt and pepper while simmering.  Serve!  Makes about 7 cups of soup.

I'm estimating about 50 calories per 1/2 cup. Maybe less!

The nice thing is that there are no preservatives or things that you can't pronounce.  That's a great feeling!  And it's hearty.  Bon appetite!  

More Fitbit: Working with the food plan

I have this dilemma because, with the exception of my morning workout, which is usually from 7:35 to 8:25 am, I don't really start burning calories at a high rate until noon and later.  I think this is the reason I've been under my recommended calorie intake for 3 days in a row.

Today after breakfast I was over (red zone!).  I was over after lunch too, which was hearty (but smart) because I was extra hungry today.  I did some moving around in the afternoon which brought me up on my calorie burn and then ended up having a Quizno's turkey, ranch and swiss sammie for dinner, which I know is 630 calories.

I was up again and needed to burn off around 300 calories to be in the green zone.  I put on a movie and started moving--jogging in place, step-touch, whatever I could do just to keep moving.  It took a while, but I got there!  This was by 7pm.

The problem today is that my exercise choices were limited by the weather.  No walking the dog, no walking by the lake like yesterday.

But as long as you're moving, you burn. So I did some housework and made some soup for my lunches for the next few days and I burned enough to go under again! 

2 Organic mint cookies and some almond milk set me straight.  Green zone, yay! (I do look forward to the day when I won't be dependent on that little dial, but for now I'm glad I have it as a reference.)

I'm finding that getting in my 10,000 steps (16,750 as of 11pm tonight) and staying in that green zone with calories are my 2 daily challenges.

I'm actually at 2705 burned today, but 2329 is my goal, so anything over that is CHAMP.  Fitbit set my goal and I can change it if necessary but haven't seen a need to do so.

Again, from a little earlier.  I went to the yellow, then back to the green since this picture.  The green is where my body is happy!

There are so many graphs and charts, I'm constantly finding new ones.  Here's a new one I just discovered a few minutes ago.  As long as there is a 1000 calorie difference between the green and the blue, and the green is taller, I'm good!

More Fitbit: First 20,000 Step Badge and Random Info

Woo hoo!  Who doesn't love awards?  At nearly 10pm last night I earned a 20,000 step badge for the day!

Here is what the day's activities looked like: (Click to see full-sized.)

This is the phone app version, because it is a little more bold in color.

Morning's "green:"  50 minutes of high-intensity aerobics with my girl, Jillian.

2 bars of yellow:  Walking the dog for 15 minutes (poor, old doggie is really slowing down.)

3 bars of yellow:  2 errands of shopping for groceries and...to buy a pair of pants one size down. (!!)

Yellow/green:  Around 3pm I really wanted to hit 15,000 steps, so I went for a walk by our neighborhood lake for 30-40 minutes.

Last 3 bars of yellow:  I was at 17,800 steps and I thought, heck, I can make it to 20,000. So I did again what I did on Sunday night, lots of marching and jogging in place until I hit it. But there is a reason they tell you not to exercise right before bed.  I slept terribly last night! 

Looking at this chart of yesterday shows me something else.  It is really easy to be sedentary.  Unless I'm really trying, my life is not a super active one--even though I'm moving around our big house doing laundry, dishes, cooking and housework each day.  At least, it isn't as active as it needs to be for the pounds to melt away.  I think this is the way it is for most people, unless you're running after little kids or have a very active career.  No wonder there are desks to attach to treadmills these days!

I also wanted to share the computer part of Fitbit where you log your food.  Because, remember, you're still doing all the work.  The device is just a tracker.  For someone like me, who sighs wistfully every time I pass a fast food place, logging food has been really helpful.  Above are the contents of this morning's smoothie.  And, yes, I measured everything.

As it turns out, I had been inaccurate in how much ounces of banana I was eating (I go through 2-3 bananas a day, so if you see me swinging through the trees into your yard, you'll know why.) Measuring corrected that (the inaccurate amount, not the swinging.)  The food list just says "1 banana," so I was using that.  But they also give you options for every unit of measurement, so once I knew that each banana I was eating was 4 ounces, that is what I put in, and it changed everything.  Not terribly, but more accurate.

As you can see, I'm still allotted 1401 calories to stay in a healthy range.  BUT, when I look at my "Dashboard," I'm over right now, like yesterday.  I'm not worried, because I haven't burned a lot of calories yet today.  It's only 9:25am.  Once I get going, things will even out.

By the way, I now have 2 friends who have ordered Fitbits and about 5 more who are seriously considering them.  That's awesome.  It is the most helpful tool I've ever used for losing weight. 

Lastly, I have to share this picture from Instagram:

This is from someone else's account, but it had the #fitbit tag, so I saw it and was so impressed with the variety on this plate.  Chicken, apple, carrots, almonds and ....what the heck is that yellow plasticy-looking thing? Cheese? No.  Mango?  No. A tiny little napkin?  I don't know.  But the rest looks really good!

P.S.  This morning I calculated that the Jillian video I do burns around 360 calories in 50 minutes.  :-)

P.P.S  And, you know what happens when a 43-year old walks more than 20,000 steps?  She's a little sore the next day.  That's OK.  It's a good sore.

More Fitbit: Charts for the Visual Person (like me!)

New Nikes for my birthday! 

I know I can't be the only person who sleeps with their iPhone or smartphone next to them, right?

So this morning as I was waking from a wonderful, long night's sleep (yesterday was extremely busy) I did what I always do--I checked my phone.  This is the part of the modern day's routine, right?  Email...Facebook...my little trivia game that I play...and now my Fitbit stats.

Since I was still laying down, the rotation of the images flipped, and I saw some charts in a whole new way.  They were more detailed.  Aha...

(These remind me of the IQ chart in Forrest Gump.)  Click on them to see the full-sized versions.

And, my favorite, calories burned (Sleeping burns around 400-500 calories.) :

This is how it looks on the computer:

Really not much different.

And, one more that I discovered today, looking at activity.  I entered Sunday morning's yoga wrong, so I deleted it:

I'm still trying to figure out what qualifies as a flight of stairs.  Our flight of stairs is only about 15 steps from top to bottom--sometimes it registers and sometimes it doesn't.  Yesterday I was lugging 5 loads of laundry back and forth, so I think that is what put me over the top.

I must say, that having these visual references is very helpful.  I'm a visual person and these charts (there are lots of different ones you can look at) really give a person an idea of where they are.  As a result, I'm already losing weight faster with the Fitbit because of all this information. Especially calories in vs. calories out.  My little bugaboo that I'm always looking at!

And, something else about the calories in vs. calories out.  Here is where I am right now, 9:40am, after 50 minutes of high intensity aerobics, and a smoothie with 2 bananas, 16 oz of almond milk, and a tbsp of flax seed:

Yikes! Right?  No...   Being in the "Hard" Food Plan, as I have chosen to do, puts me at a -1000 calorie deficit per day.  In other words, after I burn 1000 calories, anything else I burn are my calories to eat.  That is why the dial puts me over right now.  As I get moving with my day and burn more calories, it will start moving to the left.  Like I said yesterday, the goal is to stay in the green area, not to stay under and put your body in starvation mode.  Still, it is encouraging me to eat around 1800 calories a day based on my average activity.

Do what is right for you, but don't starve yourself, because then your body starts to burn the good stuff instead of the bad stuff.

And, in case you're curious, when I started out in the Kinda Hard Food Plan, that put me at -750 calorie deficit.  Based on those number, I'm assuming that the Medium is -500 and the Easy is -250.  Honestly, I don't feel deprived at all, and doing exercise really puts me ahead and makes the plan very doable.

Yesterday, by 4:30, I had already had 2 satisfying meals and was an hour away from dinner.  With some calculating I saw that dinner was still going to put me in the yellow.  I was in the yellow on Sunday and didn't want to do that 2 days in a row.  So I had a snack.  I wasn't hungry, but my body needed more calories.  This is not about deprivation.

OK, just more I wanted to share!  Really, all of these charts, graphs, etc are very user-friendly if you're "semi tech savvy."

Speaking of sharing, here's what the activity tracker on the Fitbit looks like after sweating for an hour:

I'd be curious if it goes any higher.  I've never had more than 9 leaves.  Right now I'm down to 7 because I've been sitting.  Time to start moving again.

UPDATE at 10:47am:

Now we're talkin'!!  But the dial will move left and right throughout the day.  Just stay out of the red!!

More Fitbit: Staying Motivated on a Slow Day

Suddenly I have several people asking me questions and wanting to know more about the Fitbit One (I had a little group around me yesterday after church,) so this is for their benefit...and yours, if you're interested!

Yesterday was DAY 2 with the Fitbit One.  Sunday.

Sunday is not a very active day if you're someone who goes to church all afternoon. 

I did 40 minutes of very relaxing, Zen-like yoga in the morning, ate 2 eggs and a piece of toast with no butter (sob!) gave Hubby a haircut, got ready for 1pm church, and then I was pretty sedentary for the next 3 hours.

On Saturday I hit 10,000 steps by 4:30pm.  Yesterday I was at about 5,000.  Yikes.

Fitbit, based on my activity, was estimating I burn around 2,100 calories per 24 hours.  I don't remember where I was after church on my calorie burn, but it was nowhere near that.

I came home, did my normal activity of changing out of church clothes into sweats, ate dinner early and sent Hubby off to bed with a bad cold at 5:30pm.

I checked the Fitbit.  5:30pm and I was at 6,500 steps.

Two choices:  veg on the couch in front of the TV, or be active in front of the TV.  We've been having a Frasier marathon around here, so I just kept on going.  I put on my socks and tennis shoes (which I keep downstairs ready for the next morning's workout,) got off my behind, and started moving.

Two and half episodes later of doing a lot of Jane Fonda's Walkout (levels one and two) moves (which I have memorized from doing it so many times), or simply walking around the room or marching in place, I hit 10,000 steps.  I added another 1000, just for good measure.  Woo!  Nailed it.

***By the way, those are links up there. So click on them to get whisked off to YouTube and watch part of the Walkout video.  I think it is great for beginners or if you want low impact aerobics.

What was kinda fun was that I just held my phone in my hand and watched the numbers change on the app.  Hee hee.

This is where I was at 6:30pm yesterday after marching around like a doofus.  But you know what?  When you have a goal and numbers to gauge that goal it really does motivate you.

Then my mom and I talked on the phone for 2 hours (not unusual.)


 So...close to that 15,000 step mark!  i.e. more marching:

Notice the 9:27 time stamp.  But, I did it!  Also notice calories burned!

 OK, so let's talk calories with the Fitbit when you do what I did last night.  With the "Kinda Hard" food plan that I chose I was allotted around 1400 calories for the day.  Starving yourself is not encouraged.  Look below:

This is the end of my day yesterday because I ended up earning more calories to eat after my little family room Frasier jog.  Not something you want to do on a daily basis.  Getting that dial in the green is perfect, because then you are eating enough to stay satisfied and burning enough to lose. 

But, I was a "champ" for burning more calories than necessary for my Food Plan.

Holding my mouse on the top calorie burn gauge turned it to this one, which showed that I burned 11% more than required. I still could've eaten more, but I burned a lot of those calories after an early dinner and I have a "no food after 6pm" rule for myself.  (I did this even before I began this adventure.  My tummy thanks me.)

As you can see here, my evening exercise earned me approx 400 more calories (from that earlier 1400 allotment) that I had no intention of consuming.  Good to know, because if you are having an extra munchy day, just do more exercise and earn the calories to munch.  Then you can still stay within your Food Plan.

Here are a few other things you can see, like my 15,000 badge from last night and my 10 flights of stairs badge (handy when you live in a 2-story house.)  Also my activity.  Sorry, my BMI is off limits.  Ha.

(Seriously, how did we live without screenshots?  Or modern day technology, for that matter?) 

Another thing yesterday's activities taught me was that, after 2 months of eating better and exercising 7 days a week (without skipping one day) I think I have the discipline to do the "Hard" Food Plan, which should put me at my goal in July instead of August. So I switched.

I'm already 1/3 there after 2 months of hard work, so the last 2/3 of the way in 4 months should, in theory, be a workable plan.

I am curious to know what will happen when I reach that goal and how I will use the Fitbit then. I'm sure I still will, though.  Calorie counting is so tedious, but SO much easier this way.  We usually eat the same types of food anyway, so we get used to knowing the amounts.  And we know ourselves.  I'm not really a snacker, but those calories really add up at meals if you aren't careful.

Lastly, I was reading reviews for the Fitbit One on Amazon--the negative reviews (there were very few.) It is helpful to read them to see possible problems that might occur.

1.  People complained that steps were being counted in the car while driving.  More recent reviews said they think that problem has been corrected.  I would agree.

2.  People complained about losing the device or having it pop out of the holder.  Personally, I blame that more on individual carelessness, but it can still happen.  It really is best to wear it with the clip facing OUT and the device facing IN.  And, of course, clips can break eventually with daily use, but there are replacements for all of the individual parts on the Fitbit.com Store website.

Still, I'm thrilled with my choice.

I'm a Fitbitter!

I never, not ever, expected to get a fitness tracker.  It felt completely unnecessary for a very long time.

But I got one. And I'm so glad!

The reasons are (1) I was beginning to lose my motivation for exercising so intensely each morning and (2) I was really curious about calories in vs. calories out.

My days' activities vary, and I had no idea how many calories I might be burning.  And, of course, the only way to lose weight is to burn more than we're consuming.

My cousin and uncle recently got the Polar Loop.  After checking it out I decided it was not for me.  I didn't want a bracelet type/watch replacement.  I was also concerned about the band which you have to cut.  If you cut too short, you're out of luck.  I know me.  I would probably do that.

So, after some research and Facebook friend polling, I decided on the Fitbit One.  $99 at Radio Shack.  30 days to return.  I wanted to deal with a person face to face...just in case...and not Amazon on something like this. I got burgundy so it would be a little easier to find, because it is small--about the size of my thumb.

I've had it for about 24 hours now.  I set it up last night on the mobile devices, slept with it on my wrist, worked out with it this morning, and finished setting it up on my computer afterwards.  I love it!!

Did I mention I love it?!!

Trying to set it up last night when I was tired was not smart, so I got off to a bumpy start, but a fresh morning made it a lot easier.  It comes with zero instructions, which is frustrating, but when you go to fitbit.com/setup and follow the steps, then instructions begin to appear and it is pretty user-friendly.  

So...let's go on a tour!

You can wear it on your pocket, like I did today, or clipped inside your bra, on a belt, or inside a dress on your hip.  I'll probably do that tomorrow during church.  (The bra option is still fairly conspicuous.)

As you press the little button, it scrolls through certain info, like the time. (Pardon the jean-fuzz.)

How many calories you've burned since midnight the evening before, when it resets itself automatically.  You choose the time zone when you set it up on the computer.  This photo is from earlier.  Right now I'm at 2202, but I'm also done eating for the day. 

How many miles you've walked.

How many flights of stairs you've gone up.

Very important--how many steps you've taken.  The daily goal for everyone is 10,000.  At 4:30 this afternoon I was at 9975, so I jogged around the house a little to break 10,000.  Right now--7:20pm, I'm at 11,125.  Pretty good!

And the "activity flower."  When I first saw this I thought, "What the heck?"  The more active you are, the more the flower grows!  The less active, it shrinks.  I've been sitting for a while tonight, so mine has shrunk back down to 3 leaves. After my aerobics session this morning it was as tall as it can grow!

The online features are awesome.  Here are some screenshots of my day: (Click on them to see them full-sized...)

This is my "dashboard" a few hours ago.  You can click on each of those boxes to get more info, or add info like water consumption and food you've eaten.  

Under "activities" you can log your scheduled exercise.  Even without doing that the Fitbit records which part of the day you've been the most active.  All of those greens on the left are from my aerobics this morning.  The yellow in the middle is when we went to the shooting range (who got a perfect bulls-eye today at 10 yards?  ME!)  More green when I walked the dog, then back to yellow when I was grocery shopping and doing some housework.  

Calories in vs. calories out.  Essential in weight loss and the main reason I got the Fitbit.  The green bar always needs to be higher than the blue bar if we're going to make this happen.  The stats for today were before my tiny dinner, since we went out to lunch.

Let me say a few things about food with the Fitbit.  Like any device, you can use it as much or as little as you want.  The Fitbit has a "food plan" option based on your height/weight/age/gender and how much you want to lose.  There are 4 levels of difficulty--Easy, Medium, Kinda Hard, and Hard.  The harder you choose, the less calories you are allotted, the faster the weight will come off (in theory, if you're burning more than you're consuming.)

I chose the Kinda Hard, with 33 lbs more to lose. (The high end of my Weight Watchers Lifetime Member goal from 12 years ago.)  Fitbit figures that if I do what I'm supposed to do, I'll hit that goal around August.  That works for me.

I'm entering the food I'm eating to count calories the best I can.  I wasn't really counting before because I didn't know what I was burning.  There is a list of foods to choose from or you can add your own.  A lot of it is estimating, but I'm trying to be smart about that, especially when we've eaten out.  I have such a love-hate relationship with food because I love everything that is bad for me, so this big lifestyle change I've made and written about recently is just that--a lifestyle change--not a diet. 

The Fitbit goes into a wrist band that is comfortable to wear while sleeping.  You hold the button down as you're drifting off and again when you wake up.  In the interim, it records your sleep duration and how many times you awake--I'm not sure how.  I was up way too late last night and woke up 18 times during the night.  I have no memory of awaking that many times, but I'm a bad sleeper, so it's no big surprise.  Personally I don't think waking 18 times deserves a 91% sleep score, but, whatever!

And the fun part--you get badges for accomplishing goals!  Shortly after reaching those 10,000 steps I got an email saying I got my first badge.  Hooray!

Unlike a pedometer, which only calculates steps, the Fitbit is calculating all sorts of things, which I think is pretty cool.  I know other fitness trackers do the same, some even calculate heart rate, some are water-proof, but I'm very happy with this one.  I think it is a great device for women, especially, because it doesn't interfere with jewelry.  I saw the Polar Loop in person last night and it just looked huge.  But the Loop is water-proof, so if you're a swimmer, that might be the one for you.

One thing I did learn is that you must set it up on your computer.  Hubby was watching something on his computer when I came home from Radio Shack last night and I wanted to wait until he was done, so I did the setup on the iPad.  This morning I went to my Fitbit account and was perplexed that the numbers on the screen weren't in sync with those on the device, despite the fact that I had the little USB Bluetooth "dongle" (terrible, terrible name) plugged into my computer.

I hadn't set up the device and software on the computer yet.  Doy.  That's what I get for trying to do this late last night.  Setup is fast and easy.  No problems.

So there you go.  Night 1 and Day 1 as a Fitbitter.  I like!!!

Birthdays on a healthy diet...

So this was our birthday week!  Eric's was on Thursday and mine was on Friday.

We ate out...a lot.

On Tuesday was a birthday lunch for me with some friends.
On Wednesday Eric had a craving for Don Pedro's Mexican food.
On Thursday night we went out to dinner with friends for Eric's birthday.
On Friday we went out for sushi on my birthday.
On Saturday Eric's parents took us out to Mexican food.

And my weight survived.

I did the Jillian Michaels Blast Fat, Boost Metabolism workout 6 mornings in a row--Monday through Saturday.  Somewhere within that time I conquered that plateau I was in and lost 2 more pounds.  Yesterday, though, I was up 2.5 pounds.  I tried not to get discouraged, telling myself it was only temporary.  And this morning I was 0.8 away from the lowest I've been so far on this journey. That's only a 2-3 day recovery from 5 meals out last week.  Not bad!

My trick for not letting the birthday week get the best of me was to order light, usually salads, whenever possible.  At the Mexican places I just ordered small.

I also planned the way I ate the rest of the day, letting those meals out be the big meals of the day.   And, of course, sweating for an hour each morning helped!

It still amazes me that I'm not hungry during the day because enough calories are being consumed.

It also amazes me how quickly my body is adjusting to not eating dairy (except for eggs and butter for cooking.)  On Saturday I had a few bites of a sopapilla (whipped cream over ice cream over a taco shell) and my skin did not respond well the next day.  Blotchies. 

On another note, yesterday I began reading Jillian Michaels' book, Master Your Metabolism.  Very, very interesting.  It's about how your hormones affect your weight loss.  I know very little about hormones and their names and functions, but I know more now.  I'm excited to get into the part of the book which talks about which foods work best with growth hormones (the ones that make you burn fat when exercising.)

So there you go--5 times eating out with minimal consequences.  It can be done.

Want to see my favorite workout?  Click HERE.  Not for beginners!  (I do standing burpies, not the ones on the ground...)

3 things: Being full, more almond milk info, and labels vs. ingredients

Yes, fresh eggs really are that bright! So are our orange counters. No touch-ups in this photo.

I'm full...

I think one of the things I've been marveling at lately is how "not hungry" I've been. I say this sitting here still sweaty from this morning's workout (a pretty sight, I must say,) and having just eaten breakfast.

In the past, I think I convinced myself that I had to be really full in order to function for the next few hours.  And when you do that long enough your body starts to forget what "full" even means, versus "really full."  Right now I'm full, but not bursting, and that's the way we're supposed to feel.

One of the great things about eating clean and natural is that you can actually eat more with less caloric consequences.  This was something I became aware of on Weight Watchers about 10 years ago (still the best, most realistic weight-loss solution if you need meetings, support, knowledge, etc.)  Of course knowing it and doing it are 2 separate things, and when you're working full-time, as I was all of those years, it makes it even more difficult.  I would come home so tired that all I cared about was food that was simple and fast.

As I said in the past, I'm not really journaling or counting exact calories this time, but I am conscious of the calories at meals, especially breakfast and lunch.

Above is a picture of the breakfast I just ate.  2 eggs are about 140 calories, a cup of fruit (the apple) is around 50, and the glass of almond milk (mainly almonds and water) around 50 calories (another reason to LOVE almond milk.  I'm full and satisfied on a "300 or less" calorie breakfast.

Tonight we are going out for Hubby's birthday.  Fortunately I am familiar with the restaurant's menu, so I already know what I am going to order (a salad with dark meat chicken.)  But no soda and no dessert like in the past.  I'll be fine.  Tomorrow is MY birthday, and I'm aiming for some sushi, either at lunch or dinner.

Separate is OK...

On a completely different subject, I need to address the homemade almond milk adventure for a moment.  The last 2 batches have been fabulous, with a few added sprinkles of cinnamon, nutmeg, and a squeeze of agave.

But, there is something else that came as quite a surprise to me when I made my own almond milk.

It separates.  And that's OK. 

Surprise!  Surprise! Just give it a little swish before drinking it.

This separation thing was not something I was prepared for,  After all, the Silk Unsweetened Almond Milk doesn't do that.  But, even at 30 calories/8 ounces, it still tastes different than homemade.  It is definitely produced to be attractive, to taste a lot like cow's milk with a little nutty flavor, and to never separate.  That's fine, no judgement, but I want to go one step beyond that. 

For those who have read other posts and are making their own almond milk at home, I just wanted to point this out so that there are no surprises. 

Subway, the "organic label" and others...

Last night Hubby and I watched a documentary called In Organic We Trust on Amazon streaming. The information talked about in the film, in conjunction with an article I read on Foodbabe.com on Subway's unsavory practices, reminded me that labels like "organic" and catchphrases like Subway's "Eat Fresh" can be misleading. Remember that eating organic does not mean you are going to lose a bunch of weight and suddenly get healthier. (This could be a whole other post.)  My eating practices lately have been a combination of eating LESS and eating CLEANER.

The main thing is to read the ingredients.  Not just the label, the ingredients.

Example. Yesterday I saw some Silk Strawberry Soy Yogurt at the store...

Look at that attractive label.  It's yogurt!  Yogurt=healthy.  Dairy free and made with soy...even better.  And in a moment of forgetting my own advice, I plopped one in the basket.  Then I heard a little "ding" go off in my head...read the ingredients.  Disappointingly, but not surprisingly, most of them were unpronounceable.  And the little attractive cup of soy yogurt went back on the shelf.

Trying not to obsess...

As I close this post, I want to reiterate that I am really trying not to be a pill to those around me when it comes to eating.  On Tuesday for a birthday luncheon, and tonight for Eric's birthday, I am not going to wear out some poor waitress and ask her about the ingredients in the salad dressing.  And, no, I am not going to bring my own.

This is not about making everyone around me miserable in my efforts to eat better.  It's a personal choice and I'm learning a lot, which I'm happy to share here and to those who notice and ask.  This is not about preaching to my husband or others and casting disapproving looks at everyone in the McDonald's drive-thru line.  Those things are very hard to give up.  Believe me, I know, and I struggle every day.

This is just about learning what I can and doing my best, for me. 

Have a great day, everyone.  Try to avoid doing this...  :-)

A few new on the "view halloo"

Let me just preface this by saying that this blog will always be, first and foremost, my personal blog.  My place to write about whatever, whenever.  I have no plans to buy a domain, to take on sponsors or anything fancy and commercial like that.  No thanks.

But, I am always looking for ways to keep things fresh and interesting here.  A lot of that has to do with the "gadgets" that are available on Blogger, which are often updated and improved.  Today, for the first time in ages, I was looking through the gadget options and decided to add a few and get rid of others.

New things:

• Options for subscribing: you can enter your email address and get notified when I add a new post, or you can have my blog posts sit directly on your My Yahoo page, if that happens to be your home page.
• New Blog Visitor statistics: Blogger now has a way to count visitors so that you don't have to get a counter from an outside site and guess which number to begin with.  I'm not in any direct competition as far as blog visitors, but it is interesting to see the traffic that comes through here.  As it turns out, I was 9,000 hits behind on my guess, which is why there is a sudden jump.  Kinda cool, but not a real focus for me.
• Currently reading:  And, not especially new, but I do always keep updated on the book I'm currently reading.  Today I'm starting a new one, The Aviary, by Katherine O'Dell.  Sometimes I read faster than other times, depending on the book and what I've got going on.  This week is going to have a lot of rain, so it might be a good week to dive into a book.

Anyway, just a few new things to share.  Happy Monday, everyone.