Soooooo… yeah, the long and short of it is I’m fat. I mean, far fatter than usual. I’ve always been … portly, but it wasn’t really that bad, at least for awhile. And no, I’m not quite ready to start announcing just how much I weigh, but for those just chomping at the bit to know, you’ll know soon enough. For awhile, even after the neuropathy started and my activity level went into the toilet, I still maintained my weight. Granted, I was still overweight, but it was stable.
However, last year I crossed that line where my meager level of activity just wasn’t quite enough to counter my calorie intake. I don’t eat like I used to, usually having maybe 2.5 meals a day nowadays, few snacks, etc. But combined with a lifestyle which makes a wet rag look athletic, the combination eventually caught up with me. I’ll give you this much for the moment: last year, in a single year, I gained an extra 22% of my starting weight . Yeah, a LOT.
Obviously I need to lose weight, it makes complete sense, especially given my neuropathy situation. Why add extra weight on a pair of already mangled limbs? Why have extra body mass which will make medications less effective simply due to the ratio of medicine:me ? I wear the same outfit just about every day (the joy of having 5 pairs of the same black shorts and 8 of the exact same black shirt and 4 overshirts – I love it), but I had to get some new clothes because I couldn’t fit in my older clothes. Blech.
So I will be starting a weight loss program soon, one which I tried awhile ago and failed at miserably, mainly because my fatigue and leg pain really messed with my ability to simply go shopping for food and whatnot. This time around, I have everything all planned out, since it’s a complete roll of the dice whether or not I’ll be feeling able to drive to the supermarket and pick up what I need. I’ll have to always be ahead of the game by a bit. This is a massive behavioural change for myself as well, as I stopped cooking most of the time due to pain and/or just uncomfortable psychological associations. As in it would not only remind me of when I could work in a kitchen, but would make it just that much more frustrating. Anyway, I digress. I have a massive psychological resistance to dieting, partly due to the fact that while I don’t necessarily consider myself a comfort food person, eating is one of the few pleasures I have now, but it’s not like I crave food all the time.
My father’s been getting pedometers (small thing that clips onto your belt and counts the number of steps one takes in a day) for awhile, but I never really liked them. They still seemed kind of big for what they were, they looked cheaply made, and despite being moderately accurate, I wouldn’t really use the information in there. However, a little while ago, he somehow came across this thing called a Fitbit which is like a pedometer on speed. Main thing is it isn’t clunky – it’s literally the same length and almost the same width as the cap to a Precise V5 pen. I’ll include photos below, but here’s what the site says about this nifty little thing:
Features for the Fitbit Ultra:
- Accelerometer
- Altimeter
- Measures steps taken
- Measures calories burned
- Measures distance traveled
- Measures vertical climb up stairs
- Measures sleep quality (!!!)
- Syncs wirelessly with a base station which then sends the data to a web-based dashboard for analysis
- Recharges in the base station
This is exactly the kind of pedometer-like device I would get. The wireless syncing is especially handy, since you don’t even have to put it in the dock to do it. This means that when I need to recharge it, I just stick it in the base when I’m sitting at the computer and not moving around anyway. It seems to work when clipped to my necklace as well, which is awesome because I hate having to clip crap to my belt. Never been a belt-clip-item kinda guy.
Hopefully this will help out with the weight loss thing, either in terms of simply using the data to change my routine, or simply for motivation of some sort. Either way, it’s nice having this extra layer or three of information coming in to fine-tune what I know is going to be a real challenge and pain in the ass for me. It can connect with a host of on-line health websites, as well as having apps for your phone.
Oh yeah, and it can automatically post either weekly or daily stats (steps taken, distance, calories) to Facebook, Twitter, or a WordPress installation.
I told myself once I started on the diet plan and really started it, like for REALS, I’d be posting my progress as a form of public accountability, or what some would consider self-mandated shame-motivation. Heh. I’ll know more about how well this thing works after a week or two, but if you happen to be looking for something akin to a pedometer or some other type. of exercise/health monitor device, definitely look into this thing. It’s amazing. Pics below:
each time i used to read smaller content that also clear their motive, and that is also happening with this
piece of writing which I am reading at this time.