I am not a Bodymedia rep, sales guy or marketer, these opinions are my own, and I gain nothing from any sales or clicks on the bodymedia website. I have not included a link as I do not want anyone thinking I am gaining from this. You can easily google bodymedia and it will take you right there.
We all need some help if we are trying to gain control of our eating, weight, exercise habits. I'll be using a tool from Bodyedia called the FIT armband. This device helps me monitor exactly who many calories I burn over the course of my day. It's worn on your non-dominant arm and measures things like temperature, perspiration, movement etc.
The idea is to take the guesswork out of your daily calorie burn...Not just how much you burn on the treadmill, but all day, everyday, while you work, while you sleep, while you play with your kids.
Why is this important? Well, weight loss is essentially a math equation. If your calories burned exceeds your calories eaten, you will over time lose weight. About 3500 calories per pound.
The key thing is the accuracy of the measurements, treadmills and other exercise machines will give you an approximation, but they can be off substantially. Plus, you don't know how much you are burning in all your other activities.
The FIT armband doesn't just track calories, it tracks sleep, how long your moderate exercise was, how long you exercised vigorously, how many steps you took.
All of this information is helpful, but of limited usefulness if you aren't tracking everything you eat...And I mean EVERYTHING. Snacks, portion sizes (accuracy is important!), drinks, sauces (a diet killer) etc etc etc. Included as part of the FIT program is access to some online software that makes tracking your food daily an easy task. The software is simple and intuitive, with an encyclopedic database of food, including many restaurant and brand name packaged food. if its not there, you can add your own.
How effective is it? You'll see it used on virtually all the contestants on the Biggest Loser (very motivational show btw if you are trying to lose weight). I personally used it to lose 15lbs early last year, I regained them when I stopped using the tool. I know at least one other person who used it to great effect as well, losing over 20lbs.
Its not the answer for everyone obviously, but it's the tool I'll be using for my journey. If you have your own successful tools, I'd love to hear about them.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Starting my Journey
How the hell did I end up here?
How did a guy who plays hockey, referees, plays tennis, golf, hikes, sees himself as athletic, how does he weigh over 270lbs!
It doesn't happen overnight. It takes a lot of food to get to this stage. It takes a lot of changes in how I act to get here.
I used to identify myself as a fit guy, I used to believe I was fairly athletic...No one would look at me now and see an athlete.
Now I identify myself as the big guy, "Big D"...I'm the guy everyone says, "Here D, take the last piece" and I take it. I relish the moniker, it is who I am.
No more.
This blog is the start of a change. A change I hope you will join me in and help me through. A change in not only how I look and how much I weigh, but a change in who I am, how I am perceived, and how I perceive myself.
I want to look in the mirror and be proud of what I see. I don't want to shop in speciality stores anymore. I don't want to ache when I bend over and pick up my kids. I don't want to be afraid of having a heart attack when I step on the ice to play.
So, how do I do it.
First step, set Goals.
Goal number 1: At the end of 2011 I will weigh less than 220lbs. That's about 1lb per week. Reasonable, achievable, healthy sustainable weight loss. I think I can do even better, but that's my start.
Goal number 2: To run a 5k event. Again, should be very achievable, but I haven't run 5k since I was in the Army Reserves. That's a lot of years between me and the pavement.
Okay, second step, the plan. I love technology, and I love social media. So it only makes sense that this is part of my journey. I will be using the technology from www.bodymedia.com to help me monitor my exercise and my caloric intake. I'll post more about the technology in a future blog.
Second part of the plan, exercise...going to be tough the first couple of weeks as we prepare to move to our new home, but once we're set up I have access to my treadmill, and will be working through the P90x videos.
Third, and I think very important, accountability and support. That's where you come in. I'll be posting here, Facebook and @fatfitman on Twitter. Follow along with me as I share my successes, my temptations, my hard times, and hopefully very few failures. One of the reasons I think WeightWatchers(tm) is so successful is the support system around the people. So I am hoping to use social media to achieve the same things. I look forward to your comments and tweets.
So, this morning I weighed in at 272.4 lbs...the heaviest I have ever been. Its time to say goodbye to the fat guy, and start my journey back to someone I recognize in the mirror.
How did a guy who plays hockey, referees, plays tennis, golf, hikes, sees himself as athletic, how does he weigh over 270lbs!
It doesn't happen overnight. It takes a lot of food to get to this stage. It takes a lot of changes in how I act to get here.
I used to identify myself as a fit guy, I used to believe I was fairly athletic...No one would look at me now and see an athlete.
Now I identify myself as the big guy, "Big D"...I'm the guy everyone says, "Here D, take the last piece" and I take it. I relish the moniker, it is who I am.
No more.
This blog is the start of a change. A change I hope you will join me in and help me through. A change in not only how I look and how much I weigh, but a change in who I am, how I am perceived, and how I perceive myself.
I want to look in the mirror and be proud of what I see. I don't want to shop in speciality stores anymore. I don't want to ache when I bend over and pick up my kids. I don't want to be afraid of having a heart attack when I step on the ice to play.
So, how do I do it.
First step, set Goals.
Goal number 1: At the end of 2011 I will weigh less than 220lbs. That's about 1lb per week. Reasonable, achievable, healthy sustainable weight loss. I think I can do even better, but that's my start.
Goal number 2: To run a 5k event. Again, should be very achievable, but I haven't run 5k since I was in the Army Reserves. That's a lot of years between me and the pavement.
Okay, second step, the plan. I love technology, and I love social media. So it only makes sense that this is part of my journey. I will be using the technology from www.bodymedia.com to help me monitor my exercise and my caloric intake. I'll post more about the technology in a future blog.
Second part of the plan, exercise...going to be tough the first couple of weeks as we prepare to move to our new home, but once we're set up I have access to my treadmill, and will be working through the P90x videos.
Third, and I think very important, accountability and support. That's where you come in. I'll be posting here, Facebook and @fatfitman on Twitter. Follow along with me as I share my successes, my temptations, my hard times, and hopefully very few failures. One of the reasons I think WeightWatchers(tm) is so successful is the support system around the people. So I am hoping to use social media to achieve the same things. I look forward to your comments and tweets.
So, this morning I weighed in at 272.4 lbs...the heaviest I have ever been. Its time to say goodbye to the fat guy, and start my journey back to someone I recognize in the mirror.
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