The FitBit Fairy Came to My House June 2, 2012
Posted by Optifast Blogger in exercise, Maintenance.Tags: exercise, FitBit, odometer, pedometer, steps, tracking, walking
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If you’ve followed my FitBit frustrations, you may remember that I purchased a FitBit (pedometer), loved it, wore it a few months, then lost it. Head slaps. After a few weeks I bought another one – and lost that one, this time within days. Harder head slaps. Because they are so helpful as far as monitoring exercise/steps, I really wanted another one, but knew my husband would kill me – he didn’t even know about the second purchase. (They ain’t cheap – $100.)
I poured out my tale of woe (and weight loss journey) to the kind folks at FitBit and with one thing and another, was again the proud owner of a FitBit (see my post, FitBit Frustration to Forever Fan).
What I did NOT post was that, yup, (did you already figure out where I was going?) I lost that one too. Severe head bangings on the wall. At that point I didn’t know if this was FitBit-selective Alzheimers, or if I was putting out anti-FitBit vibes causing the poor FitBit to leap off of me, or whether this was some psychological thing where I was deliberately but unconsciously misplacing or losing it. I searched everywhere – all my pants, pockets, purses, in the car, under my bed, all over the place. Surely I could find one of the three! But no luck.
Then yesterday morning, the miracle! I was in the hall closet where I keep my shoes, a closet I’m in several times every day, and suddenly, there was a FitBit right there on the closet floor in plain sight! (The latest one disappeared over a month ago.) I had to pick it up and study it to convince myself it really was my FitBit, for several reasons:
- I hadn’t seen one for some weeks, so had to take a second look to identify it!
- I couldn’t believe it had materialized and thought maybe it was a hallucination.
- The FitBit was black and pink. Now, I really thought that all three of mine were black and teal blue like the picture above. But, no one else in my house uses a FitBit, so this black and pink one has to be mine, right? Unless it was dropped off by the FitBit fairy, which I am seriously thinking must be the case!
However it showed up, I’m grateful. I charged it last night and am wearing it today, with some FitBit bondage (ribbon, safety pin, etc.) to try and keep it from leaping off of me this time! 😉
FitBit Frustration February 21, 2012
Posted by Optifast Blogger in exercise.Tags: exercise, FitBit, odometer, pedometer
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I can’t believe this. The first FitBit I had lasted maybe a month before it went AWOL. The second FitBit? That I bought less than two weeks ago for another $100? That I wore exactly 1 day and one (I’m guessing) hour? Already gone. Lost, vanished, evaporated, finito. I just barely got it charged and the FitBit software downloaded onto my computer. I wore it Saturday, then put it on Sunday morning and the next time I checked, in the car but still in the morning, it was not on my pants. For the last couple of days I’ve been looking in the house, the car, my clothes, etc. Nada. #$%&!
So, it must just be me. I know others that have the same one for months and months, no problem. Maybe my tummy flab pushes it up and off my waistband? Maybe my girls knock it off? Maybe I’m just incredibly unlucky?? But I sure don’t have yet another $100 to waste on a toy that won’t last more than a couple of days.
I know women who tuck it into their bra. Maybe that works better. For me, too bumpy. A review of FitBit and another product called “Bodybug” at http://tweakfit.com/fitbit-vs-bodybugg-reviews recommends getting some kind of necklace doohickey to attach the FitBit to. Makes sense, on hindsight. Or I wish it came with insurance against loss, like my cell phone. I’m just so frustrated – with myself.
I’m not blaming FitBit. I’m sure it’s a wonderful product. I liked the first one well enough to order a second one. But I’m done with it. I obviously need a different way to track my steps. . Something more firmly attached to my body, less likely to disappear. I know there are watchband type devices, though supposedly less accurate. I think I’m going to visit the brick and morter running shop about a mile away this week and see what they’ve got.
A guy I work with who runs recommends a GPS speedometer, but I think that’s more for tracking short-term walks/runs so you know your speed, etc. rather than counting activity all day long. Plus those GPS devices are over $300 I think. And big and bulky.
Now I’ve got two FitBit chargers, if anybody needs one.
Bummer…
Remembering the Lessons Learned January 22, 2012
Posted by Optifast Blogger in Maintenance.Tags: dieting, exercise, keeping the weight off, maintenance, odometer, overeating
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I can’t emphasize enough how tempting it is after losing weight, to think that now you can stop all that dieting stuff and be like everyone else. No matter how many times you hear that you can’t go back to old ways, that it’s not a diet it’s a lifestyle, yada yada yada, there is still that feeling that you did the crime (overeating) you did the time (dieting) now let’s move on. If only it were like that.
The Kaiser Optifast program is adamant that while you are taking that break from food, you need to learn new skills, practice new behaviors, forge a new relationship with food (and exercise), and emerge transformed in more ways than just weight loss. That’s actually the official name of the program – Transform.
What are the skills and behaviors that need to be maintained, not left by the wayside after successful weight loss, so that we move forwards instead of falling backwards?
- Drinking lots of water – not ditching the water bottle and living on gallons of Diet Coke
- Wearing and monitoring the pedometer – not losing it and then forgetting about it
- Writing down what is consumed each day (“you bite it you write it), at LEAST the food and quantities, and ideally the calories as well – not thinking you can wing it or plan to eat the same thing each day that you know is within the calorie range, until you don’t, because you are in a restaurant or on vacation or are hungry or see treats set out in the breakroom, etc.
- Scheduling in exercise most days out of the week – not leaving the weights and resistance bands to gather dust, and paying for gym membership without actually using it
- Getting on the scale every day or two – not avoiding it while thinking, I’ll get on in a couple of days after I’ve been “better”
- Setting goals for all of the above – not just thinking you know it all and can do it without the structure and tools that can help
And the list goes on, from getting enough sleep at night, to avoiding trigger foods and locations, to practicing stress reduction techniques, to continuing to ask for and use the support systems that help, whether at home, online, or wherever.
And of course I need to walk to the walk, not just talk the talk. If these lessons which should have been learned are ignored or forgotten, I’m here to say that 
the scale will go up (and possibly the blood pressure as well), and the pants will get tighter. Until, uh oh, how did all my clothes shrink?? You do NOT want to have to buy bigger clothes, or open up those bags of clothes in the garage that you got rid of for next summer’s garage sale!
Dieting is hard, losing weight is hard, but changing your brain is harder.
Sixty Point Blood Pressure Drop on Optifast! August 24, 2011
Posted by Optifast Blogger in Fourth month on Optifast, weigh-ins.Tags: blood pressure, chart, Kaiser, maintenance, metabolic rate, muscle, odometer, Optifast group, transition, weigh-in, weight loss
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At our weekly weigh-in at Kaiser, they also do blood pressure checks. This will go on through transition (which starts next week), so five more weeks. Last night was a good weigh-in weight-loss-wise, but I want to lead off with my blood pressure chart because I’m so happy with the dramatic difference the weight-loss and diet has made. As I’ve said before, I HATE meds (though I’m quite willing to take them when there are health issues involved, and greatly appreciate living in an age and place where pharmaceuticals are available) so am very happy to no longer need medicine for high blood pressure.
Our whole group has done very well weight-loss-wise, though people don’t share numbers. But there is a lot of talk about how THIS diet is really helping them when others haven’t, about needing new clothes, and about a reluctance to go off the program. There are lifestyle changes evident in the group as well. One man now rides his bike to the meeting. Another woman is talking about running a half-marathon! I’m the real couch potato in the group. Other than making sure my odometer gets up to 10,000 steps a day, I’m not really doing anything. This may come back to bite me, because if I’ve lost muscle (not sure I ever had much!) my metabolic rate will doom me to a low number of calories in maintenance.
But just looking at weight loss, I’m quite happy. If I lose another 3 pounds, I’ll have lost a total of 50 pounds, which would be a nice number to go into maintenance with, for me. And I think the graph reflects the fact that, for most people (but not all, I know – medical problems can affect this) if you follow the program without cheating, you will have a steady pattern of weight loss.
(The lines in the chart above represent 10 pounds. Also, I’m really in week 16, so think I lost a datapoint somewhere along the way.)
Really, both these pictures are so beautiful I feel like making them my screensaver! 😉
Dieting on Vacation – Not Easy! July 4, 2011
Posted by Optifast Blogger in Second month on Optifast.Tags: alcohol, cheating on Optifast, dieting on vacation, odometer, Optifast shakes, product, restaurants, travel
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I’m on the 4th day of a long Independence Day weekend vacation, and though I’m doing well sticking with the whole weight-loss program, it hasn’t been easy. Lots of driving, making it hard to get in the 10,000 steps I try to log each day on the odometer. Then on the second day I jumped into the river fully clothed and killed the odometer, making tracking even harder! Ended up away from the cabin all of one day with no Optifast product after 11 in the morning. Ended up having a salad with no dressing for dinner because I hadn’t eaten since 11 am and wouldn’t be back to the cabin (where my stash of product was) till much later. (First veggies in 2 months!) 
And the cabin is built for wine and hors d’oeuvres and relaxing. It has a hammock, hot tub, luxurious and private 3-head outdoor shower, sauna, outdoor wood burning fireplace, redwood table for patio dining, you name it. I feel like the cabin is offended that instead of living here hedonistically, drinking wine from Russian River wineries and scrumptious baked goods from local bakeries, I’m living on my meager Optifast shakes and bars, like a Puritan in Shangri La.
7 Weeks on Optifast – 25 Pounds Lost June 29, 2011
Posted by Optifast Blogger in Second month on Optifast.Tags: cheating on Optifast, exercise, fitting into smaller sizes, odometer, Optifast, optifast success, product, weigh-in, weight loss
9 comments
Phew, a good weigh-in. I lost 2.5 pounds, just like last week, despite my off-product popcorn slip earlier this week. I’m so glad I didn’t stray further, or go into “now that I’ve cheated, why don’t I keep eating” mode. In some ways I’m glad I had that one slip up. It proved to me that just because I make a mistake, all is not lost.
I’m really happy I started this program. I know others in my group have lost more, and others have lost less, though we (officially) don’t compare. But I’m happy with the 25 pound loss, and the all-product phase isn’t even half over. I think I’m also developing good habits, from drinking water to monitoring walking with an odometer to sneaking in stretches and weights at different times of the day. I’m already tossing out some clothes that are too big, and able to wear clothes from my too-tight pile. Another coworker today mentioned my weight loss.
Even though I know I’ve lost weight, a lot of the time I forget about it. So this weekend when we had a garage sale and I put on my garage-sale-only fanny pack and I had to cinch in the belt considerably from the last time I wore it at our garage sale last fall, it really struck home that I was smaller!
A Bad Week – Diet Fatigue? Complaisance? June 27, 2011
Posted by Optifast Blogger in Second month on Optifast.Tags: addictive foods, cheating on Optifast, diet patterns, logging exercise, logging food, long-term diet goals, odometer, Optifast group, product, salt, tired of dieting, water retention, weigh-in
4 comments
As I mentioned in my last post, the week just ending included my first “cheat” (eating non-product) on the Optifast diet since starting the program in early May. In addition to the “popcorn incident” I also didn’t log food consumption after Wednesday last week, AND I didn’t wear my odometer all week. Re: the odometer, first I lost it, then it was in my purse not on my body, then on Saturday I was having a garage sale that didn’t involve many steps but was a lot of work (and some exercise) and I knew I wouldn’t have the energy to do anything else physical that day.
Now I’m back on product, wearing the odometer, and have already logged my products/food for today. So that’s good – back on track. But I’m wondering why last week was so bad, on so many fronts? Was it diet fatigue, that the novelty had worn off after 6 weeks, that I was tired of being good, and was just slacking off? Was it diet complaisance, that I thought I didn’t need to do the logging and exercise monitoring, and that a little eating off the program wouldn’t hurt?
Unfortunately, it is a pattern for me (and probably I’m not the only one) to drop out of “diets” after some weeks – some earlier, some later. I’m not dropping out of this one, obviously. But I need to spend some time thinking (reminding myself) about my long-term goals and the permanent changes I want to make in my life. I know this product phase isn’t permanent, but I want to get the most out of it, which means staying on the prescribed all-product diet.
Yes, the novelty is over, but it’s important to keep practicing the skills we are being encouraged (in our support group) to use, in terms of recording, monitoring, and not reaching for the salty fatty foods that are addictive. These are habits I need to incorporate into my life. I can see by other dieters’ blogs that they are part of the successful path to weight loss!
I’m going to blame any bad results at the weigh-in tomorrow night on water retention due to that salty popcorn!
New Day Coming: An Optifast Blog 