Well, I was trying to wait until after the 5K before I made a new blog post.
I have been wanting to buy a fitness tracker ever since Tommie broke down and got a Fitbit One. I had the hardest time trying to decide what to get though. There are several of them out there on the market. I would read reviews for them all, and of coarse there were good and bad points to each one, and my mind would change every time I would read a review. SO – finally after a few weeks of Tommie having his and liking it, I broke down and got a Fitbit One also. It’s sort of like a fancy pedometer. You wear it all the time though, even to sleep and it tracks your steps and your sleep patterns, and a few other things. It sync’s to several other accounts. I have it sync’d to My Fitness Pal and Map My Fitness accounts. It’s nice to see your steps each day and to strive towards a certain number. Plus, if you add friends on there, you can compare your activity level to that of others. It makes you think about it. For example, last week there was a day that we didn’t get out and do our walk. We had things to do in the evening and had planned to walk later, but then it rained and we just didn’t do it. SO – I felt guilty and the next day I took an extra walk. Yesterday, we were lazy and napped all morning, but then at a certain point, looking at how few steps we had for the day, we got up and got out of the house and I even took two walks later on. We decided to go to the park and walk, which didn’t turn out ideal….did once around, then when I got home, to blow off more steam, I did an additional 2.28 miles.
It’s the little things I notice. For example, we were walking in the park one day and I looked down to see my shoe untied. At one point, at my heaviest, I would’ve had to find something to prop my foot up on to be able to tie my shoe. Now it’s nice to just be able to bend down and tie it with no problem. My tennis shoes are becoming my favorite footwear these days. In the past my favorite was anything I could just slip on, instead of having to put on shoes that tied and find some place to prop my foot up to get them on. Now I’m always wanting to have my tennis shoes on in case we are out somewhere and want to go walking. I’m not one of those people that can go on long walks in flip flops.
I find when I listen to music when I walk it can really distract me and make me not think of how far I’m going. I don’t usually listen to it when I’m walking with Tommie, since I don’t want to be rude, but when I find myself walking by myself, it’s a needed distraction. I’m sure I can look pretty silly from time to time when the music puts a little bounce in my step and a little dance move. Ha ha.
So – this weekend I did my first 5K. Really – I never thought I’d do one. My sister and my friend, Dawn, do a lot of them. They are joggers though. Dawn had signed up for this Glow Run and had mentioned a couple of times people joining her team. When I mentioned it to Tommie he was up for it, so I decided to give it a try at the last minute. (Though I decided I was just going to walk it!) So Tommie and I signed up and joined Dawn’s team. I liked the idea of it being at night, so it wouldn’t get too hot. We were estimating that we’d get it walked in a little under an hour and half, so imagine our surprise and joy when we finished it in 59 minutes!! We made it in after an hour. 🙂 We walked pretty fast the whole course and even jogged a little when we were trying to get around people. Even stopped a few times in the “Glow Tents” to take pictures. I was very proud of the both of us afterwards.
We signed up for our 2nd 5K also, on July 14th. Here is our team page if you want to join the team just click on the “Join Team” button. http://jingleinjuly.kintera.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=1069179&team=5564914 So far there is just Tommie and I signed up for it, but I think my cousin, April and her husband Tommy will be joining us also. What we liked about this one was that it was underground, so it’ll be about 68 degrees and away from the weather. Plus the course is flat, which makes it a little easier. 🙂
My actual weight loss has been really slow lately. I was stuck at the same for almost a month. Last week, there were a couple days I actually got in all my water (which I have found fairly hard for me) and on those days, the scale actually moved a little! SO – I really, really need to try to focus on that. I’m up to about 81 lbs lost now. I was REALLY hoping to reach 100 lbs lost by my 6 month follow up appt at the beginning of August, but I’m really starting to doubt that I’ll get there now. At least by that deadline. BUT I am looking forward to that appt, because they should take my measurements. They took measurements at my pre-op appointment, so it’ll be interesting to see how many inches I have lost. I didn’t write the number’s down, so I have no idea where I started at when it comes to that. Will be interesting to see.
I’m going to be busy this week, the holiday shortens my week, so gives me less time to meet my deadlines. Then my brother and sister in law and nephew will visit this month, and I’m taking off work to spend time with them. Next month will be my six month surgery follow up appointment and our vacation to Vancouver with my stepdaughter. So, lots going on. Thanks for reading my updates. Feel free to leave me a comment to say hi or whatever. 🙂