Okay so I caved in and bought a Fitbit on Monday. I couldn't stand it. I was going to wait on the new Weight Watchers gizmo that's going to replace the ActiveLink, but as much as I searched for information on its release, I couldn't find anything online that gave me an inkling as to "what" or "when". And now that I'm trying to get back to a regular exercise routine, I really wanted a monitor. Originally I had decided against the Fitbit because of the $100 investment. But once I did the math I realized I had already paid more for the ActiveLink ($40 to buy it and then $5 a month fee over the past 17 months). With the FB, there is no fee involved.
I really like the Fitbit so far. It's similar to the ActiveLink- once I clip it on I don't even realize I'm wearing it. I opted for the one that attaches to my bra strap, because that's where I always wore my AL. Plus it gives a lot more info than the AL did. The FB has steps and miles walked, for the entire day, which is pretty cool. Yesterday I had a typical day around the house, some chores, some cleaning upstairs in the studio, a little bit of stuff in the yard, but also a lot of sitting at the computer which is normal for me. No real exercise. I was pleased to see that at the end of the day, even without getting on the treadmill, I had walked almost 6000 steps. I know they say an "optimal" day is a minimum of 10,000 steps. It's good to know that with no effort at all, I was well on my way there. Just think how great those numbers will be on a day where I go walk in the neighborhood in the evening.
The Fitbit also has sleep mode, which I think is one thing that really attracted me to it. I do have trouble sleeping, as many menopausal women do. I take a lot of all natural sleep aids every night (valerian, melatonin, etc.) so it does help. On nights where I don't take anything, or take my pills too late, I do not sleep at all. So around 8:30 or so, I start taking everything so it can start working its magic on me. By 10:00 I am ready for bed and can drift off fairly easily. Staying asleep, however, is the problem. And I have no desire to go on any kind of prescription medication for it. I toss and turn a lot, kicking off covers, moving around pillows, swatting cats away, getting up to pee several times, checking the clock, getting a touch of asthma or needing to blow my nose, and of course I have awful restless leg syndrome to top it off. You name it, it wakes me up, however briefly.
The first night I wore the FB to bed, the results were interesting. By the way, the wristband for nighttime is so lightweight, I didn't even notice it once I put it on. So the FB showed how long it took me to settle down and fall asleep (8 minutes), how many times I actually got up in the middle of the night (twice), and how many periods of "restlessness" I had (17!). It showed I was in bed for 7 hours and 15 minutes, but I only got a little over 6 hours of actual restful, still sleep. Yet it gave me a 92% efficiency rating. So I am very interested in continuing to track this information. I have definitely found a correlation on "how" I slept and how I feel the next day. I don't just mean waking up feeling tired, I mean if I don't sleep well the night before- I feel like crap the entire day.
I just got the FB on Monday afternoon, so I haven't yet hooked it up to my Weight Watchers eTools account. I'm curious to see how well it translates my activity points.
I also started going back to my yoga class this week, as I promised myself I would. Turns out my previous instructor is no longer with the studio due to scheduling conflicts. Sort of bummed me out, she was a really sweet girl with a soft but encouraging voice, who would come around and help me when I couldn't quite stretch far enough or bend the right way. But the class I'm going to now- Monday and Thursday- is taught by the actual owner of the studio. She's older and a very experienced instructor. And since my class is filled with mostly older ladies- I am the youngest one there by at least a good decade!- the class was gentle and healing and it felt SO good. I didn't hurt anywhere for the rest of the day. It may not burn calories, but at over 90 minutes, it's a wonderful class. And I will keep at it! That is my positive affirmation for today!
SANDY
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