Have you lost weight since you got your Fitbit?

[Rnda]

I am the exact same weight as I was when I got my Flex 3 1/2 months ago!

How about you?

I'm hoping with Spring here and Summer around the corner, that my walking will increase. 

Moderator edit: title

[ChihuahuaMum]

I have the problem of med's causing wieght gain. Unfortunately l can't stop taking mine. I'll have to rely on exercise and watching what I eat.

Sent from my iPhone

[A_Lurker]

@Adel70- not really.  You can do lots of steps and gain weight, you can do very few steps and lose weight.  Overall movement and overall diet are generally the things that affect our weight. 

(Oh, and definitely meds can affect people as well.  I always forget that one.)

[ChihuahuaMum]

Yes I did gain some wieght, but that can be muscle developing. Lots of exercise and eating less calories than you burn is the way that works for me. 

[JenniferinFL]

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@JenniferinFL wrote:

I've had my fitbit for 41 days and lost 10 lbs. I'm eating at the 1000 calorie deficit which for me works out to be more like a 600 calorie deficit. I walk over 10,000 steps everyday. 

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Still losing, I'm at 13.2 lbs of weight loss now, been logging every single thing I eat and walking more than 10,000 steps everyday since April 1st. I've owned my Fitbit for 54 days. 🙂

[totallyconfused]

How do people walk 10,000 steps a day? I'm retired and I'm lucky if I
get to my goal of 8,500. And that's walking the treadmill. I do better
if I walk the trails at the parks but most of my day is taken up with
cooking for my husband and cleaning. I do know when I worked I logged a
lot of steps and that was on an old fashion pedometer. I log my meals
ok but forget carrots and celery for some reason. Also water. I eat a
lot less in calories than I first wanted but now I can't seem to change
it.

[Emujo]

f your day is completely taken up by cooking and cleaning for your husband, it's time for a new one..LOL. Emujo

[JenniferinFL]

---

@totallyconfused wrote:
How do people walk 10,000 steps a day? I'm retired and I'm lucky if I
get to my goal of 8,500. And that's walking the treadmill. I do better
if I walk the trails at the parks but most of my day is taken up with
cooking for my husband and cleaning. I do know when I worked I logged a
lot of steps and that was on an old fashion pedometer. I log my meals
ok but forget carrots and celery for some reason. Also water. I eat a
lot less in calories than I first wanted but now I can't seem to change
it.

---

I've been off from work this week, home with my 6 year old. Before she wakes up, I just walk around my kitchen for about half an hour, gives me 3000+ steps. I easily get 5000 steps or so just doing my daily day to day stuff (that pesky cooking, cleaning stuff), then at night in front of the tv, I walk back and forth for about an hour. That gets me to 14,000 or so for the day. You don't have to walk fast or walk outside or even use a treadmill to get 10,000 steps. You can just pace around your livingroom in front of a program you enjoy. With a little practice, I pretty much do it naturally without thinking about it too much. I love that when I binge watch a program on Netflix I now get thousands of steps.. lol I get most of my steps in my pajamas/lounge wear in front of my tv. I do walk outside on the weekends if I feel like it, but, most of my steps have been taken at home. 🙂

I work in a library, if I'm mindful I can get about 7000 steps in the course of my workday, but, lately it's been back to back meetings and I'm lucky to clear 5500 at work. 

[Emujo]

If you are just looking for increased step counts this works, but unless you are getting your heart rate up and exerting yourself, I don't think those steps are going to contribute much to weight loss. I'm just saying that 1 hour walk at a 3-4 mph pace is better than that same 8000 steps over the course of 3 episodes on the X files on Netflix.

[JenniferinFL]

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@Emujo wrote:

If you are just looking for increased step counts this works, but unless you are getting your heart rate up and exerting yourself, I don't think those steps are going to contribute much to weight loss. I'm just saying that 1 hour walk at a 3-4 mph pace is better than that same 8000 steps over the course of 3 episodes on the X files on Netflix.

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This was 3084 steps, so only around 1.31 miles, so a bit shy of a 3 mile an hour pace. 

This one was 9232 steps, so about 4 miles. 

It was an extra 750 calories I was able to eat and STILL lose weight and I was able to watch a program I wanted to watch with my family. I just had to move around while watching it. 

Obviously, weight loss is made in the kitchen. But, 750 extra calories to eat is kinda a big deal to me. 🙂

Edited to add: This is a pretty friendly forum and this just reminded me of that. I've been here since April 1st and this was the first time someone acted like my steps were worth less because I got them indoors while watching tv. I was on another weight loss board and was getting trashed from day 1, for everything from not eating 'clean' to walking/jogging indoors. Made me really appreciate it here. 🙂 So, thank you. 

[benvegi]

Dear totally confused,

I'm retired, as is my wife, both in our mid 70's. We both use fitbits. I
use mine to lose and maintain my weight, my wife is one of those blessed
people who can't gain weight on a bet. Since August of last year I have
lost 26 lbs using the watch. Now that my weight is to a normal level for my
height/weight, BMI of 23.8, I no longer log my food intake.

Both of us stay active all day and we make sure we get at least 250 to 500
steps per hour from 7 am to 9 pm. In addition to that I try to take a
dedicated 1 1/2 hour walk every day which is from 2 to 4 miles long. (I
started out walking about 1.5 miles a day). Some months I get 10,000 steps
every day, some months I don't do so well.

If you are retired you shouldn't spend all day cooking and cleaning. Make
your meals simple, get your husband to do half the cooking. If he doesn't
know how to cook he will learn quickly if he gets hungry. Don't worry about
counting your carrot and celery intake, there are only 180 calories in a
pound of carrots! And that will fill you up. Just stay away from fatty
foods and big heavy meals.

[totallyconfused]

My meals are on the simple side. I should have said I have knee
problems, 2 replacements on same knee and it seems like I'm looking at a
3rd. And I have severe back problems which limit how fast I can move,
how far I can walk and how long I can stay on my feet. I have had 2
back surgeries, just had a second nerve block done. As for cooking and
cleaning I enjoy doing those things. And until this past Christmas I
was loosing weight at a steady rate. After I got my fitbit and decided
to work out more than just walking every day my weight has increased. I
usually get 5,000 steps just walking in my house, we have a large house
but going up and down stairs right now is a problem. I'm in my early
60's and had to retire do to health reasons. And walking 2 miles a day
isn't helping me at all. How do I cut down on my calories. I take in
about 1,000 a day. It seems any less and I get very weak. And if I
just do chicken and perch and shrimp and pork without beef at least
twice a week my blood pressure drops even lower than normal. 104/60.
Need some new ideas.

[totallyconfused]

Hi,

It's not really him. I have a large kitchen and I have back problems so
it just seems like I'm in there cleaning all the time. But I wish I
could find a way to increase my steps when I'm in there. I can't stand
for long in one place but at the same time I can't get my heart rate up
high enough. Do I go with cardio or fat burn rate? Then because of my
back I need to sit down even so often or it freezes up. I just had
another nerve block so I'm hoping that will help.

[totallyconfused]

Hi, Thanks for the tip. I could do that at night while watching tv in
bedroom. I do get about 1,500 steps in before coffee but it seems to
slow down as the day progresses.

[totallyconfused]

Hi, getting my heart rate up is my problem. Even when I walk the
treadmill for my heart test they can't seem to get it past 115 and
that's with me running at 5 mph for 5 minutes. Of course after that I
ended up with back surgery. resting heart rate is 65.

[mandmroyse]

I have had 1 knee replacement eight years ago and when I found out that I
need the
other done and that Medicare changed their qualifications I needed to lose
weight
about 40lbs. I follow my Fit-bit regiment, try to keep my Cal-in VS
Cal-burnt about
1500 calories apart from each other. I ride my bike in my neighborhood
twice a day
and ride between 3-5 miles on each ride.
Down 35lbs. so far.

[benvegi]

Sounds to me like you have too many health issues for me to provide any
advice/comments. I would suggest you discuss this with your Dr. and tell
him/her how little you eat and weight gain on meds. A note about a Dr., I
switched to an Internist this year from a General Practitioner. The
internist seems much more aware of my entire body/health/medication/and
even my food intake.

Good luck to you! And keep walking and doing what you can.
Ben

[C_Ella]

I am so sorry that you have had such horrible health problems following
multiple surgeries. I know you are not seeking answers to health problems
but I really recommend staying away from any further surgeries. Following
a car accident, I had two surgeries to repair a spinal fracture. Recovery
took many years and long distance swimming. At 60yrs old, I was hit by a
pack of dogs at the dog park. They threw me 6 feet in the air, dislocated
and shattered my knee cap. When I was taken to the emergency room, the
doctors said that I would need surgery for the torn tendons and the
patellar fracture. Instead, I left the hospital, never returned to a
doctor and allowed my knee to heal over three months. I was a research
scientist so I investigated the treatment of severe knee injuries in
Germany, France and England. It seems that knee surgery is very rare in
those countries. Instead, they use science based rehabilitation through
physical therapy.

Now, about your weight loss. I have been walking 4 miles a day, six days a
week. After entering all of my info in the Fitbit program, I was allowed
to eat 1300 calories/day to lose weight quickly. In the past two months, I
have lost 18 pounds. I now fit into many of my good clothes. Because I am
walking a lot, I get to eat more than I can even handle. My daily steps
are between 12k and 14k. I have fibromyalgia from an autoimmune disease
and can only survive if I walk enough to induce a good sleep.

I wish you the best. Go with the flow and don't worry about weight loss
until your body has had time to adjust. It took quite a while before my
appetite decreased and my strength increased. In the beginning, I always
gain weight. Let me know how it's going.

[totallyconfused]

Thanks for positive suggestions. Will keep walking.

[totallyconfused]

Hi,

Thanks for giving me hope. I need that. I know I still walk slow yet I
hope to increase my pace. As long as I know one person with back end or
knee problems can loose weight I will just keep plugging away. I'm also
going to check with my pain management doctor about getting off these
non opioid pain meds. That's when the weight really started to pack. I
had another nerve block on Friday so I can start moving today.

Many thanks!

[C_Ella]

Good morning- This country is experiencing hysteria about opioid
analgesics. Many drug addicts have caused physicians to abandon the moral
belief that people should not undergo horrific pain. My friend was just
diagnosed with Lymphoma. The diagnosis took six weeks and she was in awful
pain. Her doctor would not prescribe an adequate pain medicine but gave
her an antidepressant instead. He told her it would relieve her pain. It
didn't do a **ahem**ed thing and she suffered without sleep and in pain for six
weeks. Doctors are prescribing medicines that have been approved for
neuropathic pain. So, now doctors are lying to their patients telling them
that they have neuropathic pain. Actually, neuropathic pain is quite rare
and only happens in diseases like Diabetes, Seizure Disorders or Mast Cell
dysfunction.

So, tell your "pain" doctor that the medicine is not helping you and
actually is causing health damaging side effects (weight gain). I see a
pain doctor who was trained at the University of California and who knows
that I am a scientist. He has never once suggested one of these pretend
pain killers. Ibuprofen (Motrin) is far more effective than drugs like
Neurontin (Gabapentin) or Pregabalin.

If you have gained a lot of weight on the medications you are using, you
will lose the weight when you go off the medication. It doesn't happen
immediately but it does happen. I hope this info helps a little bit. You
are highly motivated and I can only encourage you to set up a realistic
schedule and stick with it. Don't weigh yourself more than once per week.
Walk further rather than faster until you are stronger.

Cheers, Colleen Ella