Need to lose 33 lbs!

[TammieO]

Hello All! I've just signed up for fitbit (am still waiting for my flex to come in) and I've seen a lot of other posts mentioning 10,000 steps a day!! I'm going to admit that I kind of dislike exercise and am a foodie at the same time (not a good combo) but 10,000 steps a day seems high to me. I just started walking on this past Sunday with my neighbor and my dog and we did 5.5 miles(roughly 12,000 steps)! I was so proud of myself but at the same time, can't imagine doing that everyday! I'm not a morning person and I work from 9:30am-6:00pm M-F, plus usually have a hungry husband at home waiting for me when I get in. So the 1st thing I end up doing is cooking, then by the time that I'm done eating, I've got absolutely no urge to exercise! Maybe I just need more motivation, but does anyone have a tough time making 10,000 steps a day and is it really necessary *every* day in order to lose weight? And what if I can't get outside due to weather or something? I don't have a treadmill nor the extra bucks or space to buy one.. I do have a small recumbant bike. Will the flex be able to track bicycling? Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated!  

[LauraL]

Hi Tammy; In my opinion the purpose of Fitbit is to give you credit for all the movement that automatically happens everyday.  Walking 2 miles registers at least 5000 steps and you can do that on your lunch break.  Then the rest of your day should add up to 10,000 or close to it.  My fitbit helps me to be conscious of my activity so that I park my car further from the store and put away a few more piles of laundry.  Give it some thought, I know you will be able to increase your activity level until 10,000 steps is no big deal.

[CLhaupt]

ike that I had only keeps trak of you're mph. If you ride at a rate of , you're highest level  and keep track of the time, I would say about 20 minutes will come out to about 4,000 steps , but I just go by miles and calories for say a half hour , about 300 or so

[beetea11]

Hi Tammie! 

First of all - congrats on getting a Fitbit and investing in your health! I suffer from the same condition you do (love food....dislike the idea of exercise). Not exactly the greatest combo when you're looking to slim down. I have a four year old at home and a job that demands a lot of my time (60+ hours a week) so finding the time to squeeze in those 10,000 steps is very daunting. What I love about Fitbit is that it gives you visibility of all the movement you do during the day, and seeing those blinking little dots helps me get my butt in gear when I am getting close to my step goal for the day.

Two bits of advice:

1. Don't be discouraged if you don't hit 10,000 every day to begin with. Things get in the way sometimes. You will find where you consistently hit every day, then just try and do a little more each day. Then its not such a shock to your system and will feel less uncomfortable.
2. Get some Fitbit friends (feel free to add me!). Seeing how my step goal ranks with others motivates my competitive side, and people are really great about cheering you or sending you encouraging messages when you are falling behind or need an extra push. 

Hope this helps. Good luck with your goal!!

[Mel_Linn]

I can completely relate to you. Between work, a young family, and my love for food, 10k steps daily is a lot! Sorry, but it is if you're not specifically going out and "gettting steps." I have made a few adjustments that may work for you. I know that when I get home from work, I will find other things to do besides exercise. So I work out during lunch. If that day is jammed pack with appointments, I will set myself up in the morning to take my breaks where I'll walk around my office, do air squats, calf raises, jumping jacks...etc. I used to feel a little silly doing that, but I quickly got over it. 🙂

As far as the bicycling, I encountered the same issue. I know I won't remember to put the effort in to tracking it manually, so I just started putting the tracker on my shoe. It's not perfect, but it's something. If you're good about it, yes, manually entering your activity will probably be more accurate.

Don't get down on not hitting the steps... use the tracker as a reminder to make healthier decisions throughout your day. Also, if it makes you feel any better, I started at 5k steps a day and gradually got up to 10k (give or take. ha). Welcome to the community!  

[TammieO]

Thanks to all who posted encouraging comments! I'm always a bit afraid that I'll get discouraged early and then quit (this has happened a few times). I was told by my Dr that I need to cut out carbs which is going to hurt since I LOVE bread! I work in an office that has free food and has alot of generally healthy selections but the dishes all seem to have carbs of some kind! Very frustrating! 
I'm wondering how long it's taken others to start to lose weight. I started Atkins last week and was great until this past weekend when I caved a little bit and had some couscous & a little taste of dessert.. Now my Dr is telling me that I need to stay with lean meats and low fat and I started out eating meat and cooking with butter. So I'm not sure if that confused the heck out of my metabolism! Anyhow, just hoping that I see some results sooner than later so I won't give up too easily.. Walked 5.5 miles on Sunday and another 2.5 yesterday (not looking tooo good for today since it's 44 degrees and raining here in NJ!) Still waiting for my fitbit to come in.. (seems like forever already!)

[Heybales]

You told the Dr you were going to do Atkins?

Then they said lean meats (understandable) and low fat?

Low fat when you have cut out vast majority of carbs?

And where exactly do rest of the calories come from?

Or perhaps low fat meant something different to him, you might confirm it means the same between both of you in the same context. But good luck if low fat and super low carb - that leaves protein as only macro to increase to be eating enough. I see days of chicken.

Yes, you should have dropped a bunch of water weight, anyone starting a diet drops some, doing Atkins you'll drop more. Unless already in a diet before weighing well.

Sadly it's water weight the body would have had to manage, which is increased metabolism - so you lose that extra daily free burn.

Just make sure it's sustainable for you, many fail on it because it's not.

Besides above, you aren't confusing your metabolism by changing what you eat. The energy needed to process your food doesn't change much unless you go from one extreme to the other, and that's not really metabolism anyway.