Thanks for all the nice feedback! I was hoping our story would help inspire people to see what they can do if they set their minds to it. And by the way Kristi-schw - if printing pictures helps keep you motivated, go for it! I've got our pictures hanging on my desk at work.
To answer your question Charlibets: We all exercise over and above our steps. AND we all average over 10k steps per day.
Louise (the one in the middle and the one with MS), averages 23k steps per day. She rides her bike almost daily - and a short ride for her is 10 miles.
Barbara walks like a fiend - her average right now is 14k and goes WAY up in the summer time when she's not working. She does the occasional trip to the gym (and is planning to increase the frequency of her gym trips since she's on a plateau at the moment)
My average is also 14k per day and I do an amazing workout called "The Bar Method". (www.thebarmethod.com - checkout the new online option if there isn't a studio near you - I highly recommend it!). I also mix it up with a rebounder, Zumba, Wii Fit. I have a short attention span.
The key is using everything available to you: Make the most of your FitBit tools - I recommend signing up for the Premium features, if you haven't already, so that you can use the Trainer - and then actually USE the trainer - let it push you to burn more calories every week.
I started logging my food about a month after getting my FitBit. I expected that to last no more than a week but have found it to be soooooo valuable that I've kept it up for a year. Being able to see your calories in vs. calories burned is a very powerful tool for helping make "grown up" decisions. We all say that our FitBit helps us make the choices we always knew we should be making.
I had knee surgery last July and was pretty much off my feet for over a month, but still managed to maintain my weight during that time thanks to the FitBit tools that helped me monitor my calories.
I wear a heart rate monitor when I'm doing any exercise other than walking so I can log accurate calories burned. I tend to overestimate calories eaten and underestimate calories burned in order to keep from cheating myself.
Oh, and I have the Aria scale which I find also keeps me honest because I can't "conveniently" transpose numbers when logging my weight.
Logging your measurements along with your weight has also been helpful as there are times when the scale isn't moving but the waistline is... It helps to keep me upbeat as this is a long term process.
And MOST IMPORTANT: Having a group of friends who are supportive and are working through this with me has made all of the difference in the world!!! (And a little healthy competition doesn't hurt!)
I've had several friends buy FitBits and then wonder why they're not losing weight. It's not a magic pill. It doesn't do the work - you do. It's just a tool, but it's a very powerful tool if you're willing to make the effort to use it.
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