You know you're a Fitbit addict when...

[V1CK1]

• You pace the house to get to a particular figure before going to bed
• You sit down when recharging as you don't want to 'waste' any steps
• You park further away from the shops to gain extra steps

Moderator edit: format

[Marydu]

@Donna_K - Actually, I want them to start with a face lift! I asked my psychiatrist to write a prescription for one - that didn't work. In October, my orthopedic surgeon was appearing at two events to talk about joint replacement. I sent him a fax with a "deal" - if he would find a plastic surgeon (I specified a good one) and pay for my face lift - I would NOT show up where he was speaking with a sign saying I was one of his patients! I know he has a sense of humor, but his staff doesn't! I see him on the 6th and I bet they never showed him my "deal" - of course, the fact that I'm walking at all shows how great he is - I just wouldn't mention what kind of shape I was in when he started fixing me. He's supposed to laugh at my jokes and I'm sure he would if his staff showed it to him. Hummmm, think I'll bring along a copy. Anyway, I think the order you mentioned is the way to go - neck, back, knee. Neck surgery isn't bad - I'm just opposed to any procedure that starts off cutting my throat. Also, with my neck and back fixed, it might be enough to make my original knee last longer!! One foot in front of the other. Oh, I started again keeping track of my food and water. I was really good about that - then slacked off - but I'm back at it. I make up my own recipes - then sit down and figure out the calorie, etc content of the whole mess, then each portion. Keeps me busy and off the streets ("off the streets" in the bad [joking] way)!

[Donna_K]

@Marydu  You sound like me with your cooking!  Lunch was canned (drained) chicken 92 gm, dill relish 15 gm, light mayo 15 gm, red bell pepper 30 gm, black walnuts 10 gm, all mixed together for a salad.  Mini bagel, cup of coffee with  2 oz. whole milk.  ( I teasingly tell everyone I was never weaned-I like my milk too much!)  Calories were ~416, 29 grams protein, 20 grams fat, 30 grams carbs.  Being the spazoid that I am, I weigh each component and list them separately in the log.  I am a canned chicken addict!  I should start canning my own so I can leave the salt out.

Good eats!  I aim for 53 to 106 grams of protein per day no matter what!  That keeps me from binge eating as the protein keeps you fuller longer as it is slower to digest.  Sometimes I even use a bit of craisins in the chicken salad for a little extra flavor.  Try my little recipe, you might just like it!

[Marydu]

@Donna_K - printed and stole that recipe! I need to start keeping track of more than calories. As I've mentioned, I've had gastric bypass - 1993 - but I need to eat protein first and apparently, chocolate last - that just cannot be right! I'm not even sure how much protein a woman "who is older than a lot of folks" is supposed to take in daily. I start the day with a disgusting looking, but tasty drink - in my Nutra Bullet (all veggies are frozen - fresh stuff won't get eaten before it turns slimy) - I defrost: 4-5 broccoli florets, about 1/3 cup green beans, 1/3 cup edamame (counts as either a veggie or protein), about a cup of frozen mixed fruit (I put that in a strainer in the sink), small handful of walnuts, 4-6 cherry tomatoes (yes, you can freeze them - lay them out on a cookie sheet - stick in freezer until rock hard - then toss in a baggie - useful this way, or to add to soups or stews, NOT for regular eating - freezing makes them a tad bit mushy), when I get ready to make my drink - throw all that in, plus 1 cup of children's apple juice (has less sugar), apx 2/3 cup of water, 1/2 container of low fat vanilla greek yogurt and a handful of fresh spinach (or kale - something green - the darker the better). It looks disgusting, but tastes good - it now makes 2 glasses of the stuff. Remember, as you drink, CHEW!! Easy on the craisins or raisins - they taste good for a reason - high in sugar!! I've started a 3-ring notebook with my creations. I end up making so much and can eat so little - so I portion it out and freeze it - yes, I finally learned to label the stuff! Hummmmm, I can stuff, I'll look into canning cooked chicken (canning as in jars, not real cans). I'll then sell it to you!! It's 3:30 a.m., way too dark out for me to walk - yet. Remember, folks, one foot in front of the other, repeat!!

[Donna_K]

@Marydu  I've done some reading and the recommended protein intake and for those 65 and over you need between 1 and 1.2 grams of protein per Kg per day.  2.2 lbs equals 1 KG and you can do the math.  That is your target amount to aim for to maintain muscle mass according to Mayo Clinic.  Read more in the link below:  http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-blog/seniors-beef-it...

I'm working (and quite well I might add) to lose weight so I'm following 0,8 to 1.6 grams per Kg of desired body weight while aiming for 1200 calories/day.  That translates into 53 to 106 grams of protein per day to get me to 135 without losing muscle mass.  I find it really easy to get this in, but tracking it helps a lot.  A can of chicken is 25 grams and I do love my chicken, but the commercially prepared chicken in the can is higher in sodium than I like.  Never have been one to use much salt anyway.  Oh yeah, I do know how to can chicken.  What country girl born in the 50's doesn't learn how to can everything in sight?

Oh yeah, my nails are loving the protein, I swear they are harder than they used to be and I'm just eating regular food.   I positively refuse to consider Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers as I am doing just fine on my own.  Past experience watching others tells me that once a person arrives at their weight goal, they tend to revert back to their old eating habits and the weight just comes back, go figure.  I am determined to make this a lifestyle change for life, so it will be an ongoing learning process.  Once I arrive at my target weight, yes, I can relax things a bit, but only perhaps a few calories more per day.  My Fitbit(s) will keep me in line on that.  I expect I will be logging my food indefinitely-at least for the foreseeable future that is.  My kitchen scale LIVES in my food prep area, not up in a cupboard and I always use it no matter what.  I do allow myself two "cheat" meals but within reason per week based on other reading.  That helps keep me in line the rest of the time.  It is easier to do this than people make it out to be but it needs to be a lifetime committment, that's for certain.

If you need help with the calculation, send me a private message and I will help you.  The manner in which the article suggests doing the calculation is confusing at best.  As an RN, I can easily do the calculation for you as I've worked with metric for 40+ years!  Yikes!  I'm OLD!!! LOL!

[Marydu]

@Donna_K - Yikes, we are too much alike - one of us should be scared. I am in denial about my age - I listen to the same stuff I listened to in high school - still have all my 45's and LP's and then got all the stuff on CD's. I started dieting when I was about 9 or 10 - the dreaded egg and grapefruit diet. I paid a fortune to Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, etc. When I lived in Alaska, some guy (said he was a doctor) would rent a hotel (motel) room, I would pay him $100 (which at the time was a fortune) - he put me on a 500 calorie a day diet, and gave me stuff to inject myself with daily. I don't even know if he was licensed to practice medicine in Alaska or anywhere else for that matter. In 1993 I had gastric bypass. In those days all you needed was insurance approval - I went to NO classes, had no idea about what to eat, what to avoid, plus I was a world class alcoholic and gastric bypass only made me switch from lite beer to rum or vodka - didn't miss a beat! Diets will never work. They are "self limiting" - you lose the weight, go back to the way you (not you, you, but whoever) were eating and, surprise, the weight comes back and brings friends!! Changing your life style is the only way to take it off and keep it off. Don't call eating stuff "cheating" - if you don't give yourself a tiny bit, now and then, you'll never make it. You have to allow for holidays, treats, etc. You still have to live your life and enjoy it. Food is not the "end all - be all of the world" stuff. I can remember when I was about 12 (I had made fudge) thinking I had to eat it all, there would never be any of it around anywhere, again, ever - so I did. If you take in a touch too much of something - hit the road - one foot in front of the other, repeat. I lost weight so fast after the gastric bypass - just wish I had done some type of exercise - walk - anything. I had the first back surgery in 1990. In 1993 the doctor said I needed a second back surgery. I asked him, what if I lost a whole bunch of weight - would that help my back (duh). It did help - for a while. I got to wait until November of 2004 for the 2nd back, then November of 2006 for the 3rd. For a change of pace, in February of 2007 had a neck surgery, then March 2008 had the 4th back surgery. I did different interesting stuff until June of 2011 when I started on hips - got a new left hip, July 2011 dislocated said new hip, August dislocated it again, September again, October two more dislocations, then October 19, 2011 a different doctor did a left hip revision. That was fun, so April 2012 I got a new right hip. Then August of 2013 dislocated the new right one - went through 3 dislocations before they figured out that both hips were infected plus I had a fungus growing in the fake right hip. I spent 2014 having 4 hip surgeries, spending entirely too much time in nursing homes. Those places are full of mean, I mean really, really mean old women in wheelchairs! My surgeon told me he had never had a patient like me (I am special, of course), the physical therapist at the nursing home wasn't too sure what to do with me either. I spent most of the time working on upper body strength - since apparently my hips and back aren't being helpful. As I result, I can haul myself around with my arms, if necessary. I know I'll end up with a 5th back surgery - I see the surgeon on December 6 - then they'll do tests (MRI or CT - can't remember which) - anyway, since every step has to have insurance company approval first - I figure they can't do it until late January or early February. I need a 2nd neck and apparently a new right knee. Like I said before, after surgery, they get you out of bed right away. One of the hip surgeries - they operated at 7:30 a.m., and I was in the physical therapy session at 3:00 that afternoon! I am going to insist that before my feet touch the floor, I want my Alta on!! No Fitbit - no walking!! I send messages on my regular desktop computer - I try to find you on my cell - that could take a while...........

[Marydu]

@Donna_K - I printed the article. I'll try using Google for the higher math stuff.............thanks!

[Birkenhead]

Jomac, you are so right!!  I have a German Shepherd who can't get enough outdoor life, but sometimes when the leash is pulled out she just looks at me as if saying "can't we just go for a car ride?"  I also get steps with my cats by playing chase.  Needless to say, my husband says I'm wearing him out 🙂

[SantiR]

You know you are a Fitbit addict when you keep running and running and running and all of a sudden you realize your dog is not keeping the pace with you and he is so tired he can't run anymore!  That actually happened to me a couple of days ago haha

[Sheila_L]

Donna,

Thanks for your message.  I recently lost alot of weight due to stress and have been feeling kind of weak.  This reminded me to eat more protein.  I hope this helps.

[SunsetRunner]

You know you're a Fitbit addict when you start using the downstairs toilet in work just to build up the steps on your watch.

[MaryVE]

Does acquiring 3 fitbits during the last 12 months qualify me as a fitbit addict?  I think it must.  LOL!

[SunsetRunner]

@MaryVE

No.  That would be a shopaholic... 

[WendyB]

@MaryVEI say yes it does.

I have 5 and wear 3 at a time.

[SunsetRunner]

@WendyB

You must have tan lines on that arm which look like a pedestrian crossing 

[WendyB]

@SunsetRunner no wear them on different arms. LOL. Other is a one and not seen 🙂

[Rich_Laue]

When you put one Fitbit on its charger then replace it with a second or third tracker so you don't lose any steps. 

[Birkenhead]

Or walk across the house to use the furthest bathroom while walking the entire perimeter of rooms/areas you walk through 🙂

[DanielleinDC]

I'm clearly an amateur, as I only have one--my Alta.

[Donna_K]

@Sheila_L  Another thing that may help is take a look at your protein/fat/carb breakdown when you log food here on Fitbit.  I find that the days that the carbs are higher (don't ask me how much, just that I know it's higher than normal) that I am sluggish and want to take a nap after eating.  That to my way of thinking is counter productive to trying to maintain a decent calorie burn.  So I am trying (limited success here) to when I feel like I really could take a nap is to get up and MOVE!  Ten minute walks at a reasonably brisk pace leave me with energy to burn and the nap is no longer needed.  I also eat at goofy hours, like breakfast is often at noon, lunch at 5 PM and dinner whenever I get around to it.  But then I stay up until 3 AM most of the time anyway, so I guess that's my norm LOL.

Keep posting here and all of us try to help each other.  @Marydu is a hoot and I love her posts.  Plus I really need to try that crazy mixture that she makes for a shake.  It sounds interesting to say the least, but I probably want to get a Nutribullet first so I don't end up making a gallon of the stuff at a time as is something I would be inclined to do.  You know.......if there is still room in the blender, I'm just gonna add more stuff.  Ya think?

[Donna_K]

@DanielleinDC@WendyB@Marydu

Ok gang, time for true confessions on my part.  I have been so very bad of late.  But to give my Fitbit credit, my weight has fluctuated UP only 2 lbs.  I would like to blame that on fluid retention, but that would be lying only to myself.  So here goes nothing...

I fell off the curve with my eating of late and I will admit it but in the past 48 hours have reset my resolve with and for a couple of reasons.  First, the Black Friday sale on Fitbits FORCED (ha!) me to order a Fitbit ONE (I have an Alta obviously).  I had noticed that with the 50 to 52 lb weight loss that stairs are although still a bother to my knee, they are less so.  So with that in mind, I'm going to start adding a few flights of stairs to my daily walks.  I live in a 3 story apartment building and on days it is too miserable to walk outside, I have an excuse to use the stairs to go UP to a community area that I can do walking laps in (at odd hours of course or my neighbors would think me weirder than I already am!).  Anyway, I want to be able to count those stairs and since the ONE was a great price, I now wear it AND my Alta beginning yesterday.  

The second reason is that my brother's 40th wedding anniversary celebration is coming up on March 11th.  I intend to go weighing less than I do now which will shock the hell out of everyone as I've not seen them in a number of years.  My sister is 2 inches shorter than I am and currently I weigh 5 lbs more than she does.  She's a Fitbitter too, but rather lackadasical about it.  She doesn't know that our weights are that close-or maybe she does and doesn't believe that I'm that serious about this.

Anyway, to reach my upper weight target of 135, I have 32 lbs more to go.  Yes, at 213 lbs on a 5' 3" frame and 63 years of age, I was a real porker.  That was in August of 2015.  I'm currently hovering around 170-172.  I don't expect to lose 32 lbs by March 11th, but realistically will strive for a minimum of a pound a week, more would certainly be acceptable!   So to help me stay motivated, I would encourage any or all of you to friend me here on Fitbit as I really need to hit a minimum of 10 to 15 K per day to reach this goal.  I got it yesterday as that is the beginning of getting back on the wagon and it simply has to happen.  No more excuses, and no more waffle cookies at 150 calories each!!!

NONE of my clothes fit anymore.  I put on a pair of capri's this morning that I was in hopes to wear today but they are so baggy they are now in the trash!!  I'm at that point where I don't want to spend a lot on clothes as I know more weight to come off means more things have to be replaced.  But I also have literally nothing in my closet at the moment which breaks my heart.  NOT!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL!!!!!!!