About Esya

@ShaneGraves Congratz on the weight loss and glad to see you are doing so well. ... View more

@ShaneGraves How is it to watch that back for you? ... View more

@A_Lurker@Dominique   My schedule that I aim for looks like this:   Every day: getting atleast 10K steps in   Monday: 2x 12 min (3.7 km) bike commute; 20 min yoga at home Tuesday: 2x 12 min (3.7 km) bike commute; 20 min yoga at home (depending on how my muscles feel, otherwise I skip the yoga) Wednesday: 2x 12 min (3.7 km) bike commute; 1 hour yoga class at studio Thursday: rest day Friday: 2x 12 min (3.7 km) bike commute; 20 min yoga at home Saturday: rest day Sunday: 1 hour yoga class at studio ... View more

@repcosy While the study might sound like it is about 15000 steps, it really is about spending less time sitting down. Sitting long times in one go really increases certain risks. So try to limit that where you can by getting up often for a moment, as that is way more important than the step count. ... View more

@lomoswiss Good for you for making an appointment to put those concerns to rest. Although to me a heart rate dropping below 60 does not sound alarming (mine is below 60 during rest) if you are not feeling dizzy, fatigued or have other complaints it is always good to visit a doctor when concerned. Having those concerns at the back of your mind all the time is very draining. ... View more

@lpisarski Your palate will change over time as well by eating them, making them taste better than they do now for you. It might take some time, but if you can stick to it you will learn to love them. ... View more

@Mukluk4 While that might be true for our fitness level, there are benefits from being up and moving over sitting down. In that sense 15000 steps walking > 6000 steps running. Benefits are decreased risk for heart diseases, decreased risk for diabetics and a better functioning lymph system to just name a few. They are still investigating how it decreases the risk for heart disease and diabetics, but they believe it has to do with changes in metabolism. Even if we have an active lifestyle with sports, but were to sit still for long durations during other times of the day, this will increase those risks. Our health is more than just our fitness level, even more than just our physical health. ... View more

@Zaza84 Seeing you are so overwhelmed and prone to overthinking, I would also like to suggest to start a journal. You could write your motivation (doing it for your daughter) on the first page. Then you could write down for each week (or whatever time frame) what your goals are for that week. Whenever you feel you are overwhelmed again, you can pick up your journal and stick to the plan you created for yourself. ... View more

@Zaza84 Good for you for facing that dreaded messy cupboard. Just realise that dreaded messy cupboard does not need to be cleaned up in one go or one day. There must be 1 item in that cupboard that is the easiest to start with to put away and by doing so you make it easier to do the next and the next. Take your time for it.   I would suggest to start with the thing that seems to be the easiest for you to do and maintain. Whether that is food or exercise or getting some extra steps in. Soon you can add the next thing. It might not be the best thing for fast progress, but it is better to make a small change that you can implement and keep up to create a new lifestyle than to go for fast progress now and not be able to keep it up.   When I started I just made small changes too. Here are a few of the things that I did when I was new to this (about 2 years ago when I was your age):   - Trying to limit added/refined sugar as much as possible. For me this was learning to drink tea without sugar and to replace other drinks with water. Also not going to congratulate colleagues on their birthday as there would be cake and at that moment I was not yet strong enough to refuse the cake if it was in front of me. I would congratulate them outside the cake event in the hallway. - Get up every hour and move for a bit. I have a desk job and sitting long times on end without getting up really increases the risk for heart disease. I made it a point to get it into my habits to get up every hour. That did not happen at once. - Logging the amount of water you drink and hit the daily goal.   While you get used to a few changes you can educate yourself on nutrition in the meantime and see where you can make easy changes to your diet. Maybe start by replacing your breakfast after you got used to the first few changes.   Try not to focus on the big end goal that is very daunting. Hardly anyone can keep that up. Instead we create mini goals that we can meet in a week or two. Anything can count as a goal (like drinking enough water). Before you know it you have 4-5 mini goals going at once without much trouble to meet those. ... View more

@Zaza84 You could also get the app already. It might not register your steps and sleep without a FitBit device, but you could log your water intake for example as that might be another easy change to make. And as @Dominique suggested you can log your food. Then if and when you decide to get a tracker you are already more familiar with the app. ... View more

My friend in the kitchen is garlic. It will make taste anything better for me and you can add it to anything. ... View more

@Zaza84 While the FitBit is a great tool, it is still going to be you who is going to put the work in. There is no changing that. And yes, taking those small steps every day will make a difference.   I feel you are overwhelmed by it all? If so try to make small changes that you can maintain and get comfortable with those and then change the next thing. This way you can build a lifestyle that will last instead of going all in at once and not being able to keep it up. It also makes every next step that much easier to take. Health is more than just steps, it is also exercise and diet. It is going to take time and it is easier if you can ease into it than to go full in. Start making small changes by seeing where you can easily cut out sugar in your diet or where you can get some extra steps in and start from there. Next month you can add some more small changes.   You don't need a FitBit to start making changes, so maybe try making changes before buying one? The forums are open and available to everyone and very motivating and a great place for information. ... View more

@Dominique That is not likely to happen, but I will dream big!   @TurquoiseTurtle Thank you ... View more

@USAF-Larry I love to use coconut oil too! I think it is good to use a few different fats so you benefit from each. Coconut oil is another healthy one. Variety makes a healthy diet in my opinion. ... View more

Most fats are as high in calories and olive oil is a healthy fat. Next to that you don't want to get too little fat as it regulates a lot in your body like hormones and plays a role in a healthy diet. As @Bhuvana pointed out, use it in moderation. Measure it out per table spoon. We should not fear fat like we should fear added/refined sugars. ... View more

@Dominique I did not expect for it to work this well either. Might be because it is the first time I am putting my body through this, so there is a lot of room for improvement. Like weight loss it is easier to lose fast when you have a lot to lose and it gets harder closer to the goal. I am curious to see how far it is going to continue with my current lifestyle ... View more

I agree with @MarciM. Better to start with small changes that you get comfortable with and can maintain before changing too much and not being able to sustain it in the long run. That is how I did. I just started with cutting out added/refined sugar where I could. That was my first step. Replacing parts of my drinks with water. Now my eating style has changed a lot, but it happened gradually over a longer period of time (few years). ... View more

The stronger your muscles get the more pain free you should become. It is a great attitude you have, just keep the limits of your body in mind. ... View more

@davidallan Ooh nice, I hope we get it for iPhone too 🙂 . ... View more

Well done! ... View more

@Mithras Thanks for the update. When you try to cut again make sure to keep eating plenty of fiber. And maybe pick a day to try that chicken again to test if it really has anything to do with it. ... View more

@vineviz That is correct and proven in other studies. That is why I got myself a fitness tracker to begin with a few years ago and what I used it for mainly for a long time to create new habits in that regard (have not been getting to 10K steps until recently). I have a desk job and wanted that hourly reminder to get me up for a few minutes. It is mostly sitting down long times without getting up that increases the risk a lot. ... View more

I also need to give a shout out to @Dominique, as you motivate me a lot and I learned a lot from you. ... View more

I think it is important to move and the more we move the better. Not all activities are step based though. In the end our health is a combination of steps, other exercises and diet. The fact those mail carriers have normal body mass indexes, waistlines and metabolic profiles does not come from the steps they take alone. By focusing only on the step count we lose the bigger picture out of sight. The recommendation is there as walking is the easiest and free exercise anyone can do and I think it is meant as a lower limit recommendation while more is better. ... View more

@WendyB@almost_where@Bhuvana Thank you all for the kind words . ... View more

@skylineg35 The FitBit is a fitness tracker, not a pedometer (and not all of them have a HR monitor). It will pick up some false steps and miss out some steps you did take. All fitness trackers do. It might be off by a few 100 steps, but that will be the same every day and has very little impact on the total number of steps per day. And with any system people will find ways to cheat. ... View more

As suggested by @Dominique go on for a little while (4 weeks) to see how things turn out for you. I would just like to add that for weight tracking you can create a free account at trendweight. It is a very helpful tool to see how your weight is trending and you can login using your FitBit account. ... View more

@sdahalkar I do the same when doing laundry 😄 . ... View more

@betpchem Yes, that one works 🙂 . ... View more

@Dominique I typically weight less when I weight myself after showering (tried for fun a few times). I guess I am so active in the shower I burn some fat 😉 . ... View more

Might be the water absorbed by your skin and hair. But that is as much a guess as yours. ... View more

@betpchem That website does not work for me. Comes up with a 404 error. ... View more

Just be prepared that your body might go into a detox when you go cold turkey with sugar. You can give it a try, but if it is too much (it can get pretty bad with headaches) cutting down sugar slowly is the better option for you. ... View more

Maybe it was that one then, as it happened long time ago and I might not recall it correctly. I just heard about it as it was one of those weird deaths.   And yes, what some will do to win a prize 😞 . But also what we are capable of when we put our mind on something! ... View more

I think there are some great tips in this post. ... View more