I apologize for being M.I.A. the past couple of days. I went out of town to visit back home, which is a 4 hour drive for us. Its always enjoyable to see family and friends, but when there isn’t a holiday or an extended weekend it takes a lot out of me. I attempted to post last night before bed, but decided against it. If I had, there’s no telling what I would have typed up in my half comatose state. Since beginning my quest for healthy living I’m always trying to find the right tool or practice that will keep me motivated. Whether its been doing the free online weight watchers on and off or the MyFitnessPal app.  This year I gave some very subtle hints (by that I mean not subtle at all) that I wanted a Fit Bit Charge for Christmas. Low and behold, that’s exactly what I got. I was more excited than our 21 month old on Christmas day, which isn’t actually saying much because he had not quite grasped the concept of the day yet. I hastily, opened the box and began fiddling with it. I installed the app, put all my information in, and linked it with my MyFitnessPal app. I was ready to go out and concur weight loss.

For a couple of weeks it was bliss. I’d enter my workouts and on a day I was teaching PE I’d already have a 300 calorie exercise credit on my account by lunch. Then I’d go do my actual workout and have even more. I’d occasionally check a forum or put in a search for a problem, such as how to turn on the call notifications. I really like that feature, because while I was at work I could check phone calls just in case of an emergency call from my husband or daycare without taking my phone out in front of students. Once I found that answer to my question, I would read on to see what others thought of the product. It actually had some pretty mixed reviews. I wasn’t prepared to see this. I thought having a fit bit put me up there with serious fitness addicts, that it was the golden standard. I also started wondering if I should have waited to be able to afford the Fit Bit Surge or a Samsung Galaxy smartwatch. The smartwatches incorporate more than just fitness, it kind of a less than pocket sized computer. I knew could not get a new watch because it would be like telling my husband I didn’t want his Christmas Gift.

Another issue that I was having, was not losing weight. I wondered if the numbers from the fit bit were accurate. Whether they were accurate or not, the Fit Bit kind of indirectly encouraged me to overeat. I’d have like 1000 extra calories by the end of the day. That would then make me decided “Oh, I can have a couple of cookies.” Then I couple of cookies turn into an entire sleeve and my 1000 calorie surplus turns into a 300 calorie deficit. So, while the Fit Bit encourages me to increase my activity level, it also encourages binge eating, for me. Has anybody else experienced this dilemma? So I’m having to make a decision. Do I not eat to make up for the extra calories and just lose weight quicker? If I do that will having 1000+ calories extra put my body in starvation mode meaning that I could end up gaining weight? I feel as a health and fitness expert of sorts, I should have everything figured out. But even people who went to college for this, like myself, don’t have all the answers.

My decision at this point is to be smarter about my choices. I know that I can’t just eat 2 cookies, so if I have a huge calorie surplus eat something healthy to feel those calories, like a smoothie with almond butter. The healthy fat will give enough calories but not encourage binge eating. I can also “bank” those calories for the weekend when I know I’ll being eating more and getting less activity from not walking around at work all day and eating out while running errands. As far as wanted another device, I’ve decided to use my Fit Bit, because that’s what I wanted and I do enjoy it. When it breaks, or becomes VERY obsolete I’ll replace it with my upgrade at that point. So I guess I do have some of the answers. Now I just have to use my common sense and will power to follow through.