Congratulations on the wedding!
busdriver and deb, sorry to hear about the issues. Hope things turn out well.
Tomorrow I start teaching summer school (I will be teaching ESL students, which will be new-ish to me!) and I have my first 5k of the next three weeks. I’ve been struggling to get to three miles without walking in this heat and humidity, so I’m very nervous. I’m sure I’ll also be tired from the first day with students!
My big focus this week is to shift to healthier lunches. Summer school is over at 12:45 (and I’m sure with this being the first week, I’ll be there longer), so my “lunch” is from about 10:30-11. I plan on bringing more of a larger snack to eat at that time, and then coming home to cook a light lunch, like a sandwich with a side of fruit. Plus WATER.
I feel like I have the exercise part down. As I have been telling myself forever, it’s the food and soda. My goal is to be done with soda before the new school year starts.
I am spending my afternoon doing meal prep - I come home at lunch every day to exercise the dogs a bit and eat. One of the problems I have is that I find myself eating mindlessly whatever is left over - so it’s not necessarily balanced. Hopefully prepping ahead will solve some of that. I love things like bowls but often overdo it on the grain portion - need to get back into measuring precisely.
Nothing wrong with walking, nahnah - especially in the kind of weather we’ve been having! And while I wish I could be done with soda, I still have the occasional one as a “treat”. Good luck with your race - hope it’s not too hot!
Bunsen, my Fitbit died while we were on vacation. Sadly, we were doing a lot of walking - all those missed steps! I was able to lose 4 pounds though - just shy of that 5 pound party!
Sabaray, my fitbit also just failed (not actually dead but totally unreliable, needing resets constantly, only tracking about half of my steps) during a week when I have been extremely active. It feels weirdly distressing not to get credit for those steps!
I am going to try more troubleshooting but I think I might be done with this fitbit. It is a charge HR and has stopped recording my heartrate, the band is coming apart, and besides that, I have never been happy with how hard it is to read the display outside in the sunshine. I am not sure what to get instead.
I feel your pain, sabaray. Congrats on your almost 5! I am tracking my steps vicariously through Mr’s Fitbit. We are getting close to 20,000 steps a day with all this moving, not counting the 8 hours or so I sit on my butt daily!
Nahnah, I know it is really strange having your lunch at 10:30! Teachers’ schedules can be so odd. I find that on short days, I have to plan that snack/lunch/brunch very strategically in order to get through the day and still have energy to prep or clean up at the end of the day. I would actually try to eat more lunch type foods then–get the protein and veggies in early in the day. I see other teachers who basically skip eating if lunch is that early, but it doesn’t work for me, and if I eat my snack first, somehow I tend to need more snacks. Part of it for me is that feeling of being half way through the work day. It’s connected to the classes more than the clock.
My Fitbit was 18 months old and this is the first trouble I’d had with it - it too was the Charge HR. I am actually thinking of going with one of the Garmin products - or possibly an iWatch. I’ve wanted one for so long for a variety of reasons and now might be the time. I agree - the Charge is difficult to read. Honestly though - I was getting a little obsessed with it so it’s good to have a little break. I’m pretty sure I’m still getting those steps in.
Today’s meal prep includes a lentil and cauliflower “couscous” salad from Run Fast, Eat Slow. Mr. Sabaray had requested it some time ago but I never got around to making it. Wild salmon for dinner - cooked in butter and dill. Delicious, and good fat!
My fitbit was also about the same age–a Christmas gift last year. I would not even have started using it if my mom hadn’t given it to me. I think it was really good while I was working because I could get motivated to move around more during the day and then also push myself to do a run/walk outing at the end of the day a few times a week…but part of the appeal was that I could read the display indoors at work and use it as a watch! Now that I am outside more, I can’t stand that part. Today the iphone says I went 3.6 miles and 8099 steps on my dog walk/run, but the fitbit only thinks it was 2.2 miles and 4273 steps! I know from the map that the phone’s tally is much more accurate.
I am thinking about just using the phone for now with some app like track my run or something.
But I liked the HR when it would track my heart rate (even if not 100% accurately) to give me some idea of the exertion level. I found that somewhat motivating.
Really not sure if I need anything as fancy as the Garmin or the iWatch. (But what do we mean by “need”?) I do kind of like the heart rate part and I hate trying to calculate it by taking my pulse.
I have always felt the Fitbit was more accurate than the iPhone health app. My Fitbit daily goal is 11K. Usually no problem. If I leave on a run and I’m at 9k, I can almost predict when my Fitbit will go off with the fireworks for goal met knowing where one mile down the trail is.
That’s an awful big difference between 3.6 miles and 2.2 miles. However a mile (for me anyway) is around 2K steps. So your miles to steps ratio seems pretty accurate.
My FitBit is also very close to 2000 steps for a mile. However, it seems to be less on my longer runs- I.e running 20 miles yields a lot less than 20000 steps for some reason. Not sure why. I do wear it on my right arm instead of my left when I run, since I wear my Garmin on the left, but I don’t know what real difference that would make.
Next weekend, we are moving my Precor to House2. The damn thing weighs 300 pounds, so we’ve enlisted the help of our friend, a national level swimmer/triathlon guy. 
He has some serious muscle! The Precor lived in our office/makeshift gym since the beginning of this thread. Now we have a real exercise room in House2 basement! Yay. I will have to grill some serious steak dinner as a token of appreciation.
Gosh Bunsen, you should have let us know you needed help moving - we could have taken a field trip!
nahnah, hoping you get a break in the weather like we got this morning.
7.1 miles this morning. Getting my speed back a little bit. Felt pretty good.
BB, so great to hear the progress on the new house. Are you more in house #1 or house #2?
Thanks all! You are my virtual help. Keep checking in with my support team to keep my cool here. We are like electrons - delocalized for now.
With all the FitBit talk, I’ll just add a “ditto” I really use mine to remind me I’m being lazy and I need to get up!
First race was tonight. I believe it was 88 degrees (felt like 90s, my car showed 98) and humid. Probably my worst 5k time, but it was a blast! It is a cul-de-sac race (we’ll do the route again the next two Mondays) and there were lots of people out on their lawns cheering us on and spraying their hoses. Lots of high fives from little kids. My goal is to try to improve each of the next two. It’s a humbling race though. Very small, so most of the people are fast. I was definitely in the back with my time of 35:11.
Hope everyone’s had a great Monday!
Way to go Nahnah just getting er done in that heat - fun on top to boot!
Great job in tough conditions, nahnah! I would have stayed home!
Great job nahnah!
I love my Fitbit- it’s the second one I have owned as the band just randomly separated from the monitor and fell off last fall. I called the company and they sent an Alta - free. Of course last week I lost my Alta charger and had to order a new one. First one H ordered was the wrong type, so I was without Fibit for 3 days. I really missed it.
Unfortunately some of the posts on the “buddy” thread are viewed in a negative way when posters try to point out inaccurate information. I would think folks would want honest advice to eventually move them off a diet mentality into a healthy lifestyle that can sustain a weight that enables an active life as they age into their 70s/80s/90s/100s.
While some may view a daily focus of 1-2 hours of fitness as “hardcore”, most posters on here view it as a lifestyle that must be maintained if they want to be ACTIVE in their later years. Part of being a “hardcore” is pointing out inaccurate information that might be old school methods, internet hype or wishful thinking.
The reason that this thread has survived over a number of years is because most posters realize that fads don’t work. They want positivity but also want a coach (not a cheerleader) that calls them out when doing/posting something wrong. Otherwise you don’t improve, you get injured, go backwards, etc. I don’t want my ears tickled if I’m doing something wrong.
I just ordered the Fitbit Blaze during Amazon prime day, thanks to a tip from @abasket. Nice to have friends looking out for you! $60 off. Woohoo!