Do I replace my Fitbit?

So...my Fitbit died over the weekend. After owning it for only two months.

Needless to say, I'm not impressed.

I won't be buying a new one. From the looks of it, it's not really worth it to bug customer service about getting a replacement, either. They seem to be good about that, but the short life on it seems to be endemic to the brand. I'd rather not go through a cycle of having to get a new one every couple months.

Is it worth it to look at other monitors? I don't know. Do you have one you like?

Keep going

I'm forcing myself to remember this today. Last night at the gym, I added more weight to half the machines I use because they were getting too easy. This morning, I am more sore than I have been in weeks, with a killer headache to top it all off. My first instinct is to skip going to the gym tonight, even though it's a cardio night, but rather than make that decision now, I'm going to plow through the day and evaluate how I feel after dinner.

Right now, however, I'm going to get coffee, ibuprofen, and put this on a sticky on the corner of my laptop so I don't forget it today.

Strength Training

Exercise and I are not friends. We never have been. I never get the endorphin rush, it exhausts me no matter how in shape I am, and I look like a boiled lobster within five minutes of starting.

None of that is an exaggeration.

However, I've had increasing issues with osteoarthritis in my hips in the past couple years. It got diagnosed four years ago, after nearly a decade of problems that I ignored, and that year, I went and lost almost sixty pounds in an effort to hold off on the pain. That worked really well until I had foot surgery two years later. It's gotten progressively worse since then (though my foot is so much better, thank goodness), which meant that since it hurt to move, the weight came back. More weight added more pressure. It's a deadly cycle.

In December, I knew I had to do something about it. Something more aggressive. No more slacking. No more excuses. I'm only in my forties, and I am far too young to just shut off a big part of my life. Instead of just trying to lose weight, however, I needed to strengthen all my muscles to support the joints better. I talked to my family, and we decided to up our membership to the gym to include all of us and turn it into more of a group effort. That way, there's always somebody in the house to support you.

We started going just before the new year. I can't do treadmills--the impact on my hips makes it hurt too much, counteracting whatever benefits I might get--but ellipticals are perfect. I added in weight machines on my lower body--extensions, abductors, adductors, etc.--while at home, I started daily squats and some basic core strengthening exercises like hip crossovers. I started very small. On the at-home exercises, I was more interested in making sure it became a habit first rather than looking for results, so I started with just five while I figured out when was the perfect time of the day for me to do them to ensure they happened. Those numbers increased as the past month progressed, as did my weights at the gym.

Frankly, I'm shocked at the results so far. 

Though I've lost what I'd gained since we renewed our wedding vows in Vegas in October, I'm not obsessed with the scale. My metric for success is pain. Where before I measured a good day by not having to take any ibuprofen just to suffer through, it's different now. I have more good days than bad, and I've only had to take painkillers once (on Sunday, in fact, because Saturday night I couldn't get to the elliptical I wanted and spent time on a treadmill, big mistake, and since I knew I would be walking around San Francisco for hours, ibuprofen was on the menu). This is such a win for me, it's not even funny. I knew exercising would help osteoarthritis--just being on the elliptical earned me a few hours of no pain before--but I didn't anticipate such swift results when I added strength training. I have whole days where I don't even feel a twinge. Know why that's such a big deal?

That hasn't happened to me in well over fifteen months. Even on a good day, there would be twinges, or I'd step slightly differently and my leg would go out from under me.

Needless to say, I'm not giving this up. It's giving me my life back. I still hate exercise, but damn if I don't love the results.

My new Fitbit

I caved to what all my friends are doing. I bought myself a Fitbit.

Spending so much time on the computer means I have to force myself to move sometimes, and I'm hoping this is going to help. After talking to everyone and getting their insight, I ended up getting the basic zip one. I don't need a device to tell me how I'm sleeping. I know that all too well.

I'm on day one, so it's too early for me to have much of an opinion except that the hardest part so far was putting the thing together. I ended up passing over all five pieces to my husband (the holder, the device, the battery, a black thing that ended up being to open the back of the device, and the clear plastic piece that it came in), and making him put it together. I'm curious about your experiences, though. Who's had success with a Fitbit? Who's had frustrations? Share!

Adding in exercise

Last night's big achievement: I went to the gym.

Exciting, huh? It makes it sound like I didn't start that yoga class there or or had some weird phobia about sweat and jocks in public or something. But since we got back from Florida - where I managed to eat half the state - I've known I had to add regular exercise into my schedule if I wanted to affect real change. Walking the dog isn't going to cut it, because a) we're entering winter which means a lot of rain and I don't walk in the rain if it's not in Scotland or I'm paying for an experience I want to get the most of, and b) I get caught up in the work during the day so don't always get her out then.

So if I have to do exercise in the evening, and I'm paying for my membership anyway, I decided to go back to working machines at the gym. Last night was the treadmill, which I haven't done since my foot surgery last January. Done plenty of walking, sure, but not this. I like it at night because it's not nearly so crowded. The only downside is that I can't wear headphones to listen to anything, so it gets pretty boring. Still, I lasted forty minutes, which I consider a win.

Also, I found a typo in the treadmill's instructions. They had "instuctions" which I found hilarious. Until it dawned on me that my finding it was more likely a reflection of the fact that maybe I should've pushed myself harder so that I couldn't read the small print so intently.

The plan is to go five nights a week at least. Some nights will be too difficult, like Thursday since it's trick-or-treating, but I'm going to do what I can. I'm still not where I was before I left for Florida, so I have to work to get there, and then work some more to get on the path to hitting goal. I talk about it too much. It's time for doing.

Exercise wins

I talked about losing weight before my hiatus, but I've attacked the entire process with new vigor ever since returning from the UK. I'm back to counting calories with LoseIt, but exercising presented a different problem.

See, it gets hot here in the summertime. Triple digits in August and September isn't unheard of. And our elliptical machine sits in the garage, which, in the throes of that kind of heat, turns into an oven.

So using the machine to burn calories? Probably not in my best interest right now.

With that in mind, I started up my membership at the gym again. It's a fifteen minute walk from my house so on top of whatever I do there, I can very easily add in a half hour of walking, too. I have plans to try yoga out - they offer a beginner's/gentle yoga course - but first on the schedule is water aerobics. It's actually pretty ideal for me. I have wonky joints, and specifically arthritis in my hip and foot (and how much do I hate that I have osteoarthritis before I'm 45, blech), so being in the water helps take the pressure of them, making it easier to stick it out for the full fifty minutes.

But I won't pretend to like it. Exercising is not my idea of a good time.

On the other hand, neither are health problems.

So...exercise wins.