the scenic route

I try my best to squeeze in walking where I can. I have no idea why, it's not helping me lose weight, but I do it anyway. (Just close your pie-hole Gayle!) Though someone I hadn't seen in a long time told me I looked great Sunday night. (Personally, I see no difference whatsoever.)

Maybe two years ago I started parking in the furthermost lot away from my class. I came down the path, went around the admissions building and arrived. Maybe a five minute walk. Now I've super-sized it. Hopefully when the weather clears I can make it even longer.

But why now?

Briefly I had signed up for myfitnesspal.com where it tracked my calories. I just found it totally frustrating as a food journal. When I went to log there was lots of restaurant food. There was lots of processed food, but little homemade food. I guess because everyone's is different. I'd have to spend a lot of time calculating the calories in my home made food—evey tablespoon of oil, herb, egg, noodle, whatever. What a pain. It lasted maybe two weeks.

But consistently on that site was an ad for a zipfit tracker. Was it yet another pedometer that didn't work? Gullible, I sent for it. The first two days it was amazing. Then it didn't work. It said 5K steps one minute and 89 the next. I spent the next week emailing customer service. When they said they'd send me a new one, the old one started working. Of course.

I love this thing. It's accurate, which is a first in a long time. You can wear it anywhere on your body. You can even hold it in your hand. (The one tiny thing I don't like is that if you're bored, standing at work and start walking in place, it doesn't count. You actually have to be moving forward.)

I've heard many times that you're supposed to walk 10K steps a day. I was sure I was doing that. WRONG. I always get over 5K but I usually settle in at around 8K. Except weekends when we walk 5 miles. (last weekend I only past 10K on Saturday w/the 2 hour walk. Sunday, I barely made 7K even with a walk with Sharon.) So I had to find ways to squeak in more steps. Hense the scenic route Tuesday/Thursday to class. By doing that crazy route I get 3/4 of a mile to and from class. In spring I can add the walking path and maybe get it closer to 1.5 miles each way. We'll see.

On this site there is also a food journal, and it does track calories burned. I fear I will run into the same problem as I did with the last one. If you get the better grade one, it also tracks your sleep and tells you how efficiently you are sleeping. Apparently sleep and weight loss is tied. I don't sleep well so it would be shocking to see those calculations. The only reason I'd think about that one is it also tracks stairs. I do a lot of stairs.

On this fitbit tracker you earn badges on you web page for milestones. I have 2-15K, 10-10K, and 23-5K. That needs to change. 10K needs to be the norm. 15K needs to be at least twice a week. And I will have my first 20K by the end of March.