Putting the Flex through its paces

Nothing profound or political today. As I root for the elusive sun to come back out and warm us up—it appeared oh, so briefly a bit ago but retreated again—I guess I’ll just stay on the treadmill a bit longer instead.

I now have a few days with the Fitbit Flex under my belt. Literally, as it happens. Yes, I know it is supposed to be worn on the wrist. But I have been of the tribe that usually holds onto the treadmill rails while doing my brisk (about 14 minutes to the mile) walks. (Go ahead and abuse me, Jillian Michaels!) As I had discerned from my research, that habit definitely does not pick up most of my steps. But attaching the bracelet around my belt does. That way I can continue getting virtual credit for the calories I am burning.

It really is like a game, and one I do not mind playing. I have been relatively good with staying within my calorie limits. But so far I find that even while the Fitbit app “permits” more food calories when more exercise is tracked, after days like yesterday when I burned a lot and ate accordingly, the number on the scale (the most important one!) went the wrong direction. So, given that Rita has declared tonight to be pizza night, I am pretty much starving myself until dinner time, and racking up a goodly quantity of steps, distance, and active minutes.

Indeed, and this is no news flash, my main problem has always been portion control. And keeping a food diary is one powerful way to help keep that aspect in check. It has been a few years since I last went that route, and the tools are better today. Last time around, I used a clunky BlackBerry app whose name I do not even recall (was there EVER a BlackBerry app that wasn’t clunky?); tracking food on it was so onerous I only kept up with it for a couple of weeks. While the Fitbit app and website aren’t perfect by any means, they are a big improvement. Hopefully I can stay on the “program” long enough to make a big difference on the scale.

The other developing story for me at present is continuing progress toward coming on board as an adjunct faculty member for a local college’s health informatics program. More on that when the deal is sealed. But we’re projecting first eight-week course this fall on networking and security in health IT. There’s certainly no shortage of news stories these days in the HIT security world, and I am keeping a virtual clipping file to supplement whatever readings are in the syllabus. Watch out, students! 🙂