Reduce and reward

/ Thursday 12 April 2012 /
Some of you know that I am perpetually waging a battle with avoirdupois, to put it fancily.  As fancy as you can get, it doesn't change the fact that I'm carrying around too much weight, and I'm getting to the age where it is beyond difficult to get it off.  I have come to the point where I feel it is my last chance to proact and take control of the situation myself, and if I don't, it will end in tears.  I have been working diligently at this challenge since Boxing Day, and I've been doing it the old fashioned way: physical activity and keeping my caloric intake under 1500 calories per day.  I've been using two main motivational tools to help me along the way.  The first is a Fitbit.  It's a fancy-pants pedometer that measures steps, of course, but also distance traveled, calories and, through the use of the internal accelerometer, flights of stairs.  It uploads data to a website where you can track your progress in a variety of ways.  For example, here is my record for today:

It also does some neat tracking of your sleep - yes, sleep! - you can read about that on their website.  I aim to reach 10,000 steps per day, and I have been largely successful. 10,000 steps is approximately five miles! It has been enlightening to see how much of an effort it takes to reach that goal on a daily basis.  I wore the Fitbit for about a week at my regular pace just to take a baseline, and found that I was mainly hitting around 3500 steps on a normal day.   I don't pay attention much to the calorie information on the Fitbit because I use another tool for monitoring what I eat: myfitnesspal.com.  There are many, many online nutrition monitoring tools, but I like this one for three reasons.  First, it has a very big existing database of food, including Canadian brands.  Second, it has excellent mobile apps for the iPhone and iPad, which allow for use of the built-in cameras to scan the barcode on the nutrition labels of food items and imports the information directly into daily food record, or into the overall database.  So if I have a piece of bread or a glass of milk, I just point my phone at the bar code, scan it, and the calorie and other nutritional information is instantly added to my daily record.  Third, it syncs with my Fitbit, so it knows that I have walked five miles, or however far it is for the day.  My calorie limit is 1500 for the day, but I get an adjustment of a few hundred calories based on my activity level.  I walked over 15,000 steps today, so my adjustment is actually about 550 calories.  In effect, it means that I can eat 1500 + 550 calories and still be on track.  Today I did not "eat my adjustment" - but I need to watch that I don't dip too far into deficit or I will trigger "starvation mode", which is counterproductive for weight loss.  (Everything I am saying here represents my best understanding, but I am not a doctor - well, not that kind of doctor - or a nutritionist, so you should listen to what I say from that perspective.)

If you are still here, you are probably wondering why on earth am I telling you all this! Partly, putting it out in public helps keep me accountable, but there is another reason, too. It is to explain why I have this in my hot little hands:
My reward for losing 20 lbs: Oakshott Colour Box
I have been working on this healthy living project since Boxing Day (December 26 for you non-Canadians or -British) and a couple of weeks ago I hit the milestone of 20 pounds lost.  I was casting about for something to reward myself with, and by chance Oakshott Cottons was having a free shipping promotion.   Add to this the 20% discount on the listed price for not having to pay VAT, and it was too good a deal to pass up.  Plus, I felt that I completely deserved this reward - don't you agree?  (If only I could say that I can stop at these 20 lb! Alas, I must keep going!) Many people have raved about this product, and let me tell you, one cannot overpraise this box of goodness. I do not yet have a project in mind, but one will come, I promise.  If you are looking for a reward, for reducing or any other virtuous behaviour, you could do worse than treating yourself to an Oakshott Colour Box!





16 comments:

{ fiberchick } on: 12 April 2012 at 21:19 said...

How fascinating!

{ elle } on: 12 April 2012 at 21:51 said...

oooH, I'm also wanting a box. Lovely and GOOD for you, Lesly. Definitely deserved A box for sticking to the Boxing Day challenge!

{ Dresden Quilter } on: 12 April 2012 at 22:01 said...

Congratulations! That is a great reward. I missed seeing you on Wednesday at the meeting.

{ Sarah Craig } on: 12 April 2012 at 22:06 said...

Congratulations on being 20 pounds lighter!! And what a great, yummy way to celebrate!!

{ Rachel } on: 12 April 2012 at 22:45 said...

Congratulations, Lesly! I'm always fighting the weight battle too - usually just to the tune of 10-15 lbs, but it still gets me down sometimes, especially since, when I lose it, I can never keep it off. I think you are so right to reward yourself with that beautiful box of cottons! Enjoy :)

{ Molly } on: 12 April 2012 at 22:54 said...

Congratulations on your hard work paying off. I lost twenty pounds years ago and have kept most of it off until recently. A few pounds have crept back on and I want to get them off before it becomes a few more and a few more, etc. It's a constant battle! You've totally inspired me to get moving.

{ Poppyprint } on: 13 April 2012 at 00:05 said...

Way to go!!!! I couldn't resist the Oakshott promo either and hope my box arrives tomorrow. Your achievement is fabulous. Keep it up! I thought I might come here from twitter to discover you'd bought the 830!

{ Swedish Scrapper } on: 13 April 2012 at 01:33 said...

Wow! I too am battling the bulge, and I think your motivational reward was a good one! No VAT! Awesome! I haven't heard about such a promo, but I'm going to look it up now.....

{ Charlotte } on: 13 April 2012 at 03:33 said...

congratulations! that is a really great achievement.
I have a colour box too and I *love* it so much! Have fun playing :-D

{ Ariane } on: 13 April 2012 at 06:55 said...

That's so great!! Keep it up. Maybe it will help me get motivated too. And the reward is calorie free and so scrumptious at the same time!!! Love it!!!

{ Jana } on: 13 April 2012 at 10:09 said...

Leslie, those are some beautiful fabrics! I've never heard of them here in the US. Congrats on the weight loss. I need to be more diligent with the fitbit.

{ Nancy Sue } on: 13 April 2012 at 12:32 said...

Great post, Lesly! Thank you for sharing!I didn't know about either the fitbit and apps, nor the myfitnesspal.com. Thanks for the info! And love your reward!!!!

{ Claudia } on: 13 April 2012 at 21:14 said...

Congrats, Lesly, what a wonderful achievement! Hopefully you feel better too ... always a benefit. This motivates me to get back going on the WW. I'm drooling over your reward - most fab!

{ leanne } on: 14 April 2012 at 10:10 said...

wow - I'm always amazed by how great technology is - I'm going to have to look into some of the things you mentioned in your post - and let me know when you decide on a project for those gorgeous fabrics - I won a box of them a few months ago and I haven't used them yet - they are way too gorgeous to cut into yet !! hope you get to your goal soon and thanks for the inspiration:)

{ Prof. S (the enchanted bobbin) } on: 28 April 2012 at 09:52 said...

I had missed this post somehow...anyway, I really admire both your discipline and your ability to reward yourself (so well deserved!!). I am *loving* my own half-box of Oakshotts...have started some hand-piecing with them :) Looking forward to seeing what you do with all your little lovelies.

{ Betty } on: 30 May 2012 at 23:07 said...

Well done!!
Great gadgets, too: the pants + app!!
I go to Weight Watcher's ...
You should reward yourself more! With little things!
Each 4 pounds is a goal! 1step closer!
Celebrate that!
And you're doing great right now!!
And how very good of you "to come clean"
Goodluck

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