Things I am not going to buy - Day 8: Fitness equipment

There are some things in life that are absolutely guaranteed, like death, taxes, and the fact that a piece of equipment designed for home exercise will not be used more than 10 times (being generous!). It’s not just me – it’s everyone. Oh how many more handbags could I have bought with the money I have squandered on useless devices that are meant to make exercise easy(!) and fun(!!!!!!!)?

• Steppers – I think I’ve had a couple of these over the years at various points
• Nordic Track skiing machine – A HUGE piece of equipment that was bought at vast expense, and which took up almost the whole floor in the spare bedroom for about 8 years. 
• Re-bounder – nice little mini-trampoline, which actually was quite fun – well at least for the first couple of goes. It was just a bit repetitive, and, although I bought a nice little video to watch whilst I was bouncing, I never actually got to watch it as I couldn’t see the telly from the garage, which was the only place I was allowed to bounce in case I damaged the floor. It did, at least, get some use as a fun toy when my son was small tho’!
• Weights – hubby bought a set of dumbbells, I have various hand and kettle weights purchased over the years. They fill up the floor area in the spare wardrobe and never get to see the light of day.
• Rollerblades – I have two pairs. I have ALWAYS wanted to be able to do this – how cool does it look to see people whizzing around the streets, effortlessly gliding along on their blades? The reason I have two pairs is that I started with a cheap pair, then DH bought me a fantastic pair of top-of-the-range, horrendously expensive Roces blades from a shop in Sweden. I got rid of the cheap pair, ready to glide effortlessly on my new pair. I couldn’t even stand up on them, and if I started to move, there was no way of stopping other than crashing into a wall or falling over. I bought another cheap pair so I could continue to improve before using my super-duper pair. This was 20 years ago. I got them out once, about 3 years ago, hoping that I would be able to glide effortlessly along. It didn’t happen. I can’t bear to part with either pair, because when I am a pensioner, and have more time than I do now, I WILL learn how to skate!!

• Tennis racquets – bought when DH and I decided to have some private lessons. Used for the 5 or so lessons, then never used since.
• Badminton racquets – bought when DH and I were invited to play with some people I used to work with. I left the firm shortly afterwards, and never saw my ex-colleagues again (or the badminton court)
• Surfing machine – this definitely ticked the “fun” box – it consisted of a board that you stand on and try to balance whilst it moved around. You were meant to do it for 15 minutes every day for a simple, fun way to stay fit. Yeah, right!
• Mini-bucking bronco – Actually called an iJoy ride, which sounds a bit like something you might buy in Anne Summers, but is actually a horse (without the head, tail or legs) that you sit on whilst it jigs about. Fun – yes, but same comment applies as for the previous item.
• Wii – this doesn’t come into quite the same category as other items on the list as it has had plenty of use over the last few years – my son and his friend have had many happy times playing various games on the device. What DOES come into the category are all the other bits bought when mum seriously considered this as a possible contender for regular exercise – the board, the various racquets and batons, the hand weights and bands, and the numerous sport/exercise games that were purchased to make exercise “fun”. Ha!
• Fitbit – the little clip-on device that tracks your steps and other activity. I wear it all the time but other than tell me how inactive I am, it doesn’t actually help! Tell me something I DON’T know!
• Treadmill – this is the latest acquisition. I bought it about 6 months ago – it was second hand, from eBay, as I knew there was a possibility that I wouldn’t use it very often. I haven’t. 

Will you just GO AWAY!!

I don’t know if it’s a sign of getting older (probably is – everything else seems to be…), but the amount of personal space I require seems to increase as the years go by.  Maybe I have always been like this, but I feel that I am getting more and more intolerant of people encroaching on MY space.  The alternative, and a more likely possibility, I feel, is that people are just getting ruder, and feel more inclined to step into other people’s space and just, generally, try to take up far more than their fair share of personal space.  

This is particularly prevalent in the gym.  Not that I go as often as I should, but I try to go at least once a week at lunchtime, which appears to be the quietest time (in terms of number of people rather than volume of the blasted racket they play…). My first stop is the treadmill, where I do a 15 minute jog/fast walk whilst watching Loose Women.  I have a strategy for choosing my treadmill out of the bank of 15 or so:  If there is no-one on one of the ends, and no-one on the one next to the end, it’s a no-brainer, and I go for the end one.  If not, I will try to pick the one which has no-one either side.  Should this not be possible, I will choose the one where I will be next to a woman rather than a man, as there is less chance of grunting noises punctuating the thudding sound of ginormous feet smacking the treadmill with 15 stones of force (less chance, but no guarantee…).  On a REALLY good day, there is pretty well no-one using the treadmills, and I happily (!) jump on to the end spot for my 15 minutes.  Well, this contented feeling doesn’t last!  What happens next defies all reason and laws of probability.  If I was young, fit and attractive, I might be able to understand why the treadmill right next to me is ALWAYS the one that is chosen by the next man coming for his run.  Women don’t do it!  They, like me, will walk to the far end and chose a treadmill with some space around them.  Not men – oh no!  They obviously have the need to be as close as they possibly can to another body – perhaps they are reverting back to childhood, and it’s a sub-conscious mother/son thing.   [WARNING - Digression coming up] They do it on the train too – whilst the majority of ladies sit with their thighs and knees welded together, trying as hard as possible to take up the minimum of space, the same cannot be said of most men!  They squash their large backsides and thighs into the small seat next to you and open their legs W—I—D—E!!!  Whilst you shrivel to the far corner of your seat, pressing your thighs even closer together, matey boy presses his copious mounds of thigh flesh against your thighs.  You suppress feelings of revulsion and try to read your book whilst balancing on one thigh and leaning at an uncomfortable angle.  Meanwhile matey boy has opened his broadsheet paper right across his lap and yours.  He noisily flicks through a few pages before lolling back, eye’s closed, tongue protruding, and snoring like a wart hog with a bad cold. [End of digression].

Back to the treadmill!  WHY do men get on the treadmill next to me when there are 14 other empty ones?  I have no idea!  I just know, that I find it EXTREMELY frustrating!  Why can they not just £$*& OFF to a treadmill a bit further away!  I often contemplating breaking wind very loudly to see if that will have the desired effect.  I would say that it’s my manners that stop me, but it’s actually the worry that it might be so loud that EVERYONE in the gym hears.  I try to sneak out a sneaky silent one in the hope that Puffing Billy next door will notice, but he obviously has no sense of smell as well as being a social Neanderthal.   I finish my treadmill workout and move to the cross trainer where, once again, I go through the same routine and experiences as the treadmill.  I finally move over to the free weight area.  Now there are two free weight areas in our gym – one which contains all the great big weights and bars that all the big macho men use, as well as some handheld weights.  The other area, which is where I use, has hand weights, kettle bells, medicine balls, gym balls, light bar weights, a couple of steps, etc.  Sometimes I just randomly pick up a few weights and wave them around a bit and other times, such as today, I try to follow a more structured routine using an app on my iPhone that shows me what to do and logs my progress.  Unfortunately there are usually at least two men exercising in the area when I go there, taking over an area in which twelve ladies could comfortably exercise and forcing me to try and exercise in about 1 meter square space on the corner of the matting.  Today, however, there was no-one there!  Hoorah!  I put down my water bottle, my headphones, my iPhone and my towel on a handily placed box and started to pick up some dumb bells.  I must have started to give off some sort of irresistible smell, because within SECONDS, a man came rushing over and started to drag one of the benches across the floor until he was almost pressed up against me!  He picked up one of the bar weights and took it back to his bench, where he started pushing it up and down and grunting in a most unattractive way (he probably thought it was a mating call!).  I couldn't even get to my phone and water without having to keep walking around him.  I pointedly walked all...the...way... around his grunting form in order to pick up my bits and pieces, but he was oblivious!  I guess I just have to face it - I must be IRRESISTIBLE!!

Back again!

I thought I’d better check in and give a quick update as it’s been a few weeks.  Although the initial enthusiasm for starvation and increased exercise is somewhat reduced, I have kept up with some of my goals...  First the good news – since the holiday, I have got back onto the mid-week wagon, and have managed to stay off alcohol from Monday to Thursday.  I am also keeping up with the 2 days a week fasting, which is just as well because I have had a couple of fairly indulgent week-ends.  There has been no permanent movement on the scales, only a few mid-week fluctuations either way, so the fasting is managing to balance out the over-indulgences! 

The thing that has gone a bit awry is the daily 10k challenge!  It was difficult enough to get that many steps in a day in the good weather, but over the last month or so the weather has turned miserable, wet and cold, and does not entice me to get outside and walk.  I’m no longer walking round to meet the school bus as the evenings are dark and the walk home is along unlit footpaths – it also means a considerable upping of the whinge level from my son if I dare suggest a walk when it is cold/dark/wet.  On-the-spot walking at the bus stop is all very well, but doesn’t go far enough towards getting to the 10k.  I am contemplating buying a treadmill, but DH is very sceptical and is convinced it won’t get used!  I would like to prove him wrong, but past purchases of steppers, re-bounders, gym balls, weights, a cross-country skiing machine, an “iJoy ride” (don’t ask) and a surfing machine, have not given him confidence that a treadmill will be any different.  I am looking out for a reasonable one on eBay that is not too far away.  This time it will be different....

Further Fitbitting

I’ve now had the Fitbit for 5 weeks and I have to say that it is still surprisingly motivating trying to meet the daily targets of 10,000 steps and 10 flights of stairs.  I am still a bit obsessive about checking the tally at various points during the day, so have taken to wearing it clipped to my trouser pocket, thus avoiding having to fumble down the front of my top to locate the device in the deep depths of my bosom.  Choosing to take the stairs rather than the lift has become second nature, and this works really well at work where I work on the third floor and have to go to the ground floor a few times a day.  I also choose to walk more when the opportunity arises, such as the just under a mile round trip to the bus stop to pick up my son.  I am quite disappointed when it’s pouring with rain and I have to take the car.  If this happens, I now jog up and down on the spot in the bus stop until the school bus arrives.  I don’t know what the motorists going past must think, and it is a main dual carriageway!   If it gets to bedtime and I am sitting at the 9k mark, I run around the house until I get my count up to the magic 10k. 

The Fitbit is not without its flaws, however.  It does exhibit some inconsistencies and strange counting that can skew the logged results.  The first time I noticed anything odd was on the first week-end I had it when we went out for the day.  This was to a “Truck driving experience” (a Father’s Day gift for DH who strangely prefers the idea of driving large trucks to speeding around a race track in a Ferrari....).  This involved an hour or so in the car, followed by a short walk from the car park, a bit of waiting around, 30 minutes or so in the truck (DS and I were allowed to sit in as passengers), and then returning home.  NO climbing flights of stairs or steep hills.  So, when I got home, I was most surprised to see an email from Fitbit giving me my “50 floors in a day” badge!  When I checked the results, it showed that during the time I had been out, I had climbed 68 floors.  More detailed checking of the times I did all this climbing (the display on the website breaks the activities down into 5 minute slots), showed that all that stair climbing had been done whilst I was sitting as a passenger in my husband’s van.  A bit of research on the Fitbit forums shows that driving can frequently log steps and floors, so to get around it you have to record a log of the driving activity.  A bit of a faff, but once I had done this, it wiped out all the erroneous flights of stairs and a number of steps that had been recorded.  More annoyingly, I have to remember to do this every time I make a trip in my husband’s van. 

Another quirk is that the number of flights of stairs it logs when I go from the ground floor to the third varies between 4 and 6.  There are, as you would imagine, 3 flights of stairs between the ground and the third floor.  The first floor is a mezzine floor, so the first flight of stairs is shorter than the others.  Flight 2 and 3 are split in half by a small landing, so technically each could count as 2 flights.  I would probably expect a consistent count of 5, however I sometimes get 4, sometimes 5 and sometimes 6!  What accounts for the difference?  Does it depend on whether I bounce up the stairs enthusiastically, or whether I drag myself slowly??  A mystery.

Fitibit mark 2

Gosh, that last post was rather long...  I can go on a bit once I get started!

I am a bit miffed this week - having owned my lovely little device for under 3 weeks, I was not happy to see the huge announcements on the Fitbit website that they have introduced two new versions of the device - one of which is an upgrade with more functionality!  Grrrrrrrr!!    

My [OLD] model is the Fitbit Ultra (the one on the right) and the new shiny improved one is the Fitbit One, on the left

Before I go sticking mine on eBay and rushing out to get the latest model, let's examine the additional functionality:  Firstly, the new models are waterproof.  This is in response to all those people whose FBs have died following the user's neglect to remove them from the article of clothing it was clipped to before putting it in the washing machine.  There were also, apparently, some who managed to drown their FB devices by sweating too much!!  Not a problem I'm going to have me thinks... Regarding the washing machine problem, I did once manage to wash a mobile phone, but that was because I had chucked in in the basket of washing to carry downstairs and forgot I had done this when piling the washing into the machine.  OK, that was rather dumb, but I never put my bras in the washing machine so hope that I would spot it before hand washing them.  That really just leaves dropping in a puddle (hopefully won't happen due to where it is located about my person) or me falling into deep water.  If the latter occurs, my FB probably won't be the first thing I worry about… Right, I just checked the features again and it isn't TOTALLY waterproof, so in the case of falling in deep water my FB wouldn't survive anyway.  

OK, the next new feature is a little alarm to wake you up.  Apparently you get a gentle vibration at the pre-set time which can avoid waking your partner.  Well, in the unlikely event that I have to get up before him, I am a bit too selfish to care about ensuring that the precious thing doesn't get woken up [offering him the same consideration he has offered me over the years when his alarm has gone of at 5am!!!].

Finally, and this is the killer, it has bluetooth syncing with the iPhone app!!!!   {jumps up and down with apoplectic rage].  Call me odd and geeky (and you wouldn't be the first), but this is a fab feature!  I have my phone with me at all times and it would constantly be receiving little messages from the FB - how kool!  I could check my progress at any time without having to fumble down my top!  Far more dignified.  However, much as I may lament the lack of constant synchronisation, it doesn't really justify ditching the current model, as I will probably eventually tire of checking my progress every half an hour.

So, in conclusion, I'm probably going to hang on to the little fella a good while longer.  Given where it lives most of the time I feel a bit odd about selling it on eBay anyway...

WTF is THAT???

So part of the plan is to increase my activity levels.  For me, no new plan is complete without the purchase of at least one shiny, new gadget.  In this case, the gadget is the Fitbit (see picture).  The Fitbit is a very posh pedometer.  It counts your steps (duh!), but does quite a bit more: see the website for more info - Fitbit.  It has a built in accelerometer, which is similar to the Wii remote, in that in can detect movement.  As well as counting steps, it also counts the number of flights of stairs you climb and monitors your sleep (worn in a wrist band overnight).  It has a little base station that is connected to a computer.  You clip the device to the base station for charging, but it also acts as a syncing device either when the device is attached or, through wireless technology, when you are within 15 feet of your computer.  Data syncs to a website giving you a record of the number of steps and flights of stairs you have climbed, how active you have been and details of how long you slept for and how many times you woke up.  You can also log other information, such as additional activities (gym, cycling, swimming, etc), weights and measurements, and you can also keep a log of the food you eat if you wish (I don't wish!).  

Unlike previous pedometers that I have tried, this one is easier to remember to wear all the time, and less likely to (a) be seen and (b) fall off.  This is because the suggested place to wear it for a woman is clipped to your bra.  Pretty handy, but I have to resist the urge to keep checking my daily step total when I'm out and about because you get some pretty strange looks fumbling down your top to try and press the button to see the results! 

I'm now on the third week of wearing the Fitbit, and I have to say it has changed my behaviour.  I left my daily targets at the suggested 10,000 steps and 10 floors and started wearing the Fitbit (or FB) the day after it arrived.  Before I started to wear the FB, I would have said that the days I would find hardest to hit my 10k would be work days, as I have to sit at a desk for the best part of 8 hours a day staring at a computer and tapping away on a keyboard.  However, I was quite shocked to realise just how little I move around when I am NOT at work.  My first day wearing the FB was a Friday - the one week-day I don't work.  I didn't really pay much attention to how many steps I was doing during the day, so I was horrified at the end of the day when I realised I had only clocked up just over 5k.  Over the week-end I fared a little better, but still didn't manage to clock up the magic 10k, nor did I even manage the 10 flights of stairs.  

 

I decided I had better actually try and DO something to get the total steps closer to the target, so I started looking for more walking opportunities to fit in to my day.  Flights of stairs were easy on work days as I work on the 3rd floor, but the 2nd and 3rd flights of stairs are in 2 blocks, so each time I go from the ground to my floor I clock up 5 floors!  I have completely stopped using the lift, and now climb the stairs quite a few times each day - there is a café area on the ground floor with very posh coffee machines, so I get my coffees from there, meaning extra steps and floors each time I go for a coffee.  I have always gone out for a walk at lunchtimes, as I have to get away from my desk (and some of my colleagues...).  My usual walk is up to the shopping centre, around the centre and back, so I was pleased to discover that this clocked up around 4500 steps - almost half my daily target!  By the time I had walked around the office a few times with trips to the coffee machine, the toilet and to speak to people in the building (I am allowed to do that sometimes...), my total by the time I left work was usually around 7k.  Some days I go to the gym at lunchtime instead of a walk, and that usually takes my total to around 8-9k, depending on how long I spend on the treadmill.  Shortly after getting home, I have to go and pick up my son from the bus stop - a round trip in the car of about 3 miles.  However, there is a lovely walk across the village green and over the canal which is under half a mile, so, unless it is pouring with rain, I walk over.  My son complains bitterly about having to walk back, especially when he has his very large and heavy sports bag (although I always end up carrying it!), however that trip clocks up another 2k, so gets me pretty well on or over my target (with the general walking around at home whilst I am cooking, etc). 

 

So far so good!  The week-ends don't offer so many opportunities for walking with a purpose.  Since we have been dogless, I no longer simply go for a walk.  I don't mind walking when there is somewhere to go and I don't need to carry anything heavy, such as a load of shopping, however I have a strange reluctance to just open the front door and walk around the block with nowhere to go and no doggy companion.  Much as I would love to have another dog, it is a drastic and impractical solution - I will just have to get out and do it!  Maybe I could imagine I have a dog with me that is running on ahead... some real benefits as I won't have to follow behind with my plastic bags and gloves, or have to hose down a stinky wet doggie when I get back!!  Might be a bit embarrassing when I start to call for the invisible dog, or throw sticks for him tho'...

Yet another diet/fitness blog?

So how is this one different?  Well the answer is, it isn't!  It is destined to be yet another one of those dull and boring records of a battle against the bulge and an attempt to hold back the ever advancing years.  The good thing, as far as I am concerned, is that it is just for me!!  Every now and again I might try and add something a little more interesting, just in case my loyal follower gets bored (hello sis!), however, in the main, this will just be a bit of a journal to help me on my "journey to betterment".  [Not sure if that phrase makes any sense so I put it in quotes so it looks like it might have come from somewhere else].  The theory being that if I document my plans and my progress, I am more likely to stick to the plan! (Ha!)

ttfn to my avid reader!

Another new start?

I’m back, with news of a brand new me!  Well, that is the plan anyway... I am in the early stages of my “journey” (as I would describe it, were I to be interviewed for my reality TV programme).  Still the ‘old’ me at the time of writing, but hoping that by blogging my progress, there will actually be some!  So, as you are no doubt dying to know what I am waffling on about, I will tell you dear readers reader: I am going to improve my health and lose some of the excess podge that has slowly been growing around my middle!  Not radical, I know, and not something I haven’t attempted in the past (on MANY occasions), however I am going to try a few different approaches in the quest to feel better, look better, ensure that my twilight years are spent in good health and, hopefully, add a few more years to my life expectancy.  Nothing too radical - just a few variations on the eat less/move more theme that is the only way to lose weight sensibly.  

So, why do this?  

• Well, as more and more birthdays come and go, each year seemingly quicker than the previous, it is becoming ever more difficult to battle the gradual upward creep of the needle on the scales (ok, my scales don’t actually have a needle as they are digital, but it doesn’t sound as good... anyway, I digress..).   
• Secondly, the wine drinking has become far too much of a habit, as confirmed by the overflowing re-cycling bin each week.  
• Having been in denial for the previous 12 months, I finally had to give in and start buying a few pairs of trousers in a bigger size as I thought it might be nice to be able to breathe during the day
• Having lost both my grandmother and mother at relatively young ages to pancreatic cancer, I feel that I can't fight the overwhelming amount of evidence that shows that lifestyle is a major factor in the likelihood of an individual developing many of the cancers.  
• I want to look, and feel, better in my clothes 
• I want to be around when my son grows up

Back soon with more details of my approach, and my progress so far