Fitbit Flex Journey

First, a little recap or "Previously, on Book of Cy":
So, I met my wife some 21 years ago and we married 16 years ago.  When I met her, I was 20, slim and fit.  I was working at a solicitors office as an Office Junior which is an affectionate way of referring to the office dogs-body.  I did anything and everything asked of me which involved a lot of rushing around the office and running documents to other offices.  I would cycle 4 miles to work each day and 4 miles home in the evening.  I could eat anything I liked and not put on weight.

I started work at a small publishing company and went from a very active life-style to a very sedentary life-style.  Working behind a computer all day, slowed metabolism and egg & bacon rolls for breakfast, I soon got up to 13st 7lbs and there I stayed for several years.

I started a new career and thus improved my fitness although my weight stayed the same however my new career imposed even more time spent sitting with short periods of activity.  Add to this the rigours of shift-work, not being able to get proper meals at reasonable times.  Here in the UK, and probably the world over, good, nutritional food is expensive and not convenient whilst junk-food is quick and easy and thus my weight had crept up to over 15 stone.

I looked at different methods of weight-loss.  The issues here is that I do not like exercise and do not play sports.  I have looked at PS3 software like EA Sports Active which are good in their own right but I have always had a very small lounge area which inhibits the amount of exercise that can reasonably be done at home.

We have since moved home and have a much larger lounge making the Just Dance a breeze.  We also got a dog a little while back and thus I resolved to walk her each day a decent distance, thereby improving my health.  By this time I was hovering around the 15st 7lb mark.

This is when "disaster" struck.  Whilst out walking Dora,

 I suffered what felt like a fractured toe.  I had broken that toe twice in the past and the feeling is quite distinctive.  I limped home, each step getting progressively worse.  I buddy-strapped the toe up and got on with things, trying to take it easy.  However, after two weeks of limping around at work, my foot had swollen and become extremely tender and I could not wear my work-boots without excruciating pain.  My foot could not take any weight and I had to phone in sick.  Believing that my toe was fractured, I had to rest it.  I won't go into the details of my struggle with the doctors and their demonic receptionists but the X-ray report did not discover any fracture.  I've had blood tests which I am now awaiting the results.  

The end result of not being able to walk properly for a month is that my weight had shot up to 16st 4 lbs.  This is the heaviest I have ever been.  I needed to do something to get my weight down.  There is a definite motivation to lose weight when health issues such as diabetes, heart-disease, arthritis and now potentially gout are sitting in the background.  And thus I started looking at the influx of wearable tech and fitness trackers that are on the market.

My eye was immediately court by the Garmin Vivofit.  It looks smart with exceptional battery life and logs all the data I could possibly want.  Yep, that was the one I wanted and was for sale in Asda for £69.  All I had to do was check the reviews on Youtube and I would be ready to purchase.  Youtube reviews showed it as a very competent fitness tracker and thus back up to Asda to find that the price had jumped to £99.  Well, that required a little more thought and research to which I discovered that the Vivofit does not sync with my phone (Galaxy S3 Mini).  I now discovered that the Vivofit comes with a USB wireless adapter for syncing with a PC but I do prefer the additional ability of syncing to my phone for when I am away from home.

So, back to the drawing board and researching the most suitable fitness tracker for me.  The Jawbone UP appears to sync by plugging into the earphone socket which, after being the proud owner of a palm device with a screwed earphone socket from being over-used, was a complete no-no.  I found that the majority of new wearable tech is only compatible with the newest phones.

This is when I found the Fitbit Flex reduced to £69 in Halfords.  Steps, Calories and sleep all tracked and compatible with the S3 mini?  This was what I was looking for.  I also looked at the Fitbit One however did not like the sweat-band type of strap for wearing it.  The information logged is quite comprehensive and the sleep tracking is a real eye-opener.

It is early days but the wristband is like the proverbial bit of string tied to your finger.  It is a visual reminder of my goals.  The Fitbit dashboard reminds me that I should be drinking more and the food logging reminds me that I need to eat less.  The pedometer reminds me that I need to be moving more.  By setting up my goal of reaching the 12st 7lbs that I had when I was 20, the Fitbit site sets up my calorie limits to achieve this and has an almost holistic approach to reaching this goal.  Is it as good as having a personal trainer setting out meal and exercise plans?  No, probably not.  Is it far cheaper and more accessible?  You bet.

And here is the real eye-opener, no pun intended.  I have tracked my sleep for the last three nights.  I know that I snore, I know that my weight is a contributory factor.  I now know that I am averaging about 3 hours sleep each night.  This is a real motivation to sort my weight out.

It's the start of a journey.  I feel positive and optimistic with regard to the potential results. Comments etc are welcome.

Health and Fitness

I currently have a cold and I'm feeling under the weather.  I've not stuck to my fasting routine but have generally stuck to my maintenance level of calories so my weight is about the same albeit with a few ups and downs.  I've started the EASA2 90 day program on hard level so it will be interesting to see if I get any results from that.  I have not had the time or felt up to doing the UFC training, it is really demoralising when it tells you that you are not completing reps that you are doing more than double on.  Likewise, it really does focus on speed over form but at the same time, if you go too fast, it fails you.  It really is frustrating.  I'm glad I only paid £7 instead of £39.99 as paying full price would have really annoyed me.  It may be that this is better on the Xbox using the Kinect but from what I have read, it is not much better.  I think the next step will be from using bands to using weights.  I remember that the EASA2 issue was that you set the weight that you would use in the menu however I can use heavier weights for some exercises but not for others e.g. I can Hammer Curl far heavier than I can fly or kickback.  The options open to me are that I can either just say "blow it" and leave the weight in the menu at the lowest denominator and chop and change my weights depending on the exercise;  use the lowest common denominator for all exercises and accept that things like curls will be far easier and less effective; or use the highest denominator and have mid set rests for the exercises I'll struggle with at that weight e.g. 2 sets of 5 reps instead of 1 set of 10 reps.  I have set the new programme to have days off on Saturday and Sunday, so not to interfere with Jo's days off and to have Tuesday off so that I'm not working out on Christmas day.  I need to keep an eye out for a second set of sensors so that I can exercise with Ellie.

The Ubisoft's My Fitness Coach Club will get more use when I have got over this cold.  Likewise, the Just Dance 4 will get a hammering too.  We have downloaded Gangnam Style which Ellie is itching to get me doing and should be a lot of fun.  It would be nice to get adept at it in time for Christmas.  Doing the Duets with Ellie is a great laugh for all concerned.

My Fitness Coach:  So, I've had a change to look at this properly now and the one thing that I notice as lacking and it is a biggy, there is no long-term program to follow.  It has a calendar that allows you to see what workouts you have done on a specific day but no way to plan ahead.  The workouts themselves are fun, shifting from one exercise to the next quickly and seamlessly but after each workout there is a good 5 minutes of cool-downs, which if you are looking to do more than one workout in succession, you don't really want a five minute cool-down in between.  It uses the Playstation Move Controller which, as previously discussed adds an extra £40-£50 to the cost of the game however it is possible to use the game without the controller.  Also missing is the ability to work out with a friend which is available on both EASA2 and UFCPT albeit EASA2 would require an extra set of sensors.  This lack of an extra player does not affect me in any way because our lounge is tiny and two people doing kick-boxing in it could possibly end with casualties.  The sensor on MFC seems pretty accurate but then the trainer doesn't appear to care less if you are doing it wrong, just as long as you are making an effort.  MFC is ideal for those that want something that they can pick up or put down as and when their life-style dictates, there are no commitments here.  I think, with a separate calendar, you could plan your workouts and stay motivated.  I think I can use this to top up my workouts when I have the time which will mostly be when I am off work.  There are no built in on-line features with this so it is on par with EASA2 and UFC however there does appear to be DLC available.  Whilst not as motivating as EASA2 and not quite as much fun as JD3 or JD4, it is entertaining and quick to get into.  The only other gripe is that the weight is in metric only which is no big deal but I had to google my weight to work out what it is in Kilos and I'll have to do this each time I lose more weight.

Diet and Exercise

It's 04:37hrs GMT and I currently can't sleep so I thought it might be about time for an update.  I'm now 187lbs so I have done well since my September update.  I plateaued at 191lbs and thought I needed to do something a little more extreme to get my weight-loss started again.  I was in Smythes toy store with Jo and Ellie and I stumbled upon UFC Personal Trainer for the PS3 reduced from £39.99 to just £7 and I thought "Why not?"  This has also motivated me to get back on the EA Sports Active 2 and hammer the Just Dance 4.  I've done about a week on them and my weight loss has started again.  With just 12lbs to get to my ideal weight, I'm now considering the possibility of getting as low as I can without being "under-weight".  I also thought that this would be a good time to review the different products:  Just Dance 3 & 4; EA Sports Active 2 and UFC Personal Trainer.  To follow shortly will be the My Fitness Coach comparison.  I think it is important to note that these are all on PS3.  Our Wii is in need of repair so I can't give any accurate comparison of the Wii fit products at this time but may follow this up when we get it fixed.

EA Sports active:  It should come with three sensors, one for each arm and one for your right leg.  The left arm sensor has a built in heart-rate monitor.  I noticed on Ebay the software being sold without the sensors.  Unless you already have the sensors, avoid buying the software only because you cannot use it without the sensors and it would appear that the product is just as cheap if not cheaper with the sensors than without.  The other thing that I need to add at this point is that the EA servers for this product have now been shut down permanently.  This means that currently (and probably for ever) there is no DLC available for this product on the PS3 and the on-line features of groups are gone forever.  If you need an on-line community to motivate you, there are other web-sites but there is no-longer automatic updates of your work-out data.  Being generally unsociable, this does not affect me but may be important to some people.  Now, the activities are a mixture of fun sport related activities such as goal-keeping, mountain-biking, basketball etc and standard exercises such as weight lifting, skipping and Oh Ye Gods Mountain Climbers!  So, the activities like goal-keeping gets you doing lunges and squat jumps as part of the game with a fair rest in between each one so your heart-rate doesn't go through the roof.  However, activities like the skipping, split-jumps and foot-fires allow you to absolutely hammer your heart-rate if you want.  Now is a good time to point out that the heart-rate monitor sends the info to the PS3 which displays the data on the screen and logs your HR throughout the work-out so that you can evaluate your workout and see where you work the hardest.  There are preset workouts of different intensities and programs that take you through these workouts over several weeks.  There is also the ability to create your own work-outs so that you can tailor the exercises to your exact needs.  What appears to be added as an after thought is the built-in surveys with regard to extra activities which allows me to add my cycling and time spent on the Just Dance and nutrition survey to help raise your awareness as to how well you eat and drink (or don't in my case).  When it asks you how many fruit or veg you have eaten today and the answer is a big fat zero, I think you are supposed to be guilted into eating more the next day (but not in my case;)  The sensors are accurate which is good in respect that it does not tend to miss reps however, there are some exercises which if you start at one extreme of the movement it will struggle to recognise that you have returned to that position.  I'll try to explain - there is an exercise, tricep extensions where you start with your elbows up and your arms near the centre of your back as if trying to scratch in between your shoulder-blades.  You then raise your arms so that you are pointing at the ceiling.  Now, when you return to start, you need to force your arms as far down your back to get it to register that you have returned to start.  What I really like about these sensors is that they leave the hands free for either weights or resistance bands.  On resistance bands, one is included in the pack but you may want to upgrade this one because it is a bit weak, making it a bit too easy.  On weights, you set the weight in the options menu but this does not take into account that I would use different weights for different exercises e.g. hammer curls are far easier for me that tricep extensions  thus I would use different weights.  This would be a good point to talk about loading times.  The time in between exercises is not long, you can get a quick drink from a glass or feeder bottle but you won't have time to undo a bottle lid, drink and replace the lid.  In summary, this is a fun game, a good workout and is more motivating if you use one of the programmes rather than just using a set routine each time.

UFC Personal Trainer:  This uses the Playstation Eye and one or two Move Controllers.  I have the two controllers which I would see as essential for the kick-boxing routines but this has to be seen as a potentially added cost to the game and not a cheap one at that.  A Move starter kit will set you back about £40-£50 and an extra Move controller another £30-£40 so if you don't already have them, you are looking at an extra £70-£90 on top of the game.  However, considering how much use we get out of the Move Controllers and the Playstation Eye with games like Just Dance 3 and 4 together with other games like Ellie's Ipet and LBP2 and My Fitness Coach which I will go into later, it is a good investment.  One thing I do need to add at this point is that because you have the controllers in your hands, this makes using weights or resistance bands extremely difficult verging on impossible leaving you with the option of doing bicep curls using wind-resistance and imagination or very cack-handedly trying to hold the handles of your resistance bands and the controller in each hand without inadvertently pressing any of the buttons on the controller.  The game comes with a leg holster for the controller for when you are doing ground exercises such as leg-lifts and push-ups, which I will come back to in a moment.  So, like EASA2, it is a combination of workouts and exercise programs geared mainly around the kick-boxing style of fitness and I must say that this side of it is great.  I've started on the programme which the condescending software decided after a fitness test that I should start on as a beginner.  So be it.  The warm ups are the same each time and are not really as impressive or varied as EASA2 or even P90X leaving you thinking that it was too easy.  The exception to this is the mountain climbers which I hate with a passion.  So far, the routines seem to focus mainly on floor exercises such as leg-lifts, V-ups, Leg-wipers, bicycle crunches and crunches with punches, and this is where the software falls down.  It does not recognise the reps all the time which means that you can be working like a trojan and still fail the set despite having done twice the required reps which is very demotivating and demoralising, and there is no feedback as to where it is going wrong.  When compared to EASA2 which will coach you through things that you are getting wrong and allow you to keep going until you either get it right or skip the exercise, UFCPT will simply register it as a fail and move on to the next exercise.  The game seems to focus on the celebrity fitness coaches which, if you are into UFC, you probably recognise and are motivated by.  However, to me, they are simply athletes that are reading the same script as each other which become monotonous and lacklustre.  It has to be said that the kick-boxing is what is likely to keep me coming back to this product but apart from that it is too shallow to drive me and lacks the fun element.  When I reach my ideal weight, I can imagine this collecting dust.

Just Dance 3 & 4:  These are fun.  This cannot be stressed enough.  Whether you decide to play on your own or with up to three other players, it is enjoyable and you can expect to break a sweat.  So, the original play mode icludes about 40 songs from varying genres and dates from modern to about 60's swing.  Some are simply set dances where everyone has the same moves, some are duets where two will have different but complementing moves and some are groups where all four will have different moves.  Doing the time-warp with Ellie was outstanding fun with much merriment and mirth for those fortunate enough to witness it and to date, there has been no casualties.  Now, with JD3 you could set up a weekly challenge which on the highest level would see you doing about an hour of dancing each day for 7 days which can be a bit tricky to fit into your day if, like me, you have to go to work and can't always guarantee an hours play with other commitments and if you miss a day, whilst you can make your 7 day target, you fail that day.  This is what I like about JD4.  You can choose your category which features a random set of dances from that catergory and you then decide if you can do 10, 25 or 45 minutes, adding to this 5 minutes of cool-down time.  This is a really basic concept so I can't really add much more to this but as a motivation to get up and get dancing, these games hit the mark.  And unlike EASA2 and UFCPT, these titles will come out and keep coming out when you have friends over.  I think it is worthy of addition that I suppose some people may be self-conscious about dancing in front of their TV and whilst I get some ridicule from Jo, you very quickly get absorbed into the game and the music that you do just crack on with it and have fun.  On a final note however, I do need to add that I am coming to the conclusion that I hate Justin Bieber's music.  I'm not saying I can do better, just that it appears virtually the entire music industry can.  I may be doing him a grave injustice and will have to look into this further.

Today, Jo wants to be picked up from work at 13:00 so I had to go to the gym early.  I struggled a bit on my workout but I'm not sure if that is because I was rushing, because I used extra weights or because I have reached a point of overtraining on those muscles.  No work tomorrow, so I may drop the weights to those I did on Monday and see what results I have.  I'm not suffering from any delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) which is quite strange considering that I am doing weights which are heavy for me and generally doing 6 sets of between 9-11 reps with very little breaks inbetween sets.  I pretty much just take the time to write down my results before going straight onto the next set.

I seem to be waking a couple of times during the night but I'm falling back to sleep without issue and I'm waking in the morning feeling refreshed.  My muscles do not feel painful at all so I will go to the gym today and see how my performance is compared to yesterday.  I need to map out my nutritional values for today because I need to be strict with my diet to try to shift myself under 200lbs.

If I'm currently not overtraining, I wonder how hard I can actually push myself before I am overtraining.  I shall try to keep it up for a week and see what the effects are and then adapt accordingly.

I've found two schools of thought with regard to exercising the same muscle group daily.  Some have said that without proper rest between workouts, you will over-exercise that musclegroup which will be detrimental.  Others have pointed out that Olympic athletes will exercise for long hours daily without negative effects.  The general retort is that Olympic athletes have been doing it for longer.  So, I'm thinking that the only real way to tell is to try it and see what the results are.  There are of course some important variables.  Mainly, sleep.  My sleep appears to be generally better quality than it has been in a long time with my body waking fully after 7 hours indicating that either I only need 7 hours or that my body only allows me to have 7 hours.  It will be interesting to see if working a muscle group excessively causes my sleep to increase to cope with the strain.  The next important variable is nutrients.  I need to keep my protein up but I also fully understand that there is no point in overloading on protein because I know that my body simply will not be able to metabolise it and will use it as fuel instead.  With this in mind, I'm going to keep my diet pretty much the same and ensure my sleep is kept in order but I'm looking to work on my upper body strength.  I'm using moderate weights for now but I'll be looking to increase my weights as and when I can.  I am looking to work the muscles without overloading them and keeping my weights within safe limits as I see little point in risking injury.

So, on the 9th I did an upperbody workout focusing on chinups, pullups, dips and bench-presses.  On the 10th I did pretty much the same but my phone did not record my previous workout and so I cannot see how I performed in comparison.  On the 10th, I recorded it on paper and in the morning I will transfer my results onto the computer and do the same workout again and see how they compare.  If I'm overworking my muscles, I should see a decrease in my capabilities whereas is I see an improvement, I know that I'm not overworking.  And of course, by recording my progress here, I will get to see who is right and who is wrong with regard to overworking muscle groups.