Things are looking UP!

So let me tell you about the Jawbone UP…

At its simplest, it's a wristband pedometer that you wear 24/7.  It tracks the steps you take in a day and compares your results to a goal that you set (the default it 10,000).  By syncing it to your smartphone or tablet, you get feedback on how you are doing. It also (based upon your age, weight, and gender) computes how many calories you burn during the day. 

Secondly, it's a sleep monitor (I know…weird). You put it into "sleep mode" when you go to bed, and it tracks a)how long you sleep, b)how DEEP you sleep, and c)if you wake up.  Like the steps, you set a goal (default is 8 hrs, mine is 7 hrs), and each day it reminds you how well you've done relative to your goal.

Also (what? we're not done yet?), the software that comes with it allows you to track the food you eat, doing all the calorie counting for you.  Just tell it what you ate and how much, and it does the rest.  If you eat something pre-packaged, you can just scan the UPC (I do that with snack bars).  SO--if you know how many calories you took in and how many you BURNED, losing weight is simple: if calories burned is greater than calories eaten, you're losing weight! (Notice I said it was SIMPLE.  I did NOT say it was EASY--there's a difference.)

So what's the point?  Personally, I'm a goal-oriented person.  I can't just say, "I'm gonna exercise more" or "I'm going to eat less."  I have to SEE what's going on, because that's the only way I can control it.  Every day, every time I pick up my PHONE, I'm reminded that I need to walk more.  I find myself making excuses to walk MORE, rather than less.  Before I eat, instead of thinking how much I want bad stuff to eat, I KNOW I'm gonna have to look at it on the app and I make better choices.

I've had the band for about two weeks.  I've only really tracked my food for the last 8 days.  Over that time, I've burned 4131 calories MORE than I've taken in.  That's over a pound of real, honest-to-goodness weight loss (not water weight). And that includes a couple of days like Friday (my niece's graduation nite!) where the after-grad party included cake, yeast rolls, and cajun chicken pasta! 

I still eat what I want--I just find myself WANTING different things.  Having to confront my own bad decisions on a daily basis makes me more responsible.

Basically, if you're honest with yourself, it WILL work.  Losing weight is simple math.  UP is a great motivator, at least for me.  It's available at amazon.com (here's a link) for $129 (same price everywhere).  I have the large band in light grey--you can pick a color to suit your wardrobe choice, eye color, etc  ;)

I have been VERY pleased with this thing since I got it.  A friend had one and got me interested, and I got one for myself and one for the wife.  We both are taking maximum advantage of them. 

Hope this helps.  I know I have sure hated being overweight, and I wanna stop.  So I am. 

Today's weight:  According to the hotel scale, 274 pounds.  Maybe the title of this blog will be valid again soon!