In this post, I’ll share with you how I lost 10 pounds in a month with my FitBit. It’s easy, it’s fun, and the weight loss is pretty much effortless.
But first some background… A year ago, I decided to finally qui...
In this post, I’ll share with you how I lost 10 pounds in a month with my FitBit. It’s easy, it’s fun, and the weight loss is pretty much effortless.
But first some background… A year ago, I decided to finally quit dieting. Dieting sucks. Nobody should ever have to diet. And most diets don’t work.
Like so many moms, I had been trying for years to lose the extra 30 pounds of baby fat after I had Kate in 2007. Over and over, I’d go on a restrictive diet, lose the weight, and then gain it all back and then some. (Read my post on Why I Ditched Low Carb.)
So from January until May 2012, I did Matt Stone’s RRARFing program which helped me to normalize my metabolism. I got my body temperature up to a steady 98.6, day in, day out. (You can read more about my experience with Matt Stone’s plan here.)
I didn’t worry about my weight — I just wanted to be healthy. And it worked. Since I got my body temperature up from the low 97s to 98.6, my energy is now through the roof, my insomnia is gone, and I jump out of bed when the sun comes up. I’m like my in-laws now (who I always used to joke had more energy than me). I run around all day and I have energy to spare.
When I was RRARFing, I asked Matt about exercise. He said, “Don’t exercise until you fantasize about it. I laughed and said, “That will NEVER happen!”
But lo and behold, it did happen. It took about 9 months. Around January of this year, I started thinking about how much I want to go skiing and swim laps and ride my bike. I wanted to go hiking and pick up the kettlebell. I just wanted to move and sweat!
So I started slow… just walking for a half hour in the morning. I worked up to an hour. And then I started doing the kettlebell and started swimming laps again.
Get Committed
One day in April, I woke up one morning and said to myself, I am ready to lose this extra 30 pounds.
You know, you can SAY you want to do something, and waffle around… but you’ll never actually do it until you are REALLY ready.
Finally, I was ready.
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.” — W.H. Murray
So right there and then I committed to lose the weight. It wasn’t so much about losing the weight as it was about getting active and getting in shape. I wanted to be able to climb flights of stairs easily, lift heavy things and just get a lot more physical activity.
You see, I have the most sedentary job on the planet. I work on a computer 12-16 hours a day and I work from home. I don’t even have to walk from the parking lot to my office.
The Gamification of Exercise
Seems like most people have turned exercise into work these days. And it should be play! When we were kids, riding bikes and swimming and going on walks were all things we did for fun.
I have figured this out about myself: I am the type of person who doesn’t like to do anything unless it is fun. If it seems like work, it’s drudgery in my mind and I’ll do anything to avoid it. I’m the queen of procrastination! (Isn’t that funny, seeing how I am also a classic Type A Overachiever/Workaholic. I guess I’ve figured out how to make work fun! In my mind, it doesn’t feel like work.)
If I can make a game out of it,
