so you know i’m following the biggest loser.
like a maniac. (really, it’s a little sick. i’m almost done with season 10 now.)
i bought a bodymedia “link” unit two weeks ago…you know, just like the contestants wear in every season.
(image found at http://bodymedia.com)
i might be a little addicted to it, too.
it tells everything. steps. calories burned. calories consumed (ok, you have to enter these, but still). minutes spent doing moderate activity. minutes spent doing vigorous activity. what your sleep looks like. your calorie deficit. today, for example, i have burned 2317 calories, done 1 hour, 21 minutes of moderate activity, 42 of those minutes, vigorous activity (which looks like running at least a 12 minute mile pace, more or less), walked 9452 steps (i need 548 more before bed!!! looks like my staircase and i are going to get a little more friendly tonight as there are only about 2 more hours before bed), and last night i slept for 6 hours 23 minutes. i didn’t enter my calories consumed today because i haven’t had time, but i’m guessing my calorie deficit is around 800 at this point (which i should really fix…but it’s a little late. protein shake before bed, probably). this 2″ square device on my arm measures my body temperature, my motion along different axes, my sweat levels (sweat makes your skin electromagnetically charged…did you know that?), and my stillness, and it puts them all together in these crazy formulas based upon my height and weight and age and all of that other stuff and determines…what i did all day. it prints out pretty charts and graphs and congratulates me for hitting goals and warns me if i’m not going to hit them and there’s even an alarm feature if i need a reminder. AND it gives me real-time readings on my smartphone.
you know, because if i’m walking through the grocery store and i want to see just how many calories i’m burning on my shopping trip…it’s right there.
the thing is…i don’t really trust it. i’ve done so much research about stupid thyroids…i know that this thing could read that i burned 2817 calories yesterday…but in reality, it may have looked more like 2100. because for as fancy and scientific as all those formulas it operates under seem…they can’t take my body chemistry, composition, or deficiencies into account. i go back and forth between saying, “yep, i should only have a calorie deficit of about 500 calories on a given day, so i need to eat more today,” and “yeah, the ‘link’ says i’ve burned 900 more than i’ve consumed, but more than likely, that’s more like 200…i’m never, ever, EVER going to lose any weight.”
i’m wondering lately if it’s not more of a matter of pounding my head against the wall than some fantastic scientific process. and if you know me, this is a very difficult realization. i believe in science. numbers. math. i believe in research and proven methods.
this is kicking my butt.
so i’m trying to be sensible. put together all the research i have done and make sense of it. work out hard, but smart. weight lift in addition to lower intensity cardio and excellent HIIT routines. avoid gluten and raw veggies and eat high quality, real protein with every meal, along with mostly just whole foods. up my calories from the small number i had been working within. get good rest (oy. that’s another whole post.). take the right supplements and make sure i don’t work out on an empty stomach. train hard, but not overtrain.
“sensible” starts to look a little bit like “psychotic” along the way.
yep. that’s me.
the psycho.
All Is Grace 