There will be challenge rules from now on

So one of my friends created a fitbit challenge this weekend to see who could get the highest step count. I was pretty excited about it and planned on some good walking with the girls.

Here's the thing. No matter what, I still have to do the mom thing. Every Day. Even on weekends. Especially on weekends.

So when my fellow challengees consist of a single man, with no kids and two retired people, who's children and grandchildren are not in the house, it's kind of hard for us plain old mom's to keep up when the other people in the challenge have nothing better to do but run all weekend.

The differences are staggering. My two day total was 25,378 steps and I came in fourth. Part of that was an almost two mile walk that I took with my girls Saturday morning. Everything else was pretty much just normal life for me.

The winner, one of the two retired folks, was 40,135 steps. Seriously, nothing better to do. The single man was second with 34,745 and the other older gentleman was 33,557. People without kids...

I am happy that of the 'plain old moms' in the group, I did get the highest step count. The next closest to mine was just over 20,000 steps.

Next time, I don't think I'll participate in challenges with people that separate from my own situation. I don't think it's  a fair comparison given the time available to work on the challenge for each person.

(ok, maybe I"m a sore loser)

My first challenge

So, I'm a little competitive. Apparently with the fitbit I got for Christmas you have the ability to challenge your friends to 'walk off's' for lack of a better term. Who gets the most steps in within a set time frame.

One of my friends set up a challenge for this weekend, who can get in the most steps between 12 AM Saturday and 11.59 PM Sunday night. Midnight to midnight covering all of Saturday and Sunday.

I am ready!

Ready, set, walk!

Fitbit Updates

Happy January all. I can't believe we're pretty much half way through already. It's been so busy!

I have been consistently wearing my fitbit and logging all my food (and wine, every glass, I promise) and workouts in to MyFitnessPal for over two weeks now and I really like having this new visual.

I've always eaten well, and with the exception of the wine, don't splurge much but just eating healthy hasn't resulted in any continued weight loss. And now I have a better visual on why.

The fitbit measures everything I do during the day and connected to MyFitnessPal can fairly accurately show me the calories I normally burn during the day in comparison to what I eat.

Intake vs Output.

And they're actually quite even on a normal day with minimal exercise. Good for maintaining. Not good for continued weight loss though.

I have six measly little pounds that I want to lose to fit into my PRE BABY clothes comfortably. I can wear many now, but not comfortably. I have a left over roll of prego belly around my middle that is better, but still not nearly where I want it to be.

On days were I do a ballet video workout, or yoga routine, or even spend 20-30 minutes boxing (on my awesome new punching bag that I love, love, love) my output doesn't increase to a level that is going to see the results I want. When I run for 30 minutes, that's when I burn the calories needed.

So, I need to come up with a routine that lets me run a bit more. Which is good to know.

I do love that punching bag though. There is a level of therapy that nothing else matches. It's awesome. There is one minor drawback though. Boxing with my fitbit and the boxes gloves on results in a rather sore bruise on my wrist.

Going to have to figure that one out. I'm not going to workout without the fitbit, that just defeats the whole point. But I'm going to have to come up with a way to keep it on and out of the way.

Here's to January fitness goals!