HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

No, it's not my wedding anniversary...That's still about three weeks away.  No, it's not the anniversary of my decision to change my life and quit the couch potato lifestyle...that's still nearly four months away. No, it's not the anniversary of my climb up to the peak of Half Dome in Yosemite Park...that's still about one month away. It is the anniversary of the day that I turbo-charged the change in my life and purchased my fitbit. During this first year... Sept 2015 through August 2016, I have been counting steps... I am aware that there is about one person on earth who might care about this. That person being me.

In the first year that I had this fitbit, I accumulated 9,012,198 steps. 
I had two months when my step count was over one million.
I had one month when my step count was under 200,000.
My average steps for this first year was 24,690 steps per day.
I earned my 'sneakers badge' (10,000 steps) 342 times.
I earned my 'cowboy badge' (50,000 steps) 22 times.
I earned my 'classics badge' (25,000 steps) 171 times.
I failed to earn my 'boat shoe badge' (5000 steps) 23 times.
I earned my 'volcano badge' (500 floors climbed in one day) once, on Half Dome.
I earned my 'genie shoe' badge (75,000 steps) once, the day I walked the Chicago Marathon before taking an additional hike in the evening that same day.

SEPT 2 - SEPTEMBER 30

OCTOBER 1 - OCTOBER 31

NOVEMBER 1 - NOVEMBER 30

DECEMBER 1 - DECEMBER 31

JANUARY 1 - JANUARY 31

FEBRUARY 1 - FEBRUARY 29

MARCH 1 - MARCH 31

APRIL 1 - APRIL 30
(HERNIA INJURY, SURGERY)

MAY 1 - MAY 31
(HERNIA RECOVERY)

JUNE 1 - JUNE 30

JULY 1 - JULY 31

AUGUST 1 - AUGUST 31

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And now...back to our regular programming....



After an appointment in Mishawaka, Indiana, I headed towards Chicago and stopped at Indiana Dunes. As always, I parked my car at the visitors center. This time I was searching for the Little Calumet River Trail which I had not yet hiked on any of my previous visits. At one point, I lost the trail and it was a while before I 'recovered.'  I never worry too much as my MapMyWalk application always tells me where I am and which direction I need to go to get back on track. 

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Your Food Diary For:

Thursday, September 1, 2016

BREAKFAST	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
Mccain - Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal	600	108	10	16	0	4
Fiber One - Chewy Bars - Chocolate	90	17	2	1	80	5
	690	125	12	17	80	9
L U N C H
Power Bar - Protein Plus 20g - Chocolate	210	25	6	20	200	12
Subway - Footlong Turkey Breast on Wheat	560	92	17	36	1,890	11
Sage - Red Delicious Apple, 2 medium apple	190	50	1	1	4	38
	960	167	24	57	2,094	61
D I N N E R
Aladdin Food - Garlic Shrimp	250	14	7	31	664	0
Spaghetti - Spaghetti Noodles	221	43	1	8	1	1
Baby Spinach - Baby Spinaches	20	3	0	2	65	0
Campbell's - Condensed Tomato Soup	180	40	0	4	960	24
Quaker - Chewy Choc Chip, 1 bar	100	17	4	1	0	7
	771	117	12	46	1,690	32
S N A C K S
Generic - Twix Ice Cream Bar, 1 bar (3 oz)	250	28	14	2	75	23
	250	28	14	2	75	23
Totals	2,671	437	62	122	3,939	125
Your Daily Goal	3,569	446	119	179	2,300	133
Remaining	898	9	57	57	-1,639	8
	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
	*You've earned 1,639 extra calories from exercise today

If every day were like today...   You'd weigh 191.3 lbs in 5 weeks     

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       Your Exercise Diary for:

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
10 MILE HIKE	146	1,750
Daily Total / Goal	146 / 30	1,750 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	595 / 210	7,784 / 4,130

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Little Calumet River Trail is located in the town of Porter in Porter County within the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and is connected to the Bailly Homestead and Chellberg Farm Trails. To access the trails from US 20, turn north on Mineral Springs Rd. go ½ mile then turn left on Oak Hill Rd. another ½ mile, and then another left on Howe Rd. Parking is available near Bailly Homestead on the left and further down is additional parking to the right where the trailhead is also located.

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WELCOME TO INDIA

Earlier this month, my fitbit reported that I had walked the distance to Japan since I had become a 'fitbitter' on September 3, 2015.  I missed that notification when I received it on February 1st. According to fitbit, the length of Japan is 1869 miles. Late last night, my fitbit congratulated me for traversing the equivalent distance of India from North to South - 1997 miles.

This was the notification that I had received earlier this month congratulating me on walking the equivalent distance of Japan. I will admit, that I do get a kick out of these 'badges' that I earn from fitbit. I wonder 'where I am going next."  I suppose that I will find out when I get there!

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Your Food Diary For:

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

BREAKFAST	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Quaker - Grits - Instant - Original	400	88	0	8	1,240	0
English Muffin - Thomas Original	120	25	1	4	200	1
KELLOGGS - RAISIN BRAN	380	92	2	10	420	36
Tropicana - Orange Juice 100% Juice	110	27	0	2	15	22
	1,010	232	3	24	1,875	59
L U N C H
Dark Chocolate Cranberries	240	38	14	2	0	28
Kroger - Banana Chips	320	44	14	2	0	0
HUGE SPINACH SALAD, 1 salad	500	0	0	0	0	0
	1,060	82	28	4	0	28
D I N N E R
Jason's SPICY SEAFOOD GUMBO	230	26	8	12	1,710	3
Jason's Deli - Salad Buffet..., 3 Salad	1,050	51	72	51	3,180	24
	1,280	77	80	63	4,890	27
Totals	3,350	391	111	91	6,765	114
Your Daily Goal	3,971	496	132	199	2,300	149
Remaining	621	105	21	108	-4,465	35
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
	*You've earned 2,041 extra calories from exercise today

Your Exercise Diary for:

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
PRECOR AMT (ADAPTIVE MOTION TRAINER)	65	1,082
PRECOR AMT (ADAPTIVE MOTION TRAINER)	65	1,093
MFP iOS calorie adjustment	N/A	-134
Daily Total / Goal	131 / 30	2,041 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	393 / 210	6,335 / 4,130

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total calories consumed 3350 calories

total calories burned (elliptical) 2175 calories

total net 1175 calories

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fitbit day 164

15736 steps  

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65 minutes AMT ELLIPTICAL, LEVEL 20, first session 1082 calories burned

65 minutes AMT ELLIPTICAL, LEVEL 20, second session 1093 calories burned

MAKING LEMONADE FROM LEMONS

When I have an appointment, with anyone for any reason, I tend to be on time.  In fact, I am usually early.  I don't do late.  (That's been my personal motto)

Yesterday morning, I had an appointment at 9AM at a Yarn Shop that usually does not open for business until 11AM.  This is an ideal time to visit a store, before they open for business, as the number of interruptions are minimal. That is, if the person that you are meeting with remembers to show up.

For my 9AM appointment I arrived early, as I always do and waited until 9AM for my customer.  At 9:15AM I was still waiting.  by 9:30AM it became crystal clear to me that my customer forgot our appointment.  I had already paid for parking for two hours, besides, it seemed likely that if I simply waited until 11AM - eventually the store owner would show up.  Since I had some time to kill, an idea popped into my head - and it revolved around my fitbit.  I was in a three story building, (four story if you count the basement) and I decided that I was going to walk up and down the stairs and give myself and my fitbit a workout.  By the time that my customer arrived at around 10:45AM I had walked 74 flights of stairs.   I was soaking wet with perspiration.  What I was not - was angry.  How could I be angry?  My customer did not steal time away from me - in fact, I made great use of the time.  No one was bent out of shape over my perspiration - and my cheerful attitude insured that my customer was in a great mood too.  It turned out that this store placed one of top five orders of the year with me today.  Not only did I get much accomplished from a business standpoint - I also snuck in a bit of a workout.   I made lemonade out of lemons.

During the afternoon, I rode my bike to the YMCA for my two hour session on the elliptical machine.  After my workout at the YMCA, I rode my bike to the park where my daughter belongs to a swim team and watched her for a bit.  After I rode home, I decided that I needed to build upon the 74  flights of stairs that I had climbed in the morning.  I spent an additional 150 minutes walking up the 24 flights of stairs in the building in which I live.   I climbed up.  I reached the top floor and took the elevator down to the ground floor and climbed up again.  I repeated this until my fitbit recorded that I had climbed a total of 400 steps for the day.  

I am increasingly confident that I am in shape and ready for my climb up Half Dome in Yosemite Park in three weeks.  There are plenty of variables that I have not trained for including the higher altitude and the effect of the lower concentration of oxygen in the air as well as the fact that when I am hiking I will be carrying a big backpack.  I will have adrenaline and enthusiasm to power me through the day.  I truly believe that I am ready.  I know that I am as ready as I am going to be.

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 Wednesday MENU

breakfast  center cut bacon, oatmeal, poached eggs                             585 calories
lunch        spinach salad, asparagus, tomato, CLAM CHOWDER
                 dark chocolate bar                                                               991 calories
dinner      spinach salad, asparagus, tomato, CLAM CHOWDER
                multigrain rice cakes                                                             648 calories
SNACK  MULTIGRAIN TORTILLA CHIPS                                      700 calories

total calories consumed 2924 calories

calories burned

YMCA PRECOR elliptical machine 125 minutes, 4:3 interval training              1693  calories
THREE HOURS CLIMBING 400 FLIGHTS OF STAIRS:  a bunch of calories, who knows?

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WednesDAY NET CALORIES 1231 CALORIES

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 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
fitbit day 7
31572 steps
400 floors - stair climbing
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There is tremendous power in these 'badges' issued by fitbit.  After I had climbed a total of 200 'floors' yesterday - I could have easily convinced myself that that was enough for one day.  'Unfortunately' I was aware that my friend, Bob, had once earned a badge for the achievement of climbing 300 'floors'  in one day.  This appeared doable to me - so I did it.  Once I had reached the plateau of 300 'floors' - it occurred to me that 400 'floors' was doable - so I did that.  Once I reached 400 'floors' it occurred to me that that was enough.  And that was where I stopped for the day.

400 'floors' earned the CANYON BADGE

I 'earned' more badges in one day yesterday than my daughter had earned in five years of GIRL SCOUTS!   Sadly my badges are not the types that one can sew on - and besides, I don't have a snappy vest to sew them onto!  

STAIR CLIMBING BADGES EARNED YESTERDAY
LIGHTHOUSE BADGE   for climbing 50 floors
FERRIS WHEEL BADGE for climbing 75 floors
SKYSCRAPER BADGE for climbing 100 floors
ROLLERCOASTER BADGE for climbing 125 floors
STADIUM BADGE for climbing 150 floors
BRIDGE BADGE for climbing 175 floors
CASTLE BADGE for climbing 200 floors
WATERFALL BADGE for climbing 300 floors
CANYON BADGE for climbing 400 floors

FITBIT

Earlier this year I had thought that I would have been interested in the Apple Watch to sync with my workouts.  When the watch was finally revealed, I was underwhelmed by what it could do and overwhelmed by its high cost.  I declined to get involved with this product.

Yesterday, however, I did add an electronic device to my life - FITBIT.  Specifically FITBIT ONE.

I made my purchase in Wisconsin on the way home and managed to save a full 5% on sales tax.   On the way home, I stopped at a Starbucks to get it up and running and synced to my MacBook Air and iPhone.  As simple as it was, I was still confused and needed to call customer support for help.   Something amazing happened.  I was talking to a live person within 30 seconds.  That alone, makes me a very enthusiastic fan of this device.

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 Thursday MENU

breakfast    oatmeal, apples                                                                       1000 calories

lunch          three apples                                                                               240 calories

dinner        Subway double chicken spinach salad                                      220 calories

SNACK     beef jerky, mango, chewy ginger, two slices bacon                 530 calories

total calories consumed 1990 calories

calories burned

YMCA PRECOR elliptical machine 125 minutes, interval 1:1

resistance level 20/incline level 20 : resistance level 15/incline level 15     1715 calories

TOTAL CALORIES BURNED 1715 calories

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Thursday net calories 275 calories

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fitbit day 1:

My fitbit was recording 'phantom' steps and 'phantom' stair climbing while I was cruising down the highway after I set it up.   Once I noticed this, I turned it off.  I need to investigate why this was happening.

Once I arrived at the YMCA for my two hour and five minute workout on the elliptical I turned it back on and it recorded more than 13,000 steps. I bought this device fully aware that it will be addicting.  This little wonder will definitely be accompanying me to Half-Dome at Yosemite National Park - now only 27 days away!