GoWear Fit

I can't believe it's been so long since I last updated! Time flies when you are having fun, right?

I received my GWF on Thursday, 10/1. I charged it up a little, put it on, and did a my first workout in ages. It gave me a calorie burn about what I would have expected for a 40 minute strength training workout. Then I charged it up fully and slept with it on (since it monitors my sleep patterns for me). Very cool! I can generate lots of different reports and stuff, so once I get the hang of it, I'll be sure to post a few.

I've been wearing it as much as possible ever since. I don't wear it in the shower (it's water resistant, but not water-proof) and I flip it over (so it doesn't make contact with my skin) when I'm driving. The first time I drove to work with it on, it counted the drive as 30 minutes of moderate activity! Maybe our car needs new shocks? ;-)

What have I learned? 1) I burn WAY less than expected for someone of my weight. I guess this shouldn't be a surprize because not only am I over 40 and not nearly as muscular as I once was, but it takes me crazy low calories to lose weight at a fast pace. So, slow loss it is! Secondly 2) I'm pretty active. I hit my 'steps' target every day and most days, I go way over. That's cool. 3) It's not very effective for cycling. I wore it on my arm for my first ride and it came out with the right number of exercise minutes but the intensity was way too low. When I wore it on my calf for ride number two - it was closer, but still seemed low. It was super cold that day, so I may have been pushing the effective temperature limit a bit (40F is the lowest). I have lost weight since I got it though. And I also try to walk more at work and take the stairs more all the time - just to burn calories.

All in all, I really like it. It's a fun tool. I also pay for the website to upload my data and log my food. The food logging is actually pretty good and I've been very consistent with it (partly why I've lost some weight, I'm sure). I haven't yet been trying to cut back on my intake because I wanted to ge a week under my belt with 'normal' eating to see where I sit. I fear that cutting back will lower that burn, so I wanted a baseline with which to compare.

I've also been better about my workouts. I did a short strength workout the day I got it (Firm Supercharged Sculpting), and then another one the Saturday after that (Body Sculpt Blaster). Then on Sunday I was active around the farm (and burned more calories than my workout day!). I rested the following Monday, did a cardio/sculpt workout (Firm Vol. 4) on Tuesday, rested on Wednesday, rode my bike 18 miles on Thursday, did a longer cardio/sculpt (Firm Aerobic Body Shaping) on Friday, rode for 35 miles on Saturday and then on Sunday rested. Tonight I'll be doing another sculpting workout.

I'm also thinking about begining training and possibly signing up for my first ever triathlon next May. More on that later though...