The decision I made was to start a low carb diet. Nine years prior a low carb diet had helped me lose 55 pounds in a little under 6 months and an additional 10 in the 4 months following that. Clearly, low carb is what works for me and that is important to know - what works for you in everything, not just a weight loss plan. My goal is to lose 50 pounds. I don't expect it to be as quickly as it was before because that was a disciplined and physician guided plan. I do, however, expect it to happen. And so, began my journey. I reviewed the app I used to track my meals in the last 4 months of my previous weight loss to find out what amount of carbs was my threshold and set that as my goal. Due to covid precauations I was already taking my blood pressure and temperature as well as oxygen saturation almost daily, why not add to the tracking. Intermittent Fasting has also worked for me in the short term in the past therefore I surmised that combining the two would supercharge this journey.
I started the journey September 1st. It was going well so I decided to add walking to the plan. How much walking was the question? Because exercise isn't something that I particularly enjoy, I decided on 10 min that week and work up from there. Some might think what difference 10 minutes could possibly make. I don't know but in my mind any movement was better than none. So off I went. Here is where I'll probably lose a lot of people. It really wasn't off I went anywhere because all I did was walk in place during a commercial here and there and by the end of the month, I was walking in place for a whole 30 minutes including repetions of a flight of steps during the commercials! I know for most, walking in place seems boring and pointless but for me a funny sitcom or a favorite show helped to take my mind off of the sweat pouring down my face or the exhaustion. Well, it paid off! By the end of September, I had lost 11.2 pounds. Goodbye quarantine weight! Next step, literally what was going to be the next step was something that is very common out there now. I was going to do 10,000 steps a day for the next 31 days. This was a daunting task. During the summer, I had taken a few brave trips out to Liberty State Park to walk in an attempt to get these 10,000 steps a day. What I found out was on the days I didn't make this attempt I was barely getting 600 steps a day. The handful of times I did make the goal it felt like self-torture. But here I was going for it again.
What I learned during the summer and times before about step tracking was using my phone was annoying. Sure, nowadays we do usually have our phones with us, but we don't get to track all of the steps we do take without it and there really are plenty when you're not being a complete couch potato. I began researching a bit early on in September a tool to track my steps. There are so many options, maybe too many! I am a self-proclaimed techie, so I thought I wanted something with all the bells and whistles, but I am also indecisive for many reasons. I love to get a good deal, so I have buyer’s remorse and try to mitigate that by making the best decision. I also have FOMO in some situations so if a new feature debuts I would feel like I made the wrong decision. But I had to make a decision because what I had definitely decided was I didn't want to have to tote my phone somehow while walking in place or doing day to day movements. And just like a rest area sign on a long road trip I saw a sign that seemed like it was just for me. It was a social media sponsored ad for a FREE smartwatch. The free smartwatch could do most of things I was looking for and if it didn't...IT WAS FREE! So, I read a good number of reviews and saw nothing to be alarmed about. I ordered it! Now, was it free, free? No, of course not, you have to pay for shipping and handling. Shipping and handling was a little under $15. So, a smartwatch for $15, still a deal even if it didn't do what it said it was going to do.
I placed my order on September 9th. Nine days later I received a notification that it was shipped. Because, probably like everyone else during quarantine, I have so many orders coming in, it was hard to keep track of when my "FREE" smartwatch was expected. But it arrived October 1st, after 4pm. I charged it up, a lot more difficult than you might think, and started walking! (that first night I did almost 8k steps before 10p)
But before we get to the walking...let me introduce you to my review of the Sleek Smart Fitness Watch (and the FitPro App) . I have not been paid or otherwise compensated for this review. I am, in no way affiliated with this or any other company that has a vested interest in the following review.
- "Functional Fitness Tracker"
I was looking for a device that could accurately record my steps in order to keep me motivated toward my goal. - "Blood Pressure Monitoring"
In 2010, prior to my initial weight loss, I was diagnosed with high blood pressure. When I lost the weight the BP issues all but disappeared. But as you may have guessed, it had reappeared even prior to the quarantine weight. So, I wanted to be able to track it easier than the using my portable machine. - "Text & Email Notifications"
It made sense to me, if I was going to be wearing something because I didn't want to always have the phone in my hand/on my person that I would be able to have the luxury of seeing my messages.
- The "Functional Fitness Tracker" says it tracks steps. The website says, "record your daily walking steps, distance and calories burned". Does it technically perform these actions? Yes, it does. Does it perform these actions with precise accuracy? Ehhh... Unfortunately, I am unable to separate the way the watch functions and the inadequacies of the app for this particular function. 90% of the time I think the watch does track steps accurately. The app takes some time to catch up sometimes. The other 10% of the time there is no movement in step count on either the watch or the app. There doesn't seem to be a clear way to remedy this. I do the age old "turn it off-turn it on" step and sometimes that works. Other times it just seems to need its space. Kind of temperamental that way, I guess. The sports mode, which probably should be its own topic, is a bit confusing and not that helpful for my purposes. Someone else might find it useful. The Steps, Skipping, Sit-up options have a timer and a calorie count. The only one that seems to "work" is the steps. But you didn't necessarily need a separate function for that. The other two just seem to count time, calorie count remains at 0(ZERO). Pointless! Overall for this, it met my main need.
- "Blood Pressure Monitoring" The website didn't make any particular claims about this particular feature. I wasn't going into this to use it as the main monitoring object. I was aware that wrist BP is not as accurate as upper arm and that these kinds of tools typically are off. With that in mind, these kinds of tools are typically higher readings from what I understood. This watch has been lower, much lower leading me to believe it's inaccurate altogether. For instance, yesterday I had a 135/94 reading with the portable machine and the watch was 119/75. The Heart Rate and pulse ox readings have been consistent with other apps and the portable machine. Overall for this, it's hard to say. I will do some analysis to see the percentage difference in the readings to find if it can be considered reliable in any way. (I would like to note that the portable BP machine is 10 years old)
- "Text & Email Notifications" In all fairness I can see some of my messages most of the time. I will say about 75% of the time would be a good assessment. Unfortunately, the device only shows text, no emojis. It only shows for 2 seconds and I don't see any option to get email. Overall, this part of the functionality doesn't meet my expectations. It does alert me that the phone is ringing or if I've gotten a message if it's not near me but that’s the most I'd say it's useful for.
HITS (well TAPS)
MISSES
There is no vibrate to warn you battery is low and device is shutting off
MISLEADINGS (lies?)
NEXT: Some topics I may touch on this month
- Leaving Verizon Wireless
- Where is my Amazon package!?
- Love in the time of Corona, ha! #IAMAWRITER #FREE #NovemberGoal #15kSteps #smallbloggers #ImBack #JesusisLord #Prayer #travellover #Tauruswoman #AprilBaby #424 #naturalhair #NE4Life #Walk2WHOA
