Tag: motivation

The Spark Activity Tracker

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, Diet, Exercise, Gadgets, Health, Noom, Products I Like, SparkPeople, Tech, WeightLeave a comment

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Diet and exercise are very important to me. Since I have Scoliosis, I prefer cycling over any other form of cardio exercise that might hurt my back. I have a mountain bike on a bicycle trainer in our patio and I have a bicycle computer connected to the back wheel. I also use the Noom app on my Barnes & Noble Nook HD+ tablet to log my diet and exercise.

The Noom app added a new feature that allows you to connect your Google Fit account so it can copy all of the cardio information from your Google Fit tracker. I didn’t have a Google Fit tracker, so I went looking for one, however they are very expensive. I went looking for an alternative and found The Spark Activity Tracker from Spark People for only $29.95. It attaches to your shoe or your belt or wherever you want to attach it. It logs your steps and all of your cardio from walking, jogging, running, cycling, elliptical and even when you are just working or shopping. It comes with a USB Wireless Sync Point that allows The Spark to sync when you are in range of your computer where it is plugged in. Once it syncs up with your SparkPeople account, you can then see your progress. It shows daily steps, activity minutes, calories burned and distance covered.

imageUnfortunately The Spark doesn’t connect to the Noom app, but I will be able to use the information from SparkPeople to log my activity to Noom. Perhaps this will be more accurate since it is much newer than my bicycle computer. If The Spark is permanently attached to my shoe, I will never forget it, and the battery will last for a year, so no worries about having to keep it charged. I can also edit the steps in the Noom app so they are the same as in the SparkPeople website.

What I was not expecting was to receive a SparkPeople Exercise DVD that will give me complete weekly workouts for beginners, intermediate and advanced. I am considering buying some weights to go with these workouts. I watched a few of them and they aren’t bad either. I don’t have a lot of space in my bedroom, but I might have just enough to do these workouts.

I was curious to see if The Spark would know the difference between walking and riding my bicycle, and it knew exactly what I was doing because it logged 22 minutes on the bike as “Cycling”. Although, the 2nd day I used it, it logged it as general exercise. I had to reclassify it, and that also affected my steps on the SparkPeople website and app, which gave me more steps. A little strange that I had to do that, but that’s fine.

It’s also interesting how The Spark works. You tap it 5 times and it will show lights to show you how you are doing. If it only has 1 light on the top, you haven’t done anything yet, if it shows half, then you know you’ve still got a ways to go. If all the lights come on, and they blink, then you still have a few minutes of exercise to go. You know you’re finished when all the lights glow and they don’t blink. That’s when you can sigh and say I’m done! And if you meet your goal for the day, the week or the month, you get a trophy. The image at the top of this paragraph is my first trophy which says I met my goal of 6000 steps. I got the same trophy on my 2nd day using it. The trophies are a fun way to encourage you to meet all of your goals. Although, you don’t get an actual trophy, but if you do all of the work and eat right, you get a flat tummy, and isn’t that worth all the trophies in the world?

I was motivated by the Noom and SparkPeople apps, and I was motivated by my bicycle and the bicycle trainer, but even though I had all of those things, I wasn’t 100% motivated. I do feel that this Spark will light a spark under my ass and get me back to work so I can lose this weight. I hope it does.

Patriotic keychains and flag lanyards

On By Michel McDonaldIn craftsLeave a comment

I have been having a blast playing with lanyards lately. I made quite a few keychains in the DNA pattern with many different colors and I have made a couple different patriotic keychains as well as an American flag. Take a look.

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The flag isn’t perfect, as nothing really is in this world, but I like it anyway. The problem that I had was with the transition to the blue. I can change the colors in the DNA keychains no problem, but adding the blue to this flag was the most difficult thing I’ve ever tried to do.

Someday I will try to make another one, but for now this will have to do. I really love the keychains though.

My motivation for making these patriotic lanyard projects is the 4th of July of course. I like to make something for every holiday. Actually, flag day is coming so this works for that day too. I think an American flag works for many holidays throughout the year.

Anyway, I hope it’s pleasing. I plan on making more of the keychains as soon as I get more hooks. I think people will like them. I hope anyway.

My Weight Loss Journey Collage

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Noom, WeightLeave a comment

my weight loss journey

Pictures are a great motivational tool when losing weight.  You want to take a before picture for obvious reasons, but you also want to take many pictures throughout your journey so you can compare your current picture with your before picture.  If you have something to compare how you look now versus how you looked before, then you have your motivation to keep losing weight so you can see how thin you will be in the future compared to how you are now.

These are the pictures that I have taken on my journey.

  • The top left is obviously my before picture.  I say it was taken on January 1st 2013, but I think it was the day before.  It doesn’t really matter though.  I weighed 264lbs in that picture.  We were at a Denny’s restaurant having breakfast.
  • The bottom right is the picture that I took halfway through when I had lost 28lbs.  I had gotten a white Noom t-shirt and I wanted to show it off.
  • The top right I took because I wanted to get a picture of how my dog Flower was laying on me.  I was pleasantly surprised at how skinny my face was getting.
  • The top middle is the picture I took when I realized that I had lost so much weight that I was finally able to wear that dress shirt buttoned all the way to the top.
  • Then finally the bottom left picture is my most recent picture with my Noom swag.  I weighed 206lbs in that picture.

It’s important to me that I see my before and after pictures to remind me how skinny I am actually getting because sometimes I look at myself in the mirror and can’t see anything different and I get discouraged.  When I look at the pictures and see how skinny I am actually getting, it gives me hope and helps me to keep going.  It’s funny how the mirror really effects how we see ourselves compared to how a picture shows us how we really look.  I know that a reflection is the same exact thing as a picture, but it’s different, I don’t know how to explain it.  It’s the same thing, only different LOL.

Anyway, I am very pleased with my progress of losing 57lbs and I will keep eating healthy so I can continue losing this fat until it is finally all gone.

It’s COLD Brrr

On By Michel McDonaldIn crafts, Daily Blog, HolidaysLeave a comment

Last year our central heating stopped working and the estimate was thousands of dollars to repair so we went out and got some space heaters. I don’t mind space heaters because I can’t really afford to heat a whole house when I’m going to be in my bedroom all day long.

This year I decided that I’m not going to turn my heater on at all unless it gets really bad and I absolutely need it. Well, I absolutely need it now.

It’s been in the 30′s lately early in the morning and late at night. It’s in the 50′s outside right now but it’s still in the 30′s inside the house. My bedroom is nice and toasty because of my space heater which is actually a radiator.

I always say in the summer time that you can bundle up in the winter, add more clothing and you’re warm but when it’s as hot as it is in the summer time (usually when it’s 100+°F) you can be totally naked and still be miserable. Well, there is no amount of bundling up inside the house that is going to be good enough, we need the heater on lol.

One other reason I need the heater on is because of my hands. I have carpel tunnel syndrome and it gets really bad this time of year. Both my hands start pinching in the palms and then they get numb with pins and needles. During the hot months or even the nice months my hands are fine. It’s when it’s cold out (and in) that my hands really start to hurt.

I still have to finish embroidering a Christmas stocking and I have less than 1 month to do it so I hope that my hands will allow me to do it. Now is the time that I wish that I had just finished it when I was working on it instead of giving up on it. I gave up on it because I was getting burned out on embroidering. I’ll get it finished, I just need the motivation to start it up again that’s all. Unfortunately, I think that with my hands being in the pain that they are in that I won’t be able to finish it but I have to try. I’ve already announced that they are coming this Christmas and I can’t go back on that.

Well, I’m so glad that Winter is almost here but now that it is here I kind of miss the heat of summer lol.

Can’t Wait to Exercise

On By Michel McDonaldIn BikeLeave a comment

On Monday August 3rd it will be 2 weeks that I haven’t been on the bicycle and I will still have to wait to ride it until my shoulder is totally 100% healed.  I’ve been trying my best to make good food choices but when I can’t exercise at all because of the excruciating pain in my back and shoulder it takes all of my motivation away.

I’ve been finished with the steroid meds since yesterday morning and so some of the pain caused from the side effects from that medicine are gone but the pain that I was taking them for is still there.  I still have 3 more weeks worth of the muscle relaxer medicine to go.  I sure hope I won’t be out of commission for 3 more weeks, that would suck.  It’s basically voiding the last couple of months of hard work.  I’ve already started gaining some weight back.

When I get my check I’m buying a new handlebar which is about $10-$15 (hopefully) and the grips for about $5 I guess then I can start riding again.  Of course it is possible that my brake cables aren’t going to be long enough so I’ll have to buy new cables lol.  If it ain’t one thing it’s another.  And I’m going to buy a new gel seat cover for this new ergo seat so that should top me off lol.

I’ve been out of money for the last couple of weeks now so I haven’t had some of the foods that I love so when I get my check on Monday I’m gonna go nuts because then I can finally buy some coffee grounds and some creamer.  Oh I miss coffee.  I hate being broke so much lol.  Luckily I still have some slim fast though so that I haven’t been worrying about and Darrin buys milk when we’re out so that’s not a problem either.

Monday Monday Monday hurry up and come faster!  The last 2 weeks are going toooooo slow.

My Weight

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, HealthLeave a comment

Wow!  I just weighed myself and it’s not good.  Of course most people would just not talk about it, they would pretend that it doesn’t matter or the problem doesn’t exist but I know the problem exists.  I was doing Spark People a year ago (I started on October 1st 2007) but something happened in my life and I just couldn’t do it anymore.  I gave up dieting altogether even though I had lost over 20lbs.  I was so proud of myself and then I just quit.

I was eating the food but not exercising and I was in a plateau for over a month and just couldn’t take the torture of having to suffer eating such small portions and so many veggies.  Although it wasn’t all that bad, the veggie portions were pretty big but it was still torture to eat good and not lose a single lb.  But I wasn’t exercising either so that’s where I made a huge mistake.  I didn’t step it up and help myself along the long road of losing weight.

My highest weight that I’ve ever been was 245 and I weighed myself just before I started this post and I was 243.  I’m just 2lbs from being right back to where I was.  I need this Dell DJ battery to come soon and the pump and bag.  I need them to come so I have motivation to ride my bike to get exercise.  I need the pump because it has a gauge built-in so I can see if I’m pumping the correct amount or not.  Right now they don’t feel fully pumped but I’m afraid to put too much air in because it will pop if I do.  If it doesn’t have enough it may pop from my weight.  The frame bag is just a bonus to keep all the tools with me so I don’t have to carry them.

The Dell DJ battery is a crucial part of this whole journey.  I refuse to ride the bike in silence.  It will be too boring and I will not want to keep doing it day after day if I’m bored doing it.  Of course I probably won’t have to do it day after day.

As of right now my leg muscles are still not ready for a 2 hour bike ride.  It is ready for a 5 minute bike ride before I can’t walk anymore.  What I will have to do is just ride for as long as I can going towards beach park where the bike trail is and when I get too sore then just stop, rest and head back home.  Just keep doing that every day or every other day or whatever I need.  I can’t push my muscles too far because the more sore my legs are the less likely I will want to do it.  But I heard from a trainer that if your legs are sore, so what, keep doing it.  You don’t want the muscles to heal fully, you want them to be sore because they won’t get used to it unless you keep doing it.  Yeah they will be sore for a few days but once they get used to it they wont be painful.  It will become old hat.

Let’s just hope that these items come to me soon, within a week at least.  I don’t know how much more of this fat I can take.  I can’t look at myself in the mirror anymore.  I have BDD so bad from this that I don’t even want to leave the house because people are staring at me and judging me every day.  I just want to be back to where I was when I was thin.  Nobody even noticed me because I blended in with all the other skinny people.  Fat people don’t blend in too well especially when their t-shirts are stretched out in the stomach area. Which reminds me, if this does work, if I lose a massive amount of weight by riding my bike, I’m gonna need a wardrobe change hehe.

Talking Pedometer

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, ExerciseLeave a comment

Awhile ago, I think about 3 – 4 weeks ago I bought a talking pedometer from Publishers Clearing House and it finally arrived today. Now, I can see how many steps I take and it tells me how many calories I’ve burned. So it sort of gives me a bit more motivation to go walking because when I walk I can see how many calories I’ve burned. And it talks. Which I really don’t see any really good use for that because you can barely hear it, you have to hold it up to your ear to hear it and even then it’s still not great.