Getting Steps vs Efficiency

I loved my Fitbit. That thing lasted 4 years before it died and I counted the hell out of some steps during those 4 years. But then, it died and so did my motivation for getting those steps in every day. I wasn't on overkill and getting 10,000 steps or more every day but I wasn't sedentary either as I believe my average was close to 8,000 and was enough to make me feel pretty good and shape up a bit until it was over.

Do Y'all remember the movie, CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN? The original one? The one where the dad is an efficiency expert or something like that? Anyway, that movie pops into my head when I waste time or movement and gives me cause for thinking things like, 'Ok, I'm going into the bedroom what do I need to do along the way to save myself time and effort?' For example, I'll take my jacket and hang it up in the closet that's on my way to the bedroom as well as my keys and the toilet paper I just bought to put in the bathroom which is located in my bedroom. But this week this situation gave me cause for pause to rethink this whole thing.

Am I 'supposed' to be saving steps? No. I am supposed to be taking steps. Step after step after step until I reach 10,000 at the very least every single day. Do Y'all walk 10,000 steps every single day? Have you ever? Does anyone else out there realize how difficult it is to walk that much in one single day? Or is it just me?

I guess what it boils down to is this: which is more important, getting steps in or saving time? The answer depends on the mood of the day around here as do the answers to just about any question asked. I do like to save time because I cannot stand wasting time though I do enjoy just sitting in front of the television or computer sometimes but I call that relaxing instead of wasting time because labels can save me from being called lazy. BTW, I'm not a fan of labels. Sigh.

I like to be efficient when it comes to doing things I am not a fan of doing such as housework. UGH. I take as few steps and get it done as quickly as possible while still doing it well which works great for dreaded chores but not so great for getting in daily steps.

So what am I to do? If I obsess over being efficient in an activity, I will be efficient and not worry about the steps. If my efficiency obsession does not kick in, I'll go for the steps. This works out nicely in that it is somewhat supportive of my tendency towards laziness because I know I'll be obsessing over the efficiency instead of the steps. At least for now. 

Do any of you get 10,000 daily steps or more?

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My Little Mountain Getaway, Part 1

I got a little idea in my head that traveling as an empty nester might be an enjoyable thing. So, I found a cabin rental in the mountains of NC and sat back waiting, excitedly, for my first vacation in nearly 30 years.

Finding the cabin was easy via VRBO- (and the fact that my cousin owns the place but I promise this review is honest.) Getting to go alone was not easy. Nor did it happen. Before I knew what hit me, every single one of the lovelies was coming with me as well as SILextraordinaire and DrummerBoy. AND, Dad and my wonderful step-mom said they would come up for a day to celebrate Christmas since we would be there the day after for 7 days. Not to mention Tucker. But he was going anyway.

The cabin is located in Lake Lure, NC. Did y'all know that part of DIRTY DANCING was filmed there? And THE HUNGER GAMES? Yep. Deanie, who LOVES the movie, DIRTY DANCING, wanted to see where, exactly, they filmed in Lake Lure. So, Breezy asked Siri: "Where was DIRTY DANCING filmed?" Siri replied: "I do not see any theaters showing the movie DIRTY DANCING." Siri was NO HELP.

I took this one on one of our little sightseeing trips.

It's a good thing that the cabin could sleep 8 people (technically, 6. But there is a pull out sofa so, 8)

The first two words that came to mind when we walked into the cabin were, clean and cozy. Which meant this vacation was off to a perfect start. Even if I would be sharing it with 6 other people and had to ride up in a clown car (which is the subject of another post entirely.)

This is the view upon entry---

And, when you turn around, you see this (it was much more orderly before we unpacked):

Though some less selfish folks might have given the master bedroom that housed the king size bed in it to those who would be sharing a room, I am not one of those types. I took that one for myself. And Tucker.

The others had to fend for themselves. Not that it was difficult- there was another bedroom next to the master.

And yet another bedroom downstairs.

Then there was the pull out sofa.

There were two full bathrooms. One upstairs---with a bathtub/shower.

One downstairs with a shower stall.

The main room upstairs was cozy and had a lovely view. I bet that, during the summer, you truly feel like you're actually living in a tree house. Except at night. Because night time up there gives dark a whole new meaning. Take a nightlight.

Downstairs was another social area that included a fireplace and second television. (Though I'm not sure why anyone would want to watch it with all the gorgeousness surrounding them outside.)

There is a washer and a dryer in that closet.

The fireplace is behind me in this one.

And then, here's one with the door behind me. The view from the sliding glass doors is lovely. And there is a cement patio out there.

The patio ends and a path around the side to the front begins.

The patio runs the length of the cabin.

The upstairs deck wraps and runs along the side to the front-- my cousin will be making this section into a grilling deck this year.

The back deck will be extended to make it easier to dine outside. Many an hour was spent by all of us on that swing with a hot cuppa and a good book or just some quiet time. The sounds of the birds and the rustling of tiny animals was so relaxing. There was one time when I felt that the rustling might be from a larger animal but I never saw anything. Of course, I had moved to the inside so...It was probably just that bobcat that DoodleBug saw on our last day up there. YIKES!

Some days, the mountains were covered by clouds. It was lovely, regardless. It gave me a nice, peaceful feeling watching the clouds move in and cover the mountains. But then, the whole vacation gave me that feeling from the cabin to the scenery. When I took Tucker for walks or sat out on the deck, and was very quiet, the birds, the rustlings, the wind through the trees...all of it, was like a soothing lullaby. It was quite lovely.

There is a gym RIGHT OUTSIDE THE DOOR. When you leave the cabin and head to the right, you almost immediately embark upon a steep climb but, instead of being cooped up inside a stuffy, stinky gym, you are outside in the fresh, crisp air surrounded by lovely scenery. AND, if it's more scenery you want, there are more steep inclines not that far away. :)

Doesn't look that bad from the top looking down. Only we aren't at the top yet. 

A strong and very important reminder: IF you go down in the mountains, you MUST, at some point, go back up. One morning, on our morning walk, Tucker and I took a different route. It was steeper than I thought going DOWN hill and then, it got worse because I saw the up hill dead ahead. It was at this point that I remembered that IF YOU GO DOWN IN THE MOUNTAIN, YOU MUST GO BACK UP. Ok, the question quickly became, "Do I continue forward or turn around and go back?" When I looked back, I decided to keep moving forward. That hill was KILLER going down. I was NOT climbing back up. But I should have. Because the hill ahead of me, which seemed less steep, seemed so only due to the deceptiveness of the curve at, what I assumed was, the top. Nope. And then, when we FINALLY reached the top and I was able to breathe normally once again due to a leveling off, there was the steepest hill yet right in front of my face.

Should you come to stay in this lovely cabin, AVOID walking on Pheasant Street. A.V.O.I.D.

That entire walk logged only 1653 steps on my Fitbit. But it logged 6 flights of stairs. SIX, people. SIX. I've never been so glad that Tucker has to stop to sniff and pee on everything as those were the only times I could catch what little breath I had left.

All of the roads are steep up and down and curvy. You can get motion sickness in the car. And stop breathing when you walk. Ha! But no matter how you go, EVERYONE you meet greets you with a smile and a wave. Lake Lure is filled with nice, friendly people.

The location of our mountain getaway was perfect. It's pretty much dead center to fun places to visit such as Asheville, Rutherfordton, Hendersonville, Black Mountain, Chimney Rock...Lake Lure itself is a charming little place.

There are nature trails, zip lining, those cute little roadside vendors, river walks, adorable shops in the towns, golf courses...and if that's not enough for you, there are tons more things to do while surrounded by stunning scenery.

This nature trail was closest to the cabin. Don't bother looking at the trail options. They are ALL strenuous. The board lies.

I started the 25 degree morning with a lovely (and by lovely I mean KILLER) walk on the nature trail with Tucker, DoodleBug, and Alex (a friend of DoodleBugs who lives in Asheville). Holy Crap. The Fitbit registered that little walk at 4033 steps and 12 flights of stairs. TWELVE. In about an hour. It. Was. Brutal. B.R.U.T.A.L. At one point they took the strenuous trail and I took the moderate trail. The first up was ridiculous. This was followed by a level out and curve. When I looked ahead (because you really have to pay attention to your steps due to all the exposed roots) I see the next hill. It looked like this:  

Y'all think I'm kidding but I'm not. I didn't take a picture because I wasn't breathing at the time and I might have been a bit pissed about seeing that steep of a hill. 

Nope. Not going to happen. Tucker and I turned around to go back. Much to my mortification, we were pretty dang far in there and had to walk up some more because, come to find out, most of our hike in had been more of a down hill jaunt. Terrific. Let me just say that these people don't know a damn thing about level ground. Nothing. 

The beginning of the trail look easy enough. That was deceiving. 

See? The whole time, we're going at a downward angle going in.

Those signs are misleading. Nothing was easy and, their idea of moderate means that they do not know the definition of 'moderate'.

There was a golf course running alongside the trail and I notice a few idiots enjoying some ice golfing. 

Seriously. 

I will say, proudly (and gratefully because none of this killed me) that, by the end of the week, the Fitbit was registering nearly 6000 steps and 15 flights of stairs. Of course, I was also so sore that I wondered if I'd be able to get in the car for the trip home.

As it must do, the sun set on our sweet mountain vacation. Tucker and I enjoyed our last sunset from the upstairs deck one last time. It was bittersweet. Mostly bitter as I was not ready to give up this little piece of paradise.

I know this was a long post. But just think how long it would have been had I not decided to split it into parts! LOL And I probably left something out of this first one.

Thanks for reading and looking! And stay tuned for Part 2. And Part 3. And...;)

The Fitbit Post

I finally decided to get myself a Fitbit. I ended up with the Fitbit One. Not really sure why. I guess it seemed to be the best 'fit' for me. (see what I did there? LOL)

So this is the Fitbit post I promised.

This is the one I chose:

 

Intentions. They were lofty, as usual. I was going to get this thing and it was going to change my life. No more sitting on my rear. I would be getting up and moving about the likes of which you've never seen! It was going to be great and the weight was going to fall off like the melting butter I love to ingest.

It arrived on Wednesday, July 2 in late afternoon. No matter. I charged that sucker up, set it up and put it on. I chose to wear it on my bra instead of my pocket since most of my lazy clothes don't have pockets (which is something I'd like to be a squeaky wheel about with the people who design workout pants without pockets). No problem except that I wondered if it was tracking my steps or my flopping boobs.

Reality: I got in about 2500 steps that evening by getting up and jogging in place during commercials. Not too bad.

The second day, I started out ok, but then forgot I had it. Once I remembered, I was right back up trying to get in those steps. I started out easy, shooting for 10,000. I figured 20,000 was just too much.

Apparently, so was 10,000. I made it to just over 4,000. However, the third day, I did make 5,000. Something like 5,247. But that took an entire day. In my defense, it was all inside walking around because that was the day hurricane Arthur was passing us by and Tucker and I couldn't get out and walk because, at that time, it was raining. And I never thought to get back out there.

The fourth day was about the same. And we did get out there and walk so, not so good. But the fifth day? By the time 10:30 AM rolled around, I had already hit 5,296 steps!

Basically, I discovered quickly that just getting in 5,000 steps. I also realized that I had, once again, set lofty goals for myself that were just not obtainable in the first days. I have no idea why I do this, but I do. Every. Single. Time.

I decided to use the food tracker on Day 3. It wasn't difficult because I really thought to myself that it was no big deal. I would just eat whatever I want to eat. But that was erroneous thinking as well. I actually ended up thinking that I had to log whatever I ate so, did I really want to eat it? Was it worth the effort to log it or to try and remember to log it later? Probably not.

I also quickly discovered that I didn't know if the thing kept counting steps when it was updating. Because it takes a few minutes to update, I sat down and waited because I wanted every single step I could get to count. This isn't so bad as you don't have to update often. Which I know because I check frequently since I do get to sit down and rest while it's updating. But it is bad if you forget to use the bathroom before you start so you have to sit there and wait because, well, steps that don't register don't count.

Five days in I decided that I would start adding a Walk Away the Pounds workout to my daily routine. I was doing this before Birdie's wedding and, since I was having trouble getting in my steps, this just seemed like a good idea. I also went out and cut the grass. Well, some of it. The mower (the machine one, not I) ran out of gas. At least it did add steps! By 9:30, I had reached 6,423 steps! 

The closest I got to 10,000 in the first week was 7,153. Oh well, never say die. I do realize that one thing I'm fighting (and it IS a losing battle) is the high humidity and oppressive heat around here. Even inside with the AC, it's not as easy to move around like it is when the weather is cooler. No, it's not an excuse. I mean, it does make it harder but my lack of effort is the real obstacle. If I cared enough, I would get up and get those steps in regardless of the weather. I think. 

Thoughts: the Fitbit is ridiculously priced. I am not happy that I had to pay as much as I did and I got it for less because I went to my old stand-by, eBay. AND, when you set up your online account, you find that there is one that comes with your deep pocket purchase and a premium one where you get to dig even deeper into your shallow pocket and give them MORE money. That being said, of all the trackers I've tried, the Fitbit is the best and most accurate that I've found. You really have to work to get those steps recorded. By this I mean, it doesn't track with every slight movement you make. You actually have to get up and walk or run. I also like being able to see the charts and progress on my FREE account. AND, it really is motivating. The closer I get to goal, the more motivated I am to walk further or find ways to be productive while moving around instead of sitting and wasting time. But I'm never going to be happy with that price. Never. 

I'll keep y'all posted as time goes on. 

Do any of y'all have one of these things? 

OH, and just FYI- I'm not reviewing this for Fitbit or getting anything for it. I'm just posting for those of you who asked. :)