As you know, for the past few years I have decided to change my lifestyle little by little to try and be more fit. I’m not one for those ‘dive in and change your entire lifestyle’ diets or routines because I feel they don’t stick. At least they don’t stick for me.
In the past year I was concerned at some back spasms I had when I was throwing Sierra up and down in the air and I have embarked on some strength training which I have failed miserably at when Ezra has taken up my time in the evenings.
But now things are looking up and he seems to not need to be held to fall asleep on the couch so maybe I will slowly get back into putting him on the couch, getting him to sleep, slithering off the couch myself and doing some exercise while rewatching The Mandalorian (best show ever).
Anyhow, this post isn’t about what I didn’t accomplish, it’s about what I have accomplished! Let’s take a look at what Fitbit has shown me over the years. I love stats and what better stats to look at than from the Palmer machinery.
Its always reassuring to see that I met and exceeded my goal of 10,000 steps per day. Here is a comparison to years past:
2015: 10,599
2016: 12,284
2017: 12,289
2018: 12,215
2019: 11,381
But in the grand scheme of things you can see my trend has been falling since 2016. Something to keep my mind on. I still take walks at work during my breaks and at lunch but I haven’t gone on the elliptical as much in the past year as I have transitioned more to strength training and taking care of Ezra.
Active minutes may be the more interesting item to track because it tracks everything I do, not just steps. Fitbit defines active minutes as when the activity you’re doing is more strenuous than regular walking, which includes everything from a brisk walk to a cardio workout or run. The Centre of Disease Control recommends 20-30 minutes for adults each day. I’m quite pleased in seeing that I have averaged 102 minutes a day. Note that I love averages somehow hides the fact that some weekends that number sits around zero!
2015: 50
2016: 87
2017: 113
2018: 110
2019: 102
What’s interesting to see is that in 2016 I was walking an average of 12K+ steps but my active minutes were quite low. This is when I started realizing that just taking walks wasn’t doing enough to strengthen my heart (which is my ultimate goal here). If I go on a elliptical I need to make sure I have it set up to work my heart more and in this particular case, achieve a higher number of active minutes.
The calories burned is an interesting chart but I have to say that I don’t input my calorie intake (aka food and drink) into fitbit much these days. So I’m not sure what I can discern from staring at the fact that I burned 3,407 calories per day on average.
2015: 2,408
2016: 3,328
2017: 3,484
2018: 3,525
2019: 3,407
Looking at the overall trend we can get some different perspective. It looks like I was burning more and more calories over the past few years until this past year where I dipped back down. This follows a similar trend on the number of active minutes I was achieving. So…steps aren’t everything folks!
9km a day on average seems like a lot! It also is the average distance walked over the past five years. That’s interesting considering my step count has fluctuated but my distance hasn’t really changed.
My ultimate goal is to have a strong heart for the eventual day when I have a heart attack. I’m basically building up my fortress wall to withstand any attack and with minimal damage. Why? Well, I’m not ready to leave this earthly plain anytime soon considering I have a few kids who needs to hear some good jokes.
From runningmagazine.com: Resting heart rate (RHR) varies from person to person but usually falls between 60 and 100 beats per minute (BPM) in most individuals. Athletes however, and particularly endurance athletes, are known to have a significantly lower RHR, usually between 30 and 50 BPM. A lower RHR represents greater (and more efficient) overall cardiovascular fitness. This means that the heart needs to contract fewer times to deliver sufficient volumes of blood to the body.
2015: 62 bpm
2016: 57 bpm
2017: 58 bpm
2018: 58 bpm
2018: 58 bpm
So I guess I’m not an athlete but I’m also below what the resting heart rate generally falls at. I guess I’m happy with that! I’m not entirely sure how much of this is due to my exercise vs. my genetics but I’ll take whatever life serves me.
This is a snapshot of what my cardio fitness is TODAY. Good to very good…I guess I should strive for very good?
The ultimate goal is to have a strong heart but a good secondary bonus is always to have a lower weight on the weight scale. The weight chart actually tracks my weight since the beginning so it’s interesting to see how everything was looking.
Here’s a photo in the summer of 2015.
August 2016
July 2017
August 2018
August 2019
It’s interesting to see how I look over the progression of weight loss and gain. The cheeks and beergut definitely are the target areas for weight gain on the Palmer! Not a big deal though. Did you see the other charts in this entire post? It’s what is inside that counts and it looks like I’m a fine specimen of a human being.
I really enjoyed seeing how the Fitbit has tracked my fitness over the past five years. It’s an interesting snapshot of of life spanning from 36 to 41 years. Here’s to many more!