Strange lack of body awareness

The other day I went for a hike, at a trail that I often use. It's hilly, public trail out on a ranch near town. Mountain bikers use it, too. I've done this trail about 10 or 12 times total probably. The first time, when I went with family, it probably took the whole group of us 2 hours or more to get around the whole thing. My fitbit rates it at about 10,000 steps and about 32 flights of stairs worth. So, it's a good, challenging workout for me at this point in my fitness.

One of the last times I went, though, I had the odd sensation that it was just OH SO MUCH HARDER than usual. It was warm out, sure, in the 80s, but not any warmer than the last time I had done the trail. Was it the week I had had previously, I wondered? Or because I was listening to an audiobook on my ipod that I had already heard before, rather than one of my nursing school lectures that I really had to concentrate on....yes, perhaps it was distraction that was key? Or maybe I hadn't slept as well or as long the night before? I even started wondering if maybe I had accidentally taken the 'long loop' instead of the 'short loop'.

It was only when I got to the end, back in my car, and peeked at my clock that I realized why. I had gone around about 20 minutes faster than the last time I did it, without even realizing it.

So far, so good!

What I've found so far, with the fitbit, is:

-It's motivating me to get more exercise in little ways throughout the day. Take the stairs, inject bouts of activity between sitting at the computer or whatever.

-When I get home after work, and up until bedtime, I'm constantly checking to see if I've reached my steps goal or not. If I haven't, I'm motivated to do more to try to get there before bedtime.

-Other than this morning, I've seen steady, gradual weight loss every day since I started wearing it. (this morning I was up 2 pounds, likely a water fluctuation)

-I'm doing more house cleaning, because it's one way to get active without making the effort to go somewhere new for the purpose of exercising. Double bonus!

-I feel like I'm getting a more accurate picture of how many calories I'm burning and how many I should be eating. I take my calorie limit more seriously when it's based on my actual activity rather than a weight based estimation.

-The combination of changing to a new online record system, and having a new gizmo to monitor my activity, has gotten me back to recording all my food intake again, where I was really struggling to keep it up with my old system, not because it was inferior, just because it was familiar.

-Ranked against other folks my age, my activity level is similar to someone who is normal weight. That means, eventually, I'll get to where I want to be if I can keep it up!

New Job has fitness benefits!

So, I knew in taking this new job that I was going to be spending more time on my feet than I have in the past, but it turns out there is more to it than that in terms of fitness benefits. The company I am working for has a "START!" program in place, designed by the American Heart Association.

During a normal 8 hour shift, I get 2 government-mandated 10 minute breaks, one for each 4 hour time period I work. But with the start program (and the okay from my supervisor & provided it doesn't cause problems with workflow), if I use those breaks to get outside and walk, they will give me 2x the paid break time, ie instead of 20 minutes of paid break time per day I get 40.

And there's more: if I do this program, keep track of the miles I walk, and turn them in to my HR manager, at regular intervals depending on number of miles I've walked I will get prizes; a free pedometer, gift certificates for coffee or smoothies, etc. Once the miles get higher, the prizes get bigger, as much as $50 or so in a gift certificate to local businesses.

I will have to see if this routine works out with the way things run at work, but I think this program could be a great addition to my fitness routine! I am pretty sure this is a nation-wide program that several companies put in practice, but if yours doesn't, maybe you could talk to your management/HR and have them implement it too.

It was a nice surprise for my first day at a new job.