I worked out for 52 weeks and all I got was...

...improved health, improved self esteem, increased fitness.  Not even a commemorative t-shirt!

Another week is in the books, and coincidentally this brings me full circle to 52 weeks of working out. 

I did my first workout on January 27, 2012.  7 minutes on the recumbent bike.  I vividly recall thinking that I was going to die.  I could barely get off the bike, my legs were so weak, and my face had adopted this alarmingly vivid pink hue that is usually only seen in Turner sunsets.  Let's just say that I was not the picture of glamour. 

But I did it.  And I did it again a couple of days later.  And the day after that.  And the day after that.  I was determined to work out 5 days a week, and I was more or less successful with this goal until May, 2012.  Sure, in March, 2012 I missed an entire week of workouts (I can't even remember why, at this point, but I am sure it wasn't a good reason).  But May was a disaster - I missed 9 workouts, and my hard-fought workout routine was in danger of falling apart.

Then I discovered the Gym-Pact app.  The premise of the app was that individuals could sign up (with a credit card), and make wagers as to how many workouts they would complete in a week.  If they completed the promised number of workouts, they would receive money for each workout made (usually around 50 or 60 cents per workout).  If they missed a workout, however, they would have to pay (a predetermined amount) for every missed workout.  So it is entirely possible that a person could wager $10 per missed workout and miss 2 workouts in a week and owe $20, but complete 3 workouts, and "earn" $1.50.  The idea was that people who missed their workouts paid into a pool of funds to be shared by people who made their workouts, split proportionately based on how many people were in the pool and how many "shares", or workout days, they had wagered. 

I am not going to lie to you, this app kept me going on my program at the end of May, when I was starting to develop some really bad habits.  It was only the thought of having to do an extra workout on the weekend in order to meet my wager than got me on the recumbent bike some mornings.  But you know what?  Eventually I had a new pattern of working out without missing a day, and I didn't need the app any more (which is a good thing, as it was somewhat buggy). Over the time that I used the app I "made" about $40, and never missed a workout.  It's a tough way to earn money, but an effective one. 

I have since developed great workout habits, and now workout 6 days a week.  I haven't missed a workout since May 25, 2012 - - that's 34 consecutive weeks of workouts, for those who are counting.  And now workouts are such an entrenched part of my lifestyle that I don't generally have to push myself onto the elliptical machine in the morning.  I may bitch and moan about it, but the workout is sort of a done deal, as I have so much momentum behind me with this string of workouts, that skipping a day is just not an option.  It really helps that I have my free weights and elliptical machine at home, so I don't need to try and fit gym time into my schedule. 

So what are the results?  Another week down, another 1.2 pounds lost, for a total of 89.6 pounds down to date.  I have 79.3 pounds left to lose in order to hit my goal weight of 165 pounds, so I am now firmly in the land of "over half-way". 

My BMI is now 36.1, down from 49.5.  It used to be that my BMI was so high that it would not even show up on charts - - they typically only go up to 40.  Now, not only am I on the charts, I am getting closer and closer to Obese Class I (at 35 BMI).  After that, it's just a hop, skip and a jump to being merely overweight (at 30 BMI).  It sounds like it's a long way away, that, but it's only about 40 pounds away, just around 200 pounds.

In the past 52 weeks I have lost more than 33 inches on various bits and pieces of me, like almost 9" off my bust, 7.5" off my waist, and 8.6" off my hips.  This has led to a drop of at least 3 clothing sizes, from a 26 down to a 20.  I am a mere 75% of the woman I used to be.

Looking back on the past year, I have learned how to eat healthier, in normal portions.  I have developed an active lifestyle.  I have become measurably healthier - - my fasting blood sugar has come down into almost the normal range, my back pain has virtually disappeared, and my asthma has stopped being noticeable. 

Where will I be next January at this time?  Hopefully close to my goal.  Weight loss through genuine lifestyle change is such a long term thing that the sheer scale of the task ahead can be overwhelming if you think about it all at once (sort of like the Total Perspective Vortex in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy).  I like to keep my focus on the short term goals. 

Short term goal #1: lose 100 pounds - - I am just over 10 pounds away from this objective. 
Short term goal #2: get to 30 BMI - - this will happen at 203 pounds.

For now, in celebration of 52 weeks of working out, I will eat sensibly today and make sure to drink my water.  And perhaps do a little boxing tonight with the Nerd.  Yes, I am a wild thing. 

I'm finished with Gym-Pact

This week I finally gave up on my Gym-Pact app. 

I will be honest and say that when I was first using the app, more than 17 weeks ago, I needed motivation to keep me working out the 5 days a week that were in my plan at the time.  Back then, I worked out on the recumbent bike and the rowing machine, and while these machines were having an impact and were working, it was torture to motivate myself to work out each morning.  The bike was so boring, and it was tough to get and keep my heart rate up high enough to make it worth while.  It was difficult to hold my iPad so that I could read whilst pedaling, and it was tough for me to get up and down off the bike and rowing machine because they were each very low, and my knees and back were so very very bad. 
 
Plus, did I mention how boring these were?  Mind numbingly boring.  By the end of May, I was starting to skip workouts.  It was clear that I needed to do something to keep on my routine, and this is where Gym-Pact came in.

For those of you who have not read my previous posts on this app, the premise is simple.  You simply make a bet with yourself that you will work out a set number of days each week.  For each week that you make your bet, you receive money for each day that you worked out.  For each day that you miss, you pay the amount of money you bet.  The idea behind the app is that the money collected from the missed bets goes into a pot of money to be split between all the people who made their bets. 

The money is not paid on the basis of how many times you actually work out, but rather, how many days you commit to work out in your bet, or pact.  I started out with a pact of 5 workouts per week, which meant that I was entitled to 5 shares of the overall pot of money when I met my pact.  Eventually I changed my pact to 6 days per week, entitling me to a slightly larger share.  Each week money was credited to my user ID.

Initially only workouts at accredited gyms counted towards your pact, but recently Gym-Pact integrated with Runkeeper, which meant that one could do walks or runs using the Runkeeper app and it would count towards your pact. 

Overall, the Gym-Pact app worked pretty well, for a while.  I had one massive issue shortly after signing up with the app because my sign-in was incomplete, which led to me being billed for missing my pact for the first 6 weeks - - for charges of more than $300 on my Visa.  Gym-Pact eventually credited back the money, but it took a week of emails back and forth and a lot of nagging on my part.

But the issue that broke the camel's back was the repeated issue I had with the app not recognizing workouts that I had done.  Time and time again I would do a workout, it would show on the app, and Gym-Pact would not count it off against my total workouts pledged.  The whole point of the app is that you are rewarded for working out, and punished (monetarily) for missing workouts.  When the app does not count a workout, it puts you at risk of having to pay money despite doing the required workouts.

Time after time I had to email Gym-Pact customer service to get them to fix whatever was the problem causing them to fail to track my workouts.  Time after time it would be corrected, until last week, when I simply never heard back from customer service.  They never got back to me, and that was the final straw.  I put the app on suspension so that I would not be charged, and then withdrew the funds that had accumulated on my account, and deleted the app. 

I was concerned that the same issue was coming up over and over.  If you look at Gym-Pact's Twitter feed you will see that I am not the only one who has been having issues with the app. 

Overall, I was happy to use the app when I first got it, and it helped me get back into good workout habits.  But the poor customer service and repeated technical issues put me at financial risk, and that I could not have. 

We'll see whether I ever receive the promised funds. 

Customer Service Challenges

Those of you who read this blog may have noticed that I have a deep and abiding love of fitness apps.  I love love love tracking all the various trackable things, since each time I track something it's an opportunity to improve on at least one metric.  Because so many of my metrics are, simply put, terrible, progress on any one metric is good progress.

This week, interestingly, I had issues with two of my apps that required customer service intervention.  The first was with MyFitnessPal, which has entirely replaced LoseIt! in my affections.  I tried to log in to my MyFitnessPal account on Monday morning, and poof! my account was gone.  I tried on the mobile apps, and on the web interface, and each time saw a message that my account had been deleted.  Since I had not deleted the account, this was troubling. 

I penned a quick note to MyFitnessPal customer service, and sat back to await the inevitable 48 hour delay.  I was extremely pleasantly surprised when they got back to me the same day with a response.  As it turns out, I received the message that my account had been deleted because MyFitnessPal had upgraded its systems and ... inadvertently deleted my account.  It was entirely their fault, the customer service rep explained, and apologized profusely. 

Now I had only begun using the MyFitnessPal app the weekend prior, so there was not that much data in the account.  I had some menus and food records in there, and my weekly weight history from last November, but none of that was a huge loss, or irreplaceable.  I was most impressed with how quickly customer service responded to my inquiry, and how apologetic they were for deleting my account.  I have no problem when mistakes like this happen, since they cost me nothing, and are readily owned by the person who made the mistake.  Overall, yes, my account was gone forever, but customer service made it easy for me to set up my replacement account, and gave me all the information I needed to know how the issue happened in the first place.  I was very pleased with my experience, and even more of a fan of MyFitnessPal than before they (inadvertently) wiped out my account.

My second customer service issue was with Gym-Pact.  Gym-Pact is the app that allows the user to put a dollar value to their workouts, and to pay that money when they miss a workout, whilst earning money for making workouts.  It feels like a bit of a pyramid scheme, but it's a motivational pyramid scheme. 

Since joining Gym-Pact, I have not missed a workout.  I have to admit that on a couple of occasions, the thought of having to make up a missed workout to make my "Pact" did come into play and motivate me into getting out of bed.  Each week since joining, I have received a status email telling me that I had made my Pact, owed nothing, and earned $x (usually around $3 each week).  So far, so motivating.

Until I looked at my credit card statement and saw that Gym-Pact had billed me US$330.00 for "attendance fees", which is a charge of $50 for 6 weeks and $30 for one week.  Not good.  Not motivational. 

So I contacted customer service with a strongly worded email, demanding a refund and requesting an explanation.  After several days, I finally heard back from Gym-Pact customer service, who explained that I had apparently set up a partial account, but had never worked out under that account, which is why they billed me each week.  They deleted the duplicate account, and refunded the money.  On the face of it, they met my demands and did all they needed to do, albeit after several days' delay.

What makes me a little skeptical of Gym-Pact's explanation, however, is that the amount charged varied - - one week they billed me $30, rather than the $50 that should have been billed if the system legitimately thought I had missed my Pact.  After all, the Pact did not change, and if that partial user account had never worked out, the company should have billed me $50 each week.  So I think there was a system glitch, and one that slipped through the cracks until I brought it to Gym-Pact's attention.  But how often do these kind of "glitches" happen, and how many people do not notice?  Potentially shady. 

So I am considering leaving Gym-Pact, because my sense of trust in their accounting practices is somewhat shaken.  For now I will keep on, but I will watch 'em like a hawk. 

Finally, some progress!

Photo credit: Maggie Q. Magniloquent, Some Rights Reserved

It's the first full week of the new program, where I have worked out for 30 minutes on the elliptical, 6 days a week.  Technically, I did 6 days a week last week, too, but it feels like this is the first full week with the new routine, mainly because it was the first full week with the heart rate monitor and blood pressure readings. 

And the results?  Down 2.9 pounds from last week, and 1.6 pounds down from my previous lowest weight.  I weighted in at 295.3 pounds, with 48.8% body fat.  The body fat percentage varies by day, but hovers in this 48%-49% zone.  My objective is to bring it down to around 30%, eventually.  But for now, we can consider me to be "well marbled". 

For the last 3 days I have been trying out an elliptical workout app called BeatBurn Elliptical, by lolo.  The idea behind this app is that it uses your own music from your iPod to create a variety of interval based workouts, adjusting the speed of the beat to desired strides per minute, from 80 to 160.  I have been playing a little bit with the tension, but not to the extent required by the program, because I can't do the math on the fly to know when I am at 15% or 35% when my tension goes from 1-20.  For now, I have been counting each as a single unit, so when the app instructs me to put the tension at 20%, I choose '2' on the resistance scale.  Primitive, I know, but it does result in me changing up the tension from 1-5 during each workout, with the result that the heart rate goes up and down, with each interval period (as shown in the graph, above, showing my heart rate during today's workout).

I have used the BeatBurn app 3 full days, and the workout has been a little different each day.  Throughout each workout the app gives vocal instructions as well as encouragement and tips (like remembering to use good posture).  At the end of each workout the voiceover gives a little pat on the back for making the time to workout, and this is also surprisingly effective.  I would hate to be doing all of this for nothing!

So, now, 25 weeks into my exercise program, here's my thoughts on some of the machines and apps I have been using.

The Elliptical Machine
The Precor EFX 5.33 elliptical machine is a piece of work.  But a good piece of work.  I have found it consistently easier to complete a 30 minute workout on this machine than a 20 minute workout on the old recumbent bike, and the elliptical is more efficient at getting (and keeping) my heart rate in the training zone, too.  I am finding the machine easy on my knees and back, and I certainly feel like I have had a workout when I get off the machine.  This model is pricey, around CAD$4,000 - $5,000, but if you can find it in your budget, or pick one up secondhand, it is well worth it.  [whispers] I don't absolutely loathe exercising on the elliptical machine [/stops whispering]. 

The Fitbit Activity Tracker
 The Fitbit Ultra is a 3-D motion sensor that tracks your day down to details a pedometer can't catch, showing your exact steps taken, calories burned, and distance traveled. The altimeter tracks floors climbed, which encourages me to take the stairs at home or work, or walk to the office/home instead of taking the streetcar.  The Fitbit Ultra also has a sleep sensor that  lets you see how long it takes to get to sleep, and how often you are awakened.  I sleep like a log, so I do not often use this feature, but it is interesting to put it on occasionally to see what quality of sleep I am getting. 

What I love most about the Fitbit Ultra is that I can wear it all the time, and then see my activity levels on the convenient web-based dashboard.  The Fitbit Ultra works with an app for iPad and iPhone, so I can track the amount of water I drink, or the meals I eat each day, which are then compared to my fitness goals.  Fitbit Ultra also works with other apps such as LoseIt!, DigiFit, and MyFitnessPal. 

DigiFit
DigiFit is a multi-purpose app.  With the required upgrades (available at a nominal price), it will speak with other devices, such as a Garmin ANT+ heart rate monitor, a Fitbit Ultra tracker, a Withings blood pressure monitor and Withings scale. 

Put all that together and you have a real snapshot of your health and fitness.  Each day's workout can be tracked to show your heart rate, intensity, and duration.  Sleep cycles can be recorded, either with a partner sleep monitor (which I don't use), or manually.  I use the DigiFit app every morning during my workout, then synch the app with the Withings app for my weight and blood pressure measurements.  I find it instructive to see how the measurements change over time, permitting me to make more informed fitness decisions. 

LoseIt!
LoseIt! is another multi-purpose tracking app, which tracks weight, exercise, and food taken in.  I particularly like it for the food tracker, and for the fact that it synchs with my Fitbit Ultra and Withings scale.  Apparently studies have shown that people who keep track of what they eat are more successful at both losing weight and keeping the weight off, I suppose because they are more aware of what they are actually putting into their body.  I have only been tracking my food intake for a few days, but I am already much more sensitive to portion size and food type.  I have found it easy to find the foods I eat in the large database of foods, and I have found it just as easy to add new foods, when required. 

Gym-Pact
The premise behind Gym-Pact is simple: commit to working out a set number of times a week, and pay money for every missed workout.  For those paying for a gym membership, there is an easy way to calculate the cost of each workout - - it's the pro-rated value of each workout, based on the number of workouts you do and the cost of your gym membership.  For example, for me, it is worth $10 for each missed workout.  I have committed to do 5 workouts a week (I am giving myself a buffer in there, since I actually have 6 workouts each week in my plan).  At the end of each week, the number of workouts I miss (and therefore the amount of money I owe) is calculated.  For every workout I make, I get a pro-rated share of the pool of funds generated by peoples' missed workouts.  So far, since joining Gym-Pact, I have not missed a single workout (and have therefore paid nothing), and I have "earned" $14.50.  The total earnings usually work out to $3/week, on average.  I remain highly skeptical that I will ever see any money from this program, which feels a lot like a pyramid scheme to me (for now, all my "earnings" are electronic), but it's an incredible motivator, which is why I keep doing it. 

Withings
Withings produces a series of wireless tools, including a blood pressure monitor and digital scale.  I purchased both, because these are all metrics that I wanted to track.  The products have each delivered to my expectations - after a brief working in period - and now form an integral part of my daily monitoring program. 

Each morning I get up and take my blood pressure, along with my resting heart rate, and then I do my 30 minute workout on the elliptical.  After the workout, and after I hose myself off, I hop onto the digital scale, and I can see each figure appear on the Withings app on my iPad, as well as the DigiFit app, and LoseIt! app.  It has made record keeping much more streamlined and simple, and it has removed a lot of the anxiety about my Friday morning weigh ins. 

So, net net, I am slightly more tracked and monitored than a space shuttle launch.  But it all helps give me little wins along the way that keep me motivated.  It's week 25 of working out, and I have lost 38.6 pounds, or a little over 1.5 pounds per week.  I can't think about how long it will take me to reach 50 pounds lost, or 100 pounds lost, so I focus on the little wins.  This week was full of little wins, which is why I will be back on the elliptical on Sunday, right on schedule.