FitBit

I am in love with my FitBit Ultra.  A FitBit is a teeny tiny pedometer, but calling it just a pedometer is like calling Romeo & Juliet a play.  It is, but also much more.

The happy little black gizmo is about the size of my finger, and can be clipped onto your waistband, or stuck in a pocket or even a bra.  It's much less conspicuous than any other pedometer i've ever tried, which i admit, was a concern.  I may be geeky and overweight, but i try to draw attention to neither of those things!  It tracks your steps, flights of stairs (and hills), calories burned, distance traveled and gives you the time.  All of this you can see by pressing the little button on the unit itself, or when it syncs to the website via wireless connection when it is 15' or less from the base station.

It took a little adjusting to get my mileage more accurate to my runs, initially it was overestimating my stride, and i still would like to go to the track to get some more accurate measurements, but in due time.  I've now used it for several walks, walk/runs and even a hike and found it was quite accurate.  It's been a great motivation to do a little more throughout the day, and even helped me do my chores!  If i am 'short' on my daily goals, i will walk around the house putting things away to collect steps and flights of stairs.  It's amazing how sedentary i am during the day at the office and how active i can be by just simple things like cooking, cleaning and having fun!  Even shopping suddenly turns into a mental game of how i can get in a few more steps.

For years i've heard the lines about park further away from your destination, use the further copier, and other little tricks to get more activity in your day, but never really thought hard about how they actually have an effect.  It's 20 seconds, right?  Wearing a pedometer has turned those little things into something numeric, and therefore more real for me.  Because i have a goal to work towards each day, i am inspired to try those small changes, rather than see them as something nice, but not important.

I also feel that by using the fitbit i am more accurately tracking my calories, because some days i am very active at work and other days not so much.  It's helpful for me to know what an office day looks like so i can find other ways to be active.  Similarly, when i am more active, i can balance that with a lighter workout for balance.

Although i don't know how accurate it really is, you can also use it to track your sleep.  By wearing it on your wrist (it comes with a wristband), it will track your movement and create a report of how long it took you to fall asleep and how often you woke up.  This has been very helpful for nights where i have had trouble sleeping and noticing patterns in my sleep habits.

Because it syncs with tools i am already using, primarily LoseIt and RunKeeper, it also is particularly useful.  Unlike a traditional pedometer, i don't have to enter anything.  Each time i sync, Lose It adjusts my exercise calories and tells FitBit what i've eaten.  There is a huge list of apps and sites that work with FitBit's API, and i suspect it'll keep growing.

Overall, i love this little gadget and think it will continue to be a great tool on my weight loss journey!

Saw this on Pintrest and thought it was cute.  Although not all of these are true for me, a bunch are.  

Compost!

I am, at heart, a dirty tree hugging kind of girl.  Despite my love of technology, efficiency and comfort, i really do care about the environment and love my garden.  Although i am insanely in love with my town's single stream recycling policy, we still generate 2-3 bags of trash per week when we're not being careful or do a real clean of things.  I try to buy recycled products, and pay attention to the Reduce & Reuse parts too, but there are always spots we can improve on.

So this weekend, after wanting an fancy and expensive composter for several years, i said screw it.

Thanks to Pintrest, we followed this method, and for the price of a plastic tote, now have a compost bin ready to take our food scraps and turn them into happy dirt.

We also now have an airtight plastic bin labelled 'compost' on the kitchen counter as well.  I'm hoping with it in eyesight we'll be good about using (and emptying) it.  So far we've added a banana peel, some tomato scraps, kale stems and the ends to some asparagus.

This weekend we also picked up a recycle bucket for the dear husband's office, to encourage him to recycle paper from bills and and the like, but also the plastic italian ice cups he loves during the summer months and other things that can be recycled.  I think one of the most important steps in greening your life is creating systems that make it easy.  If it means more buckets than so be it!

Refrigerator Tea

It's summer.  OK, maybe technically not for a few more weeks, but it's summer here in Connecticut.  And in the summer, i love iced tea.  Lately especially, as i've been looking to drink more water, drink less soda and not add calories.  Unsweetened iced tea has become my go-to for dining out, but making it at home is a time consuming process (although VERY delicious!) and heats up our kitchen.

Enter Refrigerator Tea!  The actual time involved is mere minutes (filling a mason jar and adding tea bags), although the wait time is 6-12 hours.  It's really, really easy and very good.

Step 1.  Grab a mason jar and fill it with water.
Step 2.  Add some teabags.  Let the tabs dangle outside the jar, don't stick them in the water.
Step 3.  Close the lid.
Step 4.  Stick it in the fridge and wait 6-12 hours.
Step 5.  Enjoy!

I suggest using 1-2 teabags per cup of tea, depending on the strength you enjoy and how long it sits.  I plan on experimenting soon with adding some flavors for even more delicious soon!

SnackTaxi

Just a quick little post today.

My friend Michy bought me two SnackTaxi sacks, one sandwich sized, one snack sized.  Snack Taxi sacks are essentially reusable sandwich baggies.  With fun fabric designs on the outside and a nylon coating on the inside, they can be used over and over.  They are safe for the washing machine (though i often just turn mine inside out and use a sponge).  They have a velcro flap that allows for a fair amount of give in packing.

Snack Taxi's (CNBC/Snack Taxi)

As part of my plan to get healthier, i've been religiously bringing fruits and veggies to eat at work, and using these bags all the time.  For some reason i couldn't find one this morning and i had to use a regular ziploc style bag.

It made me realize how much i love the reusable bags!  It felt so wasteful to use a regular baggy!

The cost of the sandwich sized bags are around $9.  According to Target, a box of 225 Ziploc baggies is around $6, so depending on how often you use it, it may take a year or  more to be financially more worthwhile, however environmentally the results add up more quickly.  Also, your lunch looks more fun, how cool is that?