I have to say I have a love/ hate relationship with my fitness band. What I really want is to let my body tell me how I am doing. But truthfully, I am not there yet, I need a bit of help.
I love a good TED talk and one of my favorites is “Why dieting doesn’t usually work” by Sandra Aamodt who talks about why dieting doesn’t help you lose weight. I believe that and have subscribed to it for many years. However, she shares this experience of actually listening to her body – imagine that! She was able to pay attention to signals her body was sending and through this process, stop obsessing over food, stop dieting and yes she lost 10 pounds. She looked wonderful and likely wasn’t heavy to begin with but I get it.
Me? I have tried to listen to my body –
eat when hungry, stop when full, blah blah blah.
I am not terrible at it but I find if I keep tabs on things – maybe not religiously but more than 50/50, I do better. Just like when I track how much I spend, I tend to spend less. Wait a minute, that healthy Chipotle salad was how many calories?? Crap, never will I get that vinaigrette dressing again.
My Fitness Band
To be honest, I have been a loyal UP band (by Jawbone) user for a long time. I mostly use it for the sleep tracking. My sleep record is abysmal. Yet like a car accident on the side of the road, I can’t stop looking at it. My meager sleep goal is 6.5 hours per night. If I hit that even two to three times during the week, it’s a real victory.
Why does this happen? Well, I usually get up early – sometimes even at 5 a.m. for a 5:30 swim workout. But usually it’s because my three-year old has climbed into our bed at 3 or 4 in the morning. And from that moment on, my sleep is disrupted.
And like many of you, I go to bed late. After a standard work day and by the time dinner is done and kids are back from sports and other activities, homework is finished for the night, and everyone is settled, it’s about 10:30 p.m., which is the time I might have a chance at hanging out with my husband for a bit.
In my case, the lack of sleep isn’t because I am trying to be a martyr, it’s structural. Like structural debt in the federal government has fallen behind on student loans and now all of them are struggling to come up.
Once you subtract out social security and medicare, you have like five cents left.
I even went so far as to see a sleep specialist about my lack of sleep. He gave me some good tips but essentially the advice was, “you are sleep deprived because you don’t sleep enough.” In other words, it’s not that I don’t have the ability to sleep it’s just that I don’t sleep – big difference in the sleep remediation world.
But I digress…
Back to my UP band, I am now on an UP3. There is something called a “personal coach,” which is an artificial intelligence feature that can watch your data and provide advice or goals to help you be healthier. So if you take in too much salt, the coach might recommend different foods etc. For me the advice is almost 100 percent around sleep. I routinely get invitations to establish goals around a consistent bedtime. “Set your bedtime at 11:30 tonight to make sure you get enough sleep. “11:30 at night!? That sounds like such a pathetic goal. Shouldn’t I try for 10:30 p.m.?
I am also routinely sent articles about how sleep helps the body heal, can help with weight control, help your brain etc. etc. Here are a few examples.
I think what my UP band really means is “get to bed you dummy!”
Kimmy – I so relate to this! It is definitely my biggest health ailment. I saw a sleep specialist as well and she basically told me that being a night owl is also genetic, so I’m further doomed as my mom and grandma were both the same, and looks like Rae is too. Doesn’t always work with our chosen life flow!
Renee, thanks for the comment. It seems like there are so many forces at work keeping us from this important function that affects all others. Well at least you will have company at night with Rae.