Staying the Course -- September 1, 2020

[Superbob]

Happy New Week, hardy Coursers (wherever you may be)! It is the first of September; I can see November from my house!

Tonight my Garmin step-tracker reported that I have taken 2,141,178 steps in the past 12 months. Pondering that stat, I realized that those 12 months led me to my first anniversary (coming up Sept.18) of my aortic aneurysm and valve surgery at UNC/Chapel Hill. So, even while recognizing these step trackers are rough measurements, not precise, I take that stat as a positive indicator that I have stayed active, despite not being able to return to the core fitness class I so loved. I thank my dog.

My cardiologist, I think, has deliberately delayed the scheduling of a CT-Scan for fear that I might run off with the film to a hernia surgeon who might poke my guts back where they belong and seal 'em up with mesh. I started asking for a scan in July. Cardio said no we must wait til around the one-year anniversary of the OHS. So still I wait. Kinda frustrating. But maybe we'll get it all resolved this fall. Meanwhile, I will just keep steppin.' I'm holding my weight pretty well. Still down about 30 pounds from where I was pre-surgery.

Cheerio all. Have a good Labor Day if that's on your calendar. Or in any event a great week.

Stay the Course!

Cheers,
Superbob

 

[Paleowoman]

Hi Superbob - I always read your Staying the Course posts but have been quiet of late. Nothing much going on here as I'm still in virtual lockdown as GP wants me to continue shielding. I went to get some blood tests this morning (for my six monthly check with my endocrinologist next week) and there's nothing much to go out for with masks everywhere and social distancing, and virtually impossible to get into the GP surgery (office) with signs everywhere, practically deserted. I'm better off at home where life is more normal !

I haven't had my annual echocardiogram because what would they do with the result if there was anything amiss ? That's my philosphy about it - I feel fine so will wait until the world calms down a bit.

That's great all your walking SB !

all the best

 

[rich01]

I finally gave up on the cheap Chinese smart watches and bought a Garmin Forerunner 35. All I wanted was time, heart rate, and step tracker.

 

[Superbob]

I love my Garmin. Bet you will enjoy yours, Rich.

After carelessly losing a pricey one several years ago, I found a simple original Vivofit model on Amazon for something like 50 bucks. It tracks my steps, records mileage, notes sleep patterns, allows me to sync and compare my results with others online, but doesn't have heart monitoring functions. However, I have a pulse oximeter to help with that. Thought of getting the new Kardiamobile (I believe it's called) that enables you to do an EKG potentially warning you if you are going into a-fib but my cardio said that would be a waste of 100 bucks because my oximeter alerts you of that just as surely.

Paleowoman, it sounds like the lockdown is more sweeping on that side of the pond than it is here, at least in my home state of South Carolina. However, my cardio seems to have a lockdown mentality -- thus being very cautious about referring me to other medical services or even giving my heart much of an in-office exam. (I understand that losing 3 of your own patients to Covid-19 could make you fretful.) I try to be cautious, but I also try not to be paralyzed by fear. Maybe I am just more fatalistic about things.

Cheers all....

 

[rich01]

The Garmin was under $100.

 

[stephenismycopilot]

I love my Fitbit. The step goals keep me active (I have mine set to 13k/day, which is easy for me to hit with a couple leisurely walks or one or two longer walks each day). I also use the sleep monitoring, which I have found does keep me more aware of getting myself to bed and waking at a reasonable hour, even during the never ending pandemic. And I actually use the resting heart rate calculator (along with my blood pressure cuff) to keep an eye on my carvedilol dosage; the drug works so well, I've crept into bradycardia a few times. All in all, I'm a huge evangelist of any brand of fitness tracker. Anything to keep us active!

 

[Superbob]

I love my Fitbit. The step goals keep me active (I have mine set to 13k/day, which is easy for me to hit with a couple leisurely walks or one or two longer walks each day). I also use the sleep monitoring, which I have found does keep me more aware of getting myself to bed and waking at a reasonable hour, even during the never ending pandemic. And I actually use the resting heart rate calculator (along with my blood pressure cuff) to keep an eye on my carvedilol dosage; the drug works so well, I've crept into bradycardia a few times. All in all, I'm a huge evangelist of any brand of fitness tracker. Anything to keep us active!

I love your commitment to being "a huge evangelist of any brand of fitness tracker." There are a lot of exciting options out there as a result of the competition within a booming market. Personally, I'm think it is really cool to have heart monitoring capability that you wear right on your wrist (I wear mine 24/7 except when bathing). So I think I will look into upgrading from my basic Vivofit (which I can still keep around as a backup).

I came across one tech company's ratings of various models. I don't present it as gospel; no doubt there are other rankings with differing perspectives. But I thought it might be of interest and advance the conversation here, so here is the link: The best fitness trackers 2020: the best activity bands you can buy today

You know what? Step trackers are a great complement to what we try to maintain in our little corner of vr.org -- staying the course, measuring it as we go.

 

[Bryan B]

I'm the "fitness tracker black sheep" here it seems. Or maybe I'm just "frugal". Probably both. I use the MapMyWalk app on my phone for my walks. It tracks everything I want like distance, steps, duration and pace. I think it can also calculate calories burned but I haven't used that feature. It doesn't have heart monitoring, and it's not perfectly accurate as I can walk the exact same route on two different dates and get slightly different distance readings. I downloaded it for free a couple years ago when I first started walking regularly and told myself I might get something nicer if I stuck with the walking.

Well I stuck with the walking but haven't found a reason to go out and buy something, as this does everything I want. I just like to mostly track my distance and time to see how I'm progressing, although after several months I've pretty much fallen into the same routine of where I walk, how far I walk, and how fast I walk...but I still track it for some reason.