I’ve been writing about multiple sclerosis and chronic health topics every week for over 8 years. There is very little chance that I’m in denial regarding the state of my health or disability. Only rarely have I overestimated my ability to do something.
I’m fortunate to be a person living with MS who responds well to treatment and has even experienced an unexpected improvement of physical function after changing disease-modifying therapy 6 years ago.
Last year when my doctor recommended that I strive to walk 10,000 steps every day, I was dubious. But I was also not sure how many steps I might be getting on a routine basis because I wasn’t measuring them. When I got a Fitbit, I was excited to be able to see just how much I was moving (or not) around the house on a normal day.
What I quickly discovered was that during a typical day, I really only walk about 3,000 steps while working at home. On days that I’m more active, I reach 5,000 steps; and if I go out and about, I may reach 7,000 steps. I never get close to the recommended 10,000 steps on a normal day.
Earlier in the summer, Rob and I were in Chicago for a conference. We took a brief walk on Saturday afternoon in the downtown area to get in some exercise after a long day of sitting in meetings. Later in the evening we walked down to the Navy Pier area to watch fireworks over the water.
After returning to the hotel, I checked my Fitbit and noticed that I had reached about 9,100 steps. I was so excited. “Rob, we have to go back out. I might actually be able to get in 10,000 steps if we walk up and down the block one more time. Come on, let’s go!”
Read this post in its entirety:
Getting Healthier 10,000 Steps at a Time
Showing posts with label FitBit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FitBit. Show all posts
Monday, November 9, 2015
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Reaching Goals With Daily Decisions
The beginning of each year is a popular time for resolutions – eat better, lose weight, exercise regularly – you know the routine. Did you make any New Year’s resolutions?
I didn’t really make any resolutions, but I did decide to continue a new routine I started after Halloween, 13 weeks or 1/4 of a year ago. So here it is one month into the year and I’m already three months into new habits and working steadily towards some rather large goals that will take an unknown amount of time to accomplish.
I thought it would be cool to share some of my accomplishments since I started keeping track on November 1, 2014. During the past 13 weeks…
I have worn a Fitbit device everyday and used the app to record food and physical activity. According to Fitbit, I have taken 350,995 steps, climbed 534 floors, and walked 148.84 miles. That sounds pretty cool. But I was even more excited to figure out that I’ve ridden the exercise bike at home for a total of 43 hours and cycled for over 500 miles! Whoohoo! I’ve also gained muscle, increased flexibility, reduced spasticity, and lost 14.5 pounds in the process!!
I started riding the exercise bike to combat the pain of osteoarthritis (OA) in my knees. At first, I could literally only ride for about 5 minutes. Even this low level of activity would illicit increased spasticity in my legs. My orthopedic doctor is the one who suggested that I ride the bike. We learned in September that I have Grade 2/3 cartilage loss in my left knee. Grade 4 is the worst it gets before surgery is required. He says I will eventually need surgery.
By November, I was able to ride for 15-20 minutes without causing spasticity. Now I’m able to ride 45-50 minutes almost everyday at a speed of about 12-13 miles/hour. I also started physical therapy for my knee and have learned quite a bit about what I need to do to strengthen my leg muscles and maximize flexibility around my joints.
I had to relearn how to control the thigh muscle that lifts the knee cap. The first time my PT asked me to contract that particular muscle, I thought I was doing it, but absolutely nothing happened. There was a complete disconnect between my brain and that one muscle. As a result, my kneecap had become extraordinarily stiff and somewhat frozen in place. No wonder my knee was causing so much pain.
While working with my PT, I discovered that if I took a little bit more medication for spasticity, I experienced less knee pain at night. So an MS symptom, spasticity, was very likely making my OA pain worse. I had not connected the two in my mind.
It still amazes me sometimes how one health issue can sneak around and increase symptoms associated with a different health issue. It becomes rather complicated at times. Nothing occurs in a vacuum.
Read this post in its entirety:
I didn’t really make any resolutions, but I did decide to continue a new routine I started after Halloween, 13 weeks or 1/4 of a year ago. So here it is one month into the year and I’m already three months into new habits and working steadily towards some rather large goals that will take an unknown amount of time to accomplish.
I thought it would be cool to share some of my accomplishments since I started keeping track on November 1, 2014. During the past 13 weeks…
I have worn a Fitbit device everyday and used the app to record food and physical activity. According to Fitbit, I have taken 350,995 steps, climbed 534 floors, and walked 148.84 miles. That sounds pretty cool. But I was even more excited to figure out that I’ve ridden the exercise bike at home for a total of 43 hours and cycled for over 500 miles! Whoohoo! I’ve also gained muscle, increased flexibility, reduced spasticity, and lost 14.5 pounds in the process!!
I started riding the exercise bike to combat the pain of osteoarthritis (OA) in my knees. At first, I could literally only ride for about 5 minutes. Even this low level of activity would illicit increased spasticity in my legs. My orthopedic doctor is the one who suggested that I ride the bike. We learned in September that I have Grade 2/3 cartilage loss in my left knee. Grade 4 is the worst it gets before surgery is required. He says I will eventually need surgery.
By November, I was able to ride for 15-20 minutes without causing spasticity. Now I’m able to ride 45-50 minutes almost everyday at a speed of about 12-13 miles/hour. I also started physical therapy for my knee and have learned quite a bit about what I need to do to strengthen my leg muscles and maximize flexibility around my joints.
I had to relearn how to control the thigh muscle that lifts the knee cap. The first time my PT asked me to contract that particular muscle, I thought I was doing it, but absolutely nothing happened. There was a complete disconnect between my brain and that one muscle. As a result, my kneecap had become extraordinarily stiff and somewhat frozen in place. No wonder my knee was causing so much pain.
While working with my PT, I discovered that if I took a little bit more medication for spasticity, I experienced less knee pain at night. So an MS symptom, spasticity, was very likely making my OA pain worse. I had not connected the two in my mind.
It still amazes me sometimes how one health issue can sneak around and increase symptoms associated with a different health issue. It becomes rather complicated at times. Nothing occurs in a vacuum.
Read this post in its entirety:
Monday, February 16, 2015
Using FitBit to Motivate Behavior Change
What I quickly learned after wearing the device only a few short weeks was that there was NO WAY I was coming close to reaching the 10,000 steps/day that my doctor recommended. Absolutely, no way! Instead I was averaging closer to 2000 steps/day.
In isolation, that information didn’t motivate me to walk more. But then I realized that if I used the device regularly, I could use the information to improve and develop new habits. This may be one of the greater benefits of using tracking devices. In a recent JAMA article, authors state that the power of a wearable technology may not lie in driving health behavioral change, but in facilitating the development of new habits (Patel 2015).
At the end of the 3-week study, participants were allowed to keep the device and I continued to use it. But honestly I didn’t take advantage of all of the accompanying website and mobile application features until after I upgraded my smartphone in the fall. So on Halloween, I weighed myself, began recording everything I ate, documented exercise sessions, and established a weight loss goal in the application.
After some time, I could begin to see patterns in the data collected. I saw the effect of water retention following Rituxan infusions and Thanksgiving in November. I could visualize the impact of traveling on my exercise schedule. After two months, I could also see that weight loss was not as simple as exercising more, eating less, and creating a calorie deficit according to the FitBit data.
Read this post in its entirety:
Motivation, Wearable Technology, and Living with MS
In isolation, that information didn’t motivate me to walk more. But then I realized that if I used the device regularly, I could use the information to improve and develop new habits. This may be one of the greater benefits of using tracking devices. In a recent JAMA article, authors state that the power of a wearable technology may not lie in driving health behavioral change, but in facilitating the development of new habits (Patel 2015).
At the end of the 3-week study, participants were allowed to keep the device and I continued to use it. But honestly I didn’t take advantage of all of the accompanying website and mobile application features until after I upgraded my smartphone in the fall. So on Halloween, I weighed myself, began recording everything I ate, documented exercise sessions, and established a weight loss goal in the application.
After some time, I could begin to see patterns in the data collected. I saw the effect of water retention following Rituxan infusions and Thanksgiving in November. I could visualize the impact of traveling on my exercise schedule. After two months, I could also see that weight loss was not as simple as exercising more, eating less, and creating a calorie deficit according to the FitBit data.
Read this post in its entirety:
Motivation, Wearable Technology, and Living with MS
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