OK, I said I wasn't going to constantly bore you with the news on how things are going with the new recumbent bike, and I do mean that. It hasn't arrived yet, so I'm not breaking my promise. I will, however, tell you about the new scale I bought, so you can decide if you want to buy one too. This blog is not sponsored in any way, so you don't have to think that the one I bought was the best. It's just the one that fit my budget, and because I've never tried something like this in the past, I wanted to be sure and get something that was in the middle; not too cheap, but not overly expensive either.
I ended up with the Renpho Smart Scale. It's about $39 on Amazon and has Bluetooth capability. Now, I suppose, anyone in the big wild wild world can hack me and find out just how much I weigh! The really cool thing is, it will go down, then further down, and one day they'll all know I have met my goals! I don't care if anyone knows what I weigh. It's embarrassing, sure, but it's not something that would ruin me if it got out and everyone knew. Besides, once I reach my goal weight, I have every intention of spreading that good news!
OK, so the Renpho is light, flat, made of glass, and has sensors. It weighs me, of course, but it has about a dozen other things to report too. I'll rattle them off so you can see them.
- weight
- BMI
- Body Fat
- Skeletal Muscle
- Fat-Free Mass
- Subcutaneous Fat
- Visceral Fat
- Body Water
- Muscle Mass
- Bone Mass
- Protein
- BMR
- Metabolic Age
CRAZY!! Now, I don't know how a little device can tell me all of that, but even if it's not 100% accurate, it gives me a really good place to start. The scale weight number is the one I'm most concerned about, but I'm also very interested in the other things.
I stood on it the first time, but didn't have my phone paired. I had to do it again. You'll need to download the free app and keep your Bluetooth on for it to work properly, but once I did it correctly, I was a little more than impressed. I was NOT impressed by my body weight. No, that was literally about 20 pounds more than I thought it would be, and how I could be so far off is beyond me. My daughter stood on it, and I know her weight, so when it rang true and gave her the exact number, I knew. I am that much overweight, and that solidified any doubt I had that I had lost control...again.
A lot of people are like me. They get comfortable and start eating more. They start eating more of the things they shouldn't eat, which leads to less exercise, which, of course, leads to poor health. My bone mass and my muscle mass are good, I can say that, and I can say that I have to agree with what the device tells me I should be eating; my BMR. I was not doing the right thing; in fact, I was close to double what the right thing was. It's a miracle I'm not bigger than I am!
What to do? OK, so I checked in with my new "doctor", Chat GPT, and it told me to follow the rules, do the right thing, and to keep records of all the things I ate, as well as the size of portions. I was to change what I eat as well, which actually won't be a problem. When I am shown the truth, I listen; it's just that I was refusing to look -- my bad. My fault, and my bad, and my choice. I was the problem; no one else could be blamed. So, to fix that, I need to make the effort.
I need between 70 to 90 grams of protein every day. I was not getting that. I need about 1500 calories a day, and I was doubling that. I need 100 ounces of water a day, and I was close; maybe 70-80. I don't drink alcohol, smoke, or vape. I don't use recreational drugs or anything resembling a prescription. I have that going for me. I gave up coffee over 8 months ago, and have been drinking mushroom coffee - that's a plus as well. It should not be too hard to get back into shape, but it will take 40-50 weeks to reach my final goal of 155 pounds. At a shade under 5'7", that's not a bad weight. Supposedly, you're supposed to be 100 at 5 feet and 8 pounds more for every inch.
I took myself to the grocery store and literally walked past all the sweets. I walked past the breads, the bakery, the frozen foods, and the other aisles with things in or on them that would make me pause and think about giving in, just a little. I walked past them, I thumbed my nose at them, and I headed straight to the produce. I love fresh vegetables and fruit; why not make them the biggest part of my diet? I'll have to find a fish I like. I can do tuna, but I'm not doing bread, so I'll have to dress it up and eat it with a few carrots, apple bites, and pickles. I can do this.
The other thing I did, and I'm glad I did, was ask ChatGPT about the many liquid supplements I take for the betterment of my body. I was taking liquid turmeric, aged garlic, green tea, and a berberine mix with cayenne pepper and chromium. I had chromium gummies too, but no matter what I was taking, I was still fat, and now I know why. I already told you that Chat GPT advised me that pushing through the pain when I exercised was actually reversing my attempts, and causing my body to create more cortisol, making it not only fat, but also retaining the fat. I'm so glad I finally have a real source I can trust. Doctors want to keep you on supplements, pills, and so many of them are funded by Big Pharma; no, thank you.
OK, so the liquid supplements are gone. I'll maybe take the green tea extract in my tea and the multi-vitamin, but I'll only use B12 and D3 over and above the others. I don't need the chromium, I don't need the berberine. I may look into aged garlic a little more deeply, but knowing I don't need to use all the other stuff feels really good, too. I should, if ChatGPT is correct, get all the truly good nutrients I need by eating better and doing the right exercises that don't cause my body to become inflamed and create the opposite effect of what I want in the first place.
That's it. My daily routine started today. Today is the first day of the diet, and when the bike gets here, and Laura puts it together for me, I'll start that process as well. I have ordered protein powder and bars for the snack part of my day - breakfast will be the biggest change since I rarely eat it. I'll load up on eggs and sausage to start the protein going and keep up the water intake throughout the day -- it may be that I see more salads in my future, but I'm OK with that. I happen to be happy about it—if I'm honest.
Photo Credit: Amazon.com
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