Still not sure about this 2000kcal lark, but at least the scale is moving again. Anti-diarrhoea medication has finally worn off after 6 days!!
A recent photo. I was wearing this flattering ensemble to the gym yesterday when I got chatted up! Given I was brick-red from exertion, dripping with sweat and probably smelly, some men are obviously not so choosy, heheh. Told my BF he needs to start coming with me!
Have been looking into getting some kind of body monitor. My problem is that I can't find a correlation between my calorie/carb intake and weight loss based on the level of detail I've got, which is simply intake and my weight. It's my belief that my starving and bingeing behaviour when I was a teenager have damaged my metabolism - various research studies back this up. I also wonder if my excessive alcohol consumption in my twenties contributed further. (And by excessive, I mean 15-20 units a day, every day, for 7+ years.)
So I've been considering a few solutions, starting with the Bodybugg which is used on the Biggest Loser show. After checking out a few reviews, I decided against this one seeing as the web interface was criticised as not being user-friendly, fast, or able to give enough granular data... and I'm all about the analysis.
I then came on one called BodyMedia Fit, formerly known as GoWear Fit. The monitor itself is made by the same people as the BodyBugg, but the web service is operated by a different company and is much much better. So this one seemed a good bet. Both this one and the BodyBugg were about $250-300.
I also reviewed on called FitBit which was much cheaper at $99, but they stated that they weren't shipping to the UK yet.
So having pretty much decided on the BodyMedia, I ran into a problem - I couldn't for the life of me find a distributor who would ship to the UK. I checked every reseller listed on the website but none would ship it outside the US. I finally resorted to Amazon.com, even though I don't like Amazon very much. Yay, they had the product. I added it to my cart, selected UK address. "Sorry, this product cannot be delivered to your address." WTF?!
OK, so I eventually discovered that because these products are marketed as medical devices, they have to be fully licensed by the relevant authority in each country. Hence they can't just be shipped abroad.
So now I turned to the UK market to see if I could get something similar. I'd heard about something called "MiLife" before in the Sunday Times, and although it didn't sound as sophisticated, it was certainly cheaper. I went to the website, checked it out and was about to start the purchase process when I got a message, "Sorry - due to the volume of sign ups we are not currently accepting any new customers." WTF2?!
So I was now at the point where I was considering asking an American friend to buy one for me and post it over (probably illegal). This seemed a bit of a last resort though, so I did a last-ditch desperate google frenzy, and finally stumbled upon
Ki Fit. From what I can see, it's the BodyMedia monitor, but rebranded.
So now my stumbling block is the damn price. I could have got the BodyMedia for $279, which is around £175. The Ki Fit is
£300 off the shelf. Three hundred quid!!! That's crazy! Trouble is, they've currently got a monopoly.
They do a sort of deposit scheme though where you pay £99 up front and then £20/month for 11 months. This only works out as £20 more expensive over a year, and it's certainly more affordable for me than shelling out £300 in one go.
I'm still not super happy with paying £99, but I can justify this by taking it out of my overtime earnings, which fortuitously this month will be more than enough to cover that much, since I forgot to submit my claim in July and have two months' worth due in my next pay packet.
So now I'm just waiting until I get paid on Tuesday next week and I can order it and get cracking!
The things I'm really psyched about:
* Finding out my real BMR - this will allow me to adjust my calorie intake much more accurately to reflect my actual needs
* Seeing by how much exercise increases my normal MET rate
* Getting a 90% accurate count of my calorie consumption every day - this will enable me to, e.g., go take a walk at 7pm if I'm not hitting my deficit target
* Finding out how many hours a night I actually sleep for (I'm betting it's not more than about 5)
Roll on payday!
