Day 20: Some New Gear!

I can't believe I'm 2/3 of the way through my 30 day commitment. I will say... I don't see myself stopping anytime soon. I am happy tracking my calories and exercise. Probably for the first time in my life!! I don't feel constricted by it. Instead I feel strangely free and in control. It's wonderful. If anything I am becoming more concerned with accurate calorie counts.... not because I want to make sure I don't eat too much... but because I want to make sure I eat enough... and of the right TYPES of foods (really trying to get higher protein again and go for the 40%carb/30%protein/30%fat ratio). It's HARD! I've been really under the protein this week. Need to keep trying. I mean I'm getting like 80-90 grams per day so it's not super low, but it's about half what I "should" get!

This morning I had some protein rich cereal (Kashi Go Lean Crunch Honey Almond Flax)... 9 g protein. Plus some almond milk and canteloupe.

 

Late lunch/early dinner ended up being at Panera Bread because we were out shopping all afternoon. I opted for a 1/2 tuna sandwich with black bean soup. VERY good soup!

I ate the 1/2 sandwich and about 1/3 of the soup. Saved the rest of the soup and my apple and brought them home.

4+ hours later I was finally hungry again (so unusual for me to go that long) so I ate the rest of my soup with a little one-tortilla cheese quesadilla I made. I used a whole wheat tortilla, one slice of havarti cheese and one slice white american cheese.

Let me tell you it was YUMMY! Also, this one is a photo of the one Ian made for himself.... his has some roast beef and some chicken inside of it with his cheese, so he packed a lot of protein into that. (For the record, I could have done that and often do if I'm not pairing it with something. But since I wanted my soup I had to go with something a little less dense). He had some berries and a pickle with his as well as topped it with some salsa.

 

Anyhoo.... enough about my food for the day. Let's talk about WHY I WENT SHOPPING!!! :) Well, yesterday when I ended up going for a 5 mile walk WITHOUT ANY WATER, I realized I probably needed to do something about that. I'm not gonna carry a bottle that whole time. I do have a hydration backpack, but it is large and holds a lot of stuff. It seems silly to carry that for only the water aspect, and would be much hotter to wear also. Ian reminded me that they made smaller ones that are pretty much only for the water.

Did I mention I LOVE the store REI? I am a member there. My $25/yr membership already saved me $300 this year when I traded in my used-for-a-year snowshoes for brand new ones just because I didn't like the straps. Then they sent me my DIVIDENDS.... $75!!! As well as a 20% off one item coupon.

So off to REI we went and I ended up with this AWESOME backpack-type device which they actually call a hydration VEST because of the pockets in the front. Whatever it's called, I LOVE it...

That's the back view. The largest pocket holds the 70oz water bladder (same size that goes in my BIG backpack, wow)... then there is a smaller pocket for personal items. It's big enough for me to carry sunscreen and even a snack or some other small items.. so I could EVEN use this hiking when I don't want to carry the bigger one!

Here's the front view, or what goes on your chest. There's a sternum strap which is VERY comfortable and you clip your "straw" into it. Then on each shoulder strap you have a handy pocket you can reach without having to take the backpack off. The zippered pocket is big enough for my chapstick, a pack of tissues, and probably a couple other small things as well. The bigger drawstring pocket is even big enough for my PHONE, or even on occasion if I want to carry one of those small gatorade bottles for extra hydrtion.

Now you might be wondering about the meshy looking material the straps are made out of. Here's a closeup of mine...

It's sheer, lighweight, breathable, SOFT and extremely confortable. The outer edges are super soft like velvet. I would think even against bare skin wearing a tank top this would be extremely comfortsble. Which is great because in the summer I often walk/hike/bike in a tank top.

I'll have to let you know what i think once I actually USE it.... but right now I am pretty sure I'm in love!

The other things I was after at REI... a heart rate monitor. I think it will be a nice compliment to my FitBit for a more complete view of everything I'm doing. I love the FitBit for many reasons and it does many things a heart rate monitor and regular pedometer can't do. But I wanted the heart rate monitor especially with considering going into more strength training, going biking, and other things the FitBit can't really track.

I went with the Polar FT7 with chest strap.

I set up my basic settings in it tonight and wet the chest strap, tried it on and went for a little jog around the house and up and down the stairs. It seemed pretty accurate and worked well. I still have to figure out the whole fat burning zone/cardio zone thing because I think I accidentally set it myself instead of letting it set it for me and I set it at my resting heart rate LOL! I have some reading to do.

I also found this little bonus goodie at REI:

Isn't that great? I totally need this. My headphones are always a MESS. i try so hard to put them away neatly and yet EVERY time I get them out for a walk or at the gym, it takes me 5 minutes to untangle them. This is great, you can unwind some at both ends, don't even have to take the whole thing off. Should be very convenient.

I LOVE buying these bigger ticket items at REI because of my membership. If I am unhappy with them for any reason, I just take them back ANY TIME and get something else. No receipt, no matter the condition, no questions asked. So even though the backpack or heart rate monitor might be slightly cheaper on Amazon or somewhere else, you can't beat a guarantee like that.

The backpack was $90 and the HR monitor was $109. However I had a 20% off for my HR monitor and my $75 dividend so it ended up being around $100 for BOTH! We got some other goodies too so I spent a bit more. Very happy with my purchases.

By the way, stayed right at my calorie goal today with eating back my extra calories... although I didn't do planned exercise, FitBit said I got about 230 extra calories from all the extra walking I did out shopping at REI, Best Buy and 2 Targets (I didn't buy anything else but Ian needed something at BB and I needed something at Target but they were out). Yay for walking and YAY for my FitBit!!!!