I wanted to wait a few days before sharing my final cruise & 30 Day Challenge update, as I needed some time to breathe and check-in on some (fun to me) stats. Top Question: Did I gain the Comfy Cruise 10?
No!
I wasn’t so sure about this, so I waited a day and then another … sure thing. No weight (nor fat %) gained. So I looked at Fitbit and I realized that I nearly doubled my steps & stairs count for the days I was on vacation. I also noticed that my activity counts went up on a last-minute and short, 2 day trip to San Francisco, too. (Airports are made for walking and those hills for stepping.)
Doing a quick average for the days I was not traveling against the days I was, I found a significant difference:
- 11,000 vs 6,000 steps = 5,000 more steps!
- 31 vs 21 floors = 10 more floors!
The best part is that I wasn’t trying to be more active. I was simply impatient. Instead of waiting for elevators, we took the stairs. The entrances & exits from the boat were typically on floors 5 & 6 and the front desk and promenade where you could walk around the boat in hopes of spotting wild life were on floor 7. We were on floor 12. And the hot tubs, dance club and top deck viewing were on floors 14 & 15. Want to naturally get some more steps into your otherwise leisurely cruise days? Rule 1: Get a room on the 10, 11 or 12th floor.
One thing I’m absolutely terrible at tracking is stuff like what I’m eating, drinking and how much I’m sleeping, but you can rest assured that I had dessert for breakfast on more than one occasion. So I’m going to guess that my net loss of less than a pound can be attributed to my one gym workout (which I’m putting in here in case my trainer reads this), being more active by default even if not to a cardio level and better sleep. Many studies have shown that the less you sleep, the more likely you are to gain weight. Rule 2: Sleep 8-9 hours each night.
That’s it!
To celebrate, I’ve decided that for my next 30 day challenge, I’m going to walk to a daily average of 10,000 steps right here in my own city. A nice bonus will be seeing myself rise to the top of the Fitbit friends leaderboard. That’s right, it’s challenge time.
ps. That first spike in floors is due to a HIKE. As such, I’m expecting my next 30 days to include some more outdoors.
4 Comments
Kronda Adair
August 28, 2013 at 9:01 pmDamn you for making me want a fitbit. I’ve resisted all this time…
Jewel
September 3, 2013 at 7:58 pmYes, get one! I bet you could even find a used one by now and help keep it out of a landfill 🙂
Jewel
August 25, 2013 at 8:27 pmYes to more vacations! However, I have a hard time believing you ate more than me so it really must boil down to that one workout. Or how I rowed when you only steered in the kayak. Or the alcohol. Or the difference in sleep. Or that I really did walk more … remember all those times you were hunkered away writing? I suppose the only way to do better tests in the future is to get you a pedometer and track what we eat & drink. Only I have a hard time believing I will ever do that. Track what I eat, I mean. As for the more vacations, yes, yes, yes.
Faye Purdum
August 25, 2013 at 1:07 amCongrats! I on the other hand during the same cruise have gained five to ten pounds. I believe I had the same steps, minus the workout day (which is significantly more than usual), but probably ate twice as much as my normal amount. I’m curious if anyone else has done this type of analyzation and have had similar results. To compare myself to you I’d say that I’m suppose to eat less in general (exercise has little effect) and you can eat more but should exercise more in general. I’d love to do more of these tests! More vacations and more cruises!