1. Pump status: Yes, still doing it. Demand is exceeding supply by a few ounces most days. The freezer stash still exists, though it is a mere shadow of its former self. I actually bought some formula to have on hand, and I have to admit — just having that convenient can o’ powder around feels oddly liberating. But for now it’s all breastfeeding/pumped milk PLUS food (he’s loving the baby oatmeal now!). I’d love to make it to 6 months (August 20th) before supplementing with formula, but I realize (and accept) that it’s completely arbitrary.
Right now I do 4 pumps/day: 3 at work (once on arrival, once at lunchtime, and once at 3 pm) and 1 at around 9 pm. (i.e.: right now as I type this.)
2. Workouts: This week I’ve attempted to switch to nights — and so far it’s going well, though all I’ve done is a 3 mile treadmill run (Monday evening) and an online barre3 workout (tonight). I still feel horribly out of shape, and rather sick of it. Patience is not and has never been my forte.
3. Sleep: Laura’s post was timely for me, because lately I’ve been wondering how many hours I truly need to sleep. I tend to get anywhere from 6.75 – 8 throughout the week, and after a couple of shorter nights I definitely crave an 8+-hour catchup. However, I don’t necessarily think I need 8 every night.
C still hasn’t hit a consistent stride with his sleep yet, but I do think things are gradually improving. Two night ago he woke up at midnight and 5:30 am to eat, and last night it was just 3:30 am and 6:30.
4. Work: Work is good. Especially now that I am off of call (for the next 2 weeks, anyway!). I actually like my job to the extent that I wish I had more time to devote to it — but I don’t. This could be its own entire post, so I’ll write more about it another day.
Other things to write about in another post . . .
* Current eating habits (mostly lame/things that need to improve)
* Fashion post on my Boden haul
* Planning our first real vacation since moving here (our trip to PHL was really fun but was only 2.5 days so I’m not counting it!)
* Breaking free from technology (sometimes)
* Updated D-I-T-L (day in the life . . .)
I also think I might record a vlog for the first time ever!
QUESTIONS for you . . .
a) If I did record a video entry, any questions you’d like me to address?
b) Anyone have a fitbit or Jawbone device (I know Ana and Laura do)? Do you like it/use it? Is it accurate? Fun? Annoying? Obsession-provoking? I kind of want it for the sleep tracker and to see exactly how hideously sedentary I am all day.
22 Comments
I realize (and accept, heh) that this is a totally silly, odd question, but I am wondering if you might share any tips or advice for those of us partnered (and in love) with a resident or medical student. You and Josh were lucky you could empathize directly with each other’s struggles, trials, and tribulations. But as a lowly PhD student, I sometimes just don’t know how to be there for this person in the right way.
…again sorry if this is such a weird one to ask you to address.
Potty training. This if the first thing that came to my mind when I thought about a question. Have you already trained A? I am trying to get all the information i can about potty training so I can get started on my toddler.
Or if you can walk through on how you use your planner on a weekly and daily basis?
Yes, I also want info on FitBit type equipment! Obsessive or useful? Is it accurate? I don’t count calories and don’tt plan on starting, is it still useful for me? Will wearing it at work (office attire) make look like an idiot? So many thoughts.and questions. 😊
I use a FitBit One and wrote about my experience with it below. You might find it helpful.
I bought one!! I’ll let you know how it is.
For me, wearing at work is great since if anything it could be a conversation piece / segue to talking about exercise/etc. I also think that in a scientific field people would think it was cool/interesting.
I’d like a run down on what your typical Saturday looks like.
I have a Fitbit One, and I love it. The reason I chose that model is because, rather than being worn on the wrist, it clips on your underwear so it’s very discrete. It also has a display so you don’t have to check your phone if you want an update in the middle of the day.
I bought it with the idea of tracking activity/eating after I gained some weight over the winter, but right now I just use it with the goal of getting an average of 10k steps per day. I think it’s pretty accurate. I don’t track activity right now (ie I don’t tell it if my steps are coming from jogging or walking), but it estimates that I burn about 2k kcal on a day that I get around 10k steps. That may be in part because I walk up a lot of stairs and hills (which it also tracks). I’m not trying to lose weight using it so it’s not anxiety provoking for me at this moment. It also tracks sleep and seems to line up with times I remember being up to go to the bathroom, etc. What else? The battery life is good. I charge it every 2-3 weeks for a couple hours overnight.
I also have a Fitbit One and have similar experiences and opinions as those listed above. I’d just like to add that I have had excellent customer service from Fitbit (one replacement unit when my old one stopped working before the warranty was up, one replecement part on the little clip case, one case of panicked I-think-I-lost-it-no-wait-I-found-it). I also enjoy tracking with friends. I find it motivational.
I have the Jawbone Up and really like it. I think it is fairly accurate especially in the sleep department. It doesn’t seem to pick up movement that is not steps (it doesn’t pick up steps while I am in my yoga class). I like the vibrating alert, if nothing else I get up and take a little walk or change activities if I can. I also use sleep cycle on my phone which measures sleep a little differently. I like that it sinks with my phone which the fitbit didn’t do at the time I got my UP.I wear a lot of bracelets so the UP just fits into my jewelry. I actually use the timer to remind me to start getting ready for bed at a certain time. My sleep has definitely improved between the UP & sleep cycle. I know I need to average 8 hours and that if I go under 7 too many days in a week I need to add for a few days to get back on track. I think you would be happy either way. You are supposed to be able to shower with the UP by I don’t, about once a week I use that time to charge it. Feel free to ask any questions If I missed something.
Also, my favorite thing is that both the UP band and sleep cycle time an alarm for when I am in a light sleep part of my cycle. I have not been awakened from a deep sleep in over year and that has made the biggest difference in my morning and ultimately my ability to make decisions and process throughout the day. This leads to a little less stress and better sleep the next night.
So when I was doing the FitBIt and the calorie tracking, it really did get obsessive, because more steps=more calorie deficit=unhealthy mindset about food/activity. On its own, I realize I just put it on and forget about it until the end of the day. Its giving me ideas of patterns, but it no longer motivates me to walk or move more than I naturally do, even on the low step days. So, I’m not sure why I’m still using it, to be honest. I just like KNOWING, and its a habit to put it on now!
I’m inspired by your (preliminary) success at evening work-outs. I haven’t done that in YEARS but may give it a try, since mornings are getting REALLY HARD these days.
Tonight I failed. Ahh well. It actually really wasn’t bad at all on the night that Josh worked late, but it’s harder if he’s home too. Also, today I had a completely nutritionally horrendous lunch and was basically unable to function by 7pm without a *real* dinner. So, need to do a few tweaks 🙂
I’m quite interested in the post on wanting more time to work but not having it available. In time management literature, no one is ever supposed to want more time to work, but I don’t think it’s actually uncommon, particularly among people with young kids.
Hmm. It’s not that I want to spend more of my limited time at work. There’s no ‘free time’ that I currently have now that I’d rather be working. I guess it’s more that there are projects I’d like to do / work-related reading I feel I need to catch up on — that I don’t get to with the current number of hours that I’m working. I guess I just want more than 168 hours 🙂 And if I did get a few more, I’d devote at least some of them to work!
Oh, I would also work more if I had more time. I love my work. I love how it challenges me and how obvious and easy the reward system is compared to life with kids, where I never feel like I succeed in quite the same manner. I also love the feeling of flow I get from my work when it sucks me in and time flies away. That is harder to do now, with small kids, and it miss it some times. Traveling for work allows me to go full on into nerd mode and then I always love going back home to the family after a few days on emerging myself in the magic of science and medicine. Are we really not supposed to want to work more?
My youngest turned 6 months today, and we are definitely dipping into the freezer stash! I’m excited though that he’s started eating solids so that also takes a little pressure of me, at least mentally.
I’m curious, why treadmill running vs running outside at night? Is it a safety issue?
1) heat (although it’s true that the high/low differential isn’t that great here, it’s still quite warm at 8 pm – it’s 84 right now, for example)
2) I’m just worried about running in the dark when there are cars around! At 5:45 am it’s pretty dark but it’s also very quiet and there’s almost no traffic. At 8:00, people are still driving around quite a bit, but it’s pretty dark here.
3) most importantly, often Josh won’t be home at 8pm when I might be running . . . and someone needs to be home while the kids are asleep 🙂
Get ready for a long comment. Apparently I have a lot to say today… 😉
I currently have a Fitbit Flex. It is my third wrist tracker (pitifully). I was hesitant to stick with Fitbit, after a lot of drama surrounding the Force (which was my first attempt). It was giving a lot of people a rash/"irritation" on their arms, which seem to be chemical burns from faulty batteries. The company wasn’t the most upfront about this, and that’s annoying.
I tried the Jawbone Up24 next, which is beautiful. You can’t see anything on the tracker itself, and there is no web interface. So you need to use the app. I’m all about iPhone apps, but it did not work well for me. Took too long to sync and didn’t work anything close to flawlessly.
The Flex is going really well so far. The app syncs quickly (for me at least, and compared to the Jawbone). You can sync with a computer for extra details. And you (well, I) can see just enough on the tracker itself to stay motivated throughout the day. I really dig it so far. As far as what Jennifer’s comment said earlier (which sounds pretty frustrating!), I’ve only accidentally put mine into sleep mode while hammering some Ikea furniture together last week, so it doesn’t happen very often for me.
As far as sleep tracking, though, I think I preferred the Jawbone. I had a few sync issues, but on a normal day, it seemed more accurate and more detailed than Fitbit. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts if you pick one out!
I had a fitbit flex. I was shocked to learn that if I didn’t run, I wouldn’t come close to 10,000 steps! So it was helpful for working in more activity. It also confirmed that I wake up a ton at night and get very little sleep. The bad thing is, the battery died after 3 months. For over $100, I would have liked it to last longer. Other things, the mileage didn’t match what my garmin said. And, although the sleep was helpful, I think something that tracks sleep by heart rate would be more accurate so I’ve considered the Basis Health Tracker for the future…
*raises hand*
I want more time to work.
Well, not really. I just wish I wasn’t in the hospital 80 hours per week so I could just get these manuscript resubmissions done. I end up doing an hour here and an hour there (thank goodness there’s not more than that to do), but it just takes so damn long to make progress.
I would also like one hour more in the day to myself. Mostly so I can watch tv/unwind. As it is I feel exhausted but can’t sleep, and I just lie in bed looking at the ceiling, and it is very stressful. Maybe I will try to do some step 3 questions before bed and that will help.
I’m impressed with your evening working out. Lately I’ve been trying to do the stairs more at work and going to walk the dog with my husband and daughter in the evening (and it does help!), but would really like to do a run/walk/swim to increase the intensity. Someday! I think the key is just trying to do *something* and not beating yourself up too much if you’re not doing 5 miles… or whatever your "goal" is for now. Seriously, something is always better than nothing, even if it doesn’t seem like it.
Delurking to write that C is so cute – you make cute babies! I had the Jawbone Up and liked it okay, then it fell off when I was taking off a sweatshirt while on a run (I didn’t notice it falling off). I was bummed – it wasn’t cheap, and I felt like it should have been more secure. So now after lots of googling I have a Vivofit. I already have a Garmin Forerunner and like the interface, plus I like that the Vivofit has a screen so I can track steps throughout the day. I’m happy with it.