Jawbone Up: Review

Packaging it comes in (not my actual Jawbone)

Recently I purchased the Jawbone Up band to help kick start this healthier lifestyle that I'm trying to live. By using this fitness tracker it has motivated me to move more, take more walks, eat healthier and go to bed a decent hour. 

The jawbone that I have is the regular one that cost $80.00 at best buy. I connect it  to my iphone and it track my steps, sleep and food intake. It is a rubber cuff that's embedded with motion sensor technology to track sleep, steps active time and idle time. You can manually enter activities such as yoga or cycling since these are non-step activities. It comes in 8 different colors and also has a band that allows you to connect via bluetooth no matter what or where. It has a battery life of 10 days so you don't have to worry about charging it every day. I've been taking mine off while I shower and letting it charge. 

Sleep Patterns 

I have weird sleep patterns and I'm always going to bed at a reasonable hour (or so I think ) but I still feel tired and grumpy when I wake up. Could be the fact that I'm not a morning person. But I wanted to know more about my sleep patterns. The band allows you to track your light vs. deep sleep, the number of times you wake up and how long it took you to fall asleep.You are able to set a goal of how much sleep you want to get each night. Right now my goal is 8 hours. I tend to meet my goal most nights. 

Meals

I've used myfitnesspal.com for the longest to track what I ate. Many times you have to manually put in what you ate or cooked. This is the same way you have to input your meals on jawbone. It gives you the option to take photo of your food and/or scan the barcode, but the feature hasn't worked on my phone/app since I started so I just manually put the foods I've eaten in myself. I try to track everything as much as possible so far so good. My only issue is I always forget to put my food in and sometimes the foods I eat aren't in the database. 

Physical Activity 

I've lacked in the area of doing physical activity besides walking with the band on. But it does show how many steps that you've taken for the day and also the number of calories you've burned. It does really good at tracking the number of steps that I've taken at games and throughout the day at work. Hopefully if my plan to go to the gym this evening works out I'll be able to give a review on the data that is pulls when I work out. 

Overall, I like the jawbone. I've got annoyed a few times when I was sleeping with having it on (I'm a wild sleeper) but other than that I enjoy it and the results so far. I'd rather be tracking something versus tracking nothing. 

The 3 C's of Life

Sitting down and taking a look at where I've been in life and where I want to go in life lead me straight to something that some people have a hard time accepting...change. Change isn't always bad, as some people claims it to be. I don't want to sit down 2 years from now and have the same thoughts about how my life isn't where I want it to be. When I think of change I think about how less complicated things will be and how I will be truely happy about my life and the things associated with it.  There will be times that I fall short or I fail but that's what life is all about, picking your self up, learning from your mistakes and move on.  The change may not be  noticeable to everyone around you but the fact that you know it, is all that matters.

The Start to my Healthier Lifestyle

One of the goals I have for my 2014 year is to loose weight. I gained so much weight and with all the upcoming events I don’t want to cringe at the sight or thought of a camera flashing and showing my unattractive fat areas.

So to start the year off right I took the plunge and signed up for the gym! Yep, I’m a card holding member at Anytime fitness. I choose this gym because my mom is a member and we can work out together when I’m in town with her, it’s small enough but big enough to get everything I need done, and also it’s between my house and work place so I can’t use the excuses it’s to far. Plus the fact that it's open anytime of the day it a plus too!!!

So far I’ve got into a pattern of doing a cardio workout plan ( 1 mile on treadmill and 2.5 on the elliptical) and also doing core ad training (leg press, crunches, squats, lunges, v-cups, and bicycle crunches along with various machines in the gym). It’s been a struggle some days but the bet that my boyfriend and I have is motivation and also knowing that I’m starting to train myself to live a better, healthier life is a plus.

Along with a work out plan, I’m also eating healthier. I hate eating the same thing over and over again, so planning a weeks worth of clean meals in hard. But I’ve found that if I have a salad and switch between a vinegar/oil dressings to a light cup of ranch I’m pretty good. Also, started making fruit smoothies…which have been pretty good. I’m just not a fan of thick smoothies so I let it sit for a while to melt a little.

So in an effort to promote a healthier lifestyle I’m showcasing a few of my meals and smoothie choices and my “healthy” grocery list.

Grocery List:

• Special K
• Almond (unsweetned) milk
• Apples
• Strawberries
• Bananas
• Oranges
• Bell Peppers
• Onions
• Squash
• Cucumber
• Garlic
• Spinach
• Beef Tenderlion
• Salmon
• Shrimp
• Greek Yogurt
• Egg Whites

Meal Options:

Option 1:

• Seasoned fish
• Corn (canned, drained)
• Spinach Salad
• Oil and Vinegar Dressing

Option 2:

• Pork Tenderlion with Sauteed Peppers and Onions
• Spinach salad with side of Light Ranch
• Broiled squash with sea salt andlight extra virgin olive oil

Option 3:

• Egg white omelet with veggies (peppers, mushrooms, onions)
• Wheat Toast
• Fruit

***I'm a huge fan of breakfast for dinner!

Smoothies:

Smoothies consist of five major areas:

1. Fruit
2. Base
3. Thickening
4. Flavor Up
5. Power Boost (optional)

I’ve been following this now I’m just perfecting and looking for a power boost that doesn’t leave a bitter after taste.

The good news I’ve lost 3 pounds and 2 inches…it’s only been two weeks and I’m excited and proud of the results so far.

Within the next few months, I hope to see and post some result photos.