Three High Fives

Or maybe that would be a High Fifteen. Whatever. 

So I've downloaded this app, called Pacer. It's a pretty basic pedometer app, but one of the features I like is that you can choose a plan. I've chosen to tackle that elusive 10,000 steps a day mountain, so I chose the option called 'Couch to 10K Steps'. I don't spend a lot of time on my couch, but I am curious about how many steps I'd take in a given day. I feel like I'm on my feet a lot, but I think it's easy to overestimate how active you are. So my goal yesterday was to reach 4000 steps. I came in at 6297. Thanks largely to a walk last night, but even allowing for the times when I didn't have my phone on me (plugged in charging, or left in a room to avoid distraction), plus any miscalculation due to movement ( I just shook it and it didn't count any steps, so I'm thinking it's pretty accurate?), I still smashed it. 

The second high five comes on the tail of this walk I took last night. I decided on a route, and set off. I use Map My Fitness, which has this voice that talks to me after every kilometer, telling me how long I've been walking, and my pace, as well as my split pace. This app, plus the Pacer app, tie into the one I use for my nutrition, called My Fitness Pal

I'm not getting any freebies from these three apps, I just use them, and I like them. If you're the sort of person who has great success with tracking, and you're into apps, these are good ones.

Back to the high-five though, I walked four kilometers last night, and my pace was remarkably faster than it has been. Not running, but it's definitely a quicker walk than I've been doing. 

The third high five is that for the first time, despite walking faster, my legs never started burning or itching. It has happened every single time, and I've Googled it, because I thought maybe I was just allergic to exercise and it was hives or something. But no, apparently, it happens when the blood starts flowing to capillaries which have collapsed from not being used. It causes an itching/burning sensation. So the lack of this means that my capillaries aren't freaking out about the increased workload. Which means that I've bumped my activity level from sedentary to lightly active. Or maybe even somewhere between lightly and moderately active. 

And a bonus high-five? The clothes which I bought on December 26th, just two weeks ago, are now too big. It's only going to get worse (better?) with time, so I'm hesitant to buy new clothes until I've reached the maintenance stage. But in the meantime, YEEHAW!!!

XO, Sarah