I have been using the myfitnesspal app as the main platform for my project. Its main purpose is to track caloric intake and expenditure. Being three weeks into using the app, I thought this would be a good time to give my initial thoughts on strengths and weaknesses of the platform. Hopefully this will be useful information for anyone considering using this type of app.
Read moreAuthor: Chris Busby
Week Three Report
It’s Monday evening, so that means there was a weigh in earlier this morning. Contrary to others on weight loss journeys, I look forward to these moments. Maybe that is because the scale has shown me numbers that I want to see so far. This morning it showed me 187.6lbs!! Down 1.9lbs for the week and 6.5lbs overall. The myfitnesspal app tells me that is 71% of my goal (however, I think that goal is going to change).
Read moreWeek Two Report
Two weeks in the books and things continue to head in the proper direction: down! During my first week I was weighing myself every morning. I decided this was not a smart practice as daily fluctuations could set me up for disappointment. I am now weighing myself on Monday mornings.
The scale read 189.5lbs this morning! Down 3.1lbs for the week and 4.6lbs overall. I have a feeling some of the weight this week was water weight. However, I am happy that I continue to move in the right direction.
Read moreWeek One Report
Well, week one is in the books and I’m willing to call it a success. I’m actually fairly surprised at how easy it was to eliminate snacking and unhealthy food from my diet (although Sunday was a little bit of a cheat day).
My daily caloric intake goal to lose a pound a week is 2, 120 calories per day, or 14, 840/week. This week I consumed 11, 998 calories.
Read moreLearning Flipgrid
In my last post I celebrated my success of getting Flipgrid set up, creating a group and adding my students. Today was another success as my students were able to add their first videos. They were able to login independently, use their headphones to record their video, and watch other students’ videos.
In the coming days, I look forward to figuring out how to share our videos with @Farris0120‘s class. I also look forward to watching their videos. I know I still have much more Flipgrid to learn.
Day 1
Day 1 is in the books!
My starting weight is 194.1 lbs. I will get some neck, waist, and hip measurements tomorrow. I have the myfitnesspal app programmed to lose 1 pound per week. This translates to eating 2120 calories per day, and expending 1280 calories per week.
Today I consumed 1612 calories and burned 462 calories stationary biking. At this rate I am going to run out of energy very quickly. I have learned already that I can eat more than I ate today. There is no doubt that I will burn way more than 1280 calories per week through exercise. That number will be over 2000 for sure, not including the walking and working out I do with the kids daily at school.
I feel good about my day (except for being hungry and craving junk food haha). I feel that I am off to a good start!
The Plan
I begin my personal wellness project tomorrow, and I have to say I am actually quite excited about it. In the next two-three months I hope to establish some new lifestyle habits that will improve my quality of living. While one of my goals is to lose 8-10 pounds, my main focus is on improving my eating habits.
The myfitnesspal site/app seems to be a pretty slick tool. Both the food and exercise sections have a full library of foods and activities that simply allow you to select and add them to your daily lists. It calculates caloric intakes and expenditures for daily and weekly periods. It also generates daily caloric intake targets and weekly expenditure targets to assist you in meeting your pre-determined goals.
My nutrition goals are to eat more fruits and vegetables, focus on portion control, and reduce the amount of snacking that I do, which will in turn help me reduce the number of sugary foods that I eat. My diet as it currently is is not really that bad, but replacing morning cereal with fruit, yogurt, and granola is one simple way to improve it. Also, bringing only healthy food to school for lunch and snacks will force me to eat healthy during the day. Night will be my most challenging time as it is when I snack most often. Not buying snack foods, and sheer will power will have to get me through the evenings.
I have always been very active and diligent with my exercise habits. Work, completing my masters, and a two-year-old have made that more difficult. This project will force me to workout diligently to ensure that I am meeting my weekly caloric expenditure goals. The exercise routine that I envision is:
Sunday – muscular strength
Monday – aerobic
Tuesday – rest day
Wednesday – muscular strength
Thursday – yoga
Friday – aerobic
Saturday – aerobic
Aerobic exercises will consist of mainly running as long as the weather allows, along with stationary cycling. Muscular strength exercises will be mainly body weight and abdominal workouts. Yoga is something that will be new to me, but I think I will experience the most significant gains from it. I hope it helps my strength and flexibility. I plan to use some virtual workouts through youtube and other apps for many of my workouts. I will post them as I use them.
As tomorrow is my first official day, I will be posting my baseline stats and my progress for the day.
Welcome to Flipgrid!
Friday was an exciting day for my Grade 3/4 Health class and I. It was our first attempt at using Flipgrid. For most of you this is going to sound silly because you are much more familiar with and comfortable using virtual learning platforms. Today I was able to add all students to our group, they were able to log-in, and I was able to demonstrate how to create an introductory video. This was a huge victory for all of us, especially me. We are now setup and ready to create our introductory videos to meet our new friends in @Farris0120‘s classroom. Hopefully tomorrow night I will be making another post celebrating the first video posts of my students.
A Switch in Focus
I had previously written about a project that @Farris0120 and I had planned. While our classrooms will still be coordinating and working on many of the goals of that project, I have decided to complete a personal project as my main focus. I was having difficulty nailing down a specific focus for my initial project idea. While I see significant value in exploring blogging and virtual connections, I don’t foresee my teaching timetable providing my with ample time to explore it fully and properly with my students. I also would like to improve my own knowledge base before beginning a journey that large with students. With that said, Lynnette and I do still intend to do many virtual activities with our students. Hopefully they can establish some connections. I intend to continue blogging some of my learnings and experiences throughout this process.
Now, on to the new project:
I live a fairly healthy lifestyle and am always conscious of taking care of my body. However, I have always known there is room for improvement. I have always had some changes I would like to make in mind, but have never found the motivation to do it. This class project presents the opportunity I have been looking for.
My two main goals are going to be to improve my eating habits, (particularly eating more fruits and vegetables and cutting out some sweets/snacks), and losing 8-10 pounds.
I am going to use the website/app myfitnesspal to help me on my journey. The app will allow me to track my caloric intake and expenditure. More info. on the app will follow in my next post.
I will provide weekly updates on my progress (including data analysis based on my caloric intake/expenditure, weight loss progress, challenges and successes), and will also be completing a weekly wellness reflection to describe any changes in how my body feels.
I am excited about this project as it is something I am passionate about and I will have motivation knowing that it will improve my health and lifestyle. More details will be forthcoming as I prepare to begin my journey on Monday, September 27.
Who Am I?
A Professional:
- Currently a Vice-Principal in the Regina Catholic School Division
- In my 13th year of teaching
A Learner:
- Completing my Masters of Education in Educational Leadership
- EC&I 832 is my second class outside of the EDL strand
- Learning about social media and technology is pushing me outside of my comfort zone
A Family Man:
- The best part of my day is coming home to my wife and two year old son