And my heart goes…

Actually I have not the slightest clue how my heart goes…but I will tomorrow AM when I crank this song all the way up and put on my Polar FT4.

Watch out toddlers, momma’s gonna be rockin’ like she did before you came along.

Oh boy am I gonna piss off the lady downstairs, but I can’t wait.

 

 

Monitoring My Heart

I can’t tell you how excited I am. I had absolutely no idea this was coming.

When my oldest teen walked in with the RetrofitMe box I was surprised.

I cracked that baby open in seconds to find that my program adviser had sent me a Polar FT4 training computer and a Polar WearLink®+ transmitter. I emailed my Retrofit program adviser to ask what’s up with the package and she explained that it was just another way they’re encouraging me to get moving.

It’s definitely working!

Now I’m not too sure how it all works yet. I haven’t had time to read through the little pamplet. All I know so far is, I wear it during my workout, whatever that may be – dancing, cardio, strength training, all here from home – and it will show when I’m improving fitness based on my heart rate and it displays calories burned.

The computer is in this pretty cute watch and the transmitter gets strapped around my waist. Again, I’m pretty excited here.

When I use to go to the gym, I remember the treadmill would track my heart rate if I kept my hands on a certain spot on the handlebars, and I remember the stupid chart on the screen explaining why, I just don’t remember what the why was. My first session with my Exercise Physiologist in February 25th, so I have lots of time to get to know my new toys and get my questions together. The whole heart rate requirement/explanation being the first Q. However, if any of you guys have any advice or info on this, I’d love to hear it.

Burn Calorie Burn

I’ve had the Trammp’s disco inferno stuck in my head since the moment I realized the potential of this watch sitting in this box.

What’s got me really excited is knowing exactly how much calories I’ve burned. That’s why I’ve chosen dancing like a mad woman for my first try with the FT4.

Before I had the tots, I wasn’t skinny, but I was happy with my body and I was healthy, and i think much of that had to do with all the dancing I did. I had also made it part of my exercise routine to just dance for 15 minutes every afternoon.

Back then, when I had time and no pissy neighbor living downstairs from me.

Yeah, she’s just going to have to deal. Muhahaha.

Oh! And this is going to be a great way to know if I’m actually burning any calories when I’m using our Wii Fit’s advanced step program. I usually work up a sweat, but I never know exactly how much I’ve burned.

The Lose it! app that I use to track my food and exercise has info on calories burned based on time ,that are member submitted but in no way based on MY weight and height.

According to Polar:

Getting the most out of your training doesn’t always mean working faster or harder. With a heart rate monitor, you can make sure you’re not over or under training, and make each session count. Use Polar as your training partner and you’ll have evidence of your progress – motivating you each and every time you train.

I’m so glad that this is part of the RetrofitMe system. This way, my Exercise Physiologist can look at the data and plan exactly what I should be doing and for how long, resulting in the most benefit while sticking to my schedule.

Oh! Speaking of RetrofitMe, I know in a previous post I mentioned maybe taking screenshots of the setup process and sharing it. The fact is, it all went so fast, there really was no point. Seriously. I had the Wifi scale and tracker set up in a few minutes. And I love how all the info is just “beamed” to my dashboard, so I don’t have to log it but I’m still tracking it.

I wish I could somehow beam what I’m eating from my brain to my lose it app (which syncs with my tracker’s dashboard). Many, many times I forget to enter what I’m eating because I’m having my meals with the toddlers and I don’t want to pull the android out otherwise they’ll forget food and start saying Cheese and posing for pictures.

But I am watching everything I put in my mouth and I’m doing pretty well. And I’m done to one cup of coffee with creamer a day.

I’ve definitely made changes to my diet based on my coaching session with my dietician, and i can tell you, these changes, they’re not bad. I can keep up with them. They’re absolutely sustainable.

I CAN do this.

By the way, any work out music suggestions? I’ve got tons of pop, rock and freestyle in my Music Library dating back to the late 80s, but I never know what to choose. Share your favorite work out songs and i’ll dig around to see if i have it.

So far I’ve got:

Taylor Dayne’s Every Beat of My Heart

Whitney Houston’s I wanna Dance With Somebody

Shakira’s Hips Don’t Lie

Any suggestions?

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