Time for a new gizmo - Mother's Day gift

My husband and I don't do gifts, so once or twice a year I get myself a 'gift' like item instead (which is what we agreed on). Since mother's day is coming up, I got to thinking about what I would like.

I think I want two things, but both of them are definitely in the "want" not "need" category. And one of them is simply I don't want to share!

OK, first thing I would like is a Withings Scale. I don't 'need' a new scale as our 10 year old Tanita IronMan scale works fine, but it doesn't pair up with anything - no wifi. And I think it is cool to truly keep track with either BodyMedia site or with other similar sites. Now... I find it irksome that these things are not universal. Like I have a Garmin fitness watch, but Garmin Connect only works with Tanita wifi scales (though people have found ways to work around it). I understand competition and such, but most people want to be able to use their various smart gadgets together in a harmonious way.

The Withings Scale will give me weight, body fat, etc, same as the IronMan does. AND for me, though I don't think for my husband, the body fat readings are really accurate - which is surprising as they don't tend to be. I've had BodPod testing twice and they were almost the exact same as what my Tanita scale gave me for results. Of course, I have no idea if Withings will be more or less accurate. I would have to compare them side by side for awhile.

The other thing I am eying is the Withings Blood pressure wifi monitor. Again, I don't "need" this as my mother in law has a very accurate blood pressure monitor, but I don't like having to ask to use it - and like now, daily. I don't like having to share anything of her personal belongings. I would have to go to her room and either ask or wait until she wasn't home. Plus, she gets snoopy and would want to ask about my blood pressure and why I'm taking it, etc. I'm not hiding things from her, but since I don't feel close to her as a person, I don't feel like talking about such things with her. I would rather have my own. My husband will think that is stupid and crazy, but then he also doesn't understand that his relationship with his mother and my relationship with his mother are not the same on either end of it.

The other advantage of the Withings monitor is that I can use it right along with my other fitness gadgets, keeping track of trends. I NEED to keep a constant eye on my blood pressure as it is the #1 indicator if my body is getting out of whack by either diet or thyroid. I should probably watch trends as it would probably help me figure out more of my body's rhythms. As of right now, I don't know how much is the thyroid function. How much is exercise. How much is diet as I tend to do all three or ignore all three (which I hope not to do ever again!).

So... I need to figure out which gizmo I will buy - or if I will buy, for Mother's Day. Fitness gizmo is ALWAYS a good gift idea for me, house cleaning supplies? NEVER. I totally don't get you people who think a new vacuum is a good gift!

Editing to add: I had the blood pressure monitor in my basket at BestBuy as it was on sale for $79.99. Well, I decided to get it as it was on sale and that was a really good price. I came back to it after doing some work and the price jacked up to full price of $129.99. Um... no. Can't swallow that price!

Well now I've gone and done it - 100% in

OK, I guess this is it. Full steam ahead. No more dragging my feet. I'm in this thing all the way now.

Yesterday I charged up my bodyfit media core doohickey. AND I set new goals and inputted my last two days of eating (and exercising) on the nutritional tool I use, MyNetDiary.com.

First, it was a slap in the face to log on to the BodyMedia site. "You have gained 44 pounds since your last weigh in on March 28th, 2013". Um, thank you for pointing that out to me. I think I know. Can I erase this please? I don't want to see how I am whittling away at an OLD goal, but want to just look forward to this journey. Well, you can't erase past data, but least I can set new goals so I don't have to see the old one every single day. Gee... that would get depressing right quick.

Then, curious with how many calories I ate yesterday, I plugged in my food from the day before yesterday and yesterday. The last time I had logged my food was exactly one year ago. April 9, 2013. And I had gained 42 or 43 pounds from my last log in. Again, thank you very much for the slap in the face. I KNOW!!!! But, I was able to erase the old date - GONE.

Learning from the past is one thing, being beaten up by it is another.

After the Core unit charged it took me awhile to put it on my arm. I was a little nervous about that. Was I really read to take this journey on 100%? Did I really want to track my exercise (and sleep) habits again? Was I up for pushing myself that hard again?

And that is a bit hard for me to answer as I'm still feeling the extra tiredness of a bum thyroid, I know. But, in the end I strapped it on. Soon will come the questions from the kids I work with of, "What is that on your arm?" "Why are you wearing that?" "Is that a bandaid?"  I love kid's curiosity! At least they ask! (And this is NOT my arm, but a model's arm for product advertisement).

Then I wanted to get the display clipped onto my pants for the bodymedia core. Of course, the battery on the display is dead. It's 3 years old and gave out the second I pushed a button to sync it. It was showing the correct time up until that time.

Of course, I didn't remember the passwords to either of these sites. I had to reset them both at MyNetDiary and at BodyMedia. And while I did that I see that it's been 13 months since I bought a 2 year subscription to BodyMedia - meaning I've wasted almost 13 months worth of the service, or about $50. And on the MyNetDiary site I see that they have a new look. Yep, a lot happens when you've been gone a year - in denial.

I'm not beating myself up about it - but kind of shocked at myself at how quickly all just fell apart. Now, I didn't stop exercising a year ago, but I stopped most cardio. I was just doing some strength training, but even that I stopped by fall and went to full spiral out of control mode.

But, I'm back - 100%. All the tools of the past are being used and are up to date and it's full steam ahead from here on out.  I can do this. I know I can, but the sting of a year of giving into my demons is still fresh.