Data Collecting
As a family we have been taking this whole health thing by storm. We are not messing around, people! Daily, you can find the Lj’s out walking, running, playing, riding- whatever. We try to make healthy choices and we are looking at our lifestyle carefully, being very intentional about what we do and what we eat.
Part of what we are doing is tracking ourselves with the Wii Fit. At first, we were so annoyed at the whole body check thing. It feels judgmental and kind of rude as it chides you over your lack of balance, nags you abut not showing up daily for workouts, tells you how frequently other family members work out in comparisons to you, and the worst- announces where you fall on the BMI scale with “That’s Obese!” Being told to me every time I weigh myself. Not exactly big on handling us with kid gloves, let me just say that. However, two things have happened as a result:
We have changed how we talk about fat/overweight/obesity in our house. It used to be that no one could say anything to me about me being fat without reducing me to tears. Jude used to comment quite often on my weight without trying to be mean, but it was hurtful. I was sensitive. I was not happy. It had very little to do with his observations and more to do with my self perception and unhappiness with my unhealthy body. Now we share all of this information, we share our weights, measure ourselves often and we can talk about fat in our house without tears now. Without awkwardness. It opened a dialogue that is very honest, thanks to the cutthroat way the Wii matter of factly tells us we are fat, out of shape and aged beyond our years! (That is not entirely true- my Wii Fit age is usually 35 or below now. Today I am 23!)
The other thing that has happened is the ability for us to track ourselves as we collect data by checking in often on the Wii. While I check in daily, the rest of my family is less consistent. Bradley is checking in almost daily and the kids are about once a week or whenever they feel like it; we don’t push them to do it. We want them healthy – not obsessive. I am wavering between 245-249, gaining and losing half pounds, full pounds or more day by day. I thought it was just me, but it turns out that when we look at our data collectively, we all follow the same patterns- every one of us Lj’s! As I fell and lost to hit my 245, so did my whole family. We all dipped then. Easter came, and we all gained a little. Now we have all, plateaued as we ready for another loss cycle. It was really interesting to see, and I’m excited to continue tracking ourselves to see what happens over longer ranges.
