Activity

I've slowed down some over the years, for a variety of reasons. I'm busy looking at the history, remembering why I was as active or inactive as I was, and wishing my current numbers were up.

This trend from 2015 to now shows how I was steadily more active in 2015 (when I started running), slowed down in 2016, trained hard in early 2017 for my hiking vacation in Italy, and then declined steadily to the low point of last December, when my knee was operated on. There was a gyration about a year ago, as my back went out in stressful March 2018, and then I determinedly got up and moving and invited a friend to come walk with me in April. But I was distressed at how hard and painful it was to move that much (what had been normal just a year ago). The summer was ok, but when fall came around, and my knee was hurting, I just allowed myself to sink into my chair. Since the operation, I've been up and moving, and as the weather gets better (and if I can ever untangle myself from work) I feel like I can keep this up. I'm hoping for running again soon, at least a little bit.

The calorie history tells a similar story, except 2015 does not stand out as being a good year for activity, in contrast to the step history. On this graph, it shows a build to the hiking vacation in early 2017, and last year does not look so bad overall, except for the dip at the end. I think the difference must reflect time at the gym and doing things like gardening, that don't add steps but take effort. (I show the data differently, with the stairsteps being the average burn for the calendar month.) It shows my recent up-tick, but puts it in a perspective that says I should strive for more. I will!

The sun is shining, it's above freezing, and I'm sitting here blogging about how (in)active I am.

With a motto this year of "MOVE" I should probably be doing something more active, but I want to get a handle on how much I've slowed down. I got my first steps-and-activity tracking device back in 2010, but I had to switch out to new technology and the trends don't show cleanly across time. To be clear - I'm not at all sure any device is accurately counting calories or steps, but I don't care. The trend is what matters, and as I stick to one device its trend from day to day is at least consistent. And for the years shown here, it hasn't been the same device, but at least the same company with its own algorithms.

Dog is restless, I can get a few steps in before the sun sets.