Fitbit Success Stories: Martha D.

Fitbit Success Stories is a recurring feature on the Fitbit Blog. You’ll read inspirational and personal stories about Fitbit users who have achieved amazing things as a result of their Fitbit tracker, diet, exercise, and sheer ambition.

Oh how I wish I could’ve blamed being overweight on my thyroid or some other physical disability. I’ve had tests done and my metabolism is perfect. So why have I fought the battle of the bulge my whole life? Ready for a shock? I ate too much!

Here I am, 57 years-old and a retired Naval officer. Yes, I was always fighting the weight standards when I was in the service. When I retired, however, it was, “Woohoo, I don’t have to do mandatory physical training (PT) anymore. No more semi-annual PT tests! No more getting the measured by the dreaded tape and trying to suck as much in as I could without being too obvious!”

So on January 1, 2014 the Flex went back on my wrist and I was underway. My goal was to lose 105 lbs.

And because of my decision to not exercise or eat well, the weight piled on. And on and on.

In May 2013, I bought a Fitbit Flex and I started watching what I was doing. And it started to work. But then some “life” moments happened and I put it away, then put back on what I’d lost plus 20 lbs more.

In December 2013, I had a serious talk with myself. I said, “Look you are either going to get this darn weight off or just throw in the towel and blow up until you have a heart attack. You have a military reunion in June 2015 so you have got to start now or totally embarrass yourself with your “plump” (to put it kindly) appearance.” I chose to get the weight off.

So on January 1, 2014 the Flex went back on my wrist and I was underway. My goal was to lose 105 lbs.

After doing a lot of reading, I decided that the best course of action for me was to eat between 1,000-1,200 calories per day. Having access to the food logging tool was wonderful. I religiously plugged in my daily food and water consumption so that I wouldn’t overeat. And then I started to move.

I’m just shy of my target weight-loss goal averaging 8 lbs per month…total loss to date 64 lbs.

At first, I could only workout for about 30 minutes on either my treadmill or one of my numerous [barely used] fitness videos. Then I just tried to get as close as I could to 10K in my daily life. And the weight started coming off…and off…and off.

As the weight started to come off and my stamina started to build, I kept progressively going further and faster on the treadmill and increasing the durations of my workout videos. I now do a five-mile workout video and have added weights to it. And though I absolutely hate the treadmill, I do it for an hour using an interval program with a max speed of 4.3 mph.

I am far from athlete of the year, but I have come so far that I plan to start jogging outside once the heat index goes down a bit here in central Georgia.

I check my Flex several times during the course of the day to see my progress. So often it motivates me to get up and go for a workout. It keeps me cognizant of my meals and calories. And at night, if I’m still a bit short of reaching my step goal, you can find me jogging in place or around the house in my PJs.

So here we are at the start of September 2014. I’m just shy of my target weight-loss goal, currently averaging 8 lbs per month making my total loss to date 64 lbs!

As I look at my transformed body in the mirror, I’m actually not sure that I really want to lose 41 more pounds. I think I will be happy with myself when I get down 30 more.

I totally hated the way I looked before. Thank you so much, Fitbit, for developing this wonderful little gadget that has truly enabled me to transform my life. I am so looking forward to going to my Navy reunion!