First rule of dad jokes…
They’ve been struggling for quite a while, as have many of the other fitness band companies. It’s just not a very profitable business and the competition is fierce.
The Founder has left Jawbone to start a new health focused company called… Jawbone Health Hub. They’ll focus on clinical health devices, rather than consumer ones though. And all the headset and earpiece related pieces of the business will be liquidated I’m sure.
Their Jambox line of Bluetooth speakers came out of the gate strong way back in 2010 (I think), but once the portable Bluetooth speaker market really exploded, they just sort of faded into the background. It didn’t take too long for a half-dozen other companies to offer cheaper or better alternatives.
Of course I have no idea if they never pursued that market because they were already moving on to the fitness tracking craze, or if they moved on to the fitness tracking craze because they couldn’t hang with the Bluetooth speaker boom.
But however all their eggs ended up in the fitness tracking basket, it sounds like that’s a difficult place to thrive if you’re not selling Apple Watches. Isn’t Fitbit struggling too?
So I’m trying to lose weight too. I’ve done it before, and now I’m almost back where I was, about 3 years later. Not as fat as before but fatter than a few years ago post weight loss.
The way I lost it before was not an app or tracking calories or even cutting certain foods. I just controlled my portions way more. I started off for a few days with a vague feeling of hunger (not starving, just it’s kinda there) but that fades as your stomach shrinks slightly. After that it’s a lot easier as it takes less to feel sated. That’s another big thing I did, I went from a Louis C.K. style “I’ve not not done eating when I’m full. I’m done eating when I hate myself.” to a “that’s enough” type thing. I also ate way, way slower. My default is to just shovel it in (even good food) and I made myself slow down to give the food time to tell my stomach and brain there was something in there.
Doing all that I lost 35 lbs. This time I would like to lose 25 lbs. Every study I’ve read says that in order to lose actual weight (not water weight or daily fluctuations which for me can be 2-3 lbs) you have to have calorie deficit from maintenance weight of about 3500 cal a week. If you have a calorie deficit of that, you lose a pound. So that means I can lose 25 lbs in 25 week. Which is almost 6 months. It takes about as long to put it back on (it just seems faster, dammit).
I think this is the best way to lose the weight, gradually. You sequester mass on, you must slowly lose that stored energy over time. It’s hard, hard work, especially cutting back on beer. Beer is love!
If that works for you, rock on. The one thing that helps me eat less is drinking a crap ton of water (almost a gallon a day).
That’s a great idea. Is there any disadvantage to seltzer water? (Aqua con gas as the Argentinians call it)?
No idea. But I’m amazed at how drinking so much water helps with the appetite. I eat 1/2 to 2/3 what I used to eat at dinner now.
Not really. It’s going to be slightly acidic.
If you are looking for good seltzer, in highly recommend polar flavored seltzer.
They have tons of flavors that actually taste good (I’ve found most flavored seltzer from other companies just tastes like weird off fruit and chemicals).
Polar flavored seltzer tastes great, and has no sugar or fake sweeteners.
Drinking that much water is also apparently amazingly good for you. I read an article a while back about a guy who drank a shit ton of water every day for a month. He said it completely changed him but he peed a lot.
EDIT: article https://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/wellbeing/gallon-water-challenge
There is a point where it can be too much, though.
Well, yes, but you don’t drink it all at one time.
I drink 2-4 liters of diet pepsi a day. Does that count as water? :D (I have a weird psychological addiction to it. I even have a “pepsi callus” on my left index finger from holding the 2 liter bottle by the neck.)
After a relapse on my weight loss goals (primarily due to a months long cluster headache breakout) I’m back on track. For anyone like me who won’t go to a gym, I found some HIIT workouts for beginners on Youtube to be highly effective. Murderously difficult to get started but after about a week it actually started feeling good.
Even if you’re doing light weights, which is what is recommended at start, this is a program I highly recommend. I keep my lifting separate from my HIIT, which I do on an elliptical.
The site and app are free. It’s 5 lifts. They may seem daunting but they are very easy to get into, and the combination of gaining strength and doing it via compound lifts does wonders.
Just throwing this out as an option, MrGrumpy. HIIT weight training programs can be very intense.
Hey thanks for the link! I just bought some stuff at Amazon to expand my home workout - but I got dumbbells. :/
I’ll have to take a closer look at these when I get home.
I found the HIIT workouts while scouring You Tube for home exercise for men over 50. The beginner ones I’ve been doing don’t use weights at all - things like squats, squat jumps, planks (ow), burpees (ow), that kind of thing. 20 minutes of that and I’m sweating profusely. But after a couple of weeks of doing them, I feel better than I have in literally a decade. “Once upon a time” I was very active and in pretty good shape - from 14 to 40ish I weighed +/- 170 at 6’ with a medium/large frame - but it all went pear shaped (ha!) for a variety of reasons I won’t get into. I’ve shed 50 lbs but I want to drop another 20 or so, and that’s been tougher.
Have you considered the possibility (not being facetious) that the caffeine might be contributing to the headaches?
The caffeine cures them. Well, when they happen, a monster energy drink (Java Monster), an Excedrin Migraine, Aleve, capsaicin nose spray and a spoonful or two of chopped Habanero peppers will usually nip them within 10 minutes if I catch them early enough (most often they will start within an hour or two of falling asleep. If I don’t wake up early enough then I’m in trouble.) Of course drinking an energy drink at midnight presents its own problems, but that’s a small consideration against enduring the headaches. (I’ve read mushrooms are effective for a lot of people but I’ve no idea how to obtain them.)
Longer response than I intended! But the only known trigger I have is alcohol (expensive beer and wine), but I don’t drink any longer - and I still get the headaches. Usually at the Equinox (Fall, Spring) but not always. Fun. :/
Edit: My plan is to switch to water anyway. “Soon.” I’ve been doing the diet pepsi thing since ah well a really long time.
That much diet soda isn’t great for your teeth or acid reflux, but it’s a hell of lot of better than sugar. Maybe switch to the same amount of caffeine in tea or coffee, then slowly go to water. Dropping both sweet tooth and caffeine at the same time sounds like a recipe for failure.
When I was trying to save a little money, I dropped my 4-liters-of-Diet-Coke-a-week-and-that’s-just-what-I-had-with-meals-there-cuz-fuck-yeah-I-had-lots-more-at-restaurants-n-shit habit in favor of black tea sweetened with Stevia, which might or might not be marginally better for you than aspartame (I don’t buy the pretty ludicrous “tests” that show that imbibing a kilo of the stuff a day might give you cancer, since, ya know, no one does that, but it looks like research is mounting up about it having suboptimal effects on metabolism through Mysterious Means Unknown).
It was a tasty, pleasant, still-caffeiney treat! But now that I can afford it, I am right back to the Diet Coke :-D
Tea is a good idea, actually. Unsweetened green tea is supposedly good for metabolism - and I do worry about caffeine withdrawal. And Armando gets it! (I don’t think there are any 12 step programs to kick a diet pepsi habit heh.)
By the way, I have no intention of giving up sweets!
Made these, with help (linked below) this weekend. Sugar free. Tad too cream cheesy but I’m not complaining.
Also chia seed chocolate pudding and 100 calorie Vitamuffins
https://www.amazon.com/Vitalicious-VitaMuffin-VitaTops-Chocolate-Packages/dp/B001DEVSVW?th=1
keeps the sweet tooth mollified.