Curry Senior Center - Fitbit & iPad Year Long Health Study
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2018.10.15 - Using Techknowledge for Aging Health Support Research Project - Philip - 415.941.8552
My neighbor Trish told me about the project and told me to contact Philip at the Curry Center. I made an appontment and met with Philip and for an hour and was accepted to the program. The first meeting will be around the first week of November.
The Curry Center will provide ipads, fitbits and electronic scales to anyone who qualifies to be on the year long project.
The Fitbit will be worn during the daytime to determine now many steps you have taken. By tapping the fitbit you may display now many steps you took, how many miles you walked in a day, how many calories were burned, and then the results will be uploaded to the ipad. The scales will also be electronic and a record of one's weight will be analysed as to flutuations during the year long testing.
The fitbit will be worn at night to determine how well one's sleeping habits are causing any type of health issues.
Classes will be held twice a month and will consist of health issues, using the ipad and apps. If you have internet and wish to keep the provider you have, a $10.00 a month payment will be given to help pay for the connections. Or you may want to get a senior discount from AT&T or Comcast for around $9.95 a month. For me, it depends on how fast the internet connection is, if the low cost data is too low, it may be better to stay with the higher rate of data exchange for uploading data or downloading large files such as videos.
The cost of the fitbits, ipad, scales and internet connections will be paid by a grant by the San Francisco government. Hopefully at the end of the project, the City will allow us to keep the fitbit, ipad and scales.
San Francisco Downtown Senior Center Location - Curry Foundation Sponsor
- Fitbit, Inc. is an American company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Its products are activity trackers, wireless-enabled wearable technology devices that measure data such as the number of steps walked, heart rate, quality of sleep, steps climbed, and other personal metrics involved in fitness.
- iPad (EYE-pad) is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., which run the iOS mobile operating system. The first iPad was released on April 3, 2010; the most recent iPad models are the iPad (2018), released on March 27, 2018, the 10.5-inch (270 mm) and 12.9-inch (330 mm) 2nd generation iPad Pro released on June 13, 2017. The user interface is built around the device's multi-touch screen, including a virtual keyboard. All iPads can connect via Wi-Fi; some models also have cellular connectivity. As of May, 2017, Apple has sold more than 360 million iPads, though sales peaked in 2013. It is the most popular tablet computer by sales as of the second quarter of 2018.
- Scales, electronic for weight measurement and graphing of any weight changes.
2019.03.15 - Project after four months of using the Fitbit and Scales
When I started to use the Fitbit and Scales I weighted 238.2 pounds. I felt very heavy and winded when I walked plus my pants crushed my stomach area so I figured this was a good time to keep track of my walking, calories, weight and so on.
I was given an electronic scales and when one weights, it indicates one's Weight and Body Mass and the difference from the last weighing.
When you open the iPad and select the Heart shaped icon, it automatically loads the weight to a web page that tracks your weight over the months. The Fitbit also loads to the iPad when the icon for walking is selected.
As of March 10th I weighed in at 215.1 pounds.
So far I have lost a total of 23.1 pounds in less than four months!
2019.03.20 - BMI (Body Mass Index)
I just read that one's Percent Body Fat (BMI), should be around 30 or less. My Body Mass Index on 2019.03.20 is 28.3. I assume that is a good total for my age of 79 and a current weight of 214.7 pounds.
Since it is denser, muscle does weigh more than fat if you compare same-size portions. On average, the density of fat is 0.9 g/mL. The density of muscle is 1.1 g/mL. Using the averages, 1 liter of muscle weighs 1.06 kg, or 2.3 lbs., while 1 liter of fat weighs .9 kg, or 1.98 lbs.
This chart details the weight and BMI I have lost over the last four months!
This is the totals of my steps, miles and calories over the week of March 10th and the 24th, 2019!
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Totals for March 10th, 2019 - 49,213.
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Totals for March 24th, 2019 - 80,856.
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This is the totals of my steps, miles and calories over the week ending on March 31st, 2019 and the first 20,000 steps in a day!
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First total over 100,000 steps for the week of March 31st!
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First time over 20,000 steps in a day on April 1st!
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Weight loss from the end of December to the first of April - over 30 pounds!
This is the totals of my steps, miles and calories over the week of April 07th and the first time to walk over 10 Miles in a day.
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Totals for April 07th, 2019 - 115,693.
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First time over 10 Miles in a day on April 05, 2019
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How can we make 10,000 sits a day he asked?
This is the totals of my steps, miles and calories over the week of April 14th and the second to walk over 10 Miles in a day.
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Totals for April 14th, 2019 - 120,225.
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Second time to walk over 10 Miles in a day on April 09, 2019
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How can we borrow ebooks, stream digital music, digital films and TV using Library Apps?
We had a class at the San Francisco Main Library on how to use the library Apps.
Libby is used to find and borrow books and audiobooks.
Hoopla can be used to instantly borrow ebooks, stream digital music and films/TV.
Kanopy is used to stream movies for free on your devices. Access to over 30,000 films and documentaries.
This is the totals and overall averages of my steps taken in three months and one for the month of April.
Note: I have been able to pass the 10,000 steps a day in the month of April!
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Average Steps for Feb. 1st through April 30th, 2019
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Average Steps for the month of April.
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2019.04.21 - Weight and BMI lose using the Fitbit and Scales
After using the Fitbit and Scales for over four months, I now weight 203.6 pounds.
I was 238.2 when I first started the project!
So far I have lost a total of 34.6 pounds in a little more than four months!
And my BMI originally was 31.4 and the new total is 26.09 a lose of 4.5 BMI!
This is the totals of my steps, miles and calories over the week of April 21st.
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Virginia and I will be gone for over 18 days on a trip to Scotland and will do an eight day Globus tour and then stay at Virginia's niece's guest house in Glasgow! We then will take the train from Glasgow to Southampton England to board the Queen Mary II, for a trans-Atlantic cruise to for New York!
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Totals steps for April 21st, 2019 - 120,323.
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We will go on an 8 day on a cruise on the Queen Mary II from Southampton to New York City.
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Here we are on the Queen Mary ll cruise, a transatlantic crossing!
These are the totals during the Scotland trip and Queen Mary ll cruise, of my steps, miles and calories over the week of May. I didn't do much walking but still lost weight.
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Totals steps for May 19th, 2019 - 27,090
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Totals steps for May 26th, 2019 - 29,084
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I was surprised that I had won the Serengety Badge for walking over 500 miles! When I got home after my trip and weighted, I was surprised, I had lost over four pounds!
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Serengeti Badge - Walked over 500 Miles
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198.9 Pounds - 26.2 BMI - May 27, 2019
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I was surprised that I had lost weight when I got back from my three week vacation. I was sure I had gained but I had lost!
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Totals steps for June 2nd, 2019 - 80,857
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198.9 Pounds - 26.2 BMI - May 27, 2019
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I managed to walk over ten miles on Tuesday, June 11th, 2019 when walking to the S.F. General Hospital to check in on my cholesterol research project!
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Waking over 5 Miles round trip to S.F. General Hospital
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Over 21,000 Steps for the day and over Ten Miles total.
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June 15th - Six Month Review and Survey
We will do a six month survey and sign forms that indicate if we continue the project for a second year, we will be given the electronic equipment we have been using!
June 16th, 2019 - Total Steps and Strenuous Exercise
My nieghbor and I have been checking the level of activities while walking. She indicated she just walks at about the same speed all day long. I, on the other hand, have very strenuous levels as I walk up to several miles at one time.
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Strenuous Exercise - You can tell when I am on the computer doing my website development or emails, I am sitting and not moving very much from around two o'clock until five or so.
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June 15th, 2019 - Total Steps and Weight Lose Before the Boise Trip
I managed to almost do another ten miles in one day but did get to the 20,000 steps! Here I am after losing 45 pounds in just over six month. I did cut out bread, butter and cheese.
June 29th, 2019 - Boise and Montana Trip
July 24th - BMI Heart Rate App
This is a great App and easy to use. Press Start and then make sure you hold the iPad right in front of your face with your eyes on the two circles and the outside circle around your face. The App will start to determine you Heart Rate and a blue line will go around the outside of the circle. When the blue line is finished two pages will appear with vital information such as your endurance score and how the score details there your fitness is on a scale of heart rates. Mine is close to being Fit and my endurance is Good. I am going to be 80 in a few months!
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August 04th - Weight and BMI
Weight 238.2 - BMI 31.4
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Weight 188.7 - BMI 24.9
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In a little over eight months I have lost almost 50 pounds, mostly around my waist. I have so much more energy and walk up to 20,000 steps on some days, usually meet my goal of 10,000 steps a day. My goal was to attain 200 pounds and now I am almost at 190 pounds!
The only change I made was to cut out bread, butter and cheeses. I never really ate much candy so that is a big calorie savings.
And my BMI (Body Mass Index) has dropped from around 31 to 24.9. Anything under 30 is suppose to be good!
The next goal is to keep the weight off. My last blood pressure test was 117 over 71. The nurse said "Good job Chuck!"
August 06th - Heart Evaluation
After my three week vacation I am starting to get back into the 10,000 steps a day routine but, I actually lost weight over the trip even though I thought I eaten a lot of food and not very much in the way of steps! I am 79 years old and was pleasantly surprised to see my heart evaluation was comparable to a 60 year old!
I also stopped smoking about 45 years ago, I did one good thing for my health at a younger age at least! My father, brother-in-law and my sister all passed away from smoking. All on oxygen and had to use wheelchairs, very sad.
August 15 - Weight Lose
December of 2018 - Weight 238.2 - BMI 31.4
August of 2019 - Weight 187.9 - BMI 24.8
Weight lose - 50.3 Pounds
BMI Lose - 6.6
August 15 - Future Scans
- 2019.09.23 - UCSF - CTA Scan Heart
- 2019.09.25 - China Basin - PET Scan
- 2019.11.15 - UCSF - MRI Scan
These scans are used to detect any problems with my blood flow in the brain and also the results from a year long study of cholesterol.
September 21st 2019 - Weight Lose
December of 2018 - Weight 238.2 - BMI 31.4
August of 2019 - Weight 186.0 - BMI 24.5
Weight lose - 52.2 Pounds from 2018
BMI Lose - 6.9
September 27th 2019 - PagerDuty "Bring Your Own Device Day"
We are in the final phase of the Fitbit program. Today, September 27th, we had a tutoring and a health interviews and a company called PagerDuty gave us a two hour class for questions on how to use the iPad, smart phone or any other electronic device. I needed to know how to upload photos with as little hassel as possible. They had me set up a Google Photo app on my iPad to send photos on my iPad to the cloud for safe storage. I need to load an app on my HP Laptop to access those photos rather than having to email them to me, download and so on. The resolution is down graded when loaded into Google cloud storage.
October 27th, 2019 - Blood Pressure Kit from the VA Hospital - Free
A blood pressure reading has a top number (systolic) and bottom number (diastolic). Normal blood pressure is less than 120 over 80 (120/80).
October 29th, 2019 - Trish and Chuck's Blood Pressure and Heart Rate
I have a blood pressure kit from the VA Hospital and Trish and I are going to take our blood pressure and heart rate at least once a month. This is the first totals we viewed when taking the blood pressure test on Tuesday.
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Chuck's Results:
SYSTOLIC - 118
DIASTOLIC - 063
PULSE - 062
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Trish's Results:
SYSTOLIC - 116
DIASTOLIC - 059
PULSE - 050
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Note:
Chuck's blood pressure is now in the normal range even though his next birthday will be in February of 2020 and he will be
80 years old! Trish is only going to be 73!
November 3rd, 2019 - Final Weight Lose over the Last Year
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2018.12.01
At the end of 2018 I weighted 238.2 pounds and my BMI was 31.4 and it should have been under 30 at least.
2019.11.03
At the end of 2019 I weight 183.9 pounds and lost 54.3 pounds. My BMI is 24.3 having lost 7.1 on that scale!
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November 10th, 2019 - Final Weight Lose Photo at the End of the Research Project
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November 10, 2019 - Weight Loss Photo
Here I am at the San Francisco Modern Art Museum with my friend Morgan, manager of the two upscale coffee cafes in the musuem.
I have lost 54 pounds and went from a 40 inch waist to a 34 inch waist! This means a lot of weight off my knees and hips and of course, stomach!
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November 18th 2019 - Senior Vitality Cohort 3 Graduation Party
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Certificate Ceremony
Today, November 18th, we had our Graduation Party after attending classes twice or more a month for a year. We learned how to use the iPad, Fibit and the electronic scales. I lost over 50 pounds and about six inches off my waist just by walking over 10,000 steps a day and I did stop eating bread!
And to top it off, Trish and I ended up on the Graduation flier of all things! She was in class in May and they were learing to use FaceTime. It was around ten a.m. and she was told to send a call to the Curry Center manager, Phillip. She accidentally hit my name and ended up making her first call and my first pick up in Edinburgh Scotland by mistake! It was six p.m. in Scotland and I was still in the hotel looking out at the view. Trish showed everyone in the room my face on FaceTime and I did a panoramic of Edingburh so the class in San Francisco saw Scotland in real time! They even took photos of my pictures I was showing them!
Did we ever learn alot about the iPad and so on all because of the Curry Center fostering the class and the San Francisco Senior Center hosting the classes. A win win for all concerned!
We even get to keep all the electronics if we attend another year of classes, but only once a month! The Fitbit, iPad and electronic scales!
November 18th 2019 - Curry Center iPad Graduation Party Photos
Chuck and Trish finishing the year long research project and receiving our diplomas at the Graduation Party at the Downtown Senior Center on Sutter Street, created by the Curry Center on Turk Street!
Teachers in the front and the graduating students in the back of the photo!
November 20th 2019 - Senior Vitality Project and Video for Curry Web Site
Chuck and Trish finished the year long study and was part of a talk with Phillip about the program and asked if we would do a video about the program. It will be edited and placed on the Curry Website detailing the program and the equipement and so on provided by the doners.
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We talked about how great the managers from Curry Center were, the excellant teachers and the rooms for the classes provided by the Downtown Senior Center of San Francisco.
We thanked all concerned, especially the teachers and the doners who provided the iPads, Fitbits and electronic scales.
I expressed the fact that I had lost over 50 pounds on the program, almost 8 points on the BMI (Body Mass Index), and my blood pressure has fallen to a new low!
My waist has gone from 40 inches to 34 inches, almost the same as 25 years ago!
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January 2020 - Maintenance Meetings for the Senior Vitality Program
We will be meeting with Phillip and other managers as to our ability to continue to use and benefit from the program. This will also allow us to keep our electronics for future use!
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Created on: 2018.09.15
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Updated on: 2019.11.22
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