Me and My Fitbit

I was recently given a Fitbit as a gift and was ready to be underwhelmed as I have had a few of these things in the past with little success or longevity. It would be an over exaggeration to say it has changed my life but that wouldn’t be far off.

Things it tracks:

• Time and date
• Steps
• Heart Rate
• Distance
• Floors
• Sleep
• Weight
• It works out a BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) and tells you how many calories you burn each day.

Fitbit gives credit to the smaller things you do, like walking to work, or logging your tough gym workouts based on your heart rate zones. On the other hand on those lazy Sundays where you have been catching up on the omnibus, walking to and from the kettle does not clock up many steps. Therefore the step column glows yellow or orange (incomplete) and looks miserable in comparison to the green!

Before the times of a Fitbit you would just pass through that chilled Sunday knowing you had a secret that no one else would know. But not now; I can have relatives living in Newcastle, sending me a message to make sure I am still alive as my average steps drop by 15,000. I simply can’t let this happen and it is all my Fitbit’s fault!

Now my poor boyfriend is being dragged around Tonbridge Park on Sunday mornings in order for me to get my step count up. This has now ensured we get fresh air and feel so much more awake and we are far more productive.

Challenges

You can select friends to take part in challenges, such as seeing who can achieve the most steps in a week. You are then entered into a mini leader board where you get frequent notifications like; ‘Samantha L has just done 14,000 steps, has overtaken you and now sits in first place’. In a recent challenge my friends and I collectively lost about 7lbs from Monday to Friday by taking the long way home, adding on that extra walk in the rain at the end of a long day and volunteering to make all the coffees that week.

Losing weight and getting into shape can be a long road, but every step down that road counts and your Fitbit records each and every one.

Emma.