My birthday isn't until next month, but A gave me my present early: a fitbit. I love fitness gadgets - I've been using my heart rate monitor for years - and the fitbit is just as fun AND I can wear it all the time! There are statistics and graphs and goals! Yay!
This is my graph from yesterday. It was a normal day - 10 hour shift, pick my kids up, home, eat dinner, go to bed. It wasn't even a particularly busy day at work, but I walk from the parking lot instead of taking the shuttle, take the stairs even when I'm mocked by my coworkers, etc. Five miles is about 10,000 steps, so that's my goal. It's easy to achieve on a day that I run, but more challenging when it's a slow day at work.
This is my graph from today. I was more active - I took a 45 minute step aerobics class this morning and then E and I ran a practice 5k in preparation for our neighborhood race next week. You can see the green lines on the graph. Those show where I was more active.
I can log specific activities, too, and see more details. This is my log from my step class this morning.
I can wear the fitbit on my wrist and it tracks my sleep, too. This part is a bit more iffy to me. Really? It can track my sleep? I am giving it a skeptical side-eye. Here's the article explaining how it works. Regardless, it's more data and you know how I feel about that. (WOO!) Last night, I WAS awake at 1:30 because A was closing our window and turning on the fan to drown out the sounds of an enthusiastic house party where the goal seemed to be to shout at the top of your lungs.
Feel free to judge my 9:40 going to bed time. I get up between 5:15-6 every day, so bedtime comes early for me. For the record, I feel SO GOOD now that I'm going to bed/getting up at the same time every day. I know that I could sleep in on my days off, but then I feel crappy the next time I have to wake up early. It works out well for my mind and body to keep a consistent sleep/wake schedule. All those health articles were right! Who knew?
The fitbit site also syncs to My Fitness Pal, so if you track your food through that site, it's super convenient. The sites talk to each other and MFP adjusts my daily calories if I'm more active than they thought I'd be.
It's wireless and will upload to your idevice/android device automatically. I don't have any of those, but I put a dongle (dirty!) in my computer and it automatically uploads when I'm within 20 feet.
Thumbs up, you guys. Add it to your Christmas wish list!
I've heard about these, but have never looked into them. I may just have to get one! Also, I have a friend who is having sleep issues and I'm wondering if this might help track how often she wakes up in the middle of the night.
Posted by: RebeccaL | October 21, 2013 at 10:12 AM