Enter the Fitbit
On January 28, 2012 the Fitbit Ultra entered my life. I’ve known about the device for some time, and I thought about getting one before I got my BodyMedia Fit, but at the time, the BodyMedia device seemed more attractive and I felt it was likely to be more accurate as well.
As for accuracy, I don’t know. The Fitbit seems to do a pretty decent job of recording steps, but there are situations that fool it, like soft steps. I’ve decided that it may not be that important actually. What is important is to get myself moving. I have a rough idea of what calories I burn in inactive mode and since no device is going to be 100%, I’m going for comfort and convenience here.
So far I *love* my Fitbit! It counts my steps, tracks how many floors I’ve climbed, gives me a way to monitor sleep and it also gives me little brief fun motivational messages. It’s small and discreet and there’s a nice online community for users. And the website loads faster! The wireless sync is nice and works fine on my dial-up connection.
I am looking for more ways to get more steps in my day and this is a good thing, since I had gotten back to barely getting any and sitting in front of the computer most of the day! I now have a goal set of getting 35,000 steps a week. That’s 5K steps a day, which is just do-able for me without getting my feet/ankles too upset. The first week was rather rocky and the second a little better, and starting my third week, I’ve so far gotten my 5K step badge for both Monday and Tuesday. A couple days I have managed 7K steps, but that is usually followed by a day of my feet hurting and lower steps, so I’m not getting obsessed over the recommended 10K steps a day or better. Yet.
You inspired me to start counting my steps again. I just tried to find an online motivational tool that the American Diabetes Organisation had, called Club Ped. As you logged steps, your virtual puppy did tricks and stuff. Seems they’ve discontinued it though.
Angie
February 16, 2012
Good job! If you think about it, it’s surprisingly simple to add a few more steps to the day. I’m walking around the supermarket once or twice before doing my shopping. I walked around the small library parking lot once before going in to check out a book this week. I try and get up during at least some TV commercials to just walk around the house a little.
Small things really can help change us for the better!
Cynthia
February 20, 2012