2016 is a big year in our household. My oldest son will not only officially become a teenager, he will also have his Bar Mitzvah in the fall. A few months later, I will turn the big 4-0. One of the items I am working on is making more time to focus on myself, specifically my health.
The winter was long and I have been looking for something to motivate me to get moving more. While my diet may not be horrible, I know I need healthy lifestyle changes. These include more sleep thanks to insomnia kicking me in the rear. I also need to drink more water. Fluids will help with my headaches and much more. The biggest issue for me is not moving enough. I know I need to get up and move more than I do, but the cold did not motivate me all winter. With sedentary hobbies like reading, crocheting, and working at home in front of a computer, I need reminders to move.
Enter the arrival of a Fitbit Charge HR – Heart Rate and Activity Wristband from Verizon. I could not get my Charge to charge fast enough to get started. While it was getting ready, I set up my phone. I installed the Fitbit app and checked out some features that were new since I had a Fitbit Zip a long time ago. I immediately noticed my steps, heart rate, hourly activity (250+ steps each hour during the day), distance, calories burned, sleep (or lack of sleep), stair case floors traveled, active minutes, exercise tracker, place to add a food plan, and water tracker. There is more, but these immediately caught my eye and I went to fill up my 32 ounce bottle of water.
Even though I didn’t have a full first day, I wanted to test things out. I was curious how it would track walks, monitor my heart rate when resting, and more. The first evening, JSL brought his scooter out with me for a walk. Keeping up with my kiddo was motivating even when my feet were complaining a bit.
Over the weekend, I had a chance to get to know the Charge a bit more. When we took the kids to the park and the boys were playing, I headed off on my own walk. It was a beautiful and breezy day. It was perfect for wandering around the walking paths to check out the views.
For my first full week day with the Charge, I tried something different. After the boys were in school I went for a walk. It was still cool outside and it gave me time to think. I grabbed my phone, Bluetooth headset, and was ready to go. The night before, I put some extra music on my phone and made sure a new audio book was ready in case I was more in a mood for a tale.
What I noticed was that I walked faster and was less worried about time in the morning. I knew I could go as far or for as long as I wanted. The laundry would still be waiting for me when I got back and I had hours before the kids had to be picked up at school. After my walk, I actually decided to do some laundry. This is where I was able to see how the Fitbit Charge tracks stairs. By the time I had to pick up the kids, I had gone up 11 floors and still had more clothes to finish drying.
Later in the day, I figured out how to track my exercise. The GPS on my phone works with the Fitbit app to map out my route. Then, when I am finished, it gives me the total distance traveled, average beats per minute of my heart rate, and pace. This has been great to watch as my walks grow in length and my pace picks up. I still have to get to know more about my Fitbit Charge HR, but so far it has motivated me to get up, get outside, and do more activities with the kids. With time, I look forward to adding friends for more challenges as well.
If you have a Fitbit, what do you suggest that I check out next?
Disclosure: As a member of the Verizon Lifestyle Bloggers, I receive cool goodies like the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus and Fitbit Charge HR to test out and share ways that I use them in my life. I am a long time Verizon customer, and all opinions are my own.
