Friday, March 2, 2012

FITBIT

This past Christmas my son gave me the cutest little gadget - FITBIT.  It will record every step I take each day, the amount of stairs I climb, the miles covered and the calories burned.  It also records my sleep activity, when I go to bed, when I go to sleep, how often I wake up during the night.  It also gives me badges for 5,000, 10,000 steps or 10 flights of stairs.  It also tells me that I sleep at between 90 and 94% efficiency.

He wasn't giving me a hint that I should exercise more, he remembered that I said I wanted to get a treadmill so I could exercise at home.  It's hard going to the Clubhouse to exercise, either I meet someone who wants to talk while I'm walking and listening to music, or all the treadmills are taken.

I haven't gotten a treadmill yet, been too lazy to shop.  The FITBIT has recorded my steps and I'm ashamed to say that I don't take that many steps a day.  Until last week, the total was under 5,000 a day.  They (whoever THEY are) say that you should take 10,000 steps/day to be healthy and 15,000 to lose weight.

A little over a week ago, I saw an article in Good Housekeeping that said you could burn about 150 calories, about as many as you would have by walking on a treadmill for 30 minutes.  All you have to do is get up during commercials on an hour of a TV program and march in place for a total of around 25 minutes.  Of course, you have to march with energy.

I felt silly standing there marching, so I decided to get up and walk briskly around the house during the commercials on evening TV.  This past week, I managed to exceed 5,000 steps every day since last Friday.  Today, I even did over 10,000.  That included  a walk outside which was around 1 mile.  I feel so fit and healthy.

But, back to the FITBIT.  I wore it to a friend's house one day and she was so interested.  She does a lot of travelling and walking on those trips and was curious to see how far she actually walked.  She bought one and showed another friend.  That friend want out and bought one.  My friend told me she walked 5 miles one day on her trip to the Galapagos.

Recently, another friend saw it and decided she would get one to track how much she walks around the community.

Maybe my son or I should get a commission for recommending it to so many other people.

3 comments:

Staci said...

I'm ordering one of those things today!

BetteJo said...

I don't remember where I saw it but I have one now too and I love it! Although I am telling you - I average below 3000 steps a day right now. Even with packing my house to move. It's embarrassing how inactive I am. I do intend to improve but right now I'm too busy with the house stuff. But honestly - even with weight loss surgery I haven't lost weight and now I know why. Gah!

Anonymous said...

Thanks, I will check this out too. I need to walk more like most everyone. Good for you, you know it takes about 21 days to get a habit and only a few days for it to end. Your son does a good job of gift buying.