Once upon a time, my life was all about me. Every day, I organized my schedule around some kind of exercise – a hike, a surf, a yoga or spinning class. Sometimes I did more than one of these things or tried something random and new – like sea kayaking or Krav Maga. I always considered myself an active person with lots of energy.
Then one day, I looked up and found I had become a working mom with two lovely children, a busy acupuncture practice, a bustling blog, and a Real food kitchen.
Because of this, I no longer had the time nor energy to fit exercise into my daily routine, barely squeaking in a few workouts per week. Because of this, I constantly felt sluggish and out of shape – convinced there was no space in my life to stay as active as I once was.
Until one day, I discovered a tiny little invention for exercise motivation that gets me moving each and every day. Now, I am feeling more fit and energized than I have in years, and I'm so excited to share my secret with you!
Why I need exercise motivation
Recently my eye sight started to go a bit funny from staring at the computer for hours on end. My clothes must have shrunken since they seemed a bit tight, and I was just feeling blah.
I'd say I'm usually moderately active. Most weeks I go to two spinning classes, a pilates session, and for a walk on the beach. Not bad, but other than that I mostly sit on my butt. Yep, that's the glamorous life of a blogger – cross-eyed and numbed bum. Plus, in an effort to dodge the flu bullet this winter, I skipped a bunch of workouts.
I was feeling the need for something to jump-start my fitness routine, and fast. Heck, I needed someone to follow me around all day telling me to get up and stop being so darn lazy.
Meet my new personal trainer…
A few of my friends had been going on and on about a little modern invention called Fitbit – basically a fancy step counter. AnnMarie over at Cheeseslave lost 10 pounds and 5.3% body fat in a month using hers. My pilates instructor swears by hers to keep her accountable to her own fitness goals.
At first I was nonplussed by my friends' gadgets. I nodded and made polite smiles. Afterall, I was an active person already, so what interest did I have in something to track my fitness?
HAHAHA! Needless to say, I finally woke up and decided to try this thing myself, and would you believe – The Fitbit has changed my life. Seriously, you guys… this little tiny gadget is pretty revolutionary. It's so much more than a 21st century pedometer.
Fitbit also monitors how many floors you ascend, miles gone, calories burned – and with the press of a button – will monitor your sleep to determine not only how many hours but the quality of your sleep as well. This thing is like a personal trainer, cheer-leading team, and mom all wrapped into a three inch clip – totally work the 98 bucks I paid for it.
Not only can it tell how much and how vigorously you're moving, it sets a goal (10,000 steps) and sends you motivational messages throughout the day. Or, if you'd prefer, it guilts you into meeting your goals. Whatever works, right?
Fitbit also syncs with a free computer and phone app where you can see your progress in graph form, track additional exercise (like swimming or yoga), and even count calories – if that's your thing.
See that number in the picture above? 3,416 steps at 6pm was pretty rubbish. Normally, after a day of working at my computer and driving kids to and fro, I would have eaten dinner, put the little ones to bed, and snuggled back in with my laptop for an evening session of work or relaxation.
Instead, I laced up my sneakers and hit the pavement around my scenic and hilly neighborhood. I walked about 3 miles, ascended the equivalent of 20 ‘floors', and met my 10,000 step goal on a day that I would have otherwise done nothing physical at all.
Pretty awesome, huh?
Are you meeting your fitness goals or need more exercise motivation?
Click here to get your Fitbit and get a move on!
Since my goal is to build muscle, and not really to just burn calories, I doubt this would be helpful.
I don’t think the FitBit is only about burning calories or even “exercise.” It’s about establishing base level MOVEMENT in our otherwise sedentary lives.
You can still totally work out with weights or kettlebells or whatever. The goal of the FitBit is just to raise your awareness of your base activity level.
I’m sold! I’ve been wanting to buy one for a while, but this is the sentence that swayed me: “This thing is like a personal trainer, cheer-leading team, and mom all wrapped into a three inch clip – totally work the 98 bucks I paid for it.”
Call me crazy– but I’m weird about low level radiation from cell phones. This device seems like a similar premise. The idea of sleeping with an electronic, wireless device and/or keeping it on you 24 hrs a day just seems wrong . . . though I *love* the idea of monitoring my sleep, movement, quality of food, etc. Thoughts?
julia- those were my thoughts exactly! Where can we find out about low level radiation?
Me too! I’ve been considering ditching my smartphone because I know I can do without it, and I would be less apt to carry my phone if it was a basic one. I don’t want other electrical gadgets on my person.
Same for me! I would absolutely love to get one, I’m completely intrigued . . . but I have a hard enough time keeping the smartphone away from myself and a safe distance from my 9-month-old. Especially since we babywear a lot.
I just adopted a very active breed puppy, partly so I would have the motivation (obligation) to be more active. If I don’t take him on a brisk 40 min walk each day, he bounces off the walls. I’ve lost 5 pounds and counting… And he’s a lot more fun to cuddle with than a fitbit! 🙂
I did that! After my daughter turned 2 and I realized I hadn’t lost any baby weight, I got a pitbull puppy and I ordered Hip-Hop Abs…I lost 40lbs in 5 months! Keep up the good work!
This looks awesome but my I just asked my friend about it and she says you need to get a bunch of extra accessories in order to use all the features… Can you please post some details on what’s included? Thanks! 🙂
Hi Robin, thanks for your comment. I didn’t need to get anything extra for mine. Some folks opt for a special weighing scale, but it’s not really necessary. Hope this helps!
I totally agree that just being aware of your base activity during the day can be a great motivator to get off your a**. I have an app on my iPhone called Moves (free!) that tracks your steps and tells you distance walked (or cycled or swam) and time spent in motion. I love it BECAUSE its so basic — I don’t really need or want all the bells and whistles that come with a lot of the other fitness apps/gadgets out there; I just want to see how sedentary a day I’m having so I can make the decision to take a walk, or even take little actions like park farther out in the lot at the store or take the stairs or whatever. It’s great. The days when I hit 10k+ I feel pretty good. Granted, a truly good exercise routine involves more variation than just walking, but I’m working on that. 🙂 Something like Moves or the Fitbit is a great start to just getting in a new mindset, though.
I have the Fitbit “Zip” and I love it! Having a tracker on me all the time not only makes me so much more aware of my activity throughout the day, it also helps hold me accountable to myself. Now I am so much more aware of what I do (and don’t do) during the day. Since March I have gone from mostly sedentary to walking around 5 miles a day. I’ve also lost 18lbs. We’re exposed to low level radiation from so many things I don’t think this is going to harm me all that much. Plus right now I’m a little more worried about heart disease, diabetes, etc.from being over weight/unhealthy. We’re all going to die from something 🙂
Are you friending readers on fitbit? I’d like to be your friend! I love your blog!
Can somebody comment on the differences between the fitbit model recommended by Emily and the bracelet version? I like the idea of having the device on my wrist as a constant reminder to move. All too often, out of sight is out of mind for me.
My husband got me the fitbit bracelet for Christmas. (Hey! It beat last years gift of a chia pet! Don’t get me started!). Anyways I love it! I, too, worried about the radiation, but I sleep grounded every night, and I have a grounding mat various places around the home during the day, so overall, I’m not concerned. (I think everyone should look into grounding if they’re concerned about radiation in the home). What I appreciate is the motivation to ‘make’ the 10,000 steps a day! Nothing else is needed…it’s the little extra push I sometimes need. Get one!
Hi Emily,
As a mom and acupuncturist like yourself I am finding myself not ‘practicing what I preach’ in terms of exercise and daily meditation time, so was naturally intrigued by this article even though I too am very non-plussed about gadgets! I watched the video on their website, and to monitor sleep you have to wear it on your wrist, I’m curious how you feel about having these frequencies at the crossing point of so many really important acupuncture points relating to the heart and spirit?
Thanks for your wonderful blog!
Hi Brooke – Thanks for your comment. For me, I feel that the health benefits I receive by wearing a Fitbit outway the potential risks.
Seems kinda pricey…..