If you’ve been reading Smags for a
while you’ll know that I get very attached to my gadgets. I love my
iPhone in an unholy way and I recently left my Kindle at the Chateau De Woog and consequently I feel like crying on my lunch break when I have to read a stinky 6 month old magazine instead of the latest Paul B Kidd serial killer biography. There’s one gadget though that has stolen my heart in a unprecdented fashion.
So these are my boobs… and my FitBit lives right there in between them. Like a lil’
My FitBit One. Mr Smaggle and I bought one for each other for Christmas 2 years ago and we haven’t left the house without them since. That’s a lie, we have left them at home accidentally on occasion and it’s pretty bleak. You won’t know sorrow until you’ve walked all day without your FitBit and you’ve wasted all those untracked steps. Here’s why FitBits are so bloody awesome and why you need one in your life – here’s my Fitbit review.
It’s addictive
If
I get home at the end of the day and I’ve only done 9000 steps, I’ll
run around the house a few times to top it up. Walking 10,000 steps
every day has become as routine as brushing my teeth now and I really
feel yucky if I have a lazy day and I’ve only walked 2000 steps. I’ve
gotten to the point where I crave hitting 10,000 steps because it just
makes me feel better.
You can compete with your friends
I have a list of friends who also have a FitBit One,
2 of which walk to and from work together every single day so I really
have to work hard to beat them each week. It’s such a brilliant
incentive. I also have a reader mate on my list who lives in the US and
she’s giving me quite a run for my money this week. If you have a
competitive streak (like me!) this will be one of the best features to
keep you on track.
Note
– I asked everyone on this list if they minded me showing their profile
pics and Nina wrote back saying I could show it if she was coming
first. Well Nina, sorry love but you have to earn first place. GET
WALKIN’.
It tracks everything
It comes with a wrist band so you can wear it in bed and track how well you’re sleeping. The report looks like this.
You can also track your calories, weight, water intake and exercise (separate to steps). I have the FitBit Aria scales
and they sync with the app in my phone and record my weight wirelessly
so I don’t even have to think about entering it. I don’t always track
calories or my sleep but I always check my steps every day. It’s the
most important measurement for my wellbeing.
You learn lots of stuff about yourself
You
can see when you’ve had a bad nights sleep and you can try to figure
out why. For instance my data shows that I sleep really badly on Sunday
nights but I sleep really well on nights when I exercise early in the
morning. This data is great because now I know to wind down early on
Sundays and to exercise hard in the mornings when I’m having sleep
issues. The pink lines are when I’m awake, the aqua lines are when I’m
restless and the blue lines are when I’m properly asleep. The data on
the sleep track image above shows an average nights sleep… this one
represents a SUPER shithouse nights sleep.
You’ll
also discover that you aren’t any where near as active as you think you
are. When I was teaching, I was convinced that I was doing 10,000 steps
every day and it was more like 7000. Humans are pretty good at
self-flattering guestimations but the FitBit doesn’t lie.
10,000 steps isn’t a magic number but it’s the best indicator
The
theory of walking 10,000 steps per day was discovered by Dr. Catrine
Tudor-Locke and was popularised in Japan. After years
of extensive research Dr Tudor-Locke discovered that his patients who
walked a minimum of 10,o00 steps every day were leaner, fitter,
healthier and were predicted to live much longer than their sedentary
counter parts. The trick with this data is that it was reliant on 10,000
steps every day. The data supports the steady longevity of 10,000 steps
every day – it’s all about the consistency. It doesn’t work if you do
30,000 steps in one day 3000 on another.
Here’s what a good week looks like – you want to get a star on every day.
I
have a Type A personality which means I’m a pain in the ass and I love
rewards. These little stars bring me so much joy it’s actually a bit
sad.
It improves your health and quality of life
I’m
8kgs lighter now than I was when I first started using it. I’ve also
been eating better and experimenting with different fitness and health
plans but the data shows a steady and slow weight loss of 8kgs over 2
years and you can’t argue that walking 10,000 steps every day didn’t
contribute to that.
Notes
Get
the FitBit One – I personally wouldn’t waste my time with an arm
band. I’ve never witnessed anyone commit to wearing an arm band step
tracker for a long period of time the way I’ve seen people commit to a FitBit One.
I had a cheap version of an arm band a few years ago and it was
uncomfortable while I was typing, I would frequently forget to wear it
and I also hated having to wear it on special occasions like weddings
because I didn’t want to wear a whopping great rubber fitness band with
my pretty dress. The FitBit One clips
in between my boobies to my bra or on the waist band of my pants and I
never even know it’s there… unless I’m lying face down on the floor
which I hardly ever do unless I’m doing a cobra at yoga… or cobra on the
dance floor… or just lying down for no real reason.
