Getting a pedometer is something I have wanted to do for a long time. In the past I have tried a few of the traditional type that clip onto your belt or pants but because of my size they just don’t work as well as I would like them to. This led me to start to look for other types and on the recommendation of a friend I started to consider the FitbitFlex. I wasn’t totally sure it would be the right choice for me, mostly because I don’t where watchers or bracelets so I figured having a pedometer on my wrist would actually annoy me. I also wasn’t sold on the price of the little gadget. At just over $100 it seemed like a lot of money to be spending on something that I figured I would lose interest in but on September 12, I made the decision to go out and buy one. I haven’t looked back since and just over three months later I have to say that I’m still as in love with this fancy pedometer as I was when I bought it.
Of course buying a fancy pedometer didn’t instantly mean I was getting 10000 steps a day. The fact was that after the first day of tracking not only was I wondering how on earth people can actually get 10,000 steps but I was also questioning how active I thought I was compared to what this little tracker was now showing me. 10,000 steps seemed like it was a faraway goal but I knew it was something that I wanted to achieve. In true Jill fashion I made a plan. The cool thing about the Fitbit is that it lets you set a goal and when you reach that goal it vibrates. (It also has a smiley face that shows when you achieve your goals and you look at your profile on the computer, and who doesn’t like smiley faces). So I decided that I would start with 5000 steps. It was a little more than I had done on the first day so I knew I would have to push myself to move a little bit more but it wasn’t a scary number. The first week I hit 5000 6 out of 7 days so the next logical step was to up my goal to 6000. I made steady progress from 6000 to 7000 to 8000 but then I got stalled out a little bit. 8000 was a hard target to hit unless I actually worked on it. This was the first time I had to really consider my daily routine (which because of longer commutes is still messed up) so I could find ways to get more steps in regularly.
The biggest problem for me to get past the 8000 mark was that I just don’t have the same amount of time I used to in order to workout, which would make 8000 and higher much easier to achieve. I also have to admit that even if I do have the time since we moved further away that I’m more likely to make an excuse to skip the workout. So with all of that in mind I knew that I had to find a way to get to the goal even on those days where I don’t manage to sneak in a workout. I began to look at all the little things I could do that would add more steps to my total without stealing away time. Some of these things seemed really silly at first but I have been blown away by how many steps they have added to my day.
The first thing I started to do was set a reminder in my outlook calendar at work. An hour after I arrive at work it pops up and tells me to take a break and go for a walk. Having a very computer heavy job there are days that I would go hours without moving, especially if I’m focused on a specific project. Having the message pop up becomes a great reminder that I have been sitting and I need to move. I get up, stretch and go for a walk, whether it is to the bathroom, or the sink to get water or even just a quick trip around the floor I work on. The important part for me is that I just get up and move. The results were pretty noticeable. I went from earning 2000-3000 steps during my work day to around 5000 before I leave the building. 2000-3000 extra steps from just getting up from my desk and taking a quick break. It doesn’t use much of my time but it adds up in shocking ways. It also had an unexpected side effect in that I am not getting that afternoon drained feeling now.
The second thing I started to do was for when I got home. I will admit that I watch a lot of TV. In a perfect world I would stop it and do something more productive with my time but I’m not ready to make that decision yet. I needed to find a way that I could still watch my favourite shows and still become more active. Well much like the pop up message at work I began to get up on commercials. When my favourite shows break I get up and do laps around the house, march on the spot or just goof around and dance to the music in my head (I’m pretty sure my cat thinks I’m nuts at this point). Well for every five minutes (which is usually about two commercial breaks) I earn an extra 500-600 steps which adds up nicely in my overall total. Again like the walking at work it wasn’t a change that required a lot of effort on my part other than making sure when the commercials come on I stand up. After a long day at work I’m not going to lie this is sometimes a challenge but now it is so much a habit I find that I’m even doing it in the morning if I happen to have a few minutes where I’m actually watching Canada AM while I get ready for work.
Those two little steps alone helped let me get to 9000 steps and have been helping me achieve 10,000 at least some of the time. I have also found myself more aware of how much I am moving which means I’m doing things like parking further away from stores or instead of taking short cuts I actually walk the long way around to do things. The fun little tracker on my wrist acts as a constant reminder of my desire to be moving more. It has become an anchor that I can touch and feel and even gives me feedback so I know if I’m doing what I need to be doing.
My goal is now set at 10000 steps a day. I have plans to continue to increase that limit in the future but for now it has stayed there for the past month or so. I have a rule with myself that if I’m not hitting my goal the majority of the days of the week I won’t up the limit. 10000 has been a challenge. The first week I moved to 10000 steps I ended up feeling incredibly discouraged. It was a busy week and I only ended up hitting 10000 once. I was mad at myself. Then a friend at worked asked a simple question that changed my view of how I look at the step goal. She asked me if I had a number in my head that I wouldn’t go under. I didn’t. I hadn’t thought about having a range for a goal but suddenly it made sense. I set the goal range as 8000-10000. It is a range that is challenging for me but at least now I can let go of the disappointment of not meeting a goal as long as I hit 8000. The funny thing about cutting myself that little bit of slack though is it actually made it easier for me to hit 10000 thanks to another little feature of the fitbit. In increments of 20% of your goal a little light becomes lit on the flex. So when I hit 8000 I have all five lights lit up even if I haven’t reached my goal. Well once I hit all five lights I know that my goal is close and so I push a little harder to get there so that I can feel that familiar vibration on my wrist that tells me I have achieved my goal. It’s funny to me the strange games we play with our minds but I guess in the end if it works I’m not going to argue with myself about it.
One of the lessons I have taken from having my fitbit is that although I used to consider myself fairly active I was really fooling myself. Sure I was working out but then I would spend the rest of the day sitting in front of a computer or my TV which is completely counterproductive. The tracking on the fitbit shows you not only how many steps you are doing but also what time you are doing it. I quickly realized that sure I had moments were I was fairly active but I had a lot more time where I wasn`t moving at all. It really shocked me when I saw it and it changed the way I look at myself. As I continue to work towards my goal of being a healthy weight I will also continue the goal of making sure that I have more activity in my life than I do down time.
Since getting my fitbit I have been recommending it to everyone because the best part of this small investment has been the benefits that I have gained. Since buying it I have watched my weight begin to steadily go down instead of the bouncing around I had been doing. In fact since getting it without changing anything other than the amount of moving I’m doing I have managed to lose 12.5 pounds which works out to be around a pound a week. This little device has motivated me in so many ways now. It is incredible positive to see results week after week and the positivity is rolling into other areas. Seeing the weight go down week after week also helps me make better choices when I’m grocery shopping, eating out and cooking. You don’t want to work hard to move more only to screw up the graph because you eat crap.
I want to end this entry with a quote I wrote down after a play in Rosebud. It is a little quote that has stuck with me and seems appropriate. “Sometimes it’s the littlest things that stay with you the longest.” This quote applies to so many things in my head but in this instance it just reaffirms to me the power of what we think of as little. Don’t write something off just because it seems silly or small because all those things can add up to be huge, even one minute of activity is better for you than one minute of doing nothing and quickly one minute can turn into 2 minutes which can turn into 5 until before you know it you are earning your own 10000 steps. For me it has always been a case of little changes snowballing to become big changes and motivation.
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