My friend Fitbit

Like many of us, getting fit and losing weight are two of my aspirations. It’s been a familiar theme over the last couple of decades. Over the years, I’ve tried all manner of exercise – I even tried to learn to play squash once. That was obviously in the eighties, when aerobics in brightly coloured lycra was equally popular; I tried that, too. In fact, at one time I even had a gym membership, though that ended when I fell off a Step and sprained my ankle. Hand–eye coordination and balance have never been my strong points, unless I was on horseback. Once I gave up riding, it became harder to keep up any level of fitness. Back in the late nineties I did once get fit enough to run a 5k Race for Life. Since then, I tried to get back to running a few years ago using the Japanese slow jogging method, but my plans were scuppered within a few weeks by Dylan tripping me up. Always an excuse: too wet, too dark, too …

One activity that has stuck is yoga, and this year I’m trying a #yogaeveryday challenge. But, unless you’re into power yoga, and lots of swift, sweaty vinyasas, then yoga isn’t really enough for a cardio workout, as the nurse was kind enough to point out at a recent health check. (According to the NHS website, we need to do 150 minutes of moderate exercise like walking, or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise like running, every week. Fortunately, the yoga is approved for muscle-strength training.) So, as this affects both of us, we decided to start with some extra walking. The two perambulations a day around the Green with the ageing VV furbies doesn’t really cut it. We started with a couple of extra walks a week and within a few days we began to feel better. But, ever one for targets and goals, I decided to dig out an ancient Fitbit to see how far we were walking. It was pretty worn out though, as the strap fell off on its first outing. Cue a quick bit of online research and soon a new Fitbit Inspire was winging its way.

My digital skills must have improved over the last few years as this time, not only did I manage to set it up, but I got it syncing to my phone for daily reports. In those first few days, the news was not good. A day sitting in front of the computer working would see me rack up less than half the recommended basic target of 10,000 steps. However, the Fitbit proved to be a great motivational tool. Every day we tried to achieve 10k, slotting in an extra blast around the village just before dusk if necessary. Within a week we were meeting the goals for exercise every day.

One particular function that I like is the Fitbit’s reminder to move for 250 steps every hour. It gives a little beep and vibration and I leap up from the computer and pace up and down the Hut, or round the garden if it’s not raining. Looking back over the graph, it is easy to see those times when I have been so engrossed in work I haven’t moved for an hour. The ‘worst’ day for this, however, was a day when we went out to lunch with the VV inlaws. So, not only loads of calories, but not enough action to offset them. I still haven’t managed a full week where I scored 10 out of 10 for moving every hour, but that is my next target.

There are loads of other functions on the Fitbit that I’ve yet to explore like tracking food and drink, and sleep. Other than distance covered and heart rate on exercise, I find the weight monitor is quite helpful, as it works out a weekly average if you have a quick weigh-in every day. The jury seems to be out about the benefits of either weighing yourself at all, or doing so too regularly, but one take away from reading Dr Michael Greger’s new ‘How Not To Diet’ was that daily weighing does help weight reduction, so I’m giving it a go. (Not publishing the details, though 😊). Wearing a Fitbit is never going to make me fit, but I’m finding it a great motivational tool for getting me out, doing some more exercise. Maybe I’ll even start the slow jogging again soon 🏃