FitBit – more than just a flashy pedometer!

Cor blimey, he’s a bit fit 😉
Ever heard of a FitBit? I hadn’t until we got to America. Two of our friends we hung out with had them – one had the wrist-band version and the other friend had the pocket version. I’m just gonna say it: I got a bit fat out in America. I’ve never really had a belly, but there is definitely something hanging out there now and I’m not too sure I’m loving it.
So we had a little look into the whole FitBit thing. In Germany, most companies will give you one months bonus pay for staying loyal to them for one year. We returned from America and saw to our delight that I’d been double paid, so we went a little crazy – we booked a trip to Vienna and also bought a FitBit each. They are costly for something which is basically a flashy pedometer, but I’m trying to be more careful about my health after four months of continuous pain in my wrist, which I’m sure is down to bad posture and standing around bored at work all day.

I’m dragging Jason along with me. Our FitBits were expensive (€70 each) but our health is priceless – at least that’s how I’m looking at it. It’s making us walk more – when we’re not at the target of 10,000 we will go out for a walk. Jason will get off at the earlier bus stop and walk further. We go to look at the pigs at the nearby farm or go for a jog. We have even put on the record player and danced like total crazy people for half an hour to get our steps in.
Years ago I worked at a local Council in the Law Department. I was meant to be placed in one area, but there really wasn’t much for me to do. So I started making friends in the other departments and ended up doing work for four of them. I was still not completely satisfied and as I was still bored, I went upstairs to talk to the Health Department. A long story later, I was working on getting my colleagues in the Town Hall to join a Pedometer Competition. We managed to get 400 people wearing pedometers and instead of a casual greeting in the lift, friends were being made on the stairs. I actually did a walking course to teach people how to walk properly and we did local wanderings during lunch breaks. Different departments were in competition – instead of calling the people downstairs with a question, workers were getting up and walking to each other to get their steps in. Everyone was sharing how to walk a bit more without it becoming a chore – getting off one tube station earlier and walking to work or taking a stroll through the park after work. Not only were people getting fitter, they were becoming more social and people who hadn’t met before started meeting up and becoming friends. It was so wonderful how a tiny device stuck to your trousers could make such a difference in people’s lives.
I know you might think a FitBit is a crazy amount of money. It is. It’s literally just counting the steps, something a normal pedometer can do just as well and you can normally pick one of those up in the pound shop. The difference between a FitBit and a pedometer is that you can connect a FitBit to the internet for magical things to happen. My lovely little device counts how many floors I have gone up, how many calories I’ve burned and if you can be bothered you can add how much water you’ve had to drink, how many calories you’ve eaten – which you can then connect to how much walking you need to do to lose weight etc – and you can even track your sleep. It’s basically just a fun gadget. I love it – I don’t have any of the weight-losing things on it and after tracking my sleep twice I was kinda over the excitement as I think I was sleeping less-well as I was so stressed to get to sleep quickly.

However, I have to say it’s totally hooked me! I love it. My only advice would be that it’s easily misplaced. Jason lost his already and I think he’s going to get the bracelet version next time – that one even checks your heartbeat. Let me know if you have one and we can be friends – apparently you are much more likely to reach your goals if you have friends who you can compete against and cheer or taunt. They seem to be all over America, but I’m sure they will be massive here in Europe very soon, so get ahead of the crowd and get one now 🙂