Tag Archives: Fitbit

Poking My Toe in the Water Again

A couple months ago, I blurted out, during a “get to know you” exercise, to a colleague that I have a blog (although I didn’t tell him what it was called). Then I remembered I hadn’t written in said blog in quite some time. To give you an idea how long it’s been, when I tried to log in today, I wasn’t even sure I knew the password.

Since this all started with activity trackers, I will pick up where that left off, or would have left off had I left off there. About, oh, like, um, a year ago, I decided that the Next Big Thing for the Featherstone family would be the Lumo Lift. This little device was so tiny and subtle that it would be worn on the – for me, anyway – bra strap. Not only would it track footsteps and all that, but it would – get this – vibrate every time I slouched. (Well, not just me, but the user….anyway.) At last, today, I took mine out of its package (there are two others unopened) and gave it a test run (after I spent about 20 minutes trying to figure out how to attach the thing). I also plugged in my Jawbone UP to see if the two were in synch.

The Jawbone was DOA. Didn’t track a thing, and didn’t respond to my iPhone’s request for data. Fail. The Lumo? Well, it didn’t buzz once unless I set it on “coach” mode, in which case, it didn’t stop buzzing (and I am telling you, I wasn’t slouching that whole time, either). I spent a good part of the time checking to see if it still was attached, or catching it when I fell. Finally, when I was in the mud room getting more paper towels (gotta love this color commentary) it fell off, and it remains there now. It lasted a good, say, seven hours, and I am being generous. Good thing I got it at the advanced sale rate of like $69.

Meanwhile, I had charged up the Fitbit, and found two of the three bands I have for it. Now it’s charged up, tucked into its pink (magenta?) band, and wrapped snugly around my non-dominant wrist. I’ve gotten about 25 steps in before settling into bed and beginning this entry.

Meanwhile, my boyfriend is having an intense Facebook conversation with a woman who found him after 15 or so years. It’s 11:33 pm our time. Whatever.

Anyway, more to the point: I am back on the devices and therefore back here. I’ve also started (four weeks ago, to be exact) a new eating plan, and I am down 17 pounds (insert cheering emoticon here). That feels pretty good. Besides, if I am going to blurt out that I have a blog, I may as well populate said blog. Let’s see what happens.

Needs a title

This has not been the most prolific blog experiment, I do realize. Nevertheless, here I am again, trying to see if anything grows.

Ok, on the subject of moving, an excellent walk today, again with my friend J. (I’m already sensing a little theme here.) At only 1:18 pm:
Jawbone says 11,032 steps, 5.1 miles
Fitbit says, your battery is low, and also, 10,784 steps, 4.81 miles

Same wrist and all that.

More on moving. As previously noted, we’ve moved. Two months here, and we haven’t totally moved in. At what point is a house a home? My room sorta feels like home, mostly because I’ve got my stuff semi-set up in there, and because BBL is there, too. As far as the rest of the house? Not moving, but feeling stuck. Where do all of these things go? Do we need two sets of silverware, pots and pans, and dishes? (Actually, we need more dishes. A full set that we all could use would be nice.) Or does it just not matter, about the stuff, that is? This I need to figure out. It shouldn’t matter, the stuff, that is, when determining if a house is a home.

On a separate note, I am looking forward to the return home, in three days, of the littlest Featherstone. Not only do I want to give him the world’s most enormous hug, but he can also help me (he promised) make this whole thing more visually appealing. Hey, every little step helps, am I right?

Movin’!

Thanks to an excellent walk with my friend J, today’s stats are:

Jawbone: 12,700 steps (5.8 miles)      Fitbit: 13,581 steps (6.05 miles)

I don’t really have an explanation for the difference. Same person, same wrist, blah blah blah.

While walking and talking today, I thought about writing and blogging and what I am trying to do here. If it’s not clear already, I don’t necessarily know what I am doing. (Case in point: lack of visual pizazz.) 

Two themes emerged during this excellent walk: moving and perception. Y’see, I’ve been doing a lot of moving lately. Not just walking (because I haven’t really been doing enough of that), but actual moving. Three (oh my, or is it four?) weeks ago, my kids and I moved in with my boyfriend and his two boys. So we’ve moved towns. I’ve moved my relationship status. I’m often moved to tears. More blah blah blah. And perception – two devices looking at exactly the same situation see things differently (either that, or I am just reading way too much into this experiment). This is a theme for me in many ways, most pointedly at work. 

Speaking of which…the other day, someone noticed my two fitness trackers, and pointed out that fact to the assembled crowd. A good laugh was gotten when someone noted that I would probably use the one that gave me the better results. Um, no. That’s not it at all. Again: perception. (And a reminder that I need to keep moving.) I considered launching into an explanation of the whole thing, but instead, I curled up into my imaginary shell and waited until someone changed the subject. 

Going along with that moving theme, this is a big week for the Featherstone family. My son is “moving up” from 8th grade (yeah, it’s actually called a moving up ceremony) and my daughter will graduate from high school. Bring on the tissues. 

Sleep or No Sleep?

It’s been a busy few weeks so I haven’t really had the chance to be inspired. (Translation: exhaustion.)

Nevertheless, the experiment is back on. Last night, I set both the Jawbone and the Fitbit to sleep mode. Really. I know I did, because I woke them both this morning when I got up. Sleep stats? Jawbone: 6 hours, 25 minutes (that’s 80% of my goal, if anyone’s counting); Fitbit: no sleep logged. Ooookay.

Today, I am driving way up somewhere in New York and taking my daughter to camp. (You’d think I would know how to get there as I have driven up there seven of the eight past summers, but I do not.) She’s going to be a counselor this year, which, among other things, means she won’t get her luggage magically transported to her bunk. I’m wagering that some steps will be taken along the way today, so let’s see what the bands report. Back to it. And lots to catch up on as well. It’s been quite the, er, interesting past few weeks.

Step Count, 22 May 2014

Missed the goal of 10,000 steps by a significant amount. As in, really need to get my tush in gear. Aside from that, explain this:

The Fitbit claims I took 5,867 steps today. The Jawbone tells me I took 4,625 steps. Same day, same person, same wrist, same amount of actual steps taken.

I can see this is going to be an interesting (to me) exercise (heh).

 

 

Intro, Continued

For six months, we moved. We grooved. I was walking before work – and I am so not a morning person – just so I could rack up steps. I especially recall a few days when I logged over 20,000 steps. In case you’ve never walked 20,000 steps, that’s a hell of a lot of pounding on the feet. I’m not known for wearing sensible shoes, either (more on foot issues in some later post, I imagine) and those not so little dogs were barking. Try walking around for seven straight hours in New York City in July. It’s not pretty.

Through it all, the Fitbit did its thing, dutifully flashing lights when tapped and buzzing on those days when I hit my goal of 10,000 steps. Supposedly, these devices track sleep, too, but in order for them to do that, one must actually sleep (more on not sleeping some other time, probably late at night). Then, long story short, it died. I got a replacement (Fitbit is good about that, as it turns out) with a black band (to go with most everything I wear) to mix things up. Another long story short, it, too, crapped out, and I was told I could get another replacement. This time, another long story short, I selected the “violet” band, which was on about a 20 week back order. I waited.

Funny thing happened while I was sans Fitbit. I didn’t move around as much. Sure, I still used the restroom on the first floor of my building, instead of the one in the office, but without keeping track, steps didn’t feel like an accomplishment anymore. During my long wait time, I got a gift (from Apple, yet another long story which I’m not even going to get into) of the Jawbone Up24. All I’ll say right now is that it is a sleeker, less obtrusive design, but the downside is that the bands aren’t interchangeable. I got a black one.

So I’m wearing the Jawbone for a few days, and remarked to Bob that my violet Fitbit would arrive soon, and that’s when he said I should wear them both, compare, and write a blog about it. The new Fitbit arrived yesterday, and now I’m wearing them both, and I suppose this is where the real story begins.

The Creatively Titled Introductory Post

Hello.

Because this is my creatively titled introductory post, I feel obliged to include some (creative?you tell me) introduction as to why I am doing this. Does the world really need another suburban mom blogger? No. How about an indignant liberal blogger? No. A blog about the college search? A blog about the quest for perfect shoes? No, and no again. How about a blog comparing wearable fitness devices? Oh, that’s something that nobody’s ever delved into (save for David Pogue and others at the NY Times, and various experts at various tech and fitness oriented websites). Well, what if there were recipes? And the occasional meltdown? OK, now we’re talking.

This was born out of me suddenly finding myself with two wearable fitness trackers and only one non-dominant hand. My boyfriend, Bob, who is probably kicking himself right now for even suggesting this, casually mentioned starting a blog about it. So, I did. I’ve never written a blog before, so I don’t know where posts should start and where they should end. I’ll wing it and hope for the best, or at least, for not the worst. And away we go.

Just over one year ago, I put on my first wearable fitness tracker, the then newly minted Fitbit Flex. I got matching ones for me and Bob with the full expectation that wearing this unsnazztastic (albeit much less clunky than the Nike Fuel Band, which had been gaining popularity at the time) piece of rubber would be just the thing to whip us into stellar shape. And at first, it kinda did. There’s something motivating about moving around knowing that each step is being tallied, and something even more motivating about trying to get more steps than someone else. We spent a lot of time those first few months tapping on our wristbands and synching with our phones and generally keeping tabs on how many steps each other took.

So cool I thought this was that I got one for my brother for his birthday. Then I got another two for my kids. At this point, Fitbit should be giving me a commission, but I didn’t press them on it. Soon all five of us were connected and cheering or taunting one another, as the mood dictated. Through the “friends” portion of the iPhone app, I could tell if my brother had an active day, or if my daughter got a ride home from school, for example. And I started noticing it all over. That telltale slate blue band on the non-dominant hands of colleagues, shoppers at Whole Foods, or the receptionist at the doctor’s office. It was like being part of an exclusive club. Whatever that club was, it got me moving, at least for a few months.