Peace of Mind Organizing

How Fitbit is keeping me active

16 June 2014

I’m a natural-born couch potato and I struggle with getting myself to get adequate exercise. I’m not someone who craves it or enjoys it, but I do appreciate that it’s important.

Last month, I took Shannon Wilkinson’s Change Artistry: Get Active group coaching program and it was hugely helpful in changing my mindset about exercise. It now feels much less like drudgery and I’m feeling very good about the exercise I’m getting.

One of the things Shannon helped me with was getting in touch with why exercise is important to me. Now that I’m over 50, I’m concerned about aging. I want to stay healthy and active for many more decades and I know that exercise now will contribute to that.

The other thing that Shannon has helped me understand about myself over the years is how important it is to to me to meet my commitments. (In the parlance of Gretchen Rubin, I’m an Upholder.) By the end of the Change Artistry class, I’d identified two very specific, measurable goals for my exercise. (And that’s where the Fitbit comes in.)

They are:

• Go to the gym three times a week
• Walk 10,000 steps a day at least three days a week

I’ve made a spreadsheet to keep track of it. I’ve been keeping my commitment to get that level of exercise and it feels great.

I don’t think I’d be where I am without Shannon’s program, but I also think my Fitbit Flex is playing a large role. Because my work is sometimes (but not always) quite active I think I overestimated my level of activity. I wear my Fitbit wristband all the time (except when I take it off to charge it every five days or so) and I was a little surprised to learn that without making extra effort I would get 6,000 to 7,000 steps in during an average day. 10,000 steps is the goal most folks have.

The Fitbit allows me to monitor how well I’m doing toward my goal of 10k steps. And it gives me incentive to walk a little more, if need be, to reach my goal. I’m now taking the steps, rather than the elevator. I’m coming along on evening dog walks. (I do the morning poodle stroll, my husband does the evening.) I’m seeing exercise as an opportunity to fulfill my goal, rather than just something that just tuckers me out.

The Fitbit Flex also measures my sleep quality and allows me to log calories and water consumption. I haven’t taken full advantage of the latter, but it is making me more mindful of what goes into my body (both food and water).

There’s a social component to Fitbit that doesn’t particularly appeal to me, but I could see how one easily set up a Fitbit accountability group (or a group competition).

The Fitbit is helping me keep fitness and activity top of mind. I know that in reality it’s not much more than a fancy pedometer, but after less than two months owning it, I think I’ve benefitted enough to merit the $100 expenditure. I’m now pondering buying the Fitbit Aria wifi scale, which would upload my weight to my Fitbit dashboard. That seems a bit excessive, since weight loss isn’t really part of my goal, but I am intrigued.

If Change Artistry: Get Active appeals to you, you’ll have to wait until the fall to take it again. But if you have a project you’ve been wanting to do but can’t seem to get around to it, check out Shannon’s Change Artistry: Get Started. It starts this Thursday and it will be equally great.

Tagged with: exercise, fitbit, goals, shannon wilkinson, technology

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