Me and Felicity!

Hello, out there in blogland. I'd like you to meet my new constant companion, Felicity Fitbit. Apparently everyone names theirs so I thought I had better too. I do have a habit of naming inanimate objects, though, so I was always going to be on board with that idea. ;)

In the past I have had a Polar heart rate monitor but I haven't worn it for quite some time and I'm not doing enough exercise to really worry about it at the moment. Not only that, I'm at a size/weight where, really, ANY exercise/movement I do is going to be helpful. This is why I decided to get a Fitbit as it is more of an overall health tool rather than a "how many calories did I burn" tool. You can do things like monitor blood pressure and do graphs/charts (something my doctor likes me to do since I have my own home BP machine) and sugar if you're diabetic. At its simplest it is a very sophisticated pedometer but it does a lot more. It can even be worn when you sleep so that you can keep track of how much rest you are getting, since that is another very important part of overall health. I have only had my Fitbit for a day but already I am feeling much more aware of how active I am as compared to how much more active I need to be.

Another cool thing about Fitbit is that it integrates with My Fitness Pal, which I'm also using, and if you have done enough activity it will take that into account with your calorie burn for the day. For example, today, taking into account my extra movement, a "credit" of 126 calories (so far) is showing up on My Fitness Pal. I don't know if I'll need or want to eat them, but it's nice to know that I'm using my body the way it's meant to be used i.e. I am moving!

What is sobering, though, is that I would count today as one of my more active days generally speaking and even then I haven't even got halfway to 10,000 steps which is considered the minimum we should be doing for good health! If I'd been at work sitting on my butt instead of walking around the shops and around the house doing washing and stuff, I reckon I'd be flat out cracking 2,000! It certainly makes you realise why you need to find a way to incorporate a walk into your day, or several walks, preferably.

So now that Felicity Fitbit has come into my life, one of my four week projects is definitely going to be to move more and I think that's going to have to mean actually going for proper walks. I just don't have the sort of job where I need to walk at all and unless I go out and pound the pavement, or even just do one of the Leslie Sansone walks on the DVD, it just ain't gonna happen - I won't make it to 10,000 steps. Ever!

Anyway, by the end of the day I might make it to 5,000 and I don't think that's a bad effort for one day. I do have to work tomorrow but there is plenty of time before that to clock up some steps. I'm going to the Hyperdome tomorrow for a family thing and it's an opportunity to park as far away as I can just to increase the incidental exercise. As you might have guessed, I'm quite excited by my new fitness tool.

Till next time...