Fitbits, Fuel Bands and Loads of Laundry

Some time back I was introduced to the Nike Fuel Band. It seemed like a pretty remarkable tool. As a personal trainer I hear from clients such remarks as, "I move all of the time!" "I exercise daily." However, due to some meager federal laws I am unable to put tracking devices on my clients and video monitoring in their home just seems invasive. So after 13 years of becoming a near detective I was excited to find there was a borderline tracking device that was, at least. socially acceptable for me to monitor. I ran, literally, right out and purchased a Fuel Band. At $149.00 this thing had practically move for me! After six months of wearing it, a borderline obsessive compulsive disorder with tracking my "fuel points," and three replacements due to it breaking all of the time, I determined that unless the store manager at Nike in downtown Portland either became strikingly good looking I was ready to move on.

• Fitbit

Hark! The Fitbit (One)! At a whopping $99.95 (Why don't they just call it what it is?! $100!) I clipped it to my pants and was on my way to a promising more motivated January. I was excited to see the FitBit also tracked calories consumed, steps walked, floors climbed and hours of sleep logged. It seemed like the all around better looking best friend to my retired Fuel Band.

As I logged and tested and logged and retested the validity of this handy dandy device at the scrutiny of anyone who noticed it attached to my hip I became even more obsessive. I am naturally, or really unnaturally a pretty energetic person. I jump out of bed at 4:30 am and hit the floor running. I can be seen seated, never, or possibly if I'm being held captive and tied to a chair. I have a healthy love of TV and generally participate in said hobby while on the treadmill or while sweeping, mopping or folding laundry. Which brings me to my obsessive compulsive activity. Folding laundry. I used to fold laundry while watching....whatever struck my fancy and now I find myself folding a shirt and then walking it into my room putting it in said drawer and walking back for the next article of clothing. It has become a regular workout and although my carpets are going to need to be replaced every six months I am a rock star in the Fitbit world! I know because my Fitbit app said so!

And then it happened....

I lost the charger to my Fitbit. I'm telling you losing my child in the grocery store brought less angst into my life than misplacing that blasted charging dock!!! I searched for that thing for days! Ok, about an hour before I figured logging points for moving, particularly on a ten mile run seemed ridiculous at best. I survived three days without that wonderful gem. And here is what I learned about myself. I stopped folding laundry all together. In fact, there is a mountain of laundry on my couch that I'm certain one of my children is hiding under. I will only walk into another room if I have a minimum of four things to do when I get there and I haven't checked my mail in days. Walking to the mailbox for bills doesn't bring me the Fitbit "high five" it used to bring me.

Sooooo.....

Yes, these handy dandy devices are helpful. Although, spending a whopping a hundred plus dollars (excuse me $99.95 in the Fit Bit One's case) for a glorified pedometer seems a bit much. Yes, you can log your food into an app on your phone. Hurray, except you can do this on a piece of paper and after three whole days and you are no longer food logging this feature won't seem so cool. Some models will tell you how you slept. Of course you have to push and hold a button to tell it you are going to bed. And then while your anxiety begins to build as you race the clock to actually fall asleep this feature doesn't seem so cool either. Then there is remembering to push the other button once you have woken up in a tired stupor. Good luck with that one. So you will find that the 12 hours and 22 min of sleep with 22 active minutes and 72 times of restlessness is almost more productive than your actual daily activity. Floors climbed, although cool, isn't really necessary unless you are competing in your annual Skyscraper Stair Climb. So in the long run...glorified, fancy shmancy pedometer it is! With  $15.95 in your back pocket you can purchase the not so fancy shmancy pedometer from Amazon.

Good luck in any and all of your endeavors and remember that sometimes moving more isn't always the key. Particularly if you are moving more while eating donuts and coffee...

P.S. It should also be noted that I found the charging dock to my Fitbit. You can breathe a sigh of relief. And then precisely 3 months after buying my FitBit it fell off of my pocket and is more than likely attached to, hopefully, a very active Portland homeless person! Do me proud!