This spring I discovered, to my surprise, that I had an electronic addiction from an unlikely source- my Fitbit. Until my  Fitbit Surge battery died and I was temporarily without my fancy watch, I had no idea that the device on my wrist  had become an extension of my identity. I tried to deny it but every time I looked to see how many steps I had taken or how many calories I had burned  during my workout and only saw my bare wrist, I felt a rush of anxiety. Crazy, I know.

When fitness trackers started becoming popular I hardly took notice. It seemed to me that they were amusing gadgets designed for people who had extra money to spend. Being a teacher I wasn’t worried about how many steps I took in a day. The answer was “plenty’. I knew approximately how many calories I burned during a work out thanks to My Fitness Pal and a few apps on my phone.

Slowly, I became more and more aware of my friends checking their fitness trackers. If I ran with friends they often checked their watches rather than their phones for times and distance. At the gym, more and more people were setting their watches before workouts began. I became intrigued and wondered if a fitness tracker would be of value to my life.

So in January 2016, as a belated Christmas present to myself, I bought a Fitbit Surge. I promptly put it to use and wore it faithfully everyday recording every step and every workout. It was replaced once at no charge for a faulty wrist band but otherwise was very reliable.  It was when my replacement gave out in May of this year I realized that I felt lost without it.  Since Fitbit no longer made the Surge model, I debated about trying a different brand such as Garmin or Samsung. I also seriously considered not replacing it at all and going into therapy for being addicted to a fitness tracker.

Since I was not quite ready for therapy or to go back to my pre- fitness tracker days, I finally settled on a Fitbit Charge HR. Not quite as fancy as my last watch but there are some features, such as heart rate monitoring and VO2 max tracking for heart fitness, that I appreciate being able to use . I also like that the watch lets me know to get up and move if I have been sitting too long and connects with My Fitness Pal.

Fitness trackers can be useful for maintaining overall health. They track not only your fitness activities,  most trackers these days also track heart rate, sleep patterns, food, calories burned, and more. They can be very motivating.  Heck, my tracker actually has motivational phrases it flashes at me when I put it on and throughout the day.

I have come to appreciate that a fitness tracker is not a magic wand but rather it is a helpful tool.  It reminds me to keep health and overall fitness at the front of my mind throughout the day. There may come a day when I let the tracker go. For now, I will keep looking at my wrist and take a few more steps just for good measure. 🙂

As always, I would love to hear from you. Do you use a Fitbit or other fitness tracker?

Thanks for stopping by the blog.

Until next time,

Laura