I look at my wrist for the 10th time today. But it’s just my naked wrist. I notice that my wrist bone looks more prominent than I’ve noticed before. Perhaps, it’s just because my Fitbit is all that I usually see when I look at my wrist. I don’t notice my skin or my bones surrounding the Fitbit.
My Fitbit died this week. It has threatened to die, once before, about a year and a half ago, only 6 months after my husband bought it for me for Christmas/Chanukah. After contacting Fitbit, they sent me a refurbished replacement. That lasted about 16 months. Either I’m hard on them or Fitbits don’t last that long.
I haven’t purchased a replacement yet. Trying to decide between Garmin, Apple, another Fitbit. Smartwatch or simple tracker? In the meantime, does this week of my life even count if it’s not recorded on my Fitbit app?!
As someone who went “watchless” for decades, it’s amazing to me how reliant on a fitness tracker, I have become.
I wake up and look at my resting heart rate and sleep tracker. I feel like I had a good sleep. What does the tracker say? Only a 78 score? Must not have been that great. I am groggy but my Fitbit says I have a 90 score. Hmm.
The funniest tracking part for me has been the period tracker. Despite trying to correct it’s accuracy when I was still getting my period, I gave up. Then, I stopped getting my period. It’s been 6 months. But, my Fitbit tells me EVERY DAY, that I have one day left on my period. The joke’s on you – Fitbit.
I never used the water or nutrition trackers, because I don’t need that kind of pressure in my life (and I already have the premium model food tracker, the “I grew up in the 80s and have the diet culture tracker embedded in my brain, tracker”). Let’s just say, it’s faulty too.
I also have a very regular exercise routine, and have for years, but I enjoy seeing the steps I’ve reached each day. My average steps range anywhere from 15,000 to 25,000 steps day-to-day, and 30,000 to 40,000, when on vacation. At one time, my husband and I enjoyed comparing badges we’d received. We didn’t take it too seriously but it’s fun.
I can get an idea of how hard I’ve worked out at a strength and conditioning class by the calories I’ve burned during that class. I don’t treat it as a “calories in, calories out” thing. It’s a “last week I burned 900 calories in this class and this week 799, I wonder what was different?” I don’t dwell on it but I like to see it as an incentive, maybe, if I feel like it that day, to go a little harder next time. Of course, it doesn’t account for things such as sleep, hormones, allergies, etc., and maybe 799 was working just as hard that day, but it’s an observation I appreciate.
The tracker also imports my running stats to Strava and I enjoy using that as a metric to gauge my progress, run-to-run. I don’t upload other workouts on Strava, only running. Every now and then I get 2-3 kudos from my friends on Strava. Woohoo!
This week, it will be as if my runs didn’t happen. My friends won’t KNOW that I ran. But, I am truly OK with that. I know. I will still feel the endorphins. I will still be singing along to Taylor Swift and blocking out how much those concert tickets are going for – and how ridiculous it is – and that I will not, not succumb – even though I can picture my nephew and I singing along at the concert for memories evermore…).
While I consider which tracker to buy next, I will consider if “I’ve done the best I could on that day” based on my own internal metrics rather than the external overlord of Fitbit (which is apparently owned by Google now).
What kind of fitness/smart watch/tracker do you use, dear readers? Or have you decided to go without one?
