Silly Fitness Trackers

Ah, fitness trackers. Yes, I caved and got one. I’m not promoting mine or any tracker, but will admit I got a Fitbit Inspire 3, only so anyone reading can have that information in case they think “well MY tracker doesn’t do that.” Good for you.

Fitness trackers are glorified pedometers at best. Mine does not report sleep, oxygen level, or any of the other bells and whistles it is supposed to. I didn’t get it for that, so it’s not that disappointing, only irritating. The couple of times I attempted the “meditation” options it didn’t track to give me credit for it and my pulse actually went up 10 beats per minute. Like I said, glorified pedometer.

Why did I succumb to buying one instead of a basic pedometer? That could be separate blog post or mini-series in itself. Suffice it to say pedometers that clip don’t work well for me, and I wanted a wrist version. I wanted to count up the “steps” and make progress increasing activity. Flapping my arms around like an air traffic controller is not the same as walking, but it is my current form of exercise due to my swollen leg. I wanted to count all the walking and arm flapping I did all day, even if it was in little bity chunks, and try to be motivated to make the total number grow larger. Even with the upcoming surgery, getting credit for miniscule walking or movement might be encouraging rather than thinking I’m never doing enough.

Now we get to the saga and my point. Previous to having the tracker, I would do various youtube videos and mark down on a calendar how many minutes I spent. I attempted to track several things on my calendar, including meditation, water, caffeine, fruits and vegetable servings, and so forth. I gradually increased activity minutes, so yay for that, but by March my overall enthusiasm for doing and tracking everything was waning.

Enter the tracker. I was pleasantly surprised (if not confused) that it counted moderate activity I had not considered might count, such as walking at work, like the longish trecks to get water. Yay. Plus it added it automatically, so I didn’t have to time it. it reports that I “exercised” if I get my heart rate into the moderate zone for 10 minutes or longer. It had a goal to exercise 5 days a week and I left it at that, even though I’m kind of a perfectionist and would aim to do at least something every day. Here’s where it gets complicated – do I count what I think is exercise, or try to please the silly Fitbit? Today I did some smaller exercises here and there while watching tv with my spouse, and was pleased to get 19 total “zone” minutes before attempting any official exercise. Then I sat down for my videos. I did 15 minutes of strength training, but it didn’t get my heart rate hardly up at all even though I was huffing and sweating. Oh well. That’s fine. I followed it up with a 10 minute cardio workout video. Upon completion, it only added 2 "zone" minutes, and still defiantly told me I had not exercised. Hence the question – which is more important – setting my own goals or that of my silly digital tracker? I can go back to my manual calendar. Just silly