It’s no secret that I’m a foot solider in this beautiful city of San Francisco. I walk to work. I walk to the gym. I walk everywhere. A couple of weeks ago I decided to calculate the distance I walked in one week, and it was more than a marathon (that’s right, 27.5 miles in one week just going to the gym and to work). Well, since then, I’ve taken things one step further to get a realistic measurement of all my movement each day.
But first, here’s how it all came about …
Last Monday was my “halfy birthday,” which is a special day that only Dave and my Mom celebrate with me, marking the six-month point until my next birthday. As a child, because I had a birthday just two days before Christmas, my parents let me have a mid-summer celebration so I had something to look forward to and could space out my holidays.
The first time my halfy birthday came around when Dave and I were dating cemented what I already knew: he was totally the one for me. We had only been together for about five months, and when I went to his place after work, he had made a funfetti cake and put up a birthday banner. The tradition of him doing a little something on that day has continued.
This year, not only did I come home from a 12-hour day of work to find a delicious Whole Foods dinner of cedar-plank salmon, mixed nut and kale salad and two mini carrot cake and cheesecake treats. But I also received an awesome and useful gift –the Jawbone UP24 band.
I’ve been wearing the UP band for a full week. I keep it on all day long, throughout my workouts and even when I sleep. The only time I remove it is when I shower, because it’s only water resistant. And it matches well with my work outfits, since I wear all black while training at Equinox.
The band only needs to charge once a week, and you do that by plugging it into a USB adapter, which connects to your computer.
Now to the best part: All of the tracking is done on your iPhone via the UP app. The app sends you updates when you reach certain milestones and keeps real-time stats on your activity.
On the left in purple, is how I did to meet my goal of sleeping seven hours-a-night. On the right in orange, is how I did to meet my goal of walking 10,000 steps-a-day.
You can also log your food intake and note how you’re feeling in the UP app, but I haven’t dug into those features yet.
Because I walk everywhere, my job is very physical, and I work out a lot, I have no problem reaching the recommended 10,000 steps/5 mile mark per day. In fact, I’ve nearly doubled it at times. One day I walked more than eight miles. It’s so fun to track, and I’ve officially become obsessed with my new toy.
If you’re concerned about being sedentary, you should really consider wearing a tracker like this because it’s very motivating. You can set it to send you an alert if you’ve been inactive for too long, which could be a good reminder to get up from your desk or the couch and walk around a bit. I know I’m only scratching the surface of the functionality too, so I hope to start tracking even more details soon.
Now it’s time to go log some steps.
Questions of the day
Do you wear an activity tracker? If so, which one?
How much do you think you walk in a day? Have you heard of the halfy birthday?
I have a Fit Bit which is very similar- I love it!! I really like how it links to my phone and I can check my progress very easily. Love that you celebrate your half birthday!
Katie @ Daily Cup of Kate recently posted…4th of July Recipe Roundup
Glad you’re on board with tracking too, Katie!
Ashley recently posted…My latest obsession: the UP24 band
COINCIDENCE: I just started wearing the Fitbit One yesterday, a different activity tracking tool. Very neat!
Awesome! How many steps do you log a day? I bet you will become quite addicted to measuring your movement as well.
Ashley recently posted…My latest obsession: the UP24 band
A few months ago I had the original UP band but ended up returning it because plugging it in to check my progress became too cumbersome. Just recently, I got to use a Withings Pulse for a few days, but I ended up selling that (O2 sensor useful but slow) and buying the UP24.
My step count has absolutely been rising since I’ve gotten it, it’s been encouraging me to walk more. Since I live in the Midwest, I have to drive to get anywhere, but I try to walk whenever I can. My steps have increased about an average of 3K/day since I’ve gotten the band. I’ve read that it’s ok to shower with, but I take it off anyways, not going to be walking much in the shower.
The sleep function is quite useful as well, as I can now tell that a well-rested night wasn’t just something I thought I was getting.
I have heard from some that the shape of the UP24 is too thick and sits weird on the wrist when you are typing and writing. As a person who spends most of the day typing that has concerned me. What are your thoughts on that? I’m in the market for one of these devices and trying to decide which one would be the best for me.
Stephanie recently posted…Timex One GPS + Watch
Hi Stephanie, I haven’t worn my UP band in a while, but it wasn’t terribly thick. It’s sort of like wearing a bangle bracelet if that helps. Not uncomfortable, but you can feel it when typing. Good luck deciding! Thanks for saying hi! 🙂