My little companion: The One
Photo Credit: -Jeffrey- via Compfight cc
I always knew I’d need a little friendly technology to save me from ‘home-worker-stuck-in-sofa-cushions’ syndrome. I debated all sorts of pedometers and activity trackers, and if I’m honest, probably made a mountain out of a molehill decision. Finally, though, the Fitbit One called me and I knew we were going to engage in a very active relationship. Its profile was seductive, it was just meant to be.
These babies do feel a little pricey as a non-essential item when the source of tomorrow’s pay cheque is uncertain. But I’m a lucky lady with very generous ex-colleagues who stumped up a voucher for The One as my leaving present.
So before my little holiday I made the order and, joy oh joy, it was lying resplendent on the doormat on my return in its (excessively large) box.
Set up was extremely easy. So easy in fact that there are no instructions - just a piece of paper telling you to plug in and go on the website, in every single language.
It is a powerful little beast really. It can measure oh so many things: steps, stairs, calories, miles, hours of effective sleep, level of activity. And you can add your own food log and log of which activities you’ve been doing if you want to. You can even tell it when you were asleep last night, if you happened to forget to set it during that sleepy twilight time.
On current estimates the battery is going to last a full week, which is entirely bizarre in a world where phones are charged every night. I’m more than a little worried I’ll forget and it will just go into a slow decline and wilt.
And talking of wilting, there’s the little flower too. I’m not convinced about this one yet: to my mind the more exercise you complete in a day, the more gorgeously flowering your flower will be. Sadly though, you actually have to keep tending it constantly or it starts to dwindle. So I could do a massive workout in the morning followed by a lunchtime walk, but if I sit on my backside all afternoon and evening then it won’t be a happy flower by bedtime. Not exactly satisfying, but perhaps realistic on my track record of abandoning plants.
Currently nothing gets measured prior to 10am in my house. Oh there’s nothing wrong with this perfectly formed machine: I just don’t think skipping to the kitchen in PJs for breakfast can really count as activity. I make up for it by getting straight into sports gear though, for a quick morning workout.
It fits very nicely inside my sports bra but less nicely inside other bras, so it stays in my jeans pocket. I have no idea what I’ll do with dresses - I don’t want to spoil the nice lines I’m creating with all this exercise!
I quite like to finish off the day by pacing around the kitchen while catching up on blogs. Not traditional exercise perhaps, but the little One persuades me to make it up to 6000 steps each day. I just don’t think the traditional 10,000 is possible in an average day at home, there’s a limit to how many grooves I can wear in the floor. My old commute only stacked up to 4000 anyway so it’s already an improvement.
It’s certainly a friendly little companion which gets me off my backside more than I would otherwise. It is most definitely a good thing and really, I know I would have invested in one myself in the end.
Well worth it!
