Lately it seems that almost everyone that I run into, is
wearing a fitness tracker of some sort.
This in itself is a great idea, to help keep you active. I myself wore one for over two years.
I cannot say for sure why my husband bought me one. Maybe because I showed interest in his? Maybe because he thought he was helping me
get more active, because at that time I was overweight and out of shape. However, I wasn’t like that because I was
lazy, I was battling a health condition that at the time was winning. So after he realized just how active I truly
was through the course of my day. I may
not have been exercising as often and vigorously as I am now, but I was
technically a homemaker and we have stairs in our home. The house didn’t clean itself, nor did dinner
make itself, or errands get run on their own.
In spite of my poor health, I was still carrying out my responsibilities
and I even took on a part-time job. Add
to that, our son moved home after completing his service in the military. With him he brought two very active
toddlers. Guess who helped him with them
for the seven months they lived with us? Mom, course! So yes, I was
active.
For over two years, 843 days straight I met my goal. I was racking up the badges for most points
in a day, most active day and etcetera; I became a badge whore. The most coveted badge was the Every Damn Day badge, which is awarded
when you meet your goal every day for 365 days - I earned TWO. I didn’t initially start off with the intent
to go a year straight of meeting my goals.
Truthfully, I wanted to show my husband that I was in fact more active
than he figured. Many days I made my
goal and he didn’t. In his defense, his
tracker pooped out on him and he had to have it replaced twice. Mine however, if it pooped out I would
contact tech support and poof, it was fixed and my earned points restored. However, as I racked up the badges, it became
a game for me. I was out to beat my best
days, earn the holiday and birthday badges.
I was on a mission to earn as many as I could. When my tracker started to wear out, I
decided that I would keep tracking until it gave up for good. On 12 August 2015, it quit completely and
would no longer track or hold a charge.
I was able to do one final sync before I retired it.
The story doesn’t stop there. You see, my husband had switched to a
different brand tracker, because it was given to him for a fitness challenge at
work and when he upgraded, he gave me his freebie tracker, so I was simultaneously
wearing both trackers to compare the features so that I could decide if I
wanted to upgrade the one I had been using, or switch over. This past spring my husband was given another
upgraded tracker for the challenge, which he passed on to me and I passed along
the older one to our daughter. I was
still wearing both simultaneously until my original one died. Up until about
three weeks ago, I was still wearing the newer tracker.
Why did I stop? After
all, I was able to challenge my friends to daily, weekend and weekly
goals. It kept me going even when I was
low on motivation. I wanted to be top
dog in each challenge. Yes, I am competitive. But you see, I don’t need those challenges to
really motivate me. I just need to
remember how I felt before I reclaimed my health and became fit again. I just need to look at pictures of me when I
was unhealthy and out of shape. In
addition:
- I was growing weary of having to meet a goal to deem my day successful. I wanted to shut off and have a lazy, guilt free day. I could never just relax, because I was goal oriented and needed to make goal for the day. There were times when it was near bedtime that I would walk around, up and down the stairs, did what I took to make my goal. Even on days that I was under the weather, I would make sure I earned those points.
- Unless I was doing a workout that had running, jumping and punching in it, they didn’t “count” on my tracker. So when I am weight lifting, or doing PiYo, it isn’t tracked completely.
- Washing dishes didn’t count, because I had to remove the tracker, so as to not damage it.
- The tracker kept popping off.
- It didn’t go well with my outfits when I would dress up of an occasion, so I had to decide whether or not to wear it.
- Because my husband I both wore a tracker, holding hands while walking became an issue because it interfered with the arm swing. One of us had to switch our band to the other hand so that we could hold hands. Oh, and I have a purse too, so that hand was holding on to the purse. It got to the point to we just went without holding hands. That was just way too much for me.
I was being held hostage by the little band around my wrist
and I was done with that.
Yes, there are still times I wonder how many points I am
earning when I have another awesome daily workout, or getting stuff done around
the house, or out running errands. But, then
I remember how much anxiety I started to feel because I had to meet my daily
goal. Maybe one day again I will fish
out the tracker, charge it and put it back on.
But for now, I am enjoying my freedom without it. I will get satisfaction that I did do enough today. That the workout I did today was
excellent. I know I am not lazy and I know
that. Best of all, I will be happy to
hold my husband’s hand, no matter which one it is.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
