I recently reached a life milestone. You know the one… that big half-century mark. For some strange reason it made me think about my health; I don’t know why but it did. I got to thinking that I could lose a few pounds and probably should eat more green, leafy vegetables.
My children would get a more active father and my wife would get a sleeker, more fit husband that she could take out on the dance floor without him asking for mercy after ten minutes. Well, at least that was the plan anyway.
So I started the healthier food. I added more greens, healthy fats and cut out most (but not all) of the fun stuff like pizza and baked goods. You need to have some fun too because we can’t forget about the mental health and my mental health would not be too good if I had to eat like a rabbit for the rest of my life. Just saying!
I promised myself that 3 days a week I would work out with weights and stretch. I also planned to add another 2,000 steps a day to my daily routine so that I could get in a healthy 12,000 steps a day. My old Fitbit had seen better days and now had more super glue than rubber holding it together. Of course my beautiful wife noticed this and bought me a brand spanking new Fitbit Charge 2 with all the bells and whistles. I mounted the very handsome device on my arm and quickly learned how to operate the gadgets and tools, and started to strut around checking my steps and calories burned. I was quite pleased with my gift. Then something strange happened; the Fitbit started to rack up a lot of flights of stairs I did not take. One day it had 164 floors and I knew for sure that I had not done more than three. I emailed Fitbit customer support and received and email telling me to reboot the device, hook it to my belt loop, run up two flights of stairs and then report my findings.
I followed the instructions and sent my report but also told them about my phantom 164 floors and that the Fitbit had added 90 floors just during my forty-five minutes on the treadmill. I added as much information about the environment around the treadmill as I could even about the fan the puffed some air on me every ten seconds as it sat mounted on the wall ten feet away. I soon received a second email telling me that this new Charge 2 was really sensitive to changes in the environment like wind gusts, opening doors and sweat. It also recommended that I wear the device loosely on my arm. This seems odd for a device meant to be worn while you are working out…doesn’t it?? The email went on to say that if the floor count was a problem for me, she recommended that I just delete that feature - a feature that my old, cheaper Fitbit handled without any problems! To top it off I also received a lecture about BMR and how it is calculated… that just took the prize.
So I guess I have to wear my $200 Fitbit loosely on my arm inside a room without opening any doors or without working up a sweat. Wonder where I can find such a room? I should probably ask the support if they know where those rooms are.
So if you don’t hear anything from me in a while…I am in that special room.