.@TELUS #everystepcounts fitness challenge ends but my fitness journey continues #wearabletech

I was thrilled to be included in the TELUS #EveryStepCounts fitness challenge. I felt very honoured to be stepping along side the 14 other bloggers, but if I am honest I was also more than a bit intimidated. It was a two week fitness challenge and many of the other challengers already had active lifestyles and included fitness into their daily lives. The same cannot be said for myself. Regular workouts and fitness had always been part of my pre-parent life, but having celebrated my 29th birthday more times then I care to admit I found myself facing the reality of many years of inactivity. I have known for some time I needed to do something about this and take better care of myself. I even wrote a post in January stating 2015's word was SELF, but putting a plan into action proved more challenging than I thought, especially the fitness and health part. This timely fitness challenge was the kickstart I needed. 

It started with a fitbit Charge and a visit to the TELUS Learning Centre to meet with my Telus Health Tech Specialist Alex. Alex helped me set up my fitbit Charge, and addressed my questions regarding the fitbit itself, the fitbit App and using them with my phone. I appreciated the fact he was not only wearing the same fitbit, he had also tested it for several days before the appointment so he could speak from personal experience about this particular wearable tech. I knew TELUS had tech specialists you could make appointments with, I just never realized to what extent an appointment could save both time and frustration while getting to know a new device, how it works with other devices, and how to get the most functionality from them. Alex was professional, helpful and very personable. I highly recommend taking advantage of this free TELUS service with any new device. 

For more information on wearable tech and which one is best for you check out the TELUS blog. They have a number of helpful posts including It Takes Two: 5 Fitness Tips for You and Your Partner, and Ready Tech Go: Wearable Fitness and New Year's Resolutions, plus several more scheduled for later this month and March.

Personally I found it very easy and straight forward to track my progress on my fitbit, my phone or my laptop. The fitbit Charge was easy to use with excellent battery life. It comes in 4 colours with an adjustable band that is comfortable to wear. I love that it combines both a watch and tracking functions. Right on the fitbit you can see the time, steps, miles, flights, calories burned, and incoming call notification. As you achieve different levels of steps, flights or goals you'll receive achievement badges and notifications. You can track your meals and calories in versus burned, and your sleep including hours slept and amount of restless sleep. 

The one thing I wish the fitbit App had is a Canadian food data base that recognized and scanned Canadian food UPC barcodes. Currently only US or UK are available and I found most Canadian food UPC's I tried did not scan. 

Image via TELUS

On February 2nd, 2015 a two week fitness challenge began. Not exactly knowing what I would be up against I set what I thought was a pretty tough but attainable challenge for myself of 10,000 steps per day. I soon found out the competition was fierce and I would have to be aiming for 15,000+ per day just to keep up. I will admit I got a tiny bit competitive and pushed myself to step for hours a day. I found new ways to get the steps in. I would step and tweet and step and post. I was stepping while I brushed my teeth or made meals or folded laundry. I would take several trips to bring the laundry upstairs rather than trying to do it all in one trip. I didn't want to be the one who couldn't keep up after years of inactivity. Plus there were a few awesome prizes to be won. 

By the end of week one I was maintaining a position in the top third but out of the prize contention. But here is the thing; overweight out of shape me was stepping up to the challenge and pushing myself to step 25,000+ steps a day, but not for the prizes, but because I had lost 6 pounds in just over a week by stepping and tracking my calories and meals. This was the best prize of all and became my motivation to keep stepping up to the challenge everyday. My goal is to continue to get between 15,000 and 20,000 steps in each day. 

I can't thank TELUS and my fellow competitors enough for helping me to get started on a road better health. Getting started is often the hardest part and without this challenge I honestly do not feel I would have had this success or the determination to keep going and truly make this the year of SELF. I have a long way to go to reach the weight and fitness level goals that are right for me but I feel inspired by my success to continue on this journey. 

Yep, just me Cathy thinking out loud about fitness and making sure #everystepcounts.

Just an FYI: I wrote two other posts about my #everystepcounts journey: 

My Journey of 1000 Miles Begins With a Single Baby Step

and

My EveryStepCounts TELUS Fitness Challenge Playlist

Note: I received a Fitbit Charge from TELUS free of charge in order to participate in the #everystepcounts fitness challenge. All opinions are my own and reflect my personal experience with the brand and product.