Wednesday 18 February 2015

.@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. 
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: 
and

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. 

119 comments :

  1. First of all, congratulations on your accomplishments and putting yourSELF first.

    I like that with this product I have no excuses like "I can't afford a trainer". The fact that it counts the steps for me means that I can get some extra ones in. Especially because I find myself sitting at the computer a lot.

    Feel free to post this giveaway to my weekly giveaway linky.

    Besos, Sarah
    Journeys of The Zoo

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  2. I like that it tracks all your steps. Would be very useful for my goal of walking every day.

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  3. I like that it tracks for seven days. That's long enough to develop a small pattern, and I think it would help me, personally to stay motivated.

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  4. I like that it tracks my progress for 7 days! It would help with my fitness goals because I'd always be trying to walk more steps than the day before!

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  5. I like that it is comfortable enough to wear to track sleep and is easy to use. I would be more likely to use something easy to setup to help me reach my fitness goals

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  6. I like that it keeps track of my steps, then syncs it back to my pc so I can keep a historical record. A great way to keep me honest and on track.

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  7. I absolutely love that it tracks your progress for 7 days! My mother is trying very hard to get fit and this would definitely help her reach her goals!

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  8. I like that it tracks sleep and it will help keep me on track with my steps every day. I want to get at least 12,000 steps a day and this would really motivate me.

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  9. I like the sleep as well, i have terrible sleep patterns, which leaves me sluggish the following day :( this would help me ensure that even with that, i'm on the right track to my fitness goals

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  10. I like that it tracks steps and you can connect it to your computer to see your progress. I need something to get me motivated and I think this might help, especially if I can visually see how I am doing. (Judy Cowan)

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  11. I love that the fit bit keeps track of all your steps as this would hold me note accountable for my health!

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  12. I like how it keeps track of both sleep and steps - multitasking is awesome! I'll be more inclined to pay attention if a machine is keeping track too!

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  13. I like that it will track my sleep and I can wear it 24/7! I'd use it to track my sleep and encourage myself to walk more! (Suzi)

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  14. I love that it tracks my sleep. I would use it to see when I sleep best and improve my sleep.

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  15. I like the sleeping tracker, would be useful to me to learn about my sleeping habits and help improve the way I sleep

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  16. I like that not only does it keep track of everything but that it gives notifications, badges. etc. I love that it makes things more fun. I think just simple things like that would help motivate me.

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  17. I need things like this to really push me and help me achieve small, daily goals on the way to the larger overall goals :).

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  18. Since I'm pretty well on my fitness journey I think the best feature and the most helpful one will be the social aspect, I used to have the FitBit force but it got recalled and I have A LOT of friends on FitBit and I miss the support. I also really miss the display so I can see where I am at a glance without having to pick up my phone all time.

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  19. i like that it displays right on the face, unlike the flex that only gives you an idea of how you are doing. this would help me stay motivated

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  20. I like that it shows you how many steps you do. I would like to win this to help motivate me to move more

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  21. I love how simple it is to use and I would love it as motivation to lose the baby weight

    @marlibu

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  22. I love that you keep it on 24/7. That it counts your steps. That it tracks your sleep habits. I just think it's all around brilliant.

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  23. I love that it shows your progress on the display so you can check. It would help me in my goals because I could see how well I'm doing and be motivated to try harder.

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  24. I love that it tracks steps and sleep. Motivational

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  25. I really love this ! I sometimes need to know how bad or good Im doing to keep me motivated ! To be able to keep track like this is amazing !

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  26. I like that this can track my sleep pattern. I am tired a lot of the time which is not conducive towards regular exercise. So, I am hoping that looking at my sleep will help me figure out what changes, if any, I could make to improve it.

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  27. For me it would be 100% the tracking steps. Sometimes I think I am not aware that I have not been as active as I would like to think I have been and this is a great reminder to get up and get moving!

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  28. I like the step tracker,,I know I do not get very many steps in in a day,,so this would be a gteat motivater to get in better shape and to start being a lot more active!

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  29. i like that the number of steps shows right on the new tracker. i dont believe that was the case with the flex. i need this because its easy to forget how little i do each day and motivation is the key to everything.

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  30. I hink the number of steps and other stats will help me to push harder every day since i am motivated by competeing with myself!

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  31. I love that it is compatible with my phone or with my laptop that way i can track my progress no matter where i am. I can't believe how many things you can do with the fit bit. I love the step counter and i think a device like this would be a great motivational tool on my fitness journey!

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  32. I love the step counter because it would help motivate me to move more. I think it would encourage me to be more active.

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  33. i really like how it tracks sleep, i also like how it tracks steps and you can have 'competitions' with your friends. this would help my motivation
    (stacey h)

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  34. I like it will buzz when you reach your target and I'd use it to motivate myself! (Suzi)

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  35. I like that it tracks your sleep. I think this fit bit will really keep me motivated on staying healthy and getting out there for some exercise.

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  36. My favorite feature is that it tracks steps. I know that is simple, but I think it would motivate me to do my best everyday!

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  37. I liek that it tracks steps and calories burned - it would help em on my goal to lose a couple of extra pounds !

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  38. I like how it tracks steps. I love to own one to get me moving more. I am always up to a challenge,
    Florence C

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  39. I love that it tracks your sleep and it would help me stay healthy by giving me motivation

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  40. I love that it can track my sleep because I really have crappy sleep patterns.

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  41. I love that it tracks your steps and i could really use one of these

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  42. I would love to track my sleep patterns!


    freebiegoddess03@aol.com

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  43. I like the achievement badges since I think that would provide me with a little bit more motivation to keep working out.

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  44. I like that it keeps track for 7 days and you can sync it to your computer. This would help me keep track of my progress.

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  45. I LOVE how it tracks your steps.. I lost 70lbs last year and got a lil bit back on. This could be a HUGE help in my weight loss! Thanks!

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  46. I like the sleep tracker! That is so cool!

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  47. I love how tracks how many steps I take. I think this would help me make sure I'm walking more and staying active

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  48. I absolutely love that it tracks your progress for 7 days as I am just starting my journey. It would help be to keep track of my goals and give me motivation to continue reaching my main goal. Thanks for the great giveaway.

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  49. I like that it keeps track of all of your steps. It would help me push myself towards my goal

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  50. It would help me track my steps

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  51. I like its tracking features and how it can be a gentle reminder

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  52. I like that it tracks my sleep pattern and would help me towards reaching goals

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  53. I love the tracking feature. I work two jobs and would love to know how many steps I take.

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  54. I really like that it is able to track every minute every day for 7 days. This would help me keep track of my progress, and i would not have to worry about my data being erased if I missed a day or two.

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  55. I am really impressed with the Tech Specialist--that is pretty awesome because no matter how cool something is, if you don't know how to use it, it is useless!

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  56. I love the fact that it will track my sleep, I don't think that I am getting enough and this should confirm it.

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  57. I like that it keeps track of how many steps I have taken so that I can get up and move around some more when I see the number during the day.

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  58. I like that it's fashionable and keeps me on track

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  59. I like that it would be a reminder to get up and walk around at work because it is right there on my wrist
    jan

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  60. I like that you can sync your progress to your laptop!

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  61. I like that it tracks my meals and if I have been active enough to burn the calories ingested.

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  62. I really like the fact you can sink it with your computer and track your physical activity easily :)

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  63. I like that you can use it to help track sleep, I fail at sleep and can use all the help I can get

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  64. I would love to track my steps and sleeping. I am starting a fitness business so it would be cool to be able to tell my clients how many calories they burned.

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  65. I really want to track my sleeping habits so that I can improve my sleep schedule and hopefully sleep quality!!

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  66. I like the step tracker, I think that it would help keep me motivated. I think that I am fairly fit, but can certainly use motivation as a very busy homeschooling, stay at home mom -this might help me just be a little more physical :)

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  67. that it tracks my progress for 7 days! and counts my steps. Keeping teack and seeing my progress will keep me motivated!

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  68. I love that it tracks my sleep and distance I travel, that will allow me to get a more regular routine going and up the amount I'm walking each day!

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  69. I like that it tracks workouts so I can see how much I am burning. I would use it daily to check and see how many calories I burn a day so I can tell if I am burning enough.

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  70. I like that it keeps track of all my steps, this would help me stay motivated

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  71. the step count feature would be the feature I'd use the most!

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  72. i love that it tracks all your steps ..it would be helpful to me to keep me motivated at being more active this year

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  73. I like that it will track my progress for the whole week. Sometimes I start the week out with really good intentions but the follow through doesn't make it all the way to the weekend. Being able to see that trend and know I'm slipping will help me stay motivated. There's nothing like being accountable, even if it's only to yourself, to help keep you on track.

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  74. I've never owned a fitness tracker so I have zero idea how many steps I take in any given day. I love how the FitBit can track steps for a week. That's the motivation right there- to visually SEE those numbers & try to beat them to further your progress. Awesome! (I also love the sleep tracker, I'd be curious to see how well I sleep.)

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  75. I like that it tracks my calories burned, that way I can do my best to even out my caloric intake.

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  76. I like that it keeps track of my sleep. I often don't get enough of it and I think this would help to get my sleeping pattern normalized so I can have energy to work out!

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  77. I like that it tracks my progress for 7 days and my sleep. I am just starting out my fitness journey and this would be such a motivation to see how I progress!

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  78. Visual personality - need to "See" to acknowledge accoutability and progress. Tracking feature of calories/steps....the key to fitness success. Fitbit a great tool to acheive healthy lifestyles not just for oneself but for the entire family.

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  79. I like that it keeps track of my progress for 7 days.This would really help me with my fitness goals because I'd always be trying to walk more steps each day than the day before.The Fitbit would be my motivation!!

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  80. I like that it keeps track of my 7 day progress. What a great motivator

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  81. I have the flex so I like the fact that you can see the time on the charge.

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  82. I like how it tracks steps, I walk alot around the neighborhood in the summer and this would help alot

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  83. I love fitbit products!

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  84. I love that it keeps track of your step and sleep!

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  85. I like that it tracks for seven days, that is super useful

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  87. I like that the fitbit Charge counts steps because this will help me to know how much I am actually moving around in a day. I think this feature will also challenge me to walk more and exceed my daily count. As well, my friend already has a fitbit and we could challenge each other!

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  88. I love that it tracks my sleep. I would use it to see when I sleep best and improve my sleep.

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  89. I like that it tracks steps as increasing steps is my goal, but I also likes that it tracks sleep as I can be a restless sleeper.

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  90. I would enjoy being able to track the calories on my wrist, that keeps me motivated quite well.

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  91. I like that it tracks my sleep patterns too. I would use this to make sure I get the right amount of activity and rest in my day.

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  92. I like how it keeps track of your steps and I love how you can set goals

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  93. my resolution this year was to run more and so i think the fitbit would be great to help me keep track of my progress. my favourite feature is that it keeps track of my steps, and i am able to track calories as well.

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  94. Good for you Cathy for stepping up to the challenge! The feature I like best is the achievement badges and notifications - that would really motivate me on my fitness journey! Thanks for the chance to win.

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  95. I love that it can track calories and also sleep

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  96. I love that it keeps track of my steps! just started getting fit and in shape this year! this would help with the process

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  97. I like that it tracks all of your steps and love that you connect to your computer

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  98. I like the display rather than what the Fitbit Flex offers.

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  99. I would love to learn more about my sleep patterns!

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  100. I like that it tracks steps and calories, will help to set and maintain goals.

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  101. My favourite feature is that it also comes with a watch. I have the original Fitbit and never wear it because it doesn't have a watch. A watch would help me for 2 reasons - first, I would be able to wear the tracker which would actually help me track my fitness! Right now my need to know the time has taken precedence, but I know that tracking my fitness is much healthier! Two, it would help me time my walks etc. Right now I am trying to get at least an hour of activity a day, so having a clock AND activity tracker together will help me time my walks, runs etc while also telling me how effective they were.

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  102. I like the sleep tracker and silent wake features, I have very irregular sleep patterns which often result in me feeling tired and unmotivated to workout. Adding the fitbit Charge to my life would definitely help me in achieving my fitness goals.

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  103. I like the sleep tracker and silent wake features as I have very irregular sleeping patterns which often result in me feeling tired and unmotivated to workout. Adding the fitbit Charge to my lifestyle would definitely help me in reaching my fitness goals.

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  104. I like that it keeps track of your activity, I think I would set goals and check it throughout the day and get more active if I've been sitting too long.

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  105. Great fitness tracker. Keeping track of one's fitness levels and progress is normally the most difficult element of any routine, and the sleep tracker adds an entirely new dimension for improving personal health.

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  106. I like both the sleeping tracker and the steps tracker.

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  107. I love how it tracks your steps and this would help me as it would make me feel more accountable to do the amount of steps needed which I believe is 10,000 per day.

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  108. I love that it tracks activity all day long, tracking steps, distance, calories burned, etc, because that is why I have been wanting a fitbit. I would love to track my fitness progress so I can see where I can improve. The wireless sync feature is pretty neat too.
    .

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  109. Wow!! This would be great for me and my whole family. I like the tracking steps system. I could really use that especially most of us are office people. And it would really be a great fitness motivator. I like that it can connect to your comp. Will it connect to our android phones too? just curious...

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  110. I am actually very interested in the info about sleep, how restless you are and how much sleep you are getting.
    Having a good sleep is the first step on my healthy journey.

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  111. I love that it would motivate me to move more and vibrate when I get to the desired amount of steps.

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  112. I've been thinking about getting one of these for a while. Thanks for the review/blog!

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  113. I like that it appeals to my competitive side.

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  114. I like how it helps track your sleep quality. Hopefully it would motivate me to make sleep more of a priority.

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  115. I love that it cheers you on!

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  116. I always procastinate. This way it shows my bad habits and will motivate to work harder.

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  117. Seeing my steps with the step counter would keep me motivated to stay active during the day.

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  118. I am intrigued by all the tracking functions! Having all that data at your fingertips sounds like it would be very motivating (something that I could always use a little more of!)

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