January and February are good months to re-prioritize health and wellness. Gone off the fitness wagon? Slacker? A good swift kick in the butt is what it takes to get back into shape.
I also love a good challenge… so when I was invited to participate in a health and fitness challenge with TELUS called Every Step Counts, I was IN!
TELUS hooked me up with my own Fitbit Charge for the #EveryStepCounts challenge, and to help me stay on track with my health and fitness goals. Fitbit is wearable fitness technology which motivates you to move more by tracking all-day activity like steps taken, distance traveled, calories burned, floors climbed and active minutes.
To get started, I first met with a TELUS Health Tech Trainer who is trained experts in fitness and wearable health technology. We met in a customized, one-on-one learning session at my local TELUS store and he showed me how to make the most of my new Fitbit and how to sync with my smartphone.
On Monday, February 2nd, the challenge officially began! Along with 15 other bloggers across Canada, I competed for two weeks to see who could rack up the most steps!
Before the challenge began, I didn’t imagine that I could reach 10,000 steps in a day, which is recommended. Studies have shown that people who increased their walking to 10,000 steps daily experience health benefits.
My lifestyle doesn’t seem active on paper; working mainly from home, walking to and from my office to the kitchen (yum) and laundry room (boo), running errands and ‘chasing’ after my kids, I didn’t think my steps would add up. To my surprise, I surpassed the 10,000 step goal in my day-to-day activities. Throw in workouts at the gym and was on my way to reaching the 20,000 mark!
Fifteen kilometres in one day? Unreal! The Fitbit dashboard shows a graph on your daily activity and allows you to view your progress. You can earn badges, helping to motivate you. You can also log your food, and add other food/calorie counting apps to work with your Fitbit Charge.
Charge lets you see every stat as it happens—right on your wrist, with a bright OLED display. I was surprised by the length of the battery life (7-10 days) – I only had to charge my Fitbit twice in two weeks.
The app can be dowloaded on your iPhone or Android smartphone and synced to your computer as well. Fitbit Charge lets you see your progress on-the go, and shows you detailed charts and graphs so you can track your trends over time.
Another cool feature of the Fitbit Charge is the sleep tracking. As we know, sleep is essential for a person’s health and well-being. But how much and how well are you sleeping a night? After all that activity, I was delighted to see this – probably the best sleep I’ve had in a long time:
What’s even more fun about the Fitbit Charge is that you can invite family and friends to share stats and compete. With the #everystepcounts challenge with TELUS, it’s been a great challenge competing with my fellow bloggers. It’s been fun motivating each other and taking part in a friendly competition.
I’m thrilled to say that I finished the challenge in THIRD place! *Pat on the back*
Now that the challenge is over, I’m still wearing my Fitbit and continuing to track my activity. The more active I am, the better I feel.
ENTER TO WIN
Do you want a Fitbit Charge of your own to track your steps? Our friends at TELUS are giving one lucker reader a Fitbit Charge worth $139.99. Please use the Rafflecopter form below to enter this giveaway.
190 Comments
To help me with my fitness journey!keep me motivated!
I’ve been wanting to get one for a while. ..I promised myself once I got my eating habits under control, it would be time to move. ..it’s now that time
I am just recovering from a serious illness and want to get my strength back and get in shape. This would be a big help and motivator!
Would love to win to re kick start my new years resolution
I would love to win the Fitbit because I love jogging and walking at a fast pace.This would be awesome to keep me motivated and give me some encouragment. Thank you for this opportunity to win it 🙂
I’d love to win this to monitor my sleeping habit
i love my fitbit flex and would love to get one for hubby. I love the design and look of the charge
Would love to be able to keep track of my progress easily.
I would like to keep track of my sleep and fitness
I think this would motivate me to be more accountable when it comes to regular exercise. Seeing the numbers improve would definitely inspire me!
I’d like to win this for my mom…she’s been wanting to get back into exercising and this will help motivate and track her activities!
i want to start getting in shape and this would assist me in tracking my progress
They say that tracking always helps to keep one “on track” No pun intended! 🙂
this would be awesome for my mom
Fitbit looks like great gadget in helping me track my progress.
I would love to win the Fitbit because I need some motivation to keep going and stay active. I have heard excellent reports and reviews on the Fitbit! I also love Telus!
I want this to help me track my steps and sleep
I used to have a Fitbit One but gave it to my aunt after her heart attack to motivate her. I would love to have this new device to help keep ME motivated.
It’s just so useful! I love the Fitbit…I borrowed a friend’s once and had so much fun with it!
I would love to have an accurate count for the walking I do. I ‘guesstimate’ but I’m sure I’m way off on some of my numbers. It would also help motivate me for those days I don’t want to get out.
I would like to win because I had a FitBit before, but it got recalled and I had a lot of friends on the FitBit app that I’d like to reconnect with. Plu smy replacement fitness tracker seems to be on the fritz!
Who wouldn’t want to win a Fitbit Charge? They’re gorgeous. All my friends are raving about thier Fitbit… and I’d love to connect with them and be in their challenges… I so want to get healthier. I’ll be 50 next year (holy smokes, I don’t believe I’m typing this, or even admitting it) – and I DON’T want to look 50! I think if I were to get a Fitbit Charge and use it – it’ll encourage and coach me into staying young, fit and healthy! xoxox and thanks for the opportunity!
I am currently on a weight lose journey to lose 75lbs and I think that this would really help to keep me on track!
I have wanted a fitbit for ages – couldn’t afford it. I walk to work and think this would be a great way to track steps. I am on a quest to get healthier and stay fit. I do run…but this adds a new element.
id like it because my doctor recommended a pedometer a year ago and i use an old fashioned one. tech inspires me
I love fitness trackers because they are really motivating to keep you moving. I would like it to track my sleep for sure.
I would like to win for the motivation to stay healthy and active
I would like to win it for inspiration to be more active as well as the sleep feature.
I probably do not want to know my sleep – But I am curious. I really would love it to keep me inspired to increase my cardio exercise.
I’m trying to be more active. This would be great to keep track of my activities as well as be a motivator.
I would LOVE to win the Fitbit Charge from Telus, not only to keep track of my steps, but mainly to keep track of my sleep! I have had a sleep study done in the past that suggested I do not fall into REM sleep and therefore, that is why I am so tired all day. Sleep is so important for our bodies to replenish and repair and mine cannot do that if I can’t sleep! What a wonderful product Telus has come up with for me to track not only my sleep habits but my fitness level as well! Thank you Telus! 🙂
Yes I think it’s very cool to see how well you sleep during the night and the Fitbit is able to track movements. Good luck!
I think it would help me, be more encouraged to keep moving.
I would love to track my sleep!
Nice prize!
This would help me with my weight loss (after baby) goals!
I’d love to see how much activity I’ve done throughout the day and be able to track it and keep me more motivated to stay active 🙂
Would love to track my steps!
I would love to win as this would be wonderful to help me achieve a goal of getting into better shape!
Fb name for share is Suzanne K
I would love to keep track of my steps and my fitness progress in general!
this would assist me in tracking my progress.
I want to be more accountable with my health journey and this would be a visual reminder and help.
i like this product! it would keep me motivated
I would love to win a Fitbit Charge from Telus so that I can have a better idea of how much activity I need to be doing on a daily basis. It would be so helpful to see the number of steps I’m taking so that I can increase my activity level as needed.
I would like to win a FitBit Charge because I know someone in my family who has been wanting to get one and this would make a great surprise gift.
Would love to win this to help keep track of my fitness…seems like a very useful tool!
To encourage me to be more active
To help me accomplish and track my fitness progress
I’ve been lusting after these for a while! I’d love to win so that I could track my steps! It would be fun to set goals for each day and work towards always one upping myself
I’d like to win the Fitbit to help increase my cardiac health as I’m recovering from a heart illness.
I would like to win this for my husband, he’s recently becoming more and more fitness minded