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.
