Recovery, Inspiration, Fitbit Charge HR and post-surgery me!

Disclosure: As a member of a great group of Verizon influencers, I occasionally receive cool products to test drive and share my honest thoughts on. No additional compensation is provided, neither were any favorable comments promised. All opinions are my own.

As many of you know, I had lung surgery last year. All is okay and ended well with the best results I could ask for, but it was a real wake-up call to me. Health is a funny thing – you don’t think about it much until you don’t have it. Certain habits in my life weren’t conducive to maintaining good health, and I’m on a mission to reverse that and be as healthy as I can be at this point. My ultimate goal is to be healthier and in better shape post-surgery than I was pre-surgery.

Fitbit & Me

For that reason, I am so thrilled to be testing the Fitbit Charge HR! It’s a nice way for me to monitor my progress toward having a more active and healthy lifestyle. I’ve really been enamored with Fitbit since the very first model came out. Fitbit has several different kinds of fitness trackers, and they all track steps, but some track other things as well like sleep and heart rate for a bigger picture of your health. Some are worn on the wrist and some are clipped to your clothing. The right tracker for you will really depend on your lifestyle.

The Charge HR is the cream of the crop when it comes to fitness trackers. It does everything you’d expect – tracks steps, heart rate, active minutes, sleep cycles, calories burned…and has caller ID. Yes. Caller ID. It also wirelessly syncs to your Verizon smartphone and computer to monitor your trends.

Features I love

Another cool and unexpected feature of the HR is the alarm clock. If you like to get out of bed early and get your workout in before your brain knows it’s awake, you’ll appreciate the silent vibrating alarm on your wrist that will wake you but not your spouse. Working out first thing in the morning is hard enough without battling a grumbling husband!

The tracker is also completely comfortable to wear. It’s actually so comfortable that I have to try to remember to take it off when I swim or shower. It’s water resistant, so a few splashes won’t hurt it, but I wouldn’t attempt to submerge it even though I’ve heard wonderful things about Fitbit’s replacement policy.

Recovery, Inspiration, Fitbit Charge HR and post-surgery me!

How does it work?

I’m not going to get into all the technicalities of it, but basically, you go about your business and the tracker keeps track of your movements and heart rate, whether you’re sleeping, working out, or working in the garden. It syncs with your computer or phone to keep all of your information in a safe place, and then you can use the Fitbit app to keep logs of other things like calorie intake and your goals and progress – the app even has a convenient barcode scanner to log foods! You can also use the Fitbit app to compete with your friends and family. It truly gives new meaning to “healthy competition”.

How far will you go?

The user-friendly dashboard allows you to quickly glance and see how things are going in real time. It gives you a pretty complete picture of your health at the moment, and as you progress, you earn badges that you can share with friends and family. For example, it will tell you when you’ve climbed enough steps to reach a hot air balloon (2,000 floors).

So far, I’ve managed the Lighthouse badge by climbing a lighthouse!… and for someone that wasn’t able to walk around the yard a year ago, that’s huge for me.  It was such a thrill to have my Fitbit Charge HR record the milestone moment.  Hoping to get that hot air balloon award some day soon as I keep adding flights each day!

 

Apps, apps, and more apps

Charge HR works with many fitness apps you might already be using, like SparkPeople or MyFitness Pal, so if you’re active in an online fitness community, it will enhance your experience. Additionally, the tracker will work with the Aria WiFi Smart Scale.

Thanks to technology, there is little guesswork anymore when it comes to fitness. Sure, there is more to getting fit than calories in vs calories out, but with the Fitbit Charge HR, you’ll always know if you’re moving enough! I have certainly learned that ten thousand steps a day is a lot more than I thought it was!

Fitbit Charge HR retails for around $149, find out more about this and other exciting Fitbit products available via Verizon at http://vz.to/1rXeeUJ

Do you track your fitness? How close do you come to getting the recommended 10,000 steps daily?

by
Barb Webb. Founder and Editor of Rural Mom, is an the author of "Getting Laid" and "Getting Baked". A sustainable living expert nesting in Appalachian Kentucky, when she’s not chasing chickens around the farm or engaging in mock Jedi battles, she’s making tea and writing about country living and artisan culture.
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Comments

    • Rose M.
    • June 5, 2016
    Reply

    You always have the coolest stuff on this site, want one of these!! Congrats on your climbing achievement, that would be hard for me to do so bravo!

      • Barb Webb
      • June 5, 2016
      Reply

      Thanks Rose! It was a wonderful moment and I’m so glad I have a visual “record” of it 🙂 And thanks for the awesome feedback!

    • Georgia
    • June 5, 2016
    Reply

    I know I should be doing this but it’s always “next Monday”. I’ve heard a lot of positive feedback on FitBit but I’ve never tried it. When I was in college I was very active but once I found my dream job and married I kind of settled in a couch-potato mood and this includes choosing the elevator over the stairs. I’ll give this one a go and hopefully it motivates me to change my lifestyle, if not for me, for my kids, I hate that I’m such a bad role model for them.

      • Barb Webb
      • June 5, 2016
      Reply

      I’ve totally been there, Georgia! And still have my moments where I’m like “maybe tomorrow.” The Fitbit helps a lot by giving me little reminders and goals to inspire me to move more today instead of tomorrow. I highly recommend it for this purpose. For me, it’s about my kids, too, and being in the best health I can be to keep up with them! lol

    • diane hoffmaster
    • June 6, 2016
    Reply

    I don’t track my fitness but have always been curious about how many steps I take each day. i really need to look into getting one of these!

    • Kristi
    • June 6, 2016
    Reply

    It is so amazing to see the things that technology can do for us. Glad to see the “screen” can help us be healthy and keep us on track. Looks like a great tool to have.

    • julieiscocoandcocoa
    • June 6, 2016
    Reply

    My Mom has a FitBit and loves it. I think I’m going to add one to my Christmas wish list. Sitting at my desk so much I know I’m not nearly as active as I should be.

    • Michele
    • June 6, 2016
    Reply

    I love my Fitbit!! It is so much fun to have the step competition with friends on Fitbit. I love that technology does so much to help us be healthy.

    • Jennifer
    • June 6, 2016
    Reply

    I actually don’t track my fitness, but I should. I have no idea how many steps I take, but I’m my feet a lot.

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