The family that steps together.....drives each other crazy!

About 6 months ago, my husband and myself jumped on the bandwagon of fitness watches and counting our steps. Our children have watched us over the last several months challenge each other and taunt each other when one of us is obviously way out performing the other in overall steps for the day. In the last 2 months our children, our oldest two, Lily 10 and Abby 9 have begged us to let them be a part of the "fun". Did they not realize this was extra work for us? Did they not realize that this is part of our fitness routine? This is not fun!!! But then we realized it was pretty fun being psychopaths running in place in between seeing patients and feeling the effects of a little more movement. So we ordered the fitness watches for 2 of our three children and our youngest who is four is quite content with her invisible fitness watch! (As pictured below)

It wasn't until yesterday when we received the watches for the kids that the cold hard reality hit myself and my husband.  We are totally going to get our butts kicked by a 10 year old and 9 year old. After only having her watch on for less than a half hour or so, our oldest had already racked up over 3,000 steps and our 9 year old was right behind her.  I was sitting well over 12,000 steps for the day, but this was 9 pm and I had my watch on all day and had to push myself to that number.  

After we put these kids to bed, we knew we had to console each other.  This was probably going to be the last time either of the adults would be number one on the challenge leader board.  But then we started to think a little deeper about fitness and our overall predictions of what might be the outcome of being challenged by a child.  And I am not talking about average couch potato kids, I'm taking constantly moving, soccer playing and swimming all the time kids.  Could our kids push us to a new fitness level? Hmm, it sure is an interesting idea.  So we have decided, for fun to log our results of our little family challenge.

The hypothesis, in no way form or shape is this a true scientific study, but we have an idea that the kids move way more in an average day than adults.  When we first got our fitness watches, we were in shock to find we did not just automatically log 10,000 steps at work, more like 3,000! We actually have to work hard to get 10,000 steps, but my 10 year old had 3,000 steps in a half hour.  This family fitness challenge is not an attempt to make our children move more, it is our sad attempt to make us move more, using as them as our role models.  My average daily step count has been at about 11,000.  I feel like I am working so much harder the days I get to 16,000.  My complete paradigm is about to change, as I guess my two children each will be well over 20,000 when they get home from soccer camp today.

Soccer camp week is a tough week to compare and start this challenge, but even weeks they are not at soccer camp I believe their daily step count will far exceed mine and my husbands unless we move more! We are going to log our daily and weekly progress and see if being beat by a kid is enough inspiration to change our habits.

The brand of watches we are using are Withings, a brand that we extensively researched before buying this type of device.  All of ours are waterproof, only because I jumped in the pool with my first watch that was not. We also have the scale and blood pressure cuff that all sync to the free Healthmate app.  The link to Amazon is below for the watches.  Maybe you will join us in this challenge to see if we should be raising our fitness standards to that of a child.

Thanks Santa, for the gift that tells me how much I really do not move:) (Actually my favorite present ever)

After all of the Prime Rib and Turkey with all of the "fixins" and treats that come along with the holidays, sometimes having Santa give you a reminder that you need to move is good! On Christmas morning I awoke to three kids ripping through presents like they were on a mission.  The excitement of this day for a 3,8 and 10 year old is too much for them to contain themselves. Usually, after the kids are done opening their presents and have already moved into the "I need a screwdriver to put batteries in this sucker" phase is when my husband, Tim, and I remember that Santa brought gifts for us too!

Our gifts from Santa are almost always health related or clothes/ sneakers to do something health related.  This year he stuck to this theme but the gifts were just a little different.  Santa brought us a Withings Pulse O2 Activity, Sleep, and Heart Rate + SPO2 Tracker, which is in line with the Fitbit type tracker.  But Santa knew that we needed to have a screen, being very American and requiring instant gratification. Plus we wanted to be able to pass by each other and immediately tell each other who is working harder by looking at our wrist not having to go to our cell phone to get this information, by then we might be too lazy to brag about who works harder!

Santa also thought it would be a great idea to purchase a group gift for Tim and I, he got us the Withings WS-50 Smart Body Analyzer.  This was not a gift I think I would ever be excited about. Most women over 40, we don't usually do back flips over a gift like this, a fancy scale!  A fancy scale that talks to my phone through my WiFi and tells my phone how much I weigh, my body fat percentage, heart rate and continuous indoor air quality.  That last one, indoor air quality, I still don't completely understand.
There was an easy set up for the scale that was simple enough for anyone to figure out.  The scale becomes, a I think, an important component to the whole process.  It is like why programs like Weight Watchers are so successful, accountability, there right in your face, makes a huge difference in some peoples actions.

I would not usually review a product so quickly but in all honesty, in just one week Tim and I have broken many bad habits due to "the power of the Withings."  The features of the tracker are the following: it monitors all of my steps from the moment I get up until I set it to sleep mode at night.  It also tracks elevation, heart rate, distance, calories and is a watch. I have to say I was truly surprised my first day back at work at how hard it was to get past 5,000 steps.  I am constantly moving when I am at work, running from patient treatment room to treatment room.  So I thought by 5pm I would be over 10,000 steps, wrong! I was tired after my first day back  from Christmas vacation but my Withings said I only burned 150 calories and walked 5,000 steps so I had to show this watch who was boss and I got on the treadmill until I was over 10,000 steps.  Yes, this is crazy but if it keeps the competitive individual from getting lax then I am all for it.  My husband Tim not wanting to be outdone also wanted to show the watch who was boss, but his approach was a little different. Actually, he used the clip accessory and attached it to our dog, he says it was a joke but I will be suspicious if he starts doing 20,000 steps every day:)

Like any exercise program or diet the hardest part is sometimes just starting.  This is a great way to start something new and have some accountability.  Tim and I have a daily challenge of who has completed more steps and this is a friendly competition.  I personally have made better food choices as well, just in case the scale mixes up our weights and Tim starts getting my body fat percentage and weight.

So my thoughts are, no band will make you magically "fit".  Only eating right and exercising daily will truly do this but a fitness tracker like the Withings and the scale  is a nice way to have some accountability and maybe inspire those of us who think we are working hard to push ourselves just a little more to stay healthy. The App for the Withings is available on Iphone and Android phones and gives you the ability to challenge friends or spouses daily and lets you know who is winning, I am all about winning:)

I believe Santa may have bought these items on Amazon as he would have gotten the best prices. I included a link to both if you are interested in taking "steps" in the right direction for your health.

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