I want to be more fit. Well, “more fit” would suggest I already am fit. I’m not confident that is true. I know that there are three key components to reaching my desired fitness level. And my friend Fitbit will undoubtedly help me reach my goal.
First, sleep! Okay, this seems like a simple thing to do. I am retired now, so, naturally I will sleep longer. I have reduced my level of stress and commitments. I don’t have papers to grade nor do I have a standing 7:30AM appointment with thirty-five students. My friend tells me I wake-up an awful lot at night and sleep nearly 6 hours per night. That is better than the 4 1/2 hours I was getting a year ago. Thank you, friend. Maybe I will eventually get that 7-9 hours all the health articles recommend. Maybe I’d sleep even better if I quit reading articles that made me worry about how little sleep I get.
Second, eat right. This is a tough one. Keeping track of calories taken in and calories burned off seems like a simple way to figure out if I’m leading a more fit lifestyle. A more fit lifestyle would lead to drop in weight. But hold the phone, not so fast. When you eat, what you eat, how much you eat at one time, and a whole lot of other factors contribute to eating right. Also, gaining weight could be the result of exercise and training, which would be better than gaining weight eating chips and salsa while watching NCIS reruns. This all seems so complicated. This may be where my friend and I just don’t communicate well. My friend wants me to input everything I eat in a day so it can calculate the net gain or loss of calories. Inputting all that information can be time consuming and tedious. Maybe this is another reason I am not sleeping well.
Third, do something. My friend counts my steps. Recently, my friend decided to not just count steps, but judge the value of my steps. I felt better when it just counted and didn’t judge me. My friend knows enough to differentiate between steps taken moving from the couch to the refrigerator and the steps that are much more demanding and rigorous, like the steps taken moving from the couch up the stairs to get that all important sleep. I was surprised how many steps I take some days. I just know that none of the steps are taken running. I hate running. Maybe my friend will help me adjust my attitude and I will learn to enjoy running in retirement.
I know fitness is the result of work and takes a strong character and fortitude. It takes discipline and desire. Fitbit, if a true friend, will help me get there.