The day is October 4th. I had just gotten home from a long weekend traveling. I do my normal routine when I get home: throw my overnight bag in my closet (never to be seen again), take down my hair and throw on sweatpants, and take off my rings and Fitbit Surge.
I stick it right on my dresser. I knew it was on it’s last hour of battery power. What I didn’t know was that the dresser would be it’s home for the next two and a half months.
Yes, I know. I’m incredibly lazy, considering that the charger was right next to it, plugged in to my fancy little USB surge protector.
And let’s fast forward to this past weekend. I had just completed my winter-cleaning (my room needed it), and my Fitbit showed its ugly face under a pile of graded essays and drafts and a few magazines. But alas, I had made a promise to myself this year to use my Fitbit to track how much water I had been drinking, to track carbs and calories consumed, and to track my physical activity. I sat down with my computer and my phone, ready to sync it back up. And it wouldn’t. That’s just one many things that will happen if you don’t wear your Fitbit for 2 months. Here are some other things that happen too:
1. My Fitbit glitches and I can’t open settings.
This may be a user error… maybe I’m not swiping hard enough.
2. I found myself not as active as usual.
I think this just relates back to my overall laziness. I feel as though I’m not as active as I was in those early October days. It may just be the winter weather that prevents me from going outside for a run with my dog.
3. I feel like I’m always forgetting something.
When I leave my apartment, I make sure I have my computer, planner, pencils, pens, sunglasses, keys, and phone. That list used to have Fitbit on it. And every day when I leave my apartment I always feel like I’m forgetting something.
4. I don’t have a watch.
The Fitbit Surge serves multiple purposes; counting your steps, stairs climbed, heart rate, and my favorite: the watch. Granted, we’ve all resorted to looking at our phone for the time, but what if my phone dies? I can’t simply look down to my wrist.
5. I can’t track my running distance.
One of my goals this year is to run 5Ks, 10Ks, half marathons and marathons. And I can’t necessarily do that without knowing the distance of how far I run. I like the convenience of looking down and seeing how far I ran. Without it, I go online and plan out a route but often forget it on the way.
6. I’m losing challenges with my friends.
A benefit of Fitbit is that you’re able to connect to Facebook and challenge your friends to how many steps you can take during the day. And currently I’m losing every single one. (I’ll catch up to you, Mom).
The biggest take away we can all make from this is continue to wear your Fitbit. Also, become technologically advanced. Eventually, I will get my precious timepiece, health and run tracker working again.
UPDATE: After tinkering around on my devices, I realized that my Fitbit was never connected to my phone over Bluetooth. And that was the root of all of the problems listed before.