The Fitbit Effect

[swan_tower]

[If you are the sort of person for whom reading a discussion of fitness and weight is going to be detrimental to your state of mind, you may want to skip this post.]

I’ve been seeing the “ten thousand steps” thing around lately — the idea that your health can be improved by the relatively simple tactic of getting off your butt and walking more. I doubt there’s anything magic in 10K specifically, of course; it’s just a nice round number that’s easy to remember. The underlying point seems reasonably valid, though, in that we have a growing body of evidence to show that sitting for large stretches of time is not very good for you, and our species evolved on the assumption that we’d be spending a lot of time in motion.

One of the places where I saw the 10K thing added the statistic that a particularly sedentary person may walk only 1-3K steps per day. This made me wonder: how many steps do I walk on an average day? After all, I have a desk job, and my office is about twenty feet down the hall from my bedroom, so I was guessing the number wouldn’t be particularly high — but I didn’t really know. I’ve had a pedometer app on my phone for quite some time, but since I carry my phone in my purse, it doesn’t count the steps I take around the house when my purse is on the floor. Furthermore, at one point I decided to test its accuracy by mentally counting my steps on the way home from the post office, and checking it against my phone’s count. I didn’t expect the app to be terribly accurate . . . but it was off by such an appallingly large margin (roughly 50%, if memory serves) that I decided to go ahead and get a Fitbit. (Charge HR, for anybody who’s curious.)

The Fitbit isn’t perfectly accurate, either. If I’m carrying something in my hands or moving especially slowly (ergo not swinging my arm), it may not register the step. Conversely, it’s been known to count the movements I make while brushing my teeth as “steps.” I figure those two things come out in the wash — and besides, as one review I looked at pointed out, the real function of a Fitbit is not as a pedometer, but as a motivator.

And in that regard? It works brilliantly.

Turns out that I get roughly 3-5K steps in a normal day if I don’t leave the house. Most of these are attributable to the fact that the TV and the kitchen are downstairs, whereas the bedroom and my office are upstairs. (It’s not uncommon for me to climb 20 flights of stairs in a day, just moving between rooms.) If I leave the house for an errand, this increases to more like 5-7K. Not nearly as bad as I thought . . . but also nowhere near 10K. Unfortunately, the structure of my life means that increasing the amount I walk is easier said than done, unless I walk purely for its own sake. And for a while I did that — going to the gym just about every day, entirely so I could walk on the treadmill. I kept this up for long enough that it became apparent to me that, okay, the walking part is a habit I’m capable of maintaining; but if I have to go somewhere else to get it done, treating that as a separate part of my life from the stuff I normally do, then sooner or later I’m going to fall off the wagon.

Which is why I’m now the proud owner of a Lifespan desk treadmill. I already had a GeekDesk; my office is just barely large enough that with a little rearranging, I can fit the treadmill underneath. I pull it toward me when I want to stand up and walk, and push it back when I’d rather sit (at which point it becomes a foot rest, because I can’t get it entirely out of the way). It’s heavy, but manageable. And it turns out I can manage a nice, steady 2 mph pace even while typing; if I’m only watching something or reading, I can go 3+. So now my treadmill time can be integrated with the stuff I’m doing anyway, and if I log my time and distance on Fitbit, it will estimate the steps I took — it doesn’t count very accurately when my hands are on the keyboard.

Result: I manage 10K quite easily, and often do more than that if I bother to try. I can trundle along for half an hour, forty-five minutes, even an entire hour, without really noticing the time go by. Getting started is (unsurprisingly) the hardest part, but once that’s done, it’s no problem. I can even work on a story while walking, though at the moment I think I still prefer sitting for that; this is best for email and blog posts and other such things.

Does walking more make a difference? Well, mileage varies (heh) and so do metabolisms — but in my case, yes. My weight has been creeping slowly upward for a while now, and it went a bit faster when I was half-immobilized by ankle surgery last year; it had reached a point I wasn’t all that happy with. Walking more, combined with some very minor changes to my diet (on the level of “stop eating when I’m no longer hungry, rather than when I’m full” and “if two restaurant dishes both sound good, go with the healthier one”) have caused me to drop about 5 lbs. in the last two months or so. It’s a slow change, and I’m sure I could make it go faster if I were more focused on making the numbers go down. I’m deliberately not getting more focused on that. Because what I really want to do here is train myself into habits that I know I can keep, rather than institute short-term measures that I’ll abandon once I hit my target weight. In fact, I’m trying not to even have a target weight, other than “whatever ends up being my equilibrium when I’m walking at least 10K steps a day and trying not to stuff myself.” We’ll see what that ends up being.

In the meanwhile, I’m less sedentary than I was. And when the Bay Area stops pretending it’s Texas (it was 98 degrees Fahrenheit here yesterday, for crying out loud), and my office stops being melty death hot, I think it will be a very pleasant way to work.

Originally published at Swan Tower. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[mastadge.livejournal.com]

"I doubt there’s anything magic in 10K specifically, of course; it’s just a nice round number"

Precisely (http://www.livescience.com/43956-walking-10000-steps-healthy.html)! "Pedometers sold in Japan in the 1960s were marketed under the name 'manpo-kei,' which translates to '10,000 steps meter,' [. . .] The idea resonated with people, and gained popularity with Japanese walking groups".

10k steps for health, like carrots for eyesight, is one of those pr things that has gained general acceptance.

. . .I thought it was fun to know, anyway.

[marycatelli]

It's been tested. It does work, though you can achieve it all on level ground, at a slow pace, so there are better.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I find myself unsurprised that the number may have its origins in Japan, given that 10K is a distinct unit in their counting system.

[ckd]

I love my Charge HR. It's my third(ish) Fitbit; I started with the Ultra, got a Force because I liked the wristband form factor and wanted more features than the Flex, had it break just before they were recalled so I couldn't get it fixed/replaced, went back to the Ultra, then picked up the Charge HR when it was released. Somewhere in there I was using a borrowed Zip for a work walking challenge, so that's the -ish.

Best feature of the Charge HR, IMO, is having a real buckle for the wrist strap. :-)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I wanted something that would replace my Timex. It's less than 100% satisfactory in that regard, as it doesn't display the time unless I press a button, and I have to set alarms on the computer; furthermore, I have tiny wrists and the form factor is really clunky. I have hopes that the Apple Watch will drive Fitbit to design a more aesthetically pleasing model.

[ckd]

If you haven't already, you might want to update the firmware to the latest version which adds a "quick look" gesture (wrist spin) that will show the time briefly. I wound up turning it off because it seemed to be a net loss (lower battery life, especially from unintentional activations, vs a feature I didn't really need) but it could work better for you.

I still wear an actual watch on my left hand (with the HR on my right). Alarms go to my phone rather than either of them. :-) (The watch is a Citizen Eco-Drive and never needs winding, charging, or new batteries.)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

The thing is, I want the time to show without me having to do anything at all. I know it will drain the battery faster, but I'm willing to charge more regularly in order to be able to see the time when my hands are full or waking up or whatever.

[slytherincesss.livejournal.com]

I have the other brand of Fitbit ... Garmin? Something like that. I don't know if this is true for the Fitbit, but I had a massive allergic reaction to the Garmin's wristband. The skin around my wrist turned bright red, as if I'd had boiling water poured over the area. It seriously took three months to mostly disappear. Just an FYI for Fitbitters who have rubber/latex/plastics/adhesives allergies. I'm allergic to all the aforementioned substances, so I stay very aware of it, but I honestly would never have imagined such a severe reaction (It was also horribly itchy!) from a Fitbit-like product. So weird!

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Ooof, that's no fun. Sorry you had such a bad reaction!

[difrancis.livejournal.com]

I just got my Fitbit HR a couple weeks ago. I think the sleep reading is interesting for me too. It's not terribly accurate, but it's telling me sometimes I wake up or get very restless at night.

Like you, I'm interested in increasing my movement, especially given the writing job. I'm working on getting my treadmill into a situation where I can set up a walking desk over it it. I'm wondering how well that will work out for me. We'll see. In the meantime, it does help motivate me. Helps me go farther, too.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

If you have a chance to try a treadmill desk elsewhere, definitely test-drive (test-walk?) it before you sink money and effort into your home setup.

[wanderlustwolf.livejournal.com]

I never even knew they made desk treadmills :O that is something I should look into since I do a lot of work from home with sales.

But yea I've seen a lot of different websites use the whole "10k" thing, and counting steps mentally is a pain~ I've always thought about investing in a tracker but I've had my doubts on them, tho I have an interest in the fitbit.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

It took me a while to find what I was looking for, i.e. a treadmill that doesn't have the front stand at all. There are several companies that make them, though.

fitbit....

[dyvan.livejournal.com]

"the real function of a Fitbit is not as a pedometer, but as a motivator.

And in that regard? It works brilliantly."

You reflect my own findings :)

Seriously though, after reading about the 10,000 steps, and suspecting it was similar to the reason the original CDs were a certain capacity....(lifted from Wikipedia: "By far, the most common is 120 millimetres (4.7 in) in diameter, with a 74- or 80-minute audio capacity and a 650 or 700 MiB (737,280,000-byte) data capacity. This capacity was reportedly specified by Sony executive Norio Ohga in May 1980 so as to be able to contain the entirety of the London Philharmonic Orchestra's recording of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony on one disc.[16] This is a myth according to Kees Immink, as the code format had not yet been decided in May 1980.").....I decided to reset my FitBit Charge to 15,000 steps, and a need to do 90 minutes of active steps per day.

not sure if my body type understands my plan though, because the changes I suspect have been similar to your own slow easing of weight. Though I gave up weighing myself when I discovered exercise didn't seem to have any change in my overall weight, I just "felt" tauter, and more energetic.

It was astonishing how "bad" my own work from home step numbers were, around 3000 to 5000 per day, now if I have a few days in a row like that I am compelled to get out and do more steps, as I can literally feel myself transforming into some type of sentient trifle.

I also used the friends function, where you invite frinds to see your steps, and can see the overall scores of your friends, relatives, for current week on a daily basis. This I also found as a great motivator....however your mileage may vary. :)

[and if you really want to get the Fitbit ticking over, go to a sporting event involving large amounts of clapping......clapping rocks the Fitbit forward ;) ....however only a scoundrel, rascal, rogue, or a cad, would take such measures deliberately, be like "forgetting" to mark down all your shots in golf.]

Re: fitbit....

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I suspect I'll have a similar reaction as I get more used to this, where I'll feel really glurgy if I don't get up and move. :-)

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

I've seen studies that suggest that just getting up and walking around will help overall health quite a bit. Your way of eating until not hungry, and exercising as part of your life, is a great way to manage things.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

If nothing else, I've well prepared myself for the vacation we're about to take, which will involve a lot of walking. :-)

[beth-bernobich.livejournal.com]

I bought a Fitbit for my husband, for his hiking, but I'm considering one for myself, for precisely that motivation. (At my new job, I am trying to build in reasons to leave my desk and walk around.)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

It does help to have a quantifiable measure of "oh my god, this is how little I'm moving?"