FitBitting My Way to Fitness

I've been struggling with increasing my mileage while still struggling with low energy levels and I think I've finally come up with some ideas.

I recently started using a FitBit, and it's made me much more aware of how much exercise I am/am not getting each day. Which is, of course, why I got it. So, at least it's not wasted money :)

I don't always have the energy to run, but I can at least manage half an hour or so of walking on the treadmill, with the added bonus that I reach my goal steps earlier in the day.

I've been running two or three times a week, but it's really not enough to get the mileage I need at this point in my training. I'm not quite ready to run more often because I want to avoid injury, but I still need to be increasing my weekly mileage. So on the days I'm not running, I'm still going to spend time walking on the treadmill. Spending time every day on the treadmill will also make it easier to transition to more and more running as my stamina and energy increase.

Before River was born I used to spend time on the treadmill most days, but I just haven't had the energy to do so since his birth. And I have a bad habit of staying up later than I should and then getting up later than I should. So in addition to spending time on the treadmill daily, I'm working on getting up earlier so I actually have the time to exercise and still get the rest of my tasks accomplished.

What about the FitBit?
I can track my progress throughout the day by double-tapping the FitBit. More steps= more lights on. Being able to see my progress at a glance is a major reason why I chose the FitBit over some of the other brands of fitness trackers.

still early in the day, and not many steps taken yet

When I reach my daily goal for steps, I get a "party on my wrist"- it vibrates and the lights swirl around in a pattern.

I can sync it using an app on my laptop or my phone, which allows me to quickly see the number of steps, distance, "active minutes", calories burned, and so on for the day. You can manually input info to track food and water intake, but I don't.

You can also put the FitBit in sleep mode and it'll track your sleep patterns. In the morning I like to check and see how many times I was restless or awake during the night. Now if I could just figure out why I'm so restless some nights, I might be able to improve the quality of my sleep, which would help with getting up earlier in the morning.

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Do you have a FitBit? Do you like it?