Tag / Fitbit

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Fitbit 12 – Week 26

A tremendous week, notching my highest total since going to Hawaii in 2022 and scoring my first 10,000 step day in nearly 2 years as we reach the halfway point of Year 12.  The week got off to a great start with that 10,000-step day, my first in the state of Illinois since 2021, finishing with 10,100 after utilizing street parking to watch the White Sox battle the A’s.  A neighborhood walk on Monday put me over goal for the second straight day, finishing 13 steps away from 7800.  The start of a steps challenge at work on Tuesday fell 14 steps shy of 7000.  Wednesday dropped off a bit, falling to 6000 steps.  A slight improvement on Thursday went up by exactly 100 steps.  Friday was the low point of the week, coming in with 5400 steps.  A longer walk while charging the car on Saturday morning led to my third day over goal for the week, finishing just over 7500 steps.

Total steps: 50,080

Daily average: 7154.3

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Fitbit 12 – Week 25

Another great week, pushing my 40,000-step streak to four weeks.  A long morning walk on Sunday started the week off on a high note, finishing with 7300 steps.  Monday dropped down a bit, falling just 3 steps away from 5700.  Tuesday was the low point of the week, coming in with 5000 steps.  Wednesday jumped up again, needing 36 steps to reach 6100.  A single step is all that stood between me and 6700 steps on Thursday.  A morning doctor’s appointment on Friday left me with exactly 5500 steps.  A trip to the Rate wrapped up the week on Saturday, finishing with 5900 steps.

Total steps: 42,256

Daily average: 6036.6

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15 Years Of Step Tracking

Fifteen years ago, I started a program through work that “encourages you to track your steps and help you to focus on your fitness in a simple and accessible way.”  They gave us a tracker, which attached to your shoe and used “an accelerometer to accurately calculate the number of steps, distance walked, calories burned and time of activity.”  I received that first tracker fifteen years ago today.  After a little more than three and a half years, the program shut down and I finished with a little more than 6.5 million steps.

That same week, I ordered my first Fitbit, looking to continue tracking my steps.  Which worked out well, at least until March of 2020 when a global pandemic caused the world to shut down for a year or so and for me to become a remote worker.

I crossed the 10 million step plateau in 2016, 15 million in 2018, 20 million in 2020, 25 million in 2023, and 30 million earlier this year.  To date, my total is 30,439,765 steps over 15 years, which averages out to a little over 2 million steps per year and 5600 steps per day.  In the early days, this was well above my goals, but I’ve been hoping for more for quite some time now.  I started looking to get 2,000,000 steps in those first few years, which I had a difficult time making.  As I moved over to the Fitbit from the Global Fit tracker, I started meeting those goals and, subsequently, increasing them each year.  These last six years have seen incredible backslides, but I’ve started to inch back upwards this year thanks to some weight loss and increased energy and stamina.

Along the way, I participated in some 5Ks, hiked up a mountain, traveled the world, and endured a global pandemic, racking up steps along the way.  Now that my world is opening back up again, here’s hoping the next 15 years are even better.

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Fitbit 12 – Week 24

Despite the excessive heat warnings, it was another great week, finishing with my highest weekly total in nearly two years, multiple days above goal for the first time since January. and pushing my 40,000-step streak to three weeks.  Afternoon baseball at Rate Field on Sunday started the week off on a high note, finishing with 7600 steps.  Monday dropped down a bit, falling 28 steps away from 5200.  The overbearing heat arrived on Tuesday, so an early morning walk helped push me to 6200 steps.  A trip to Wrigley Field on Wednesday again pushed me over goal, ending the day with 8400 steps.  An appointment for blood work followed by a car wash left me with 5500 steps on Thursday.  A morning walk on Friday pushed me up to 6200 steps.  The week wrapped up on a high note on Saturday, using another morning walk to finish with 6700 steps.

Total steps: 45,941

Daily average: 6563

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Fitbit 12 – Week 23

Yet another great week, as I pushed past the 40,000-step mark for the second straight week, extended my streak of weeks over 30,000 steps to twenty, and passed the four-month mark at days over 4000 steps with 125.  A rain-soaked Sunday wiped out my Father’s Day plans, leaving me 5 steps shy of 4800 to start the week.  Monday saw a big improvement, falling 30 steps away from 6900.  Tuesday was more of the same, needing just 18 steps to reach 6800.  A busy Wednesday was the low point of the week, missing 4500 steps by 26.  Thursday saw a nice bounce back, jumping back up to 6200 steps.  A 22-1 drubbing of the Royals by the White Sox on Friday pushed me past my daily goal, ending up 25 steps away from 8300.  The week wrapped up on a good note on Saturday, ending with 5000 steps despite a graduation party taking up the afternoon.

Total steps: 42,463

Daily average: 6066.1

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Fitbit 12 – Week 22

A great week, as I pushed past the 40,000-step mark for the first time in a month and extended my streak of weeks over 30,000 steps to nineteen.  The week got off to a nice start on Sunday, as I used a long walk through the neighborhood to finish a single step shy of 6700.  Monday kept the good times going, ending with 5600 steps.  A very small drop on Tuesday left me with 5500 steps.  Wednesday was the low point of the week, as a busy workday limited me 4300 steps.  Thursday saw a nice bounce back, falling 27 steps shy of 5900.  The Juneteenth holiday on Friday, spent getting a haircut followed by a Cubs rout of the Blue Jays at Wrigley Field, surpassed my daily goal and ended up 39 steps away from 8400.  The week wrapped up on a good note on Saturday, ending with 5400 steps despite a graduation party taking up the afternoon.

Total steps: 41,861

Daily average: 5980.1

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Fitbit 12 – Week 21

Another good week as I pushed my 30,000-step week streak to eighteen as I took care of my sickly mother.  The week got off to a nice start on Sunday, starting things off with 5100 steps.  Monday saw a nice improvement, going up to 6000 steps.  A small drop on Tuesday dropped me to 5300 steps.  Wednesday was very nearly a duplicate, again finishing with 5300 steps.  Thursday fell just 2 steps shy of 5200.  Friday was the low point of the week, getting 4800 steps.  The week wrapped up on a high note on Saturday thanks to my return to the ballpark netting me a Colson Montgomery bobblehead and 6300 steps.

Total steps: 38,256

Daily average: 5465.1

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Fitbit 12 – Week 20

Another great week as I pushed my 30,000-step week streak to seventeen despite a lingering cold.  The week got off to a great start on Sunday, coming just 10 steps shy of 6600 thanks to a morning walk.  A busy day of work left me just 6 steps shy of 4500 on Monday.  A small improvement on Tuesday pushed me up to 5200 steps.  Wednesday was the best day of the week, thanks to a Cubs game at night which finished 17 steps shy of 8100 and well over my daily goal.  Another busy day of work on Thursday dropped me back to 4400 steps.  Friday was spent at the hospital, waiting for my mom to get out of surgery, but managed to finish with 4500 steps.  The week wrapped up on a high note on Saturday, as running around to take care of my mom led to 5300 steps.

Total steps: 38,679

Daily average: 5525.6

 

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Fitbit 12 – Week 19

Nearly two years ago, Google did away with the web interface for Fitbit, leaving the mobile app as the only way to access one’s data.  Last week, they revamped the app once again, doing away with the Fitbit name and rebranding it as Google Health, losing even more functionality along the way.  The new graphical representation of the weekly step totals looks a little ridiculous and, with the battery on my current device slowly failing, it may once again be time to revisit my step-counting solution going forward.

Another great week as I pushed my 30,000-step week streak to sixteen despite a lingering cold.  The week got off to a decent start on Sunday, as a visit to my sister’s house to celebrate Danny’s upcoming move left me with 4500 steps.  A Memorial Day trip to the ballpark on Monday pushed me up to 4900 steps.  A small decrease on Tuesday, ended just 17 steps away from 4900.  Wednesday was the best day of the week, thanks to a walk to Walgreens to pick up some cough medicine which left me 34 steps shy of 5900.  A busy day of work on Thursday dropped me back to 4400 steps.  Friday needed only 7 additional steps to reach 5000.  The week wrapped up on a high note on Saturday thanks to another visit to Rate Field, falling just 17 steps short of my daily goal of 7500.

Total steps: 37,061

Daily average: 5294.4

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Fitbit 12 – Week 18

Yet another great week as I pushed my 30,000-step week streak to fifteen and my streak of 4000+ step days reached 90, a full three months.  The week got off to a good start on Sunday thanks to a trip to Rate Field for the final installment of the first Crosstown series of the year, finishing 35 steps shy of 5600.  Monday saw a small decrease, dropping down to 4500 steps.  A lunchtime walk while I changed kept things rolling on Tuesday, ending 27 steps away from 6900.  Wednesday was the best day of the week, thanks to a season holder event at Wrigley Field in the afternoon followed by the Cubs game that night, wrapping up with 8400 steps.  Thursday used a walk to Walgreens to pick up a prescription to finish with 6100 steps.  A slow-ish Friday got the holiday weekend off to a decent start with 4400 steps.  The week wrapped up on a high note on Saturday with 6600 steps.

Total steps: 42,577

Daily average: 6082.4