JCC 2023 Fitness Goals

Okay 5 days of over 26.2 miles walked. This month. That puts me on track to complete my goal if I do that once a month for the rest of the year.

 

Finally did it 100k steps in a day. Don’t recommend

 

Okay I ended yesterday with 111k steps. A record I don’t think I will beat nor one I really care to. It’s been a goal since at least 2019 to walk 100k steps in 24 hours and I beat that by 10%. Also I discovered that my iPhone is way better at tracking steps then my Fitbit. Which is funny.

 

Why do you think the iPhone is better than the Fitbit? What model Fitbit do you have?

I've had a Garmin forever and really have nothing to compare it to. I have noticed you don't get any steps for swimming or riding a bike (you used to but one of the updates several years ago changed it). But if I swing on a swing next to my son, then I get steps.

None of this matters in the long run, except that these fitness trackers take into account your step average when calculating your health and if you are someone who bikes or swims a great deal that really messes with the stats and that's just messed up.

I am going to keep my eye on the pixel watch because I'm a devoted android user my current phone is a pixel. I've actually heard good things, but the fitness features are Fitbit, so I am very interested in your take here

 

Is because almost all my steps yesterday were on a treadmill. 3.2 miles per hour for 16 hours. So the step count should be the same about 108 steps per minute. Now the iPhone wasn’t perfect it was always 2 hundred or so steps off below what it should be. However by the end of the day when I reached 100k steps on my iPhone my Fitbit only read 92k. That’s 8k off. And the iPhone itself was below what it should be by a thousand or so. I have one of the fit bit versa series. I think it’s 3?

Edit: the Fitbit does beat out the iPhone for tracking miles accurately. I got about 50 miles yesterday and the iPhone read 70 where’s the Fitbit read 49 something

 

I honestly think the IPhone’s built on tracker is enough. I got the Fitbit as a gift so I wasn’t gonna refuse it. I know some don’t like carrying around their phone, but if you already have an iPhone and so long as you put in your height your steps will be relatively accurate +- 5%

 

I am actually surprised Garmin has been able to hold on as long as they have. I know some runners that have Apple Watches and some who have Apple phones but stay dedicated to Garmin. Like I said I am interested in the Pixel, because I know the watches can do more than just fitness. Even my Garmin has cool features like responding to texts and "find my phone". I even love my watch for features like the flashlight when I use the bathroom at night and don't want to wake up family members by using a regular light. My model doesn't have Google Pay but more and more Garmins do have that. When I am ready to buy a watch another thing I'd like is the Solar charging feature, but only one Garmin has that, that I know of, so far. Still you may not have to plug it in to charge, very cool. And I am not at a point in my life where I am or ever will be training for PR's. I just want to feel good and be fit. The metrics are fun to me. I wish so much these companies would consider re-setting your PR's every year on your birthday or in January, because after a certain age none of us are getting any faster.

 

I think it all just depends on what you care about. If you just want and care about steps an iPhone is just as good as any of the watches if not better as it won’t catch any of those random arm movements.

If you care about getting accuarate miles or calories the watches will do better. And that’s just on the fitness side. I know the watches do more than that.

anyway yesterday was 40k steps.

 

I've considered a smartwatch, mainly for step tracking as I frequently do not have my phone on my body. This is true especially in water parks and when ziplining, rafting, kayaking, and doing other adventurey stuff where phones could get lost or damaged, but also at home I often leave my phone on the coffee table or on my bed instead of carrying it in my pocket all the time. So I know my step counts reported by Google Fit are usually way, way lower than actual.

I just don't know what to look for in a basic, relatively inexpensive smartwatch. Ideally I want step counting and distance tracking that sync to Google Fit, along with Google Pay and GPS tracking that can sync with Google Maps Timeline. (I keep my Location History on so I can always look back and answer "where was that place I visited on that trip four years ago?", but I lose anywhere I go without my phone such as whitewater rafting trips.) Text messaging would be kind of nice to have but not necessary at all and would at best be a tiebreaker if I couldn't otherwise decide between two watches. I don't want to spend a fortune, either.

Any specific suggestions?

 

Look for YouTube videos of watches you are interested in. The reviews on YouTube have helped me with a lot of purchases.

Look into Garmin's vivo line, stay away from the specific to running watches. I haven't heard great things about Samsung don't know anyone who owns one. Heard great things about Apple if you have the Apple phone and I am hearing good things about Pixel . But the Pixel is new, new I don't know anyone in my life who owns one.

Also 90% of the time I have nothing good to say about health insurance but a lot of plans will give discounts on fitness trackers or smart watches because they do assist you in living a healthy lifestyle.

 

I'm an Android guy; never had an Apple device of any kind and never will. Specifically, my current phone is the Pixel 7.

I'll look into the Garmin vivos and the Pixel watch.

 

Another marathon under the belt. I always feel like I accomplished a lot when I do these

 

Al’s with walking so much I feel like I wake up earlier and get a better sleep

 

I checked my insurance, and they do offer discounts but only on the Fitbit brand. Is Fitbit good?

 

Yes. Well most of the time. A few days ago being the exception.

 

Yep that’s definitely a plus if you own google products

 

Thanks. The blog is quite busy and a lot to chew on, but I saw he's responsive to tweets, so I dusted off my Twitter account and tweeted at him:



Hopefully he responds, otherwise I'll look into it on my own using the suggestions here.

(Don't waste your time following me. It's literally a waste of time.)

 

Another 60k under my belt. Thanks double XP weekend on Fallout

 

Why did they change it so you don’t earn steps while swimming?

 

Good question. I don't know if it was requested by other users of the watch or if other watch users' care. I don't know where you'd find a community of people who care. Runner's World used to have awesome forums, but they closed over 5 years ago. So, since then I haven't had a place to talk to runners.

 

Got it. As a swimmer who had no idea this happened until now, though, I am offended!