Keeping our family active with Fitbit

One of our goals this year is to be more active and healthy as a family.   Matt and I have both been using a Fitbit for the better part of the last year, and M has been asking for one relentlessly.     

Last week we decided to go ahead and get her one on the following conditions:

1. She commits to wearing it daily- if it does not get used we will give it to someone who will use it.
2. She joins weekly challenges with us so that we can monitor her activity.

Although there are definitely less expensive pedometers on the market for a kid, we decided that a Fitbit flex would be perfect for her because it goes around her wrist like a watch and would be harder to lose than a pedometer that you clip on to your belt- I predict that one of those would end up in a pile of laundry and into the washer really quickly. In addition, it would allow her to join the weekly challenges that her dad and I already do.  We are hoping that her competitive side will come out and she will want to crush her step goal each day so that she can beat us and gain bragging rights.  We were able to get a opened box Fitbit flex off of Ebay for around $40 that functions just as a new one would, so the cost was similar to other less expensive activity bands on the market.

Our plan:

    1. Set an obtainable starting goal so that she does not get discouraged if she does not immediately start meeting her daily goal.   We decided that 5,000 steps is a good starting point, and we will gradually start upping the goal until she is at the recommended 10,000 steps per day.

    2.    Motivate her to get moving.   During the weekend, and once homework is done after school it is time to move.  We will encourage her with family walks, playing outside,       dance class, walking the dog, active video games like Just Dance or Wii Fit,  and a little gentle encouragement if we see that she has not been racking up steps each day.  

    3.  Get other family members involved so that she has even more motivation.

    4.  Make sure that we keep moving so that we set a good example for her and PB. There have been far too many weekends in the past where we sit around and watch Netflix all weekend- this can’t be the norm anymore.