Getting Fit by dancing – with my new GetFit …. review/activity/lifestyle change!!

For some time now I’ve been considering getting on of those FitBit type things but haven’t been convinced I wouldn’t get bored or it or use it so had no intention of spending the £150-£200 quoted.

I’m not a gym goer and I don’t walk for the sake of covering miles.  I mean I don’t mind a walk around a city, along a beach or to excercise my friends dogs but walking just for walkings sake just doesn’t appear on my radar.  And I am most definitely not a runner or cyclist.

I do however think I am relatively active.  I waitress, run a B&B and garden for a few elderly neighbours as well as myself.  But I was curious.  All this talk of the 10,000 steps challenge.  I wanted to know how close I was to that daily on a weekly average.

Wowcher were offering GetFit HR12+ for £19 so I acquired one.

I’m not very technical.  Day one I did about 3000 steps but that was because I spent 3.5 hrs at the computer and with the GetFit trying to get it to work!!!  I’m not saying it was difficult , just me and technical instructions are not compatible.  Anyway Day 2 I was waitressing.  It was a hot sunny day and the garden of the cafe was in use, With the garden being downstairs and the day being particularly busy I felt pretty sure I’d easily hit my 10,000 steps.

I have never been so disappointed .  3500 steps on a 4 hr shift.  Talk about bursting my bubble

Day 3 I was gardening.  Target reached.

Day 4 I was active around the B&B and constantly checking the reading.  I got to the point where I was jiggling like I needed a wee whenever I was stood chatting to people in an attempt to raise the count.  Still only 8,500 steps

Desperate measures were required.  So I hatched a plan  I decided to attempt dancing through my daily tasks.  However to avoid being dragged off in a straightjacket I decided I best not be gyrating my way around Tescos or Aldis (or any other supermarket for that matter), I will restrict my dancing challenge to home based activities; excluding the preparation and serving of guest breakfast (I would like my guests to be repeat customers!)

I’ve become quite fond of using YouTube to listen to music and of starting off with one tune – the one I wake up with stuck in my head and then just follow whatever comes up next.  I thought you lovely rose tinted ramblings readers might like to know what the days playlist ends up being as well as other interesting info like, how many steps it counted, my moods before and after and the activities I danced through.  In return for my pricelessly useless but potentially interesting information I would very much like you to recommend my start song for another day and if you do, I promise to try it again.

So Day 5  I danced though the tedious task of ironing bedding for the B&B (I mean seriously, does anyone iron their own bedding? But when you go away you want to see crease free sheets on your bed right?)

I woke up full of beans , raring to dance and with David Bowies, Lets Dance in my head. I had 5 sets of double bedding to iron in order to prep the B&B for the next guests …

PLAY LIST :

David Bowie – Lets Dance

Queen/Bowie – Under Pressure

Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody

Prince – Purple Rain

Tina Turner – Simply the Best

Whitney Houston – Dance with Somebody

Chaka Khan – Ain’t Nobody

Diana Ross – Coming Out

Aretha Franklin – Say a Little Prayer

Carley Simon – You’re so Vain

Stevie Wonder – Superstition

Bonnie Tyler – I Need a Hero

David Bowie (again) – Hero

George Harrison – Here comes the Sun

Israel Kamalawiwo’ole – Over The Rainbow/What a Beautiful World

Bob Marley – Don’t Worry Be Happy

Katrina and the Waves – Walking on Sunshine

Trolls / Mark Ronson – Can’t Stop This Feeling

Here’s a link to that playlist should you feel so inclined

I did skip a few purely because they were too slow to dance to.  sorry Sinaed O’Connor (Nothing Compares to You ), Adele (When We Were Young) , Simon and Garfunkel (sound of Silence) but other than that I just let YouTube choose

Afterwards I felt fantastic.  I ironed for almost 3 hours.  I did two extra sets of bedding because I was enjoying myself so much and overall for the say I managed 11,100 steps

And here’s a bit of proof…Hubby walked in with his camera wondering what I was up to….

I like the look and feel of the GetFit and I find the readings really clear and easy to access.  I’ve been wearing the HR12+ now for 4 weeks however, being a techno numbnut I don’t know how to reset it and as my phone is not working its not able to sync the time etc at the moment.  It does a perfectly fine job of step counting etc BUT it runs out of charge every day and a half so basically needs recharging every single day (or putting on charge before I go to bed.  Also the strap is impossible to do up without another person to help and most other people have been unable to do it only hubby seems to manage and it really hurts his hand.  My recommendation is to not only look at the price of the fitness tracker but how it does up and how long it holds its charge .  Ideally I would like one that motion charges like a good watch does….it certainly isn’t worth the £99 Wowcher said was the RRP but for £19 its fine.