Just move it!

A week and a half ago, I bought the ActiveLink at WW. I had been thinking about buying a Fit Bit to count my steps and such, but I decided that the ActiveLink would be better for me since it works directly with WW, incorporates right into my eTools, and tells me exactly how many activity points I earn on a daily basis. Not to mention, I am a sucker for cool technology and fun tools.

The first week is an assessment period, where you go about your day as your normally would. This is setting the baseline of your activity levels for each day. You do not want to go crazy during your assessment week because it would then set the bar crazy high. On the last day of the assessment, it tells you were you were at for the week. For my full assessment week, I earned 8 points.

Marilyn, one of the wonderful receptionists at my WW meeting, explained the ActiveLink to me like this… You start out with a bucket. Whatever your normal activity is each day fills that bucket. It’s not until your bucket is overflowing that you are earning those higher activity points. Great explanation, right? You need to move more than you normally would.

So yesterday, when I got home from work, I did a few things around the house and then I decided I was going to go out and run for 30 minutes. I rarely run for a set time, I usually try to do a set distance – like 3.11 miles. In my all or nothing brain, if I don’t have time for 3.11 miles, maybe it’s not worth it. STUPID way to think. I knew I was going to hot yoga at 8 and I was going to make dinner (already partially made Sunday!) and eat with hubby, do dishes, etc… before then. So I could take 30 minutes and go out and run.

It was a nice run – I ran just a little slower than my pace at the Rock N’ Roll half, with walk breaks. I did a couple loops around my neighborhood. After the 30 minutes, I felt great. I had 2.31 miles to track on dailymile, and I was already wondering how it would reflect on my ActiveLink.

After dinner, dishes, etc… I headed to hot yoga for 60 minute class at 8pm class. Class was great as usual and the heat in the room felt great. I still had my ActiveLink and after class it was flashing at me so I knew I had exceeded my baseline for the day and couldn’t wait to get home and plug it in. I’ll say it again…. Hot yoga is no joke. I feel so good when I leave there and there is nothing better than taking a hot shower when I get home and I sleep amazing afterwards.

When I plugged my ActiveLink in, this is what it told me… On Sunday (“yesterday” in this graphic), I earned 2 points. This was grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, and napping. See what it says below that? Today’s progress (really yesterday’s), I earned 7 activity points and hit 190% of my goal.

And here is the breakdown of my day. One thing I really like about the ActiveLink is how it shows you hourly how you’re doing. Since I was at the office between 9 and 3 yesterday, I was not active. This will be a great tool and reminder to get up and move, knowing that I have lower activity during those hours. Another cool feature, it lets you name your activities during the exact time they happened. It’s clear when I was running from the high intensity. And while hot yoga is a lower intensity as far as movement, it helped earn points as well.

Do you see where it says I reached my baseline right in the middle of my run? So it wasn’t until mid-run and going to hot yoga that I exceeded my goal, overflowing my bucket, if you will.

These activity points that I earned are added into my eTools at the touch of a button. No time spent calculating my activities. It’s all done for me. This will be a great tool. Accountability, people!! As I continue to use it, I can change my challenges and continue to name my activities. I love having tools that help me to succeed!

Do you use the ActiveLink? What is your favorite thing about it?