Staying Active with the Jawbone Up

During the beginning of summer, I got a Jawbone UP for my birthday. A Jawbone UP is simply, an activity band. You wear it on your wrist and it calculates your movements throughout the day and lets you know how many steps you have walked, jogged and logged. It estimates how many calories you have burned, how long you were active and what your longest idle time was. You can set it to buzz at you periodically to remind you to get up and and move around. It also records your sleep patterns, letting you know how much light sleep you got versus deep sleep. I have found I am not a very good deep sleeper! I must be restless during the night! My husband can attest to this as he says I ALWAYS steal the covers, regardless of what season it is! Poor guy!

You can even shower with the Jawbone UP, though I usually take it off, because I don't want to risk it being harmed... though they assure me it can withstand thousands of showers. I'm not sure exactly how it works, but I know it even seems to know when I am walking while mowing the yard or pushing a cart at Walmart, so it must have a pretty complicated motion sensor. It will also sync with calorie counting apps and other fitness apps so you can log your calories burned. I haven't tried that part as I hate counting calories... I just can't do it for very long before I get frustrated and give up.

The UP band has really helped motivate me during the summer to remain active even though it is harder for me with kids home from school. Now that they are back at school my step count has gone up dramatically as I have gone back to the track and walk/jogged approximately three miles a day or more in the mornings, and then can still add a walk in the afternoon if I'm feeling motivated. My initial goal was 10,000 steps a day, (approximately a little more than 5 miles), which I did most days during the summer,  but not all. Now that school is back in session I want to up my goal to 15,000-17,000 day. I haven't made it to 17,000 yet, but I'm hopeful I will soon.

I can download the UP band directly to by iPad using the UP app, and the band charge holds for up to 10 days! If you want some motivation to stay active I highly recommend the Jawbone UP. It is a great tool, and not bad looking either! I'll try and get a picture of it on here soon.