A New Toy

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It is not often that I post about something new that I have bought.  More often than not, it is about what I did not need or what I have passed on to someone else.

3 weeks ago GMan and I each bought a Fitbit Flex.  I have heard many people talk about these devices and I must admit that I thought they were a bit of a gimmick but eventually we decided to join the crowd.  I have previously used a pedometer on occasions but find this to be much more accurate and it is easier to wear as it is not dependent on the type of clothing that you are wearing.

This is mine which I wear alongside my wristwatch.

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I think I have only scratched the surface in terms of what I can program it to do but our main focus is to achieve 10,000 steps each day.  I have met my goal for 19 out of 21 days.  On the other 2 days I achieved about 9,000 steps.

We both hold down sedentary office jobs so we actually need to make a conscious decision to get out and about during the day.

There is no digital display on this model but all of the stats are available on the app on my phone.

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There is nothing like the challenge of meeting a goal to motivate you so we feel that these purchases have been well worthwhile.

I am also looking forward to to being able to track how much walking we do when we are overseas on holidays.

Exercise & Electricity

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I have been trying hard to keep up my daily steps for the Global Challenge.  I am averaging about 9,000 steps per day which isn’t too bad, especially considering that it is dark when I leave home and dark when I get home.  Walking on our unlit rural road at night is unthinkable so I try to get out for a walk each day at lunch-time.  I vary my route but one of my favourites is the Roma Street Parklands.  It is about 5 minutes from my office and is an oasis in the middle of the city.  This area was once railway yards and then for many years just an eyesore.  The transformation is amazing and many residents and visitors take the time to visit.

I am pleased that we have now passed the shortest day of the year so can look forward to more daylight hours.

Despite the short days we have still managed to generate plenty of power from our solar panels thanks to some clear, cloudless days.  I have yet to resolve my issues with our billing cycle from Origin so I won’t bore you with the details at the moment.  Suffice to say, I am waiting for a couple more weeks and then lodging a complaint about the process and service with the Energy & Water Ombudsman.

Exercise and Electricity

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In my first 7 days of walking in the Global Challenge I managed to average over 9,000 steps per day.  Today, Day 8, has been a bit of a failure as I have only done about 5,500 steps.  I am working from home tomorrow so hopefully will find the time to go for a long walk and improve my average for Week 2 of the challenge.

Speaking of challenges, I hope to cross a few more things off the list tomorrow as well.

The final challenge will be ringing Origin Energy tomorrow, no, the bill did not arrive in the mail today.  However, I did get some mail from Origin.

I will address the issue of “One month of free electricity” when I phone Origin tomorrow.  How will they measure it when I am in credit?  I think a reasonable option would be to give me credit equivalent to the cost of my usage for the month.  What do you think?

E is for Exercise

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A couple of weeks ago I posted the acronym ‘COFFEES’ to describe facets of my life which I would blog about.  One of the E’s was for exercise, however, that has been sadly neglected for quite some time.

I have recently had the prod to make me get back to doing what will hopefully be regular exercise.  Firstly, I discovered Frugal Queen’s blog Frugal in Cornwall in which she writes of all things frugal, including her decision to eat well and exercise on a shoestring.

If this was not enough to inspire me, my employer (a large global business) is running a pedometer challenge for the whole of June and I got roped into a team.  There are 4 per team and I could not let the rest of the team down so today I was out pounding the footpaths in my lunchbreak.

After a slow start yesterday of only 4,500 steps today has been better with a total of 11,050 steps.  I do not know that I can keep that up every day but I do know that wearing the pedometer and being in a team certainly provide some focus.

I will update my progress from time to time throughout June and hopefully beyond.