Next week, I have an anniversary!  It is the 4 year first-date-a-versary that fateful, auspicious night at the Culver Hotel, where I met my now husband.  I am a loyal wife, BUT I have another anniversary I am celebrating: 6 months with my fitness watch.  We’ve been inseparable ever since. And my husband seems to be ok with it!  

I never was the person who wore a watch, but during the pandemic, I started a walking practice and was using an old heart monitor to make sure I was pushing enough.  But being a curious mover, I wanted more.  How many miles was I walking? How long was I taking? How many steps or miles did I do in a day?  My old HR monitor couldn't communicate these things, so I broke up with it and researched online for a new one.  

It was a lot like dating.  I knew what I wanted...and what I didn’t.  There were so many options online.  I wasn’t a runner or marathon person, so I didn’t need an extra fancy expensive one.  I didn’t need to know my sleep patterns, so that ruled out the accuracy factor on that.  I landed on the Garmin Vivoactive 3.  At first glance, I liked the watch face, white strap, and it didn’t take up too much real estate on my small wrists.  It was in my price range, at just over $100. It has a GPS tracker to record my walks or hikes, mileage, pace, average heart rate, elevation, and calories. It also tracks other activities for time, calories, and heart rate in my yoga, Pilates, and strength training practices. Some tracker options didn’t even have a face, and need to get the information from an app on your phone. I wanted to see its face and get real time data easily.  

The main reason I bought it was to monitor my heart rate, but I have now learned the optical wrist heart rate monitors are not accurate.  It wasn’t a deal breaker, since I learned all optical wrist watches fall short on heart rate accuracy.  It uses a light to shine into the skin and measures the amount of light that is scattered by blood flow.  On a cold day, your blood flow is restricted so it is even less accurate.  I did have a dedicated, higher quality optical sensor (with no face) that sits higher up the arm I bought for Orange Theory classes.  It was compatible, and heart rate worked so much better.  Solution!  As these watches fail on heart rate accuracy, they need to be supplemented by dedicated monitors, either a chest strap or one for the arm, if that is important to you.  

Nothing is perfect, but I have to say, I got almost everything I wanted, and more.  

What I noticed beyond the data is that it became my accountability trainer.  It was ideal for me to help track how much I was actually exercising during a week, and inspiring me to exercise so I can get the “credit” for it.  It was very motivating and I have been exercising more than ever!  

The app is also genius.  It will chart your activity per day, per week, per month or per year.  Since I first wore it, I have walked 440 miles - midway into Arizona!  The challenges in the app make it fun.  I don’t take them seriously, but I have been wanting to get into the 300,000 step club for May  - I did it this month with my badge below!  A nice way to compete against myself.  There are more pros than cons on my list, so my Garmin is a keeper!  I like it way more than I thought I would.  

I highly recommend an activity tracker or fitness watch if you are not getting enough exercise in your week.  Exercise should be a priority, even if it’s just taking walks.  Use it or lose it!  Figure out what is important to you.  There are ones that track sleep better, like the fit bits are also smaller in size for sleep comfort.  It will track steps, but not your mileage, and maybe that is all you need. 10,000 steps, the recommended daily, is about 5 miles.  You can clock up steps by doing activities in your home too. Watches can range in price from $30- $800.  It’s a great accountability tracker if you need one!