As busy and crazy as life may get keeping my three little ones moving in the right direction, running my business, training clients, errands, laundry, cooking and baking (I’m on the hunt right now for awesome grain-free recipes my entire family will enjoy), family time, and more that life throws my way, that doesn’t mean I should have to sacrifice my health – something I’m not willing to do.
With my new Garmin vívofit®2 activity tracker I can stay on top of my activity and health easier, plus it has a 1 year+ battery life (no need to spend any time charging it! We do that enough with so many other devices).
Not to mention the impact it can have on your kids! I’m pretty sure my kids were even more excited than me to try out the vívofit 2 – I love being a great role model for my little ones (no matter their age – they are always watching). By creating healthy lifestyle habits for ourselves we are also creating lifelong healthy habits for our kids! My kids were begging me to try it out. “Mom! Look how many steps I just did doing 20 laps around the house!” So fun and enlightening to see kids have fun being active; just pretend you are a kid again and being active gets a whole lot easier.
The vívofit 2 has so many great features and among them being able to tell the quality of my sleep tops my list! Us busy, tired mamas may not be getting near enough sleep and that can be detrimental to our health. Even if you log the recommend 6 to 8 hours of sleep but are restless or wake up many times throughout the night, the quality of your sleep needs to be improved. I remember those countless sleepless nights with each of my babies when they were newborns and getting a good and full night’s sleep was nearly impossible. It will get better, but probably not overnight (or at least that’s how it was with each of mine), and even on occasion now I may still have to get up now and again. My best advice for those phases of little sleep is to do the best you can to squeeze in extra shut eye by going to bed earlier in the evening, grabbing a nap (if that’s even possible) or asking for a little help so you can get a little extra rest here and there. Because sleep is so important for our overall health – by not getting enough sleep we can throw off our hormones and have less patience with those around us, and it can cause weight gain.
Even though I am very active and feel like I’m on the move all the time, some days I was a bit surprised at how little I actually walked (even though I felt like I never stopped moving…). It’s a great motivator when you look at your vivofit 2 and see you are only at 2,500 steps and it’s already noon! So I’ll grab my 3 year old and we are out the door for a brisk walk around the neighborhood. Vívofit 2 assigns you an attainable daily goal by first learning your current activity level and as you meet those daily goals vívofit 2 gradually increases your goal, pushing you towards an even healthier lifestyle.
I did notice that my strength training and Pilates workouts didn’t register many steps – so just take note that on those days your steps may not be as high. However, it will register your swimming workouts because you can wear the vivofit 2 in the pool and shower (it has a 50m water rating) and it’ll keep track of your runs (distance, time and pace). One other super cool feature is the “Connections,” which will allow you to connect with friends (or in my case clients too) and keep tabs on their activity! Don’t think you can get away with sitting for too long; after an hour of little movement vívofit 2 will beep, giving you a kind reminder to get up and move a bit.
Here are some of my quick tips for increasing your activity with the vivofit 2:
- Jump Squats – stay light on your feet and be sure to squeeze your glutes!
- Take a break from the computer and walk a couple flights of stairs every hour
- Do 100 jumping jacks
- Squeeze in 10-minute brisk walks throughout your day
- Grab a friend for a jog or walk and work out while getting in some socializing
- Strap your baby to you for some good bonding and head outdoors for some fresh air and exercise
- Sneak in a walk during lunch – but be sure to allow yourself time to relax and enjoy your healthy food
Vívofit 2 has lots of color band options. Change the colors each day to match your mood (or outfit). I personally enjoyed the black – goes great with my everyday outfit of workout clothes, but it’s fun to change it up sometimes too. The colored bands did run a little smaller (a better fit if you are a smaller frame like myself); the black band that came with it was almost too big but it worked.
Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Garmin through their partnership with POPSUGAR Select. While I was compensated to write a post about vívofit 2, all opinions are my own.
