Accountability

On Saturday, March 14th, at a quarter to six in the morning, I changed out of my pajamas and into the clothes I would wear to drive from Tucson, Arizona to Dana Point, California. Unfortunately as I did, I changed from my blue flannel shirt to my red one, and left my new Fitbit Zip attached to the blue shirt. Which I then flung across my bed before packing up my car and herding the family out the door for possibly our most highly-anticipated vacation ever.

What I did, basically, was shoot myself in the foot for the next four days as far as my fitness goals went.

 

Oh, I hung in there as long as I could. When we stopped for breakfast I had an egg sandwich instead of the donuts my daughter went for. At lunch I ordered a salad. But we’re skinflints when it comes to data, so I couldn’t log those things. And I was 1) driving for seven hours and 2) well aware that any steps I did get in weren’t being counted. If I logged my calories, I wouldn’t have the exercise to count against them. My steps didn’t count.

By dinner I wanted a burger and it needed to be big and juicy and there needed to be fries. With ranch. And after the burger and fries there might have been ice cream.

Yes, I was on vacation and I deserved it and blah blah blah. I also deserve better health, and that’s what I’m doing the tracking for.

The thing is, if I’d had my Fitbit and known I was going to be logging every calorie? Well, that’s sort of like the difference between the freeway in Arizona and the freeway in California: in Arizona there’s nothing for forever–no police, no on-ramps for police to appear from, no curves, no dips, nothing but maybe a coyote wandering in the heat of the day (unlikely) and it’s easy to decide 90mph is perfectly reasonable. (Why no, I never decided that, nor that 100mph was fun, what are you talking about?) In California, on the other hand, at least on much of our route, there were mountains and towns and signs saying “Speed Monitored by Aircraft” and I stuck the cruise-control to the limit and there we stayed because I couldn’t keep an eye on the whole sky. (I mean, I put the cruise-control on the limit in Arizona too. Yep.)†

When you know you’re being watched, even by the friendliest of eyes, you behave better. Or at least I do. And Kit Campbell does–her post two weeks ago was what started me thinking about accountability and my Fitbit.

What have I found since I acquired my Fitbit? That it’s easy to lie to myself.

Okay, that’s not really news. But it’s something I seem to keep forgetting. “I walked a lot today” to justify chocolate is fine, until I check my Fitbit dashboard and find that I actually didn’t walk as much as I thought. Choosing whole grain bread over white is a healthier choice, but it doesn’t actually cut calories. And yeah, salad is good for me, but too much bleu cheese dressing actually can undo everything I’m trying to do by eating the salad in the first place. Moderation is key, but knowing what moderation is can be hard. Enter my Fitbit and Loseit.com, and that gets a little easier.

Knowing where I really stand makes me try harder. Seeing my progress makes me reluctant to wreck it. Accountability is good for motivation.

Know what else is good for motivation? Taunting. I mean, challenges. I love texting my daughter in the middle of the day with my steps so far. This day I was really blowing her away.

Erin mentioned on Twitter that she’s counting her steps, so I may be challenging her soon.

It’s like NaNo, but with less caffeine and more pacing the house in pajamas (to get those last steps to the goal in!)

† Fun travel game: race your breaks! Every time you stop for a break, when you’re back on the road try to make up that time. Please note I am not offering legal advice or suggesting persons break the law.