First and foremost I do not advise chocolate ice cream as a weight loss tool and had I not eaten 2 pints to myself it I would have lost more, but the fact that I lost ANY is what I am most excited about. I love my job and the perks and getting to try all the cool gadgets and tell you all if it’s a hit or miss but in my real life like most people I simply can’t always afford to run to Best Buy, Amazon or the mall to drop upwards of $500 just because.
I’ve been sent a few activity trackers over the years, and some were awesome with great features and matched my gym gear, but as with most of my fitness attempts they started collecting dust, and I gained more than I lost. I finally decided (again) that I need to get Up and Move and grabbed $100 out of my own piggy bank and headed to the mall to see exactly what I could get to help me reach my goals NOW.
Why I Chose the Jawbone UP MOVE
I spent about an hour looking at several tracking options and the price alone gave me limited options. Of course, there were brands like Fitbit and Misfit Shine that were in my price range but I wanted to be fair and base my opinion on the packaging and listed features. With a decent number of options in front of me, the Jawbone Up Move is what honestly grabbed my attention. It tracks sleep, steps, calories burned, water-resistant and has a Smart Coach. With all these features and more I only had to shell out $20 (on sale). Its normal price is $50 and considering what you get it is still a good deal. The price point was low enough for me to get in each color if I wanted black, red or purple, but I opted for black because it’s my new color of the season. Since I was balling on a strict budget, I only purchased the black one and the 3 pack of wrist strips for $29.99 and still walked out with change.
Setting up my Jawbone Up Move
Set up was easy I had to pop open the box and put in the battery and download the app and sync with my phones Bluetooth. It connects with the MyFitnessPal app, so it synced the necessary info together. There was no struggle in putting the tracker into the silicone clip but it was hard enough for me to feel confident that it wouldn’t fall out during use. It gave me the option to invite or add my friends and even challenge them to a duel (maybe 20 lbs from now).
My UP MOVE Favorite Features
Smart Coach – As you input your goals, information daily, and your steps are being tracked the Up Move gets to know you. It begins to give you personalized motivation and insight to give you a full picture of what you need to do to stay on track. As time goes on the better it can help you. It even helps you set daily goals that aren’t too outrageous to accomplish.
Sleep Tracking– I suffer from insomnia and the more I used the tracker it was able to give me tips and encourage me on how important sleep is and what I can do to try to reach my goal of 8 hours a day. I also found that on nights that I forgot to activate sleep mode it was able to suggest a range of time I possibly slept with the option to lock it in.
Food Logging– If you don’t use an additional food logging app like I do you can actually log your meals and track calories directly into the app. It also gives you a food score and tips on how to make each meal count and help bring to your attention the impact eating poorly can have on achieving your health goals.
Activity Tracking– like most trackers on the market you will be able to see how many steps you’ve taken. It also lets you log your activities and encourages you to stay more active and meet and surpass your goals.
My Jawbone with Chocolate Ice Cream
As I stated before had I stayed away from the 2 pints I might have lost more but if you have struggled with weight in any capacity you know 5 lbs is a huge deal when you usually lose 0. Or you lose and it’s like you hit a point and you can’t go any lower (plateau). As with any fitness routine, you need to be ready and willing to make the changes. For me when I made up my mind and walked into that store and was able to walk out with the best tracker for me at my current fitness level for under $100 I was excited. Whenever I am able to save money I’m happy and Jawbone isn’t a no name knockoff that I was iffy about purchasing. What I loved even more was it let me set my daily step goal to 2000 steps. As a #Spoonie 10,000 steps every day doesn’t happen for me and having trackers and apps that remind me daily how I underachieved because I didn’t meet that goal is discouraging.
Over the course of 5 weeks, I got daily encouragement. I was reminded when I actually hit 12,000 steps recently but then had a day of under 1000 and urged to make an effort to see if I can go a little harder and hit a cool 1500 steps. That may be nothing to most but to some of us this is our reality and the Smart Coach goes just hard enough to make you want to make the extra effort. I tracked my food and given a food score and as I was more mindful of how I can still eat my chocolate ice cream over time and push myself a little more each day I was able to drop a pound a week.
Final Thoughts
Don’t get me wrong I am not saying if you buy ice cream and this tracker you will lose weight. What I am saying is if you’re ready and need the little push and don’t want to break your bank the Jawbone Up Move will definitely help you on your journey. If you take heed to the Smart Coach and pay attention to your food scores and adjust your lifestyle accordingly it will be a huge help. So how did I lose the 5 lbs.? Simple. I got UP and Moved and paid attention to everything I ate and followed suggestions and treated myself to ice cream in moderation. Although an argument can be made that 2 pints in under 2 months is far from moderate, that’s not what we should be focusing on here. So you now have no more excuses about these activity trackers costing so much money or being too bulky or uncomfortable. I placed mine on my bra strap or on the waistline of my pants it was truly like nothing was there. This was also important to me because I have sensitive skin and have had allergic reactions to some trackers and even watch bands. Having spent my own money on this tracker and loving it means I double endorse it. Have you tried the Jawbone UP MOVE? What is your favorite tracker?
Photos courtesy of: Jawbone
