My newest obsession has been my Fitbit Flex. This "bracelet" helps me to track my movement or lack there of. It is amazing how little most of us move on a daily basis when we are at work. Our jobs are often very sedentary. Then we get home from work and are exhausted and thus don't want to exercise. And as a result, we sit down, eat dinner and then watch TV. It is no wonder why most Americans are overweight.
When I first got my Fitbit, I was excited to see how many steps I had gotten that day. I was shocked when I got home that night because I had only gotten a little over 2000 steps! I wanted to and need to get 10000 steps every day. I usually would follow the above - eat dinner then sit down and relax because I was "tired" from the day. Now I have started to figure out ways to get my steps not only earlier in the day, but also at night before I go to bed. I hope soon to be able to increase my goal of ten thousand steps by twelve hundred fifty steps or more.
What I also really like about the Fitbit is that it tracks my sleep. Before I go to sleep I put it into sleep mode, and then when I wake up in the morning I take it out of sleep mode. This allows the Fitbit to know when I am asleep and thus it is able to track my restlessness, or wakefulness, at night. It seems as though on average I am getting thirty or so minutes a night of restlessness.
Fitbit has a great website and app that go with their products to help you track not only your steps and sleep, but also your water intake, your calories and many medical markers (i.e. blood pressure, blood sugar, pulse). You can connect with other friends who have Fitbits and cheer them on or taunt them. I currently have my brother as a friend on their website, and I try to make sure I have more steps than him.
Fitbit is not the only company that has a product like this. Two others include the Jawbone Up and Nike Fuelband (iPhone only). Each of these products has their positives and negatives, but for me I found the one that would help me to be motivated to move best. Well I still have 2400 steps to finish today, so I better get walking!