New Fitbit

On Tuesday...exactly two weeks after my original Fitbit died...I had a warranty replacement Charge HR Fitbit in my hands (or should I say on my arm?) and working.  The time seemed much longer while I was waiting, but Fitbit actually handled this very swiftly.  Although it took Fitbit technical support a week to respond to me initially, they immediately agreed with my list of troubleshooting efforts and offered to send a replacement if I showed proof of purchase.  Through some miracle I found the receipt.  Fitbit sent the replacement, USPS delivered it, and all is well again.

With or without the Fitbit, I really enjoy our walks.  They continue to be better than one might imagine given the urban/suburban setting and the current less than ideal weather, i.e. heat (high today is expected to be 103 with a temperature humidity index quite a bit higher than that).  The high quality walking is primarily due to the extensive paved trail system in Highland Village.  As good as it is, the trail system will expand and improve considerably once Double Tree Ranch Park is finished later this summer or fall.  With the current trails, we tend to rotate among three different loops we have cobbled together that range from about 3.8  to 6.5 miles in length. 

No matter which trail, we almost always see something interesting.  The spring wildflowers along City Trail are now long gone, but we see many birds.  There are the large complement of normal suburban birds, but we even occasionally see roadrunners in the large open spaces.   There are also numerous Mississippi kites, which were new to us.  They have a profile reminiscent of a falcon as they slowly soar looking for insects.  Although we have seen them routinely while walking this summer, they apparently will soon be departing for South America.

Mississippi kite hawk

We occasionally see turtles.  Squirrels are everywhere, especially on the bird feeders.  We used to see multiple rabbits, but then stopped seeing them as often about the time we saw a coyote on two different days.

Unfortunately I seem to have developed a mild case of runner's knee.  This is in spite of the fact that my knee has not been involved in any running activity for years.  I am cutting back to the shorter walks for a few days and am now using a knee brace, both of which seem to be helping.   Hopefully this is only a temporary setback and won't cause major interruptions to exploring the trails.

Five Stages of Grief

My FitBit Charge HR died yesterday.  Well, maybe not actually died, but it seems to have advanced Alzheimer's disease.  It can no longer communicate with other devices (so no longer knows the correct time and cannot upload data) and loses a full battery charge in less than two hours. 

I had come to really love my FitBit. I got it for my birthday in February and have been using it ever since.  I reported on it briefly in a previous post.

My FitBit Charge HR back in the days when it still worked.

I discovered the problem at lunch yesterday when I looked down at it, since I use it as a watch, and could get no display.  I was of course immediately in DENIAL.   The battery can't be dead already.  What is wrong??!!  The battery was totally dead even though I had recharged the battery less than two hours before. 

Of course I recharged the battery, rebooted, removed and reloaded software, etc. etc. etc., but to no avail.  Although I would have BARGAINED for a resolution, I was mostly just ANGRY at FitBit for creating a product that would not last more than a few months before dying. 

Now I am just DEPRESSED, since using the FitBit had become such a center piece of my existence (sad but true).  When originally setting up my FitBit account in February it asked for a weight goal.  Weight loss was not the major reasoning for using it.  What I really wanted to do was just be more active.  However, I played along and chose a number.  There was nothing very special about the weight goal that I chose other than it ended in zero and was so far out of reach for me to achieve that I wouldn't really worry about it.  Although I had already lost a little weight at that time, it would require losing an additional 22 pounds.  That was not going to happen so I wouldn't have to worry about it.

What do you know?  Using the FitBit in conjunction with logging all of my food made it very easy to compare how many calories I had eaten at any particular time on any given day with the number of calories I had burned. To lose one pound per week all I had to do was burn 500 calories more per day than I consumed.  I never dieted, just watched portion sizes, cut back/skipped dessert on those days I had not burned enough calories, or made an effort to do more exercise on other days.  I was religious about logging all of the food.  It also evolved into more and more walking.  It  was just a game and I was having fun.  As of last week I hit the arbitrary weight goal, i.e. I had lost 22 pounds.  WooHoo! 

Having reached the first goal, I of course set a new goal.  However, everything has changed again without the FitBit. We did our usual 6.5 mile walk this morning (yes, even though it is now unbearably hot and humid), but now I am flying blind.  I did not realize how much I had come to depend on my FitBit.  I can now only guess at how many calories I burned.  I can keep track of how many calories I eat, but what is the point if I don't know how many calories are burned? 

I have not yet ACCEPTED that FitBit is gone.  I wrote to FitBit's technical support earlier this afternoon and outlined my problem.  Now I wait.  They indicated it might take 2-3 days for a response.  If they cannot suggest a fix I am hoping they will replace it under warranty.  We will see.