Counting Steps
I want to lose a few pounds. I’ve been inconsistently chasing those “last ten pounds” for decades. It’s an ongoing battle between my desire for my ideal weight and my intense dislike of weighing, measuring, and tracking every morsel I shove into my pie-hole. (Actually, my concept of my ideal weight has moved - I used to strive to get down to my pre-pregnancy weight, and actually achieved that for ten minutes once, when my baby was twenty-five years old. But now, I would be happy to get down to my pre-menopausal weight.)
According to YouTube, daily walking is a useful and relatively painless tool for weight loss. I decided that increasing my steps per day would be helpful. So I needed to set a goal and count my steps.
First, I tried a free app on my phone. It worked fairly well and seemed accurate. But it only registered steps if the phone was actually jiggling along with me. I had to have the phone with me at all times. I wanted to count all the steps I did while cleaning the house, but I wasn’t willing to hold my phone in one hand and dust, vacuum, and mop with the other.
Next, I looked at fitbits and smart watches online. Being frugal and considering that I only needed to count steps, not heart rate or hours of restful sleep, I opted for a simple wristband step-counter, for about ten bucks. It looked fine, was comfortable to wear, and stopped working after twelve hours. Back to Amazon it went.
Then, I went totally old-school, and got one of those small rectangular pedometers that clip onto your waistband. It worked well for a week, but met an unhappy fate in the toilet of a Boeing 737.
Ultimately, I broke down and purchased an actual Fitbit. It is sleek in design and lovely in color. I charged it up and tried to connect it with my phone. It sent me a message that it required Android version 10 or higher to function. I checked my phone - version 7. It was time to upgrade my cell phone.
I admit, I don’t buy new phones very often. I tend to buy older models, reconditioned ones if available, and use them until they are no longer supported by the manufacturer. This time, however, I decided to splurge. I checked with Wirecutter, my go-to source for advice on most appliances, and promptly realized I needed to be rebaselined.
Wirecutter’s top recommendation was the Google Pixel 6, at $600 a pop. Or, they helpfully suggested, you could upgrade to the Google Pixel 6 Pro if you needed more bells and whistles, for $800. I know, I know, these prices are not out of line for cell phones today, but they are roughly double or triple what I have paid in the past. As a budget model, one could settle for a Pixel 5A with 5G, for a mere $450. The screen and camera, although wonderful, were not quite as wonderful as the Pixel 6’s. As an afterthought, Wirecutter mentioned that the Pixel 5A does, however, have a headphone jack.
It hadn’t occurred to me that phones would ever come without a headphone jack. That would be like a car coming without a CD player, right? I need a headphone jack, so I gladly downgraded to the Pixel 5A. It arrived from Google yesterday, and I have switched the SIM card, transferred my data, added a screen-protector and encased it in a hard, black shell. My Fitbit is now happily connected.
Now I only have to start walking.