Day 37: Healthy Competition.

This week I was asked to join a Fitbit workweek hustle. It's simply a bunch of friends coming together and seeing who can do the most steps in one working week. I joined. I watched others steps mounting up and saw mine creeping up too.

By the end of the first day I was in second place...just. I was about 2,500 steps short of first place. I looked at my Fitbit a dozen times over the next hour or so and then decided, as the person above me hadn't moved in a while, that they were probably finished for the day. This motivated me to try for the lead.

So I put on my coat, hat and earphones and grabbed the dog's lead. She almost knocked me over, so excited was she at the prospect of a nightly walk...not a usual activity. However, once her initial excitement had calmed, I managed to fix the lead to her collar and off we went.

We walked around the streets: me listening to as podcast for The Learning Scientists (brilliant if you're a teacher or interested in the psychology of learning), the dog sniffing everything she could see and occasionally peeing and pooing. It wasn't particularly comfortable for me as my knee is injured at the moment, but we carried on and did about 3,500 steps. I looked at my watch when I entered the warmth of the house and then quickly flicked my Fitbit app open and, there it was...I had taken the lead. From that point I have not lost the lead in the workweek hustle and, in fact, my lead has continuously grown day after day. I am now 10,411 steps ahead of my nearest rival.

Having a competition, or a reason to get in more exercise has helped me to do more steps (and helped my dog to love me just that little bit more)! It does help that I am extremely competitive and relish the challenge of going up against other people in direct competition. I've racked up about 66,000 steps so far this week and tomorrow is the last day. Therefore I may have to up the step count to make sure that I don't lose. There is always some way or some thing that you can use to help motivate you to bigger and better goals, to bigger and greater weight losses, to a healthier lifestyle.

This week has simply made me realise that I probably could do with a bit of healthy competition (maybe with the wife) to get back on the more nutritional track. What could help to motivate you to push that little bit harder, to be that little bit healthier?

Let me know through the comments section if you have any other ways to aid motivation. If you like reading about my journey, if you can't check to see when I have written a blog, or maybe if this is helping you to be healthier, why not subscribe to the blog by filling in the form below. Or maybe even start a reflective blog yourself?

Who knows...you may enjoy it!

Thanks for reading.

Stay strong. Stay honest!

Sean.