Earn your breakfast
by Volker Weber
Don't break the chain. That means reach your goal every single day, without exception. My current count is 243 days, 4673968 steps, 19234 steps per day. The long shot is 7 million steps within a year, 19178 steps per day. 122 days to go.
I know where I want to be. But how do I get there? I found the answer when the weather got too hot to walk at noon. Start early. As easy as that. "The early bird catches the worm" works in German, almost translated verbally: "Früher Vogel fängt den Wurm". I start the day with a 90 minutes brisk walk. That's three bars, 30 minutes each on the Excercise chart to the right. Apple Watch counted 53 of those as exercise. You need 30, that's why the chart on the left shows more than one turn on the green circle. Without this walk it becomes hard to get to the 30 minutes a day.
If you have between 5 and 8 kilometers to get to work, this morning walk would be enough. The rest of my daily calorie burn will accumulate over the rest of the day. Of course you don't get to 19234 steps with a 90 minutes walk. You need a second one. Or two shorter ones at noon and in the evening. But the important one is the morning exercise. This puts you in front.
If you look at the blue chart, you will see 4/12 of the circle. That's four hours: 5, 6, 7, 8. You get the 5 by getting up before 6, if only by two minutes. No snooze. And yes, that's a Sunday. But don't worry. Since I earned my breakfast I get to nap at noon.
If you look at the achievements, don't mind the first 5 and the 9th. They are easy. The 6th achievement is reaching your calorie burn goal twice in a day. That is very hard. The 7th and 8th achievement probably mean that you cheated by setting the goal way too low. The two bottom rows are interesting. The first four stand for perfect week, 7 days stand up, 7 days calorie burn, and 7 days exercise. It says New Award since I just re-earned them. The last two ones are full month of calorie burn goal and longest move streak. I get the last one every single day (don't break the chain) and I am working on the full month. June will be my first full month having the Apple Watch and I intend to also reach my goals tomorrow and the day after.
Don't break the chain. Start early.
Comments
5-8 km way to work. Ha, I wish. I live a stone throw away from where I work. To get at least to 5000 steps a day, I have to take some detours, and I usually do. But to reach over 10k steps regularly, I would have to make a few changes to my daily routine. Anyway, I take rides on my bicycle almost every day, so I am taking more care to reach the "1 hour of exercise" goal in Google Fit than to reach step goals. I guess the important aspect is to not be a couch potato. ;)
By the way, I find it extremely weird that there is absolutely no gamification including achievements and/or badges in Google Fit. I thank that is a huge missed opportunity.
Daniel, I was a couch potato for 56 years. And I know it's good to not be one.
You are not alone taking this real seriously.. :-)
Sergeant Apple Watch! http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/2160.html
"...reach your goal every single day, without exception" - or feel free to just do nothing for a whole day (or two), if you like to. I earned my breakfast, I paid for it. :)
It's never been determined whether the Early Bird enjoys his worm as much as the Late Bird enjoys his extra sleep. :p
Kai, the "earn" implies that physical activity is the work.
For me this is different. If I achieve results with my work I feel I earned to spend time with physical activity.
I however also do physical activity when I didn't earn it. Because then I need it.
Some people say that you can even burn a few more calories (up to 20%) if you take the walk before eating breakfast. anyway, it is working for me... ;-)
Ich halte es eher mit dem Wurm: Wäre er länger im Bett geblieben, hätte der frühe Vogel ihn nicht gefressen ...
But then again: I've never been a coach potato, so I don't have to do any catch-up, just regular exercise like cycling to work, etc.
Does the number of arrowheads on the colour bars on the watch increase with each "lap" completed Volker?
Mariano, I know. :)
The fun thing is, even if I wanted to do it like Volker (I even have a similar kind of dog to walk), I couldn't. Because my dog is very easily distracted and brisk walking with her is out of the question. Alone? Naaaah.
John, no it does not. You have to look at the numbers. 30 minutes is one turn on the exercise dial but I have done 110 max.
