My journey to “skinTy” is multifaceted. I work out at the gym — if you read my blog regularly, you know I have a hate-love-hate relationship with the elliptical — watch what I eat, regularly drink green smoothies and I walk a lot. And while the apps on my phone are very helpful, the Tomtoms gave me the best gift for Mother’s Day: a Fit Bit Charge.

Angela's FitBit RecordThis handy-dandy band (shout out to “Blue’s Clues, the kids TV show) can be worn on either wrist and daily tracks your footsteps, the number of miles you walk, calories burned and the number of flights of steps. It’s also a watch, an alarm, if you enable it, and if you sync it with your smart phone, the Charge also has CallerID. Pretty useful, huh?

While conventional wisdom recommends that one walk 10,000 steps each day, some may require more or less steps, so consult with your physician for qualified advice. I will say walking/jogging 4 miles five out of seven days, which is roughly 8,000 steps/day, along with walking as much as possible — for instance, walking to a coworkers office versus using the intercom, taking the steps when possible, parking a bit further out when running errands — along with my healthy diet has gotten me down to those last 5 pounds. And my Fit Bit has been a most useful tool in tracking those steps.

I utilize it along with MyFitnessPal, an app that helps users track calories and exercise, and find the two a pretty good source of accountability … and I recently found out my “seester” and another friend-girl have FitBits, so we can challenge and encourage one another as we earn badges!!

Happy walking/jogging — hope to see you on the road to “skinTy” and more importantly, healthy.