Nuggets for the New Year: 10,000 Steps

I'm back today with another installment of Nuggets for the New Year with The Blended Blog.  For this series, our contributors have been dishing-out advice on everything from budgeting to meal planning.  You may remember that, about a month ago, I posted a planner review for this very series.

Today we are talking fitness!  If you are popping over from Christy's post, welcome!  And don't forget to head to Sarah's next for information about her work-out routine.

Over here, we're discussing ways to achieve the daily recommendation of 10,000 steps per day!  So many of us are wearing fitness trackers these days but it can still be so hard to fit in all of those steps! For Christmas, my dad purchased a Fitbit Charge 2 for each member of my family so that we can hold each other accountable to being a bit healthier.  My competitive streak and my goal to be fitter in 2017 has me constantly up and on my feet!  Here are a few habits that I've inserted into my daily life to help me achieve that 10,000 step goal!

Set Mini Goals Each Day
10,000 is an awfully lofty goal!  In order to get there, it helps me to set littler goals throughout the day.  You definitely have to do this based on your own life and daily activities.  I'm a traveling teacher, so I teach for two hours at a high school first thing in the morning and then I travel to the junior high to finish-out my day.  After school, I head to a two-hour cheerleading practice (I coach) before heading home.  I make it my goal to get to 3,000 steps by the time I leave the high school, 6,000 by the end of the school day and 7,000 by the end of cheerleading practice.  Breaking my day into chunks ensures that I don't get too far behind to reach my ultimate goal!

Schedule-In Walking Time
I also look at my daily activities and schedule in little moments for walking.  For example, each time I find myself alone in my classroom (during my planning/traveling hour, during lunch and after school) I do five minutes of walking around the room.  Yep!  I do laps around my own classroom.  You'd be amazed how many steps you can get in five minutes!  And if you schedule this several times a day, you will be that much closer to your goal!

Walk Before Rewards
This one is kind of goofy because my "rewards" are things I would do anyways, like eat dinner.  After I'm done with lesson planning and grading, I make myself do another five minutes of walking around my apartment before I fix dinner.  And before I sit down to watch my latest episode of Once Upon a Time on Netflix, I'll do another five minutes.  Again, anything helps!

There you have it!  My tips for your step goal success!  And while you're here, I would love to hear your tips!

If you are a fitness tracker wearer, you might be interested in one of my previous posts about how to wear a Fitbit stylishly.  Since I've upgraded to the Fitbit Charge 2 since that post, maybe I should do another one?  What do you think?

And now, don't forget to hop over to Sarah's fitness post!
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Create28: My Favorite Jewelry

I don't know about you, but summer seems to be the season when I find motivation to get into better shape!  Perhaps it's because I can exercise outside in the sunshine.  Or maybe it's because I'm a teacher and when the school year gets hectic, exercise takes the back burner in life.

You may be wondering why I started a post about jewelry by talking about fitness.  Well, it's because I have a new jewelry item in my collection that's helping with my activity goals: a Fitbit.  These things have been on the market for sometime now but if you've never heard of one, a Fitbit is a glorified pedometer that tracks your steps and sleep patterns.  You can also use the corresponding app to log your water and calorie consumption for the day.

I've been wearing a Fitbit for about a month now and I love it!  Not only does it keep track of everything for me, but it motivates me to get extra physical activity each day.  There have been a few evenings that I've done laps around my apartment so that I can achieve my step goal for the day!

The only complaint I have about my Fitbit is that it isn't very pretty.  So here is where we combine jewelry and fitness!  I want to share with you a few things that I've done to make my Fitbit a little bit more à la mode (and I don't mean ice cream, see my sidebar if you are confused).

The simplest way to jazz-up your Fitbit is to purchase it in a color that you like.  You can also purchase extra wristbands (for less than the cost of the whole Fitbit) so that you can change-up the look.

photo courtesy of Fitbit

The easiest way that I've found to dress-up my Fitbit is to wear the band that best matches my outfit and then stack-on a few neutral bracelets.

Druzy Bangle: c/o Rocks Box

Wrap Bracelet: Gift

Another way to add a little interest to the pedometer is to wear the band that is in the same color family as the outfit you are wearing, then add other bracelets in the same family.  For example, I worked with blue and green hues here.

Bangles: Alex and Ani

A really fun way to wear a Fitbit is to choose a band that really pops against what you are wearing (like this hot pink against a navy dress).  With the band, wear a big colorful bracelet that pulls-out the colors of the Fitbit and your outfit!

Bracelet: Gift

My final tip for styling a Fitbit is to pair a band with a bracelet in the same color for a cohesive look!

Michigan Map Bracelet: Gift

Do you have any other ideas about how to style a Fitbit?  I would love to hear about them in the comments since I plan to keep wearing mine!  And what's your favorite jewelry item this summer?  Show Carrie, Casey and me on Instagram (#create28summerlooks) and don't forget to link-up on Monday.  We are also still hosting our giveaway of a $75 gift card to your choice of Gap brand stores, LOFT, Nordstrom or Target.  See below for details!

Casey is back tomorrow showing us some skirt looks!

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