Welcome to the new year, and hopefully, to me working a little more consistently on keeping my Wellness Wednesday features on track. Today I want to talk about a wellness app that I’ve been using on my phone for a while now, especially since it gave me a few giggles over the holidays, Carrot Rewards. Working with the Canadian Government, it was an app created for Canadians that rewards you for hitting a daily step target, that is generated by the app, based on your phone’s pedometer. I’m personally signed up to collect Aeroplan points, but you can sign up for Scene points, Petro points, Drop and a few other partnering companies to earn reward points for your goal.
My biggest complaint with the app, is the algorithm to determine your step goal. The first two weeks, you don’t have a set goal, the algorithm is just collecting your step data to determine a goal for you. Once you have a set goal, every Sunday, the app will use your past two weeks data to generate a new goal for you based on how much you’ve been walking. On the surface, it seems like a great way to determine an appropriate step goal, but I’ve learned the hard way that it’s not.
After my back injury, I couldn’t do too much walking, and was maybe hitting 5000 steps a day if I was lucky. The app just kept pushing, and one week it might drop a couple hundred steps a day, but then the next few weeks in a row it would up it by at least a hundred steps. While it tuned back into my new walking habits, it was incredibly frustrating and discouraging, especially considering it was an app made in Canada for Canadians. Our weather can be so unpredictable, especially here in southern Ontario (which, Ontario is one of three provinces that has access to the app), that one day it’s sunny and lovely, and quite literally the next it’ll be minus five before windchill. Even pacing my house I can’t reasonably be asked to walk 12,000 steps in a day.
The step adjustment issue aside, one of the features I do like, is the fitness tool tips it gives you. As can be seen in the top image, it’s quite positive and encouraging. I’m a firm believer in the message it’s currently promoting – over indulgence happens, but it doesn’t mean you’ve ‘ruined’ your diet, or that all hope is gone. However, over the holidays, the fitness tips weren’t as encouraging, and quite frankly, felt more like a personal attack.
I haven’t felt this personally attacked by the Ministry of Health since they told me that I shouldn’t eat raw cookie dough. So I did what any other reasonable adult would do. I immediately went out and bought a bottle of Veuve Clicquot (Yes, the champagne that Rocco Rossi drank is approximately $5 more than everyone’s bottle of Moet, but that is a rant for a different day), and qued up a cocktail called The Cortez to make for New Years Breakfast. I mean, what kind of New Years hosts serve Arnold Palmers to their eager guests?
Alas though, the holidays are over, and yes, with the food over indulgence definitely came a little over indulgence with alcohol. Truth be told, I’m actually really looking forward to getting back to my mat, and joining the YMCA. Last year, my new years resolutions really revolved around losing weight and getting fit, and this year, while my focuses have shifted a little, they’re more or less the same. I’m excited for what the new year will bring!
Who else is looking forward to kicking their fitness goals into high gear this month?
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