Every year, my parents ask me what I want for Christmas, and it’s usually one big thing I really want and they can afford. This year, I got a Fitbit Charge HR, and after six months of use, I don’t know how I lived without it. I am a self-proclaimed Fitbit addict and here’s how I live out my addiction:

1. Having to go one day without your Fitbit is torture.

My biggest fear is leaving home without my Fitbit, especially when I have a day filled with exercise. It just reminds me how many steps won’t be accounted for, and I’ll have no idea how many calories I burned that day to match the calories I’m counting on myfitnesspal. There have been numerous occasions where I left my room without my Fitbit and was late for something because I had to turn back and get it.

2. It turns friendships into competition.

Between workweek hustle, weekend warrior, goal days, and daily showdowns, every day is a day to surpass your friends in steps. I’m currently in three competitions with seven different people, and our competition chats get very intense. The athlete in me always wants to win, so I’ll do anything I can to beat my friends and get in those extra steps. My friends and I also compare how long we’ve been in the fat-burning zone or how often we exercised that day. Even if Fitbit does not have competitions for this, we do.

3.Your day isn’t complete unless you’ve reached 10,000 steps.

Going along with the competition, one way to win is making sure you’re hitting your 10,000 steps every day. Usually in softball season, I hit 10,000 steps pretty easily but when I’m not working out or running for my sport, I do what every I can to feel my Fitbit vibrate on my wrist. Key example: I was binge watching One Tree Hill, when I realized I was 5,000 steps away from reaching my goal, so in order to reach it I walked around my room a million times while watching the rest of the show. I promise I’m not lying.

4. You become way too obsessed with your heart rate and sleeping patterns.

Currently my resting heart rate is 59, and I slept eight hours and 31 minutes, 28 of these minutes spent restless. How do I know this? Well, every morning I sync up my Fitbit to check how well I slept. Depending on the day I do pretty well, but let’s not talk about the couple of times I stayed up this semester to finish up homework. When my heart rate is too high, I’m immediately googling why, and I already know that the lower your resting heart rate is the more active you are.

5. That terrible moment when you realize you can’t track your fitness in the pool.

I was a swimmer in high school and my softball team sometimes does aqua jogging instead of sprints to take it easy off our legs. The negative side of this? Fitbits are only water-resistant not waterproof, so my Fitbit has to sit out and hide in my bag while I swim laps or aqua jog, thus my exercise for that time period is not calculated. Meaning, time wasted.

6. Charging your Fitbit means waiting at least an hour before you can do anything.

If you sense the pattern here, anything that requires not wearing your Fitbit feels like time wasted. Fitbits take at least an hour to charge, and I usually spend that time sulking in my bed waiting for it to finish, so I can be on my way to getting more steps in. Let’s not even mention the days where I forget my Fitbit is charging and go the whole day without it (See #1).

7. You immediately sync-up after every exercise

Whether I’m walking down the Hollywood Beach Boardwalk or running laps as a softball pitcher, I always make sure that immediately after I finish exercising I grab my phone and sync up. How else will I show my friends I’m beating them in steps or track my calories burned? Yes, the Bluetooth connection drains my battery, but sometimes the addiction gets the best of you.

8.You find yourself wondering when you’ll get your next badge.

Fitbit has lifetime mile badges, daily maximum badges, and lifetime climb badges. There’s no better feeling than when you received a badge after a long day of climbing the stairs of Hill Hall or after running in McDaniel’s turkey trot. I’m constantly wondering when my next badge will come up and I’m so excited when it does.

9. You make it a part of your nightlife wardrobe.

I actually just did this last night. I was going to a country line dancing club with a few of my closest friends, but no matter what outfit I put together, I was not leaving my Fitbit at home because dancing is where you get the most steps in! I got over 5,000 steps alone in the span of three hours and risking a put-together outfit is worth it when you’re a Fitbit addict.

10. You miss being on campus because you walk more than when you’re at home

I easily reach my step goal of 10,000 steps before I even end my day of classes at college, but at home it’s so much harder to reach my 5,000 steps when I am in my one story house. I also easily nail my goal of 10 floors a day on a campus known for being “The Hill”, and home means the one state that’s at sea level. When I’m too far away from reaching my goal that day, I find myself wishing I was on campus and easily nailing all my goals for the day, especially if I’m falling behind in a competition.

So when people ask me if they believe getting a Fitbit is worth it, I tell them that it most definitely is, but they got to be prepared for how addicting the lifestyle is. I admit some of the things I do in order to get my daily steps in or beat my friends is a little intense, but I feel like a much more active person outside of my usual softball activities and I think purchasing a Fitbit has a lot to do with that. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for my Fitbit and I!