Keeping in shape and keeping in touch!

Hello, my dear friends. Thanks for stopping by to have a little look at my blog. I know that many of you who read the blog aren’t on social media, so I want to do my best to keep up with you here. Maybe during these times of social distancing, you may decide you’d like to join twitter, Instagram or Facebook. If you do feel free to look me up for more regular updates. My details are at the bottom of this post.

My nearest and dearest know that I’m a bit of a glass half full kinda gal. Perhaps you’ve even picked up on that? Even in the most terrible of circumstances I automatically kick into ‘solutionist’ mode. I don’t even know if that’s a word, but I think it describes my attitude when met with problems. Of course, I can get overwhelmed sometimes too but my general default is to find silver linings in situations even when they appear to be hopeless.

I would like to say thank you to all of you who continue to support QVC whilst we do our best to support you, too. There are a huge number of people who deserve gratitude right now. Obviously, the NHS staff, the emergency services, delivery drivers, local superstars looking after their communities, those working in refuse collection, supermarkets and so on, and so on. You who ensure the smooth running of the country on so many levels, thank you. So many unseen and unsung heroes keeping calm and carrying on.

Now onto the silver linings. I’m at home now with my two children. I’m so happy the three of us are together. My daughter should be at university, but they’ve had to close indefinitely. We have played games, had deep conversations, watched funny TV programmes together and my daughter and I even had a workout together as you can see!

Chrissie goes to a yoga class in Bristol on a regular basis. They’ve had to cease their public classes but have been offering free classes online for those who want to carry on. They’ve said donations are welcome but there’s no obligation. Obviously, businesses have had to let staff go and some have even had to permanently close. I feel desperately sorry for them. This I felt, was a really community spirited way of providing a service but also trying to keep people’s jobs through optional contributions.

I’ve even seen our very own Miceal Murphy doing some fitness videos over on his Instagram whilst he self isolates. Great if you want to workout alongside him. I might give it a go, myself!

Just because we can’t go to the gym right now certainly doesn’t mean we can’t keep fit. I’ve got my Pilates machine up in my living room and all three of us have made great use of it already. We have some available on QVC. You can take a look here. Also check out some of our other health and fitness equipment. There’s plenty on offer and we’ll deliver it to your door!

There’s a fab offer from Fitbit coming your way on the 1st of April. I love my Fitbit. I call mine Freddy Fitbit. If you don’t know Fitbit they make a range of activity trackers designed to slot seamlessly into your lifestyle. Fitbit tracks your steps, calories burned, heartrate and sleep, providing motivation, stats, and more to help you achieve your goals.

The forthcoming Today’s Special Value, the Charge 3, is their current flag ship tracker. It’s built to be swim-proof and water resistant to 50m. The Charge 3 automatically tracks swim workouts and can be worn in shower, pool and beyond. I know we may not need that aspect of it for a little while but it’s great for when we do. I’ve been swimming in mine and it’s really nice to see the lengths being measured as I swim. The screen is also 40% larger compared to the Charge 2, whilst being lighter.

With a multi-day battery life of up to seven days, Fitbit Charge 3 keeps the insights and inspiration coming day and night. Some fitness chargers need to be charged after a day or two. I like that this one can get you through the week.

Stay connected with call and calendar alerts, text notifications plus notifications from smartphone apps. Very handy if you’re waiting for a text but you’re in the middle of working out and don’t want to be holding your phone.

A clever feature you can use is the 24/7 heart rate monitor to better track calorie burn, optimise workouts and uncover trends that give you guidance to act on your health and fitness goals. Use real-time heart rate zones to see whether you’re in the Fat Burn, Cardio or Peak zone and use what you learn to know the impact of your workouts. Wear Fitbit Charge 3 all day and night to record and reveal your resting heart rate, track heart rate trends over time and follow your progress.

All-Day Calorie Burn allows you to better understand the total number of calories you burn – all day and during workouts – to manage your weight and stay on track towards your goals.

Another handy and brilliant feature is that the Fitbit Charge 3 automatically recognises exercises like runs, swims, elliptical, sports and more and records them for you in the Fitbit app. So, you don’t have to scroll through menus and make changes according to what activity you’re doing.

The device tracks activity like steps, distance, floors climbed, active minutes and calories burned to show how every part of your day impacts your goals.

You can also choose from over 15 exercise modes like run, bike, swim, yoga, circuit training and more, set a goal and get real-time stats during your workouts to keep getting better.

Sleep Tracking & Stages is one of my favourite elements of my Fitbit. The app allows you to see your time spent in light, deep and REM sleep stages and get personalised insights to help you improve the quality of your sleep and get into better sleep habits.

Cardio fitness, or heart health, is obviously very important. The Fitbit charge 3 helps you to get a better understanding of your fitness level and see how you can improve over time with a personalised Cardio Fitness Score.

The Fitbit will let you know how long you’ve been active or inactive throughout the day and get personalised reminders to fit in a few extra steps if you’ve been sitting a bit too long. Especially important during times when we can’t get out and about so much, if at all.

In the current climate I think the guided breathing sessions are a great feature. I used to use it after my gym sessions. This TSV Fitbit helps you find moments of calm throughout your day with personalised guided breathing sessions based on your heart rate.

App Dashboard. This is brilliant. I have mine installed on my phone and look at it every day. It allows you to set goals, track progress and get a more complete picture of your health and fitness – from nutrition and hydration to exercise and sleep – all on your dashboard in the Fitbit mobile app.

I could sing its praises all day as there’s even more it can do but that would leave no time to tell you about this Sunday’s TSV from Amazon, the Amazon Echo Show 5 with smart display which will also come with a smart plug. This could t come at a better time for keeping us entertained and in touch with those we love.

The Echo Show features a compact 5.5″ smart display, great screen resolution, a great speaker, fantastic front-facing camera and is ready to help you manage your day, entertain at a glance and connect you to your friends and family. You can even follow step by step recipes and try your hand at some new home cooked meals.

Alexa and Echo devices are built with multiple layers of privacy protection. For example, on Echo Show 5, you can turn off the mics and camera with the press of a button or slide the built-in cover to easily close the camera. You also have control over your voice recordings. You can hear, view, or delete them at any time.

What’s really clever is how you can manage compatible smart home devices on the simple interactive display or use your voice. You can control lights and switches, set thermostats and view security cameras. Honestly, you’ll be amazed at how much of an assistant this little gem will be for you.

I personally think this will make a great gift for people who might be feeling lonely and cut off at the moment to help keep them in the loop with video calls but truly, I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t get something out of owning this. The price will be excellent so remember to tune in when it launches at 9pm on Saturday night. It’ll feature throughout Sunday so you can tune in for expert advice from my good friend and IT whizz, Lee Hohbein. The best way to see how it could work for you is to try with our new extended 60-day money back guarantee.

Well, that’s it from me for this week don’t forget to check out this week’s Big Deals and I’ll be back with you soon for more updates. I’d love to hear that you’re doing well. Stay safe and we’ll catch up soon.

Lots of love,

Catherine xx

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