Active LinkIf you don’t know what it is, well, then you’re not a Weight Watchers member and this post might be meaningless to you.

If you do know what it is or are thinking of joining Weight Watchers, feel free to keep reading.

Active Link is the trainer you never knew you needed. It’s the one thing that can get away with calling you “Liar!” when you claim a hard workout. It may be the devil incarnate … or could it be an angel?

Here’s what I do know about Active Link and what it’s making me do:

  1. It monitors your movement front-to-back, side-to-side and up-and-down. Riding in cars does not register, so no cheating there. Heck, if I keep my upper body very still when I ride my bicycle, it won’t register the activity (see defining your activity to get an accurate reading).
  2. Your house will never be cleaner!
  3. You may start to wear a bra (the link can clip to it).
  4. You may put your bra on even before you go to the bathroom when you first wake up in the morning.
  5. You may consider wearing your bra into the shower … I said consider … is anyone actually doing this?
  6. It may be easy when you start but don’t let that fool you. It automatically increases your daily goal for activity each week. What worked for you in week one will not work in week six – you have to try harder.
  7. Bike riding 20, 40, even 60 miles on a Saturday means bubkus if you spend the rest of the day/week sitting on your butt!
  8. Your husband/wife will appreciate that you volunteer to take out the trash and/or get things from upstairs.
  9. Your children won’t notice when you carry their crap from the stairs to their bedrooms – but hey – at least it isn’t on the stairs anymore.
  10. 100% activity level is not all the lights lit, it’s only four of the six lights lit.
  11. You can start earning activity points even before you get to 100% activity level (four lights, see above), if you’re goal is high enough.
  12. You can not use etools to track activity levels during the assessment.
  13. It will not make you go to the gym. I wish it did. I wish it screamed in my ear until I got out of my chair and drove to the gym but it doesn’t. So, I fear, if you do not have at least a semi-regular exercise routine, this device may actually end up getting shoved into a drawer and never used. Because at some point, your normal activity will not be enough (see #6) and really, how many days in a row of not hitting a goal can someone take?
  14. Monthly, it costs a little more than one grande skinny peppermint mocha latte at Starbucks.

That’s what I got for now. I’m sure there’s more – but at the moment, I can’t think of any.