Fitbit question

darylxx

I was looking at fitbit flex. Do people who have them think they're worth it and did they help you? They're quite expensive but I'm thinking of getting one.

I've lost 53lbs so far but recently I just can't stop eating. I don't gain but I seem to maintain these days which is sad because I'm only 9lb away from my goal. I'm mainly putting it down to my new job working day shift because when I worked evenings it was fine!

amyford25

I recently bought a fitbit (about a month ago). I have it synced to MFP and I like that it holds me accountable for how much I move everyday. If I move less, it will adjust my calories for the day to a lower number, if I'm more active vice versa. I know some will say they don't like that it changes calorie numbers on their diary, but it has helped me get off this plateau and lose a couple of pounds since I bought it.

darylxx

Thanks for the reply. I like the idea of it adjusting my calories for me since it's probably more accurate then me just guessing. Think it might help me get back on track. The past 2/3 months my loss has been super slow

tisaria

I have a charge, got it on sale at Target for $99 on black Friday. They have a new version coming out soon that will have a heart rate monitor for $149. If you can afford it, get that version. It will way more accurately track your calories burned. That version will also have GPS tracking. I already have a Garmin Forerunner 110 watch with a HRM strap, so it didn't matter that the Charge can't do GPS yet. They are supposed to be working on a patch for that.

What I love about the fitbits is the encouragement I feel to get up and move, to be able to see my progress on my wrist without having to check the phone or sync constantly, to check the app and see how I am doing vs my friends, and the awesome summary email at the end of the week that shows progress.

I also have a withings scale that bluetooths to my phone and measures my BMI and weight and auto syncs with fitbit. The best thing is that fitbit will automatically adjust your daily calories based on your steps and activities you enter. It has been an amazing accountability tool and like having a workout buddy to gently prod you in the right direction and a physical reminder of making good choices to get you that much closer to your goals.

I am down 3 lbs since the beginning of the month, holiday meals included. I have been more active and I am like hey, just a little bit more to my goal, why not? Mentally, I feel a lot better/clearer and I noticed that I have been making better food choices, not been binging at night, and staying on track. If I could kick this cold, I would be in a lot better shape!

Anyway, I feel like our health is the most precious thing we've got and if a little investment towards technology will help us stay on track and make long term positive improvements, we should go for it!! Good luck

tisaria

Also meant to say that the Flex does not have the instant read screen, just the 5 dots. It is a little more bare bones, but will get the job done. The sleep tracking function is fabulous, too!

geojeepgirl

I like my flex... but would go for the charge hr on my next go around.

sussexbythesea

I did not get mine till I was maintaining and getting lazy about daily walks so I too like to see how much I move or not and then I can adjust intake accordingly OR get off my sofa!
Oh and congratulations on your loss btw!

darylxx

Thanks for the reply. I actually don't have a HRM either so maybe like you say I should wait because that's something I'd also like to invest in at some point since I've heard the machines at gyms over estimate I never know how much I've actually burned on them when I get a chance to go.

3lb this month is great especially around the holidays. It's all the biscuits and cakes at work that seem to be my downfall and wipe out my deficit haha.

Talking of investment I've recently bought a food scale as well and that was money well spent. The amount of cereal I was eating was a bit shocking to me! 30 gram serving is tiny. I barely eat the stuff now because it doesn't seem worth the calories anymore.

darylxx

I definitely might wait for the new version then. Seems worth the extra money for what you get.

Sued0nim

I love my fitbit ...started with the flex but downgraded to a zip...cheaper, easier to read, clips to a pocket or bra so I can wear bracelets again and I never really tracked my sleep

I think it's helped me a lot

I also use a Polar FT 4 HRM for workouts

editorgrrl

MFP has a Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users

Fitbits show you your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure)—way more accurately than any online calculator. If you eat less than your Fitbit burn, you will lose weight.

Ozzyzmommy

I just bought a Fitbit Flex... I truly like it.. But sometimes it confuses me..
Thats why I joined the Fitbit club so I can learn more about it.. But so far it's very kewl

Ozzyzmommy

editorgrrl wrote: »

MFP has a Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users

Fitbits show you your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure)—way more accurately than any online calculator. If you eat less than your Fitbit burn, you will lose weight.

Thank you I just joined, I think this is what I need to understand more about how it works..
Thank you again..

sympha01

I love my Fitbit, but honestly, unless you are really motivated by numbers and an activity tracker will make you move a lot more, do not get one to help with weight loss. If you're the kind of person who is having trouble sticking to your deficit and is possibly looking for an activity tracker to tell you to eat more, it could potentially do more harm than good in terms of progress. Personally I find the calorie burn information to be inaccurate as calorie burn. It will underestimate the burn from truly intense exercise (which won't hurt your progress, if you're doing that!!!) but the downside is it grossly exaggerates the burn estimate from low and moderate intensity exercise, particularly walking. The burn estimate it gives me for walking about 3mph is ridonk: more than 6X my at-rest burn rate.

If it will make you MOVE MORE, you'll see some results. Possibly FABULOUS results. But if you want your weight loss to speed up, you've got to move more, and you have to let most of the increased deficit ride (i.e., not eat the calories back). Getting exercise is awfully good for you even if you don't use it to generate a bigger caloric deficit, but the deficit part is what makes weight loss happen.

I definitely increased my pace of weight loss when I got the fitbit. I was already exercising consistently when I got it, too. But I am the kind of person who was motivated by the numbers, and who likes consistency A LOT. So getting more numbers helped me see where my baseline was and helped me consistently move that activity baseline UP and UP and UP.

I eat a lot: 1850 calories per day when I got the Fitbit a year ago. But even though my active minutes have increased, I didn't increase my calorie intake until the time came when I wanted to slow my weight loss pace down.

Just food for thought. I'm only saying to think hard about what you want an activity tracker to do for you, and how it's going to happen.

UnicornAmanda

I love mine!

WalkingAlong

sympha01 wrote: »

I love my Fitbit, but honestly, unless you are really motivated by numbers and an activity tracker will make you move a lot more, do not get one to help with weight loss. If you're the kind of person who is having trouble sticking to your deficit and is possibly looking for an activity tracker to tell you to eat more, it could potentially do more harm than good in terms of progress. Personally I find the calorie burn information to be inaccurate as calorie burn. It will underestimate the burn from truly intense exercise (which won't hurt your progress, if you're doing that!!!) but the downside is it grossly exaggerates the burn estimate from low and moderate intensity exercise, particularly walking. The burn estimate it gives me for walking about 3mph is ridonk: more than 6X my at-rest burn rate.

I wonder if they've changed the algorithm lately or if my Charge HR is just more generous because I used to think my Fitbits were pretty generous with the calories for walking but now it seems more so. It just gave me 5.8 calories/minute for a 2.6 mile walk at 3mph. The METS value is 3.5 and my BMR is about 1 calorie per minute so that implies around 3.5 calories per minute walking, so 5.8 is a lot higher. I suspect they're trying to be more motivational. I have mixed feelings about it.

editorgrrl

The only way to gauge the accuracy is to trust your Fitbit for several weeks, then reevaluate your progress.

I thought my Flex was giving me way too many calories, but I lost the weight—and have kept it off for six months. Yay, Fitbit!

samantha1242

I got a Fitbit Zip for Christmas and so far I am enjoying it very much! It is not the fanciest Fitbit, but it works great (& somewhat affordable), and I enjoy the little smiley faces that get happy when I walk more or sad when I sit on my couch for hours. Personally, my Fitbit is helping to keep me motivated.

Also, I love how it syncs up with MFP!

sympha01

WalkingAlong wrote: »

sympha01 wrote: »

I love my Fitbit, but honestly, unless you are really motivated by numbers and an activity tracker will make you move a lot more, do not get one to help with weight loss. If you're the kind of person who is having trouble sticking to your deficit and is possibly looking for an activity tracker to tell you to eat more, it could potentially do more harm than good in terms of progress. Personally I find the calorie burn information to be inaccurate as calorie burn. It will underestimate the burn from truly intense exercise (which won't hurt your progress, if you're doing that!!!) but the downside is it grossly exaggerates the burn estimate from low and moderate intensity exercise, particularly walking. The burn estimate it gives me for walking about 3mph is ridonk: more than 6X my at-rest burn rate.

I wonder if they've changed the algorithm lately or if my Charge HR is just more generous because I used to think my Fitbits were pretty generous with the calories for walking but now it seems more so. It just gave me 5.8 calories/minute for a 2.6 mile walk at 3mph. The METS value is 3.5 and my BMR is about 1 calorie per minute so that implies around 3.5 calories per minute walking, so 5.8 is a lot higher. I suspect they're trying to be more motivational. I have mixed feelings about it.

Yep, exactly the same here. I've also checked the "official" METS compendia and I see the Fitbit burn rate for most step-based activity is nearly twice that. I was just saying to a friend the other day that it seems like since Fitbit is still essentially just a pedometer, OF COURSE it's designed to give you more positive feedback for walking than for other stuff. It's simply in their business interest to get you jazzed about your numbers for the stuff they're better at measuring, LOL.

I also noticed last week that I seemed to get a sudden lift over usual from my Force (I've had the Force for a year now), but since I didn't get a firmware update in that period it seems unlikely. It did seem weird though because the very first thing I do in the morning is go for a walk -- no puttering or chores -- so suddenly getting 15% more calorie burn credit based on nothing but the same walk as usual was just strange.

cranden

I love my fitbit. It makes me think about my activity level everyday and gives me calorie credit for really busy days. Best way to get step in: Cleaning

smashley_mashley

I got a HR Monitor for christmas last year and used that from December to August/September and wore my HR only when I exercised to track my calories. Then I got a free fitbit flex from work and wore them in conjunction with each other. the fitbit flex wouldn't register the calories used during exercise (elliptical or weights). Since I only track my exercise calories and not all calories in a day, I found the flex pointless and sold it .

charlieandcarol

Hi,

Until just before Christmas I had a Fitbit Flex. I found it really motivating just in terms of the steps monitoring and being able to look at it on the computer and see how active or inactive I had been for the day. I think that anyone who purchases something like the Fitbit Flex (or jawbone or whatever with no HRM) and expects it to be accurate in terms of calories and specific fitness activity monitoring has unrealistic expectations of technology.

I used my Fitbit Flex as trend indicator as much as anything. I didn't take the calories burned as gospel but rather just had a set calories I was planning to eat and ate that regardless of what the Fitbit said. Obviously some people have found it quite accurate (as per comments above) and lost plenty of weight using the Fitbit cals burn estimates. I liked being able to set a steps goal and seeing if I was way under or exceeding it. I use a Polar HRM for exercise and update that in the Fitbit software interface. I also like that is syncs with myfitness pal. I think its a great motivational tool.

The reason I don't have it anymore is that it does have one drawback, which is that the band clips can be a bit dodgy. I got mine as a gift in June and it fell off a couple times. Then just before Christmas I was flying internationally and when I got to my destination my Fitbit had come off without me noticing. I was really upset. I emailed the Fitbit people just after Christmas to suggest they re-design the clips and I have heard back from them already and they are sending me a replacement fitbit flex for free! So excellent customer service.