Fit Bit

kelseyfelts

I do at home exercises- yoga, kick boxing, p90x. I also count calories. I never know how many calories I burn so I never really know if I'm eating too much or not enough. I'm trying to drop 20 pounds but do it healthily. My company does all these fitness things and are always advertising the Fit Bit. I'm thinking about getting one to help count calories I burn while exercising and keep track of my daily activities. Any thoughts?

ShibaEars

I have a Fitbit Charge HR. I love it. I know it's not 100% accurate, but it still gives me an idea of where I'm at. And it has motivated me to move more to reach the 10,000 step a day goal.

1Cor1510

LOVE my charge HR. I would recommend it to everyone.

SemperAnticus1643

It depends on which fitbit you get. I have a fitbit flex and it counts my steps and sleep patterns but not necessarily my calories. The latest fitbit has an HR monitor which would help for calorie burn which may be the one you are talking about.

kristy6ward

The Charge HR would be the only fitbit that would give you anything close to accuracy with workouts that aren't strictly step related. I have the fitbit One and love it because it gives me a goal to achieve in steps or stairs climbed for the day and a general idea of how many calories I burn just going about my day. Its routinely off about 300 calories from my hrm if I'm doing anything really strenuous. But really, I've stopped logging exercise all together and just go by the calorie adjustment for activity and treat anything extra as bonus burns.

Something I discovered through tracking is that sure, I might have rocked that 5 mile run and had a nice burn, but then slacked off the rest of the day. There were days when I actually burned more for the day just by moving more throughout the day and not doing an actual workout.

So yes, fitbits are great for tracking activity and motivating you to get your next badge. But not so great about calorie burns from exercise that is not step based. The charge HR probably does that a bit better though.

Shan790

I love my fit bit flex but it is rubbish for counting non step activities like yoga, biking, swimming etc...

alicerouse

I ordered a Fitbit charge HR for the same reasons you mentioned. However, my wrist is very small and it was terribly uncomfortable (I ordered a small). I loved the features like sleep/step/calorie/heartrate tracking, but it was downright painful to wear and quite bulky. I was told to buy a large and it would feel better, but I didn't want it to be any bulkier that it already was. My advice to you would be to TRY IT ON before you buy it, if the store will let you. Amazon gave me no trouble at all about returning it, but if I had tried it on, I would not have even bothered to buy it. I have yet to find a good replacement, so I am back to guessing about my calories burned. I do hope Fitbit will read reviews like this and design a more comfortable device - if they do, I will be the first in line to buy it!

brisingr86

Agree with what a few others have said; FitBit will not really help if you're trying to figure out how many calories you burn in an exercise (yoga/kickboxing/P90X). For those, you likely want a heart rate monitor (HRM), preferably one with a chest strap for best accuracy [yoga may be a little tricky depending on how intense/sweat, which seems to help conductivity and give a better reading]. If you just want the HRM, Polar is a common brand. If you want something that also give you the step counts/total daily activity, then a FitBit that syncs with a HRM or something like the Garmin Vivofit (HRM bundle) may be the way to go. I got a vivofit with HRM for Christmas and really like it. I don't pay a ton of attention to steps (although I'll sometimes extend a workout to get more steps in), but I like the HRM to get an accurate burn on workout DVDs or even elliptical. There are tons more comparisons on FitBit vs. vivofit vs. HRMs, etc in the forums if you search for various devices.

gbel1975

I have a Surge and it is fantastic. I went with it over the Charge for the GPS capabilities and to replace my Garmin Forerunner. If the GPS isn't important to you, then the Charge is a great option.

The primary reason I love it is it has helped me confirm what I've suspected for a long time...that I burn a lot more calories than what MFP calculates. This holds true for days I don't exercise and days I do. The real eye-opener has been on days that I'm active (e.g. going to the mall, errands, etc.). It routinely adds up 400 to 500 extra calories. Before this I was hungry all the time. Knowing now that I'm adding that kind of calorie count has helped out tremendously.

Mexicanbigfoot

I have a Fitbit Flex and I love it, but 98% of my exercise comes from walking. I have friends who are very active with non-step activities and they say the Fitbit Charge is awesome. Good luck!

SueInAz

I have a One and earlier this month I was considering changing to the Surge because I run. My old Garmin 410 was taking forever to sync the GPS and it is very bulky so I wanted a replacement and thought the Surge would combine the two. In the end, I decided on a new Garmin 220 instead and stayed with my One. My reason was that I really didn't want to be tied down to wearing the same thing on my wrist every day. I like that I can wear my One clipped to my bra where no one sees it.

If you don't mind wearing your technology on your wrist 24/7 then definitely go with the Charge or Surge.

NancyN795

I go nuts without my FitBit. It really helps me with motivation and being more active. I have a Charge HR and before that, I had a One.

Up until recently, I wasn't good about strictly logging my food. I had always felt that I didn't really know how many calories I burned, so I wasn't motivated to log my food that carefully, either. So, at first, my FitBit mainly served to help me be more active.

However, my weight loss had pretty much stopped, so I decided to get serious. For the last month I have been logging every bite I eat and I've been paying attention to the calorie deficit that FitBit reports. (It is easiest to log food in MFP and log exercise in FitBit, but FitBit gives the best calories in vs. calories out reports.) I have started losing again and I've lost almost exactly what FitBit would predict! That really motivates me to 1) log my food accurately; 2) not snack so much; and 3) keep active so that I can eat enough to not be hungry.

My exercise is mainly walking, Zumba and a little strength training. The FitBit is perfect for step-based exercise like walking and Zumba. The HR function on the Charge HR (or the Surge) can do better with non-step based exercise, but it will not be perfect. You would still need to log exercise like Yoga, with your best estimate of calories burned. The HR function works best for steady-state aerobic exercise. I don't know if kick-boxing or P90X qualify as that, but it might give a reasonable estimate.

You might want to join the FitBit group here on MFP and read some of the stuff there. I highly recommend the FAQ that is a sticky there.

jj_steele

I have the FitBit Charge HR. I have only had it for 2 weeks and I am loving it. I upgraded from the FitBit One (which I also loved) because I wanted the added benefit of having a heart rate monitor. I did not want want a heart rate monitor that I had to strap to my chest each time I wanted to exercise.

The FitBit Charge HR has allowed me to work out more effectively and efficiently since I see whether or not I am working in my target heart rate zone. It pretty good at counting calories for the types of exercises (step and non-step) that I undertake because the FitBit Charge HR uses your heart rate to measure calories expended. For example, I do short kettlebell sessions (about 15 minutes) and it appears that the ChargeHR is doing a good job at calculating my calories burned while doing this activity. If your primary exercise activity is swimming or some other watersport, then the ChargeHR is probably not for you. It is water-resistant, not water-proof. While I understand that FitBits are not perfect, they are good products and can be very useful.

Just an FYI: (probably not a common mistake, but one that I made) whatever fitness and/or heart rate tracker/monitor that you decide to purchase, if it syncs with MFP (FitBit does), be certain that your goals are set the same on that trackers system as it is on MFP. For example, I realized that had my desired weight loss per week on MFP set at a different level than I had set it on the FitBit site. Once I corrected them so that they matched, I found the information that I received was much more useful.

jj_steele

Another important factor: price. FitBits are not cheap. There are several models, each with different uses/features. Prices range from about $60 to $250. So if you choose a FitBit, only pay for one with the features that you find useful. Save any extra $$ to treat yourself once you've reached your goal.

kelseyfelts

Thank you all for the helpful information. I definitely will need something more HRM based. I have running apps on my phone that track where I am and how many calories I burn-all the Nike apps. I don't care about my steps just how many calories I burn in the above activities-at home DVD type workouts.