Fitness bands.... Worth investing in one?

jsadqi

I am thinking about buying a fitness band but don't know if it is worth it. My main goal is to lose weight. My question is I don't want to spend a lot of money on one but don't want a piece of crap either. Any suggestions?

Brobill64

I like Jawbone Up, but I just got Garmin Vivoactive because i started jogging.

Ad141274

I love mine

smashley_mashley

I had a fit it flex. Hated it sold it on kijiji in a month. I use a HR monitor for just work outs.

jenniferinfl

I prefer a heart rate monitor. I also have a tri axis style pedometer that I can carry in my pocket which I use for tracking steps. It doesn't buzz, beep or have any flashing lights. But, it motivates me when I look at it and see I've only walked 3000 steps. It also only cost $12.

cindytw

I love my Fitbit products!! I had a One, but got a Flex so I wouldn't lose it so easily. I owuld get a Charge HR but it's big for a girl not used to wearing anything. I love their interface, its motivating as are challenges.

aaliceinw

I love my vivofit. I'm about to try it in the pool for the first time. I got it a month ago and really does motivate me to be on track and also has enabled me to understand what 3 or 5 kms like in a day. It observes my sleep patterns also - I thought I slept well! And although it says you have to press the sleep button for it to do that, you don't have to. You can go into manually set your sleep time if you need to because it automatically records when it thinks you are sleeping.

If you are looking to monitor activity while you lose weight, you might find the trackers limiting in general because most of them do not track all activities. And I have a Forerunner with a heart monitor for my workouts.

yusaku02

herrspoons wrote: »

Honestly? No. They aren't.

I'm also in this boat.

alpine1994

yusaku02 wrote: »

herrspoons wrote: »

Honestly? No. They aren't.

I'm also in this boat.

Me three. I got a Jawbone Up 24 for Christmas and it just complicates things and is generally annoying. I tried to sell it on Craigslist but nobody was interested.

When I was losing weight I used the MFP app to log food and I used a Polar FT4 heart rate monitor during workouts to estimate calories burned and plugged that into MFP.

jsadqi

Thanks everyone for your input.

esjones12

They are mere tools. They will not magically make you lose weight. Some people can use them successfully to aid in weight loss. Others find them worthless. You won't really know until you try.

brianpperkins

For some they are useful tools to get them up and moving. For others, they don't provide any meaningful data. I fall into the latter category. The GPS devices that track my runs and rides give me useful data ... the HR strap gives me useful cardiac info (I don't use it for caloric estimation) ... but I have different goals than a lot of people on MFP.

Bry_Fitness70

aaliceinw wrote: »

I I thought I slept well! And although it says you have to press the sleep button for it to do that, you don't have to. You can go into manually set your sleep time if you need to because it automatically records when it thinks you are sleeping.
.

What sort of data does it give you on sleeping that allows for you to make improvements?

tiffbeckett336

I have the new balance one it does HR calorie steps and miles just got it yesterday anyone else have one or no if it is accurate

dougpconnell219

bw_conway wrote: »

aaliceinw wrote: »

I I thought I slept well! And although it says you have to press the sleep button for it to do that, you don't have to. You can go into manually set your sleep time if you need to because it automatically records when it thinks you are sleeping.
.

What sort of data does it give you on sleeping that allows for you to make improvements?

The sleep function is useless in my opinion.

It just tells me that I slept six hours, woke x number of times, and was restless y times.

Now I usually take it off at night.

peachyfuzzle

I bought one yesterday, but only because I had already proved to myself that I knew what I was doing after losing a significant amount of weight over the winter, and also because I would like a better picture of my daily activity during the next six weeks as I try to lose a good chunk of weight for a goal I set in front of myself. If it wasn't for setting the aggressive goal, I probably wouldn't have bought one.

Like it has been said though, it's only a tool, and you're still the one who is going to have to put in the work either way.

cetababy1973

For me I love my Fitbit hr it helps me move a little faster knowing where my HR needs to be to burn fat calories. Very good for working out keeps me in the zone.

Talan79

I've had the jawbone up since xmas and love it. Keeps me motivated. I used it to track my daily burn so now I can see where my maintenance is on active days vs none active days.

NateMcG76

I have a Fitbit Charge(not the HR). I didn't buy it, had a family member send it to me. After two weeks, I don't see the point in it. Still at the gym every day.

My wife has a Garmin watch thing with a GPS/HR/who knows what else. It seems much more useful than a band that tells me I went 1.5 miles and 3k steps during the time I was chopping/stirring dinner.

And don't give a Fitbit to a teenage boy. It will say they are running a marathon a day with all the time the spend alone in the bathroom. lol

kgmcgee

I love my Jawbone Up. I work a desk job and it reminds me when I've been sitting too long. I get up and move around then. It's also like a game to me to see how many steps I can get in. You can log workouts as well. My hubby has one and we compete to see who can get the highest number of steps. The sleep data is interesting to see and seems accurate but not much you can do with the info and it's somewhat annoying to wear at night. I think it's a great tool to help you move more when you are just starting out.

NekoneMeowMixx

My coworker loaned me his Fitbit Flex, and I wound up finding one on eBay for $50 brand new, so I bought it. Do I like it? Yeah. Would I have paid full price for it? Absolutely not.

I have a Polar FT4 Heart Rate Monitor that I wear during my workouts, and I absolutely love it. It's the most accurate reading I've gotten yet, and the chest strap is comfortable enough. I would NOT suggest getting a fitness band with HR monitoring capabilities, because the technology just isn't here yet to provide truly accurate results. (A dozen or so reviews I read on Amazon compared the Polar FT# burns to what the Fitbit Charge HR said, and there was HUGE discrepancies)

As far as the Flex though, I work a desk job, 4 days a week, 10 hours a day. Then I have an hour commute there, and an hour commute home. Needless to say I have 4 very, very sedentary days. On my days off, outside of going to the gym, I'm fairly sedentary just because I'm so tired from the work week. So it definitely keeps me motivated, and a the little friendly competition that the interface/network offers is nice as well. The ability to see how well I slept is also a huge plus. I realized that I'm sleeping pretty decent, and that it was vitamin/nutrient deficiencies that had me so exhausted all the time.

Accuracy is just as questionable as any other "fitness" device, including calculators, and the scale. Really though, I like that I can pull an average on both active and non-active days, and it gives me a nice baseline to calculate my NEAT, TDEE, etc.

My vote: Yes, but depends on what you get.

MarziPanda95

dougpconnell219 wrote: »

bw_conway wrote: »

aaliceinw wrote: »

I I thought I slept well! And although it says you have to press the sleep button for it to do that, you don't have to. You can go into manually set your sleep time if you need to because it automatically records when it thinks you are sleeping.
.

What sort of data does it give you on sleeping that allows for you to make improvements?

The sleep function is useless in my opinion.

It just tells me that I slept six hours, woke x number of times, and was restless y times.

Now I usually take it off at night.

I have to politely disagree. The sleep part is the most useful for me, especially since I usually take a long time to fall asleep. It means if I know I've only had 5 hours on a given night I can go to bed earlier or get up later another day to make up for it and keep myself at an average of 8 hours.

kaitlinrt

I love my Fitbit Charge HR. I work in a job that varies from mind numbingly boring to extremely physically active(think doing CPR, running to codes, etc.). I'm a numbers person so it motivates me when I'm having a lazy day to get up and go for a walk. I like all the features on it, even the sleep one.

rushfive

NateMcG76 wrote: »

I have a Fitbit Charge(not the HR). I didn't buy it, had a family member send it to me. After two weeks, I don't see the point in it. Still at the gym every day.

My wife has a Garmin watch thing with a GPS/HR/who knows what else. It seems much more useful than a band that tells me I went 1.5 miles and 3k steps during the time I was chopping/stirring dinner.

And don't give a Fitbit to a teenage boy. It will say they are running a marathon a day with all the time the spend alone in the bathroom. lol

HAHAHAHA!!!! this really made me laugh (last paragraph). Thank You.
from a mother of 3 grown boys

luv_lea

I use a Polar FT60 for my workouts, and I absolutely love it!

I have thought seriously about getting a fitness tracker, but instead decided to save my money and downloaded a pedometer app on my phone. The one I use is called Pacer, and I love it! I feel it incorporates the same idea that a fitness band would. This app lets you set goals, connect with people, challenge people, add groups, etc. It's also motivating to see my averages, and want to increase that every week.

The only problem with these kinds of apps is you have to carry your phone with you everywhere you go to get a more accurate number (instead of having a handy dandy device clipped to yourself.) This isn't that big of a deal to me because I carry my phone everywhere; although I do forget sometimes. Also, you can turn on the GPS option which gets the most accurate reading on your steps, but it drains the battery. So I just use it normally and it seems to do pretty good. I compared it's numbers (distance wise) to Runkeeper on a run/walk and the numbers were very closely comparable.

It doesn't have the sleep functions, but there's app's for that also.

jsadqi

peachyfuzzle wrote: »

I bought one yesterday, but only because I had already proved to myself that I knew what I was doing after losing a significant amount of weight over the winter, and also because I would like a better picture of my daily activity during the next six weeks as I try to lose a good chunk of weight for a goal I set in front of myself. If it wasn't for setting the aggressive goal, I probably wouldn't have bought one.

Like it has been said though, it's only a tool, and you're still the one who is going to have to put in the work either way.

I too have lost a good amount of weight. 82 pounds so far. I set a goal for September. I have another 68 pounds I want to lose. I have been hitting the gym a lot and want to keep better track of what I am actually burning.

jsadqi

NateMcG76 wrote: »

I have a Fitbit Charge(not the HR). I didn't buy it, had a family member send it to me. After two weeks, I don't see the point in it. Still at the gym every day.

My wife has a Garmin watch thing with a GPS/HR/who knows what else. It seems much more useful than a band that tells me I went 1.5 miles and 3k steps during the time I was chopping/stirring dinner.

And don't give a Fitbit to a teenage boy. It will say they are running a marathon a day with all the time the spend alone in the bathroom. lol

Lol

jefemullin

I'm about a week into using my Garmin VivoActive as an activity tracker. I bought it to use as a run tracker and never saw the benefits of the simple fitbit step trackers. But now i do. I like it as a constant reminder to move as much as i can throughout the day. It has helped me remember to maybe park farther away in the parking lot to increase the walk into the store or to take the stairs instead of the elevator. Even at work the other day i had been sitting down for a while and it recognized that and prompted me to "MOVE!". So i did. I got up, walked to the water cooler, stretched out a bit, and sat back down. Was it a huge workout? Not at all, but it was nice to step away from my desk for a minute.

What i'm really digging about it is the way it adjusts my daily calories and communicates with MFP. Plus, you can download golf courses to it and have a golf GPS on your wrist. That is, if i ever get back out to the links sometime this year.

FitPhillygirl

I think it depends on the person and how they plan to use it as to whether or not it is worth buying on. I just got the Fitbit Charge and like it so far for calculating my steps and miles throughout the day. However, it won't replace my Polar FT7 for my more active activities like doing HIIT and Weightlifting.

brianpperkins

Eileen_S wrote: »

I think it depends on the person and how they plan to use it as to whether or not it is worth buying on. I just got the Fitbit Charge and like it so far for calculating my steps and miles throughout the day. However, it won't replace my Polar FT7 for my more active activities like doing HIIT and Weightlifting.

Your FT7 is inherently inaccurate for HIIT and lifting.

derm78

I have a sony smartband to go with my xperia z1 love the band and it's very accurate too it's just a shame it doesn't link to mfp.