Fitbit curiousity- what are the benefits?

Sophi_allheart

I'm thinking about buying a Fitbit for my birthday. Do you have one? And if so, how have you found it helpful?

debradugas9

I love mine!!! Makes you want to push yourself because you can see your steps and the calories you burn all day!! And the challenges with friends are fun!!

shadow2soul

It helped me see just how inactive I was. I had MFP set to Sedentary and even with workouts I would lose or get no calories. Why? Because my day to day life was so Sedentary at the time that a workout didn't make my calorie burn surpass MFP's estimate of a Sedentary person with my stats without exercise. I was just way to Sedentary and my Fitbit helped me see just how bad it was.
I've gone through several Fitbit's now (mostly just upgrading for features I want) and I can no longer classify myself as Sedentary. Fitbit helped me see how increased activity in daily life directly related to my calorie burn and that while exercise increases my burn a bit, what I do the rest of the day has a bigger impact on my calorie burn.

mamasmaltz3

I just like it for the accountability. It keeps me aware of how active or inactive I am being.

Ke11yJoAnne

I started with the FitBit One and I loved it. After a year I recycled it and my daughter is using it and I upgraded to the ChargeHR. I love how it shows me in graphs my heart rate when I do interval training etc. It keeps me accountable to myself. It syncs well with MFP.

I am thinking of getting the Blaze for my birthday in October if I reach my goal weight!

SarahPeters3

I love mine it really let's me zero in on how many calories I burn and it can sync to my fitness pal to track calories in vs out

MeanderingMammal

Sophi_allheart wrote: »

I'm thinking about buying a Fitbit for my birthday. Do you have one? And if so, how have you found it helpful?

It showed me that I was probably underestimating my activity level.

I'm an endurance runner, so in practice it's of little substantive value to me, it's interesting but hasn't really influenced my behaviour.

If I'd bought it full price, I'd consider it a waste of money.

SCoil123

I love mine. Doing challenges with it pushes me to be a lot more active. I averaged 6000 steps a day when I got it and now I average just under 12000

icemaiden37

I've been a Fitbit fan for 3 years, started with a Flex, have had a One, and I have recently traded up for a Blaze.

It's helped me with understanding how many calories I burn in a day vs how much I eat. At the moment after a year of eating at a deficit, I'm eating what I'm burning and my Fitbit really helps with keeping track of that. The HR monitor isn't perfect and if you're anywhere near elite athlete standard it'll be no good to you but for the everyday person, it's a great place to start with getting a good estimate of what you're burning.

The app syncs with mfp so you can see at a glance how many more calories you have for the day.

I love mine! Get one!

chrisfwood

I did have a One, but have trade up to Forerunner 235 cheaper than a high end fitbit and I think it does a better job all round, as I was using a fitbit for steps and a phone app for gps tracking and heart rate. Garmin's sync with MFP is a bit flaky though.

Sophi_allheart

Thanks everyone for the information! I agree, I think I do need something to measure my activity level. My job is very sedentary so I have no idea how much I'm really burning in a day. Thanks for the great reviews! Maybe I can get one for my birthday.

Mgirgis12345

I love mine. It really keep me motivated to move. In love the fact that it calculates my in and out and tells me if I'm in my calorie goal for the day below or over. It really keeps me foxussed on what but more importantly I should eat.

Oishii

I find the social element motivating too. You can have challenges with friends from all kinds of places. I have mfp friends, Facebook crochet friends, real life friends etc, and it's fun to see who gets how much exercise.

DanyellMcGinnis

I have had the same Fitbit One since late 2013 (still holds a charge more than a week!).

I mostly got it because my health insurance through work has a wellness program. If we earn points in that program, we can redeem them for stuff. We get points for hitting 10,000 steps in a day which I have done every single day but two since I got the Fitbit. I have redeemed my points for probably close to $750 in Amazon gift cards (not all of those points were from Fitbit steps, but most of them were).

You can also link your Fitbit to a Walgreens.com account and earn points that are redeemable for merchandise there. (I tried AchieveMint too, but it stopped communicating with my Fitbit right before I hit the cash reward level. Which I don't think is a coincidence, so I have stopped using the site...)

It is also a good indicator of activity level. I didn't lose as much weight as I wanted last week but noticed my average step count had gone down to 14,000 or so from 14,500. (That may not seem like much. But we are talking moving 28-day averages. So for it to drop by 500 steps in the course of a week actually means I am getting several thousand fewer steps a day than I was before. And *that* makes a difference.) And this is even without having a Fitbit with an HRM capability.

Only thing I hate is the silicone case and sleep wristband that came with it stink (not as in actual smell but as in they aren't very good quality). I have had to replace both a couple of times (first case replacement was free after contacting Fitbit since the case fell apart less than a year after purchase).

gember85

Got fitbit charge HR and love it. Really does get you moving more so you get your steps in. Best thing I've brought x

fitmom4lifemfp

Sophi_allheart wrote: »

I'm thinking about buying a Fitbit for my birthday. Do you have one? And if so, how have you found it helpful?

It's motivational.

cwolfman13

I think it can be beneficial if you're someone who either underestimates or overestimates your activity or if you're one of those people who think, "gosh..I can't possibly be using that many calories" even though you're very active, etc.

I found it just as easy to estimate using these calculators and then adjusting from there as per the math...so I really wouldn't get a whole lot of use out of it other than being an interesting gadget.

mommazach

Love mine. It helps me become more active during the workweek because I am constantly on a challenge. I make sure I hit my step goal, and when I haven't hit it during the day, it sends a reminder only ____ steps to hit your daily goal. Love it!

snowflake930

I have had a fitbit for over 3 years now.
The single biggest benefit is that it motivates me to move more. Started out struggling to get 10k per day and I get over 20K everyday now. I don't really care about calories burned as I never eat back all of my calories, I love to see the steps add up everyday.

AmandaDanceMore

I have always considered myself pretty active, and probably at my laziest I do a lot more than most people, but once I got it, I realized that I don't move enough between activities. It gets me up and moving. I enjoy the challenges (silly little rush when you win one), and I enjoy the accountability of the goals you can set with it. I am more or less hitting the daily mileage I was hitting when I was running a horse farm back in the day. And my dogs are always tired....they get dragged out on a lot more walks now!

sarabushby

shadow2soul wrote: »

I was just way to Sedentary and my Fitbit helped me see just how bad it was.
I've gone through several Fitbit's now (mostly just upgrading for features I want) and I can no longer classify myself as Sedentary. Fitbit helped me see how increased activity in daily life directly related to my calorie burn and that while exercise increases my burn a bit, what I do the rest of the day has a bigger impact on my calorie burn.

@shadow2soul I am thinking of getting one as a gift for my mother who, in her 60's now, could do with taking care of her health and 'staying young'. I like that you say it has changed your daily activity levels. Do you mind elaborating on this? What sort of things do you do differently to those days 'pre-fitbit'? I'm just trying to gauge whether it would be a good buy or not. My mother is possibly just slightly overweight and is able to walk, do gardening etc without issue but doesn't do any actual 'exercise' as in cardio activity.

Thanks so much for your advice.

Alarae21

I love my Fitbit, it's been a massive motivator for me and I love being able to see my calorie burns. Seeing the number in front of me makes me want to go harder to see a higher number- however it also makes me feel guilty when I skip a workout as well!

Since buying a Fitbit (Charge Hr) i have gone from a half-hearted running schedule to joining a gym and attending 6 days a week for 11 fitness classes!

I love it. I've only had it since late February, but I already want to upgrade to the Blaze. I just can't justify the cost at the moment. I'm hoping my partner will get the hint that it is something I *really* want and will buy one for me as a wedding gift in August. Failing that, my birthday is in November

trina1049

Love my Fitbit Charge HR. It was shocking to see how sedentary I was. If I hit 3 - 5,000 steps per day it was a miracle. I'm doing 25,000 every day now. I lost 52 lbs. over 15 months and transitioned to maintenance a few months ago. Holding steady at 127 lbs. I'm 66 years old and 5'2.5" tall. Can't live without it. It keeps me active and moving and I've found it to be fairly accurate. I used to sit and read a lot but now I'm active for at least 9 - 10 hours per day and save my reading for the evenings.

KristyBlack

I have the Charge HR and I love it. I'm always trying to beat my own personal best and the challenges against friends keep me motivated to move more. In the evening my son walks with me and he loves to see my stats when we are done, so its even motivated him to move more.