Gadgets? Yes/No - Debate

JeepHair77

The gadgets certainly aren't perfect - they're not 100% accurate, and nobody SHOULD be relying entirely on their fitbit or whatever to make all nutrition and fitness decisions.

But are they potentially helpful as one piece of the bigger puzzle? Sure. Look, maybe it's not 100% accurate in counting my steps or calories. But it's accurate when compared against its OWN data (Did I move approximately 20% more on a 10,000 step day vs. an 8,000 step day? Yeah, I did.) I can look at my fitbit data over the course of a few weeks or months and recognize a pattern. I can use it to find ways to be more active throughout my day and see what makes a difference. I can use it to challenge my friends and find motivation in social media. Why does that bother you?

Shoot, if the bigger conversation, here, is about our overreliance on electronic estimates, then there's some irony in bringing that discussion to THIS SITE.

gojaqs

The statistics are that people use gadgets for about 6 months. I hope I don't become that statistic because I just paid an arm and a leg for my Apple Watch.

rainbow198

I am not a gadgets person at all. I have all of the motivation and inspiration I need, plus I genuinely enjoy fitness and staying active.

I do use a pedometer app on my phone for my runs and walks though to keep track of my daily exercise miles (not random daily steps).

It's awesome to see how faster I am becoming and seeing my endurance get stronger and stronger year after year. Plus I write down my daily miles in my journal.

However, I have friends that get inspired by their Fitbit and things and I think that is wonderful! To each their own! No debate in my eyes.

NorthCascades

You know your Edge has a workouts feature where you can have it guide you through a warm up, then do intervals or a long Z2 ride or whatever, and then a cool down. You can have it just record, or tell you to go faster or slower or have it yell at you when your heart rate is too high. Newer ones are programmed to do a "fitness test" if you have an HRM and PM. It's definitely a fitness device, it just sounds like those features aren't especially useful to you.

NorthCascades

I have a Garmin watch, it works a lot like an Edge computer, but it's also useful for running and hiking and swimming. Anyway, it can give me a graph of my cardiovascular fitness for running and cycling, over the past year and a half. It's amazing to see how that's fallen since I started lifting weights. I only have so much time to exercise, lifting has taken away from riding, and that's pretty obvious when I look at a long term VO2max chart.

xDesertxRatx

Just got this one.

CSARdiver

xDesertxRatx wrote: »

I see lots of people with wrist bands on or looking at watches or checking pedometers. You get the drift. But are they more of a hindrance than be of any use?

I am from the camp that does not use any gadgets for fitness. Apart from the Garmin (basic one) on my bike for logging rides i do not own or use any gadgets.

Now i am not talking about apps for phones as we already know they can be pretty useful. But the Fitbit craze we have here in the UK for instance. I am not convinced they can be accurate and for me can give you a false idea of your fitness.

So community, what do we think?

I think these are effective training tools as long as people use them as they were intended. I've been a long time Polar HRM user and used the data to monitor my performance and growth. I have a Fitbit Flex 2 to ensure I get in >10k steps/day as I have a very sedentary job now.

amusedmonkey

I'm a techy person who likes data and likes to do things with it, so more data = happier me. Fitbit can be pretty darn accurate if you know how to tweak it and personalize it. My fitbit burn is 95% true to my weight loss and I eat 100% of my step calories back. I resisted purchasing one at first because I didn't think I would benefit from it, but once I found one on deep discount and decided to try it I was hooked.

These gadgets are pretty useful for various reasons, like gauging activity, spotting trends, and providing handy data all in one place. The aren't 100% necessary for weight control, but they can give the user more control over the weight loss process. Just like a digital artist can draw without a tablet, but a Wacom can provide more control over certain aspects of the process.

There is also the motivation, social interaction, challenges...etc. People often buy these devices because they believe what they get out of them is worth the price. Even if the user doesn't care about all of that and just wants to be trendy, so what? I don't usually do expensive jewelry because it serves no practical purpose to me, but that doesn't mean everyone should find it as pointless as I do. Some feel the purchase is worth it.

Now granted, there are some common issues like users expecting the tracker will directly cause weight loss or that the steps they take to the water cooler will make them fit, but this doesn't mean the tracker itself is snake oil, it only means that some users may have some false beliefs around it.

Qskim

I read an article years ago (not sure if it was in relation to any particular study) by a dietician analysing the upward trend of obesity in Australia. At the time, McDonalds and the like was copping all the flak. The dietician pointed out that McDonald's had been in Australia for I think, 10years (maybe nearly 20 actually) longer than when the rise became evident. What was apparent in her opinion, was that the tick upwards really escalated when computers became more affordable and accessible to the everyday consumer. We sat on our arses more.

So technology helped (not by itself) get us in the *kitten* along with etc so why not use it to get us out of the *kitten* if we are so inclined?

KombuchaKat

I've been debating on getting one now that I am actually much more active. I moved to a major city last year and now walk everywhere. I actually think my calorie estimates might be too low some days and maybe a FitBit might help me see how the activity for each day (sometimes I walk 5 miles, sometimes up to 12 miles without really trying). I'm struggling with eating enough, too little, or too much and find that just sort of adjusting for this in my head is getting a wee bit frustrating.

MarkR_2013

They have their place. I use a Fitbit Zip so I can adjust my calorie intake according to the days activities. My estimation of my calories burned was considerably higher then the Fitbit's estimation. I'm not a gear head, so I tend to go for the minimum gadgetry I can realistically get away with.

EDIT: IRT the Fitbit's accuracy, it took some experimenting till I found a mounting location (clipped to outside edge of my front pocket with the Zip inside the pocket) where it would track my old Accusplit AE120XL pedometer. The Accusplit carried a JW200 certification (98% accurate), so it was be reliable enough.

lorrpb

Fit Bit has got me moving from 1000 previously to 10,000 steps per day now. It helps keep me honest on my activity level. Nothing wrong with that.

not_my_first_rodeo

Going on 2 years with Fitbit.

goldthistime

xDesertxRatx wrote: »

The hinderance part i refer to is for some and talking about my ex here..they were her life and the tantrums when she couldn't find it or left it somewhre was unbelievable. It detracted from what she was trying to achieve..that's what i meant by that comment.

They can lead to some odd behaviour, I give you that. If you are competing with friends and can't use it for some reason I can see how it would stress you out. Maybe even if you are just competing with yourself. Maybe. But tantrums? I don't think you can blame a Fitbit for that.

Adc7225

I hear that the Fitbit is not that accurate but I just don't get how accurate one needs it to really be. I've had some sort of Fitbit device since 2013. I personally credit it to keeping me active and assisting me with my fitness goals. I try for 6 miles or 13K steps a day and if I get some steps logged from driving or washing dishes I don't feel that I do enough of either to effect my idea of how active I have been. For instance I went to Ikea yesterday and thought I did way more walking than I did but I only had 2.23 miles for the whole day, knowing that helped me to be more active today and I will pay attention to my activity the rest of the week.

I think it depends on what you are ready for and if it will really fit in your life. My 74 year old mother just asked me about getting one so she can see just how active she really is. I plan on loaning her one of mine so she can get an idea if it will really work for her.

NorthCascades

KombuchaKat wrote: »

I've been debating on getting one now that I am actually much more active. I moved to a major city last year and now walk everywhere. I actually think my calorie estimates might be too low some days and maybe a FitBit might help me see how the activity for each day (sometimes I walk 5 miles, sometimes up to 12 miles without really trying). I'm struggling with eating enough, too little, or too much and find that just sort of adjusting for this in my head is getting a wee bit frustrating.

That's a pretty good reason to have one.

jennypapage

Back in May i bought a simple pedometer to track my daily steps when i left the house, so i could see how active i actually was. 2 months later i started doing the c25k program, but i didn't like carrying my phone around,and being unable to use my mp3 player at the same time made me feel a bit bored.One month later i bought my tomtom runner watch and everthing changed. I could set my c25k runs so i could leave my phone at home, i started using my mp3 player which made running less boring, and in addition i had all this cool data which helped me track my progress over time.3 months later and i still love my watch. I don't think i would like wearing something 24/7 though.It's a bit unecessary.

crzycatlady1

xDesertxRatx wrote: »

I see lots of people with wrist bands on or looking at watches or checking pedometers. You get the drift. But are they more of a hindrance than be of any use?

I am from the camp that does not use any gadgets for fitness. Apart from the Garmin (basic one) on my bike for logging rides i do not own or use any gadgets.

Now i am not talking about apps for phones as we already know they can be pretty useful. But the Fitbit craze we have here in the UK for instance. I am not convinced they can be accurate and for me can give you a false idea of your fitness.

So community, what do we think?

I'm several years into successful maintenance and I don't use any gadgets. unless you count my digital food scale The only app I use is a weight tracker, that I input my daily weigh-ins.

I also don't have a tv or any social media accounts like fb, twitter etc etc. I like to live on the wild side

JLG1986

_SKIM_ wrote: »

If someone said to me, "I love this red hat with a feather and the only reason I walk is so I get to wear the red hat with a feather" - then I say go for it. If it makes you happy, motivated...

Haha! I love it! Yes, everyone needs to find their red hat with a feather. For some it's technology, for some it's not.

For me, I have my old, battered Garmin Vivofit, and yes, seeing the steps add up motivates me to do a little more each day.

raychl88

I just got a Jawbone and am loving it so far. I don't have it synced to MFP because I'm not relying on it to earn extra exercise calories. For me it's just a great tool to make sure I'm not sitting on my bum doing nothing for too long. I have a desk job and it's nice to have a reminder to get up and move around a bit every 30 minutes.

Really, it's the same as MFP...if it motivates you to exercise more, eat less, be healthier in general, what's the harm?

AnnLyon1

As far as accuracy is concerned, in one sense that doesn't matter, as long as you use the same device in a consistent fashion. There is a fair amount of variation between different gadgets. I started with a Fitbit Surge, had various glitches. The manufacturers replaced it, but the replacement had the same glitches, so I moved to a Tomtom, which, so far, has been working consistently. The Tomtom is, I think, more accurate on heart rate and thus on calorie burn, but I can find no obvious difference on steps recorded.

Personal, I find that a device motivates me to do much more walking than I did previously (I tended to do a heart gym session in the morning and nothing for the rest of the day).

not_my_first_rodeo

Here's an open-access systematic review (from a peer-reviewed journal too) about the reliability of fitness trackers.

RockinTerri

I love my FitBit! It helps me to do the challenges against my friends, and I love that it also monitors my sleep.

megzchica23

I think it can be good for a lot of people who do much better if they see every step they take all day. It challenges them to walk more and even walking a little bit more than the day before can help. I am for anything that gets people moving. I don't care if they do conventional work outs. If they move, if they play just dance, if they go on walks because of Pokemon Go, then that is great. It should be fun anyways. It should be something they enjoy and not something they feel is a daily chore.

lporter229

My husband has a Fitbit because his health insurance company offers him bonus money as an incentive to stay active. It must be serving the intended purpose because he definitely is a lot more aware of his activity level and it helps to motivate him to do things like take the dog for a long walk. He has also dropped about 20 lbs since he started using it. For him, it has been a good thing.

I do not use a Fitbit because I have never had any trouble keeping active. I use my Garmin watch to track my runs, but that is more of a training tool than a weight loss tool. I don't think a Fitbit would be of any value to me. So, basically I'm saying, it's a good tool for some, useless for others. I am pretty sure that most people know into which category they fall.

jamesha100

I am a big fan of gadgets and feel that I get a lot from them but I think they can fool you into thinking that you are exercising seriously rather than just walking more. I bought a basic Garmin tracker last year and got pretty obsessed by doing 10,000 steps a day. This did give some benefits but some of the time I spent walking would have been better spent on doing higher intensity exercise that works my muscles and gets my heart racing.

I have upgraded to a Garmin Vivoactive HR recently and think that it is a far better option as it monitors heart rate as well as steps. This allows you to set "intensity minutes" goals where your heart rate has to be in a certain zone for a certain time each week. It also sets a step climbing target each day. Overall it has pushed me to start regular HIIT exercise using kettlebells which do not take too long but seem more beneficial than chasing a step total.

Overall even the most basic trackers are a good thing if they get people moving.

canadianlbs

i'm a late adopter on everything. no tracker and no real yen to own one.