Fitbit - Pro's Con's is it worth it?

Suzibluski

HI All, Right now I can not track accurately and am thinking about a fitbit., for those of you that have them or another kind can you tell me about your experience?
Thank you

knra_grl

Depends on what you are looking for - if you want to track activity they are great but if you want actual calories for specific workouts you will need a HRM in addition to the fit bit.

I just bought a Polar Loop (same idea as a fit bit) Tracks steps, activity and calories but the calories aren't accurate as I think it includes "resting calorie burn also" - the calorie burn is based on the info input into the program. The one thing with the Loop is that I can just buy an H6 or H7 strap and the Loop will sync with it so I won't have to buy a totally different HRM.

Suzibluski

Yes I want to track steps and what I actually burn in a normal day... the calories I could care less about because with me I can't eat back my exercise calories or I don't lose.. but that is me

knra_grl

Yes I want to track steps and what I actually burn in a normal day... the calories I could care less about because with me I can't eat back my exercise calories or I don't lose.. but that is me

Then I think the fitbit will suit your current needs - I am not overly concerned about tracking calorie burn during workouts yet either

SueInAz

Love the Fitbit! I've had mine for over a year now. I have fun seeing how many steps I can do each day and it's been a real eye opener to how few I can do on days where I'm doing a lot of homework or watching too much TV.

If you get one, be sure once you sync it with MFP that you only enter food in MFP and extra exercise in the Fitbit app or it will mess up your calorie totals.

Soumiea

I have had a Fitbit Flex for about 9 months now and I absolutely love it. It has actually motivated me significantly by quantifying how sedentary my lifestyle is, especially on the weekends! The app you sync it with has great metrics that help you understand your patterns, so it provides you with an easy way to make small changes to your routine. For example, I now park farther away at work in order to increase my steps in the mornings. On Sunday afternoons, I make it a point to get out of the house and accumulate at least 2-3k steps. But my favorite aspect is that you can compare your weekly step count totals with your friends and the added peer pressure of keeping up with an active friend is a huge motivation. My goal every week is to always get more steps than one specific co-worker. In the 9 months since I started using the Fitbit, with no dietary changes, I have shaved off an inch from hips and my legs are the thinnest they have ever been because of all the toning & calories burned that I got from the increased walking. Also, I was averaging around 9-10k daily steps my first few months, then I progressed to ~12k steps for the next few months and now I am at a 15k daily average. This progression is tracked in the app's statistics that are found on the Dashboard. Basically, I highly recommend the Fitbit!! Also, the Fitbit Flex is waterproof, so the only time I take it off is when I need to charge it.

tiffaniedemayo

Suzibluski wrote: »

the calories I could care less about because with me I can't eat back my exercise calories or I don't lose.. but that is me

I am also in the same position with eating back my calories burned, and thinking about getting a Fitbit. I'd be interested in your experience with it, compared to without/before your use of the Fitbit.

mrsnazario1219

Yes, it's worth it. I've had my flex for over a year and love it. Hoping to get the HR Charge for Christmas

xcalygrl

Suzibluski wrote: »

Yes I want to track steps and what I actually burn in a normal day... the calories I could care less about because with me I can't eat back my exercise calories or I don't lose.. but that is me

Just FYI: the calories your fitbit will give your burn throughout the day is not 100% accurate. Like most calorie burn calculators, it is just an equation that has a margin of error in it. The fitbits that clip close to your body (like the One), have a smaller margin of error. The ones that you wear on your wrist have a larger margin of error. If I remember correctly, a study I read about a year ago stated that the One has a margin of error of +- 10%.

dubird

Get one with a heart rate monitor. It's not going to be 100%, but the HRM makes it more accurate.

I have the Charge HR and I love it. If nothing else, it gives me a general idea where I am for the day, which is helpful to me in planning evening food.

littleb0peep

Competitions.

sigsby

I have the Flex and I absolutely love it. It automatically synchronizes with my wellness program at work. It is also good for determining your activity level for the day. Be careful about calorie adjustments. You can also use it to be a motivator in increasing your daily activity level. It is not a good tracker for cycling, swimming, skiing or any gym equipment.

MeadowsBing

I use the flex and mfp separately. I log food and exercise on mfp and use the Fitbit to track my day to day steps plus exercise so there is an overlap. I also use the flex to monitor my sleep which was an eye opener as even going to bed for 8.5 hours I was finding sometimes I only slept for 6/7

missblondi2u

I've been a fitbit flex owner for two months now, and I LOVE it! I had been losing weight at almost twice the 1 lb/week I signed up for, and after I got my fitbit I figured out why--I'm a lot more active than I thought I was. This means that I can eat more calories and still lose weight, which has made this a much more pleasurable experience!

For example, I had my activity level set at sedentary (which gave me a 1400 daily calorie allowance), I only logged my intentional exercise (usually about 600 or so), and then only ate back 50% of those exercise calories (so about 300 extra calories per day, for about 1700 total). Now that I have my fitbit synced, I can eat almost 2000 calories a day and I'm still losing a bit faster than 1 lb/week! So for me, it's been pretty darn accurate.

magtart

I have a fitbit one. It is an older model, but it works fine for tracking steps, activity, and sleep. MFP tells me how many calories I have earned, but don't have it set to add them in.

I am asking for a Jawbone up3 for Christmas.

wearmi1

I've had a Fitbit Flex for about 2 years now. Its eye opening to just how lazy I was before I had a fitness tracker. I like the competitions part of it, every week it's always a competition for bragging rights as to who got the most steps for the week. It's harmless fun but beneficial none the less.

CoffeeNCardio

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10120819/fitbit-margin-of-error-calculated


Please take the time to read this. I did before I bought my charge HR and it has really helped me love it more!!!

ariana_eatsandlifts

CoffeeNCardio wrote: »

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10120819/fitbit-margin-of-error-calculated


Please take the time to read this. I did before I bought my charge HR and it has really helped me love it more!!!

Wow, thanks for this post! I've had my Charge HR for about a month now. I love it, but I have such a small deficit that a 10% overestimation could really affect me. I'll take that in to consideration from now on!

ariana_eatsandlifts

OP, I have a Charge HR as I said above. I'm really glad I have it because I used to consider myself a lightly active person. However, I've come to realize just how lazy I can be on my days off and it motivates me to keep moving when I just want to stay on the couch!

That being said, I don't think I needed to pay extra for the HR feature. If I could go back in time, I would save a bit of money and just get the Flex.

sheermomentum

Just wondering: when you say you "can't track accurately," are you thinking of using the fitbit to help improve the accuracy of your tracking? How will that work? Is it just the calories-out side of the equation that isn't accurate right now?

musclesandmusic866

The HR monitor one does not work right...it's way off.

tracie_minus100

Absolutely worth it, in my opinion. I have a Fitbit One, and it's been a very big contributor to my 90lb weightloss over the past 10 months. It's extremely motivating for me.

earlnabby

I had a Fitbit Flex for almost 2 years and now wear a Vivofit2. They are definitely worth it if you need to track how much you move. I have also found the calories burned estimates to be really close to my real life calories burned.

Having said that, the ones with the HRM included in the wrist unit are not nearly as accurate at estimating burns and are not worth the extra money IMHO. You need an HRM that is worn with a chest strap.

AOdell79

I have the Fitbit zip and I LOVE IT. I wear it everyday clipped under my clothes.

OldAssDude

I started out with the Jawbone UP24. Activity trackers are what got me started in all this stuff. I have since had Fitbit's, Garmin's, and Polar's. As I got more into the exercise session part of it, my needs changed and I needed something that I could customize my exercise sessions instead of having a few premade exercise types to choose from. I wound up settling on the Polar V800...

amazon.com/Polar-Sports-Watch-without-Monitor/dp/B00JSO9UC8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1448333414&sr=8-3&keywords=polar+v800

I suggest doing a little research and looking at ones that have the features you are looking for, and watch a bunch of reviews on YouTube. If you are looking to track your heart rate, I recommend one with a chest strap heart rate monitor as they are very accurate. The ones that read your heart rate on your wrist are a little iffy IMO.

RonnieLodge

Suzibluski wrote: »

HI All, Right now I can not track accurately and am thinking about a fitbit., for those of you that have them or another kind can you tell me about your experience?
Thank you

Got the Charge HR Fitbit in May - have worn it every single day since.
I love that it syncs up with MFP and the dashboard, as well as the weekly progress reports that are emailed.
Having fun doing challenges with friends who also have Fitbits to see who can do the most steps in a week - I didn't think the tracking sleep would be of any use, but it is quite interesting to see!

Sadly the only downfall is that it doesn't give me the power to out-exercise eating more than I should if I want to drop weight!

Protranser

If you sync your fitbit to MFP, your fitbit tells MFP what your calorie burn is for each day you wear it. MFP will calculate your eating goal based on what you specified your desired rate of loss is and your fitbit calorie burn.

PAV8888

Another data point argues that Fitbit TDEE for an average person is pretty dang accurate for steady state cardio activities.

Started using Charge HR in February 2015. Was already at a deficit for 10 months at that time. Walking for exercise with total daily steps in the 15 to 20K range.

Body comp by DEXA scans. Fat estimated @ 3500 Cal per lb; lean mass @ 1500 Cal per lb.
Intake via MFP.
TDEE via Fitbit.

Fitbit TDEE over-estimates increased from less than 2% to 4.85% to 5.5%.
The increases coincide with increased lean mass loss moving from a 13:1 fat to lean mass loss ratio down to a 3:1 one.

To my mind this argues that the over-estimation is likely caused by adaptation to both the exercise and the deficit, thus Fitbit has no way to account for it until they allow individualized correction.

PinkPixiexox

Ah, wouldn't be without my fitbit!
I use it to work out my 'maintenance' calories. All I really need to know is - as long as I eat under that specific number, I'm going to lose.

VisofSer

I moved from a FitBit One to a Polar Loop and then up to a FitBit Charge HR. Definitely love it, the strap design was a big reason why I chose the Charge.

And for reference points on tracker accuracy, if a little dated, here is a small comparison table of the error percentage:

BodyMedia FIT: 9.3%
Fitbit Zip: 10.1%
Fitbit One: 10.4%
Jawbone Up: 12.2%
ActiGraph: 12.6%
Directlife: 12.8%
Nike FuelBand: 13%
Basis Band: 23.5%

The two studies I am aware for this are here and here.

neldabg

Okay. You people on MFP have me sold, and after doing some research, I've decided that I'm going to get a FitBit Charge HR. Haha. As a college student, I have limited funds, but I realize that this is actually the best time to get a Fitbit. It's Black Friday week, so I'll be looking around, but if you guys personally know a cheap place to buy a Fitbit product, let me know!