Thinking of getting a Fitbit. Yay or Nay?

Misiaxcore

For those of you that have them, what has been your experience?

Are they worth the money?

Is there a better device out there? Any that are similar and waterproof?

Currently I have a Polar FT7, but would like something to track my whole day to give me a better estimate on calorie burn.

Misiaxcore

I'm sure some of you with them are out there...

Speedtrap

I liked mine until I lost it.
If you get one put a label with your phone number

Going4Lean

what is a fitbit ?

awdamm

i was given one as a gift at my bridal shower back in august and I wear it everywhere.... I really like it I would of liked the "ultra" better but it came out the day after I got my gift.

they are the same price ( as far as I know) but the Ultra keeps track of how many steps you go UP. which is a fun thing to keep track of if you take the stairs a lot.

I think its worth the 100 bucks.. but make sure you buy the warranty on it. There has been reported issues with cracking and random technical problems, but I've had none thus far ( knock on wooden head)

emmaleigh47

I have heard of alot of people losing theirs too easily ...

I do not have a FitBit and never did ... but I LOVE my BodyMedia Fit

jazzedorange

I am actually thinking about getting an UP BAND from Jawbone. I don't think I can loose that one

awdamm

i do wish it had a "tracking" device in it for when it did get lost you could find it. and it needs to be waterproof and isn't.

If you can find a Heart Rate Monitor for about the same price I'd go that route. Apparently thats the "most accurate" way to tell what kind of calories your burning. From what I read.

Misiaxcore

Thank you all for the replies! For those of you using bodybuggs or mediafit, I would love to hear about your experiences with those as well.

advan031

I'm a big fan of fitbit (I own one). I tried the jawbone up and it's utter crap.

glassyo

Me too. Huge fan of fitbit. I didn't start losing weight somewhat consistently until I started paying attention to the numbers instead of just wearing it, glancing at the number, and still going by mfp.

I also have a bodybugg, which a lot of people have had success with, but since I'm losing weight with the fitbit numbers, am still too scared to go by the bodybugg numbers (which tend to be 200-300 more). I have started logging calories consumed on the bodybugg website to see if the numbers get tweaked tho.

Misiaxcore

Ou glad that so far it has been positive reviews for it!

Wonder if there's any other negatives except for possible cracking of the device and the potential of losing it

glassyo

Well, I've heard stories of some people accidentally throwing it in the washing machine because they forgot they were wearing it. :I

It's also supposedly not very accurate for some exercises (like obviously weight lifting and I think the elliptical) so if you have a heart rate monitor go by those numbers but that's only for exercise. HRMs aren't good for all day wear like the bodybugg or fitbit.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh also, the customer service is AWESOME. They are so good about answering questions in the forums and when I first got mine, it conked out after like 2 days and I emailed asking if there was anything I could do to fix it and the email I received pretty much had a fed ex air bill attached and told me another fitbit was on its way. Personally, that good of customer service always helps negate any of the....er....negatives of a product for me.

kmbrooks15

I have the BodyMedia Core armband (slimmer profile than the original). It took me about two days to get used to it being there, and now I don't even notice it. It has given me very specific information about my calorie burn for the day, which has helped me with knowing how many calories to eat. Their food database is not as good as MFP's, so I track my food here, then enter my total calories on BodyMedia's site as a daily estimate. It calculates my calorie deficit for the day based on that information.

I preferred the idea of an armband for a couple of reasons. I felt that direct contact with my skin would likely give a more accurate reading, and I didn't want to risk losing it.

I have the display, too (my cell phone is not compatible with the Link armband). When I go to workout, I zero the trip meter so I know how many calories I burned working out.

Jess5825

I love my BMF. I obviously do not know the mechanics of it, but I don't see how without actually touching you it can tell how much you burn. I broke my plateau after realizing through my BMF that my caloric deficit was way to high. I too though still log here and put in a daily estimate.

elfie9863

Yay! Just remember to put it on.... I have a big FITBIT sign on my door so I can see it when I leave....

Misiaxcore

All great feedback!!! Keep it coming xD

msmith2020

My question is how does the fitbit make you lose more weight? I know the general "it shows you your numbers so you move more" so does that mean that it makes you want to workout more? Or.. walk more? Or is it more simple like you take the stairs VS elevator and therefore you "move more" and ultimately lose weight?

Just making sure the $100 is well spent! I mean a pedometer is just that.. simple step tracker.. I'm here on MFP and I dont want to use their calorie tracker so thats no use to me..??

Any fed back?

jreed1920

I love my fitbit! I have it on a pedometer leash so hopefully it won't get lost. It helps me be more accurate with calories in calories out and I love that it syncs with MFP. I also do the challenges on Earndit so that motivates me to move even more so I can earn stuff. I have a few friends who have the fitbit as well and we enjoy friendly competition and push each other. All I know is I have consistently been losing since I got my fitbit and started logging my food on MFP.

syrcaid

I have had a Fit Bit since last October and I really like it! Before that, I had the Bodymedia Fit armband, which I did not like as much. With the armband, I all the the time had people(strangers) asking me if I had some type of medical problem(???). It was no trouble to wear, but it was really ugly. I started wearing longer sleeved shirts so other people couldn't see it, and that was annoying. I have pictures from my vacation and that ugly armband is in most of them and I hate that!

When I first got the Fit Bit, I was skeptical that it could be as effective since the BMF says it's better because it gets direct readings from your skin and Fit Bit does not. So I wore them both for awhile to compare the stats and honestly they were so close--I decided to ditch the armband. In some cases the armband estimated some things higher(higher steps, higher cals burned) and I don't like to overestimate these things so I was happy to go with the device with the lower read-outs. I put the fit bit on the center of my bra and no one knows its there and I can check my progress at any point during the day.

What I like about it is that I can see how active I am on a particular day. I guess I never really thought about how inactive I can be on my days off from work--I had always sort of assumed it was the same, but the FitBit really opened my eyes to how I need to be more active to have a consistant deficit as days where I work and walk around a lot. I really like comparing my numbers day to day and I like that the Fit Bit connects to MyFitnessPal and together they tell me how much I should eat based on how active I am on that particular day as opposed to just guessing in the dark with MFP alone.

Any way, I really like my toy!

Misiaxcore

Well I got the fitbit in January! Very, very, very helpful little gadget for me. I have myself set to "sedentary" because I'm a student who sits at her computer most of the day... and apparently I'm usually a little more active than I thought (most days). So the fitbit really helps me get a better idea of how many calories I'm burning everyday.

Ready2Rock206

Even though the OP already got one - for the rest of the people with this question....

Love my fitbit! Super motivating to walk and climb stairs. I also have a HRM (brand new) to track those times where Fitbit isn't as accurate (non-walking activities). People have mentioned losing it - I don't know if it is just the bra I wear but the fitbit fits it perfectly - I can't figure out any way it would possibly slip off and I'd lose it.

On the website there are badges - like at 10 flights of stairs or 25 - my son thinks I'm nuts because I can't end the day on say 23 flights of stairs! I have to run up the stairs 2 more times to get to 25. Also if I'm at say 9 flights I'll do an extra because it's so close to 10. Or 13 is bad luck so you might as well do 15. Okay the fitbit makes you nutty!

Also unlike a pedometer, it will automatically sync your exercise calories you've earned to MFP. Super handy. And I want more calories to eat back so I'll walk more during the day.

It also tracks sleep. I already knew I didn't get enough sleep, but it is interesting to see how fast I fall asleep (fast!) and how often I wake up (frequently) and how much sleep I'm actually getting.

FormerSuperHero

I love my fitbit. I like to see the results of my general daily walking

Misiaxcore

I'll also add that my fitbit has really opened my eyes to how much walking can burn. Last summer I would go on day trips to Cedar Point, zoos, etc. where I was walking around all day. And silly me I didn't think I was burning many calories so I would eat only about 1300'ish. I'm a visual person, so seeing how much I burn is beneficial to me.