What do you think of fitbit?

angelmeanttofly

Hi every one, looking for a little advice. I have a MIO watch but was thinking of getting a Fitbit. Does any one have one? Do you like it? Have you had better success with it than with out it? Any opinions would be helpfull. Thanks

ladytinkerbell99

Thanks for posting this question. I am wondering the exact same thing.
I want to get one, but want to make sure it is worth it.
Good luck.

ReggaeNurse

Hi, I purchsed mine a few days ago, and so far I like it. It's quite technical, but I'm getting used to it. It's pushing me to be more active, which is always a plus. There is a Fitbit Users group...I suggest you search for it under "groups" and you'll plenty of info from others who use it. Hope this helps.

CraigBeaudry

I LOVE my Fitbit! I've had it for a couple months now and it definitely motivates me. I find myself walking extra flights of stairs so that I can get a certain badge or pacing around the room walking a couple hundred extra steps before bed so I can reach a milestone. I wear it at night and it's been intriguing to see my sleeping habits as well.

I just hooked it up to MFP and the synchronization is great. Along with the Fitbit Aria scale, I'm excited to see what changes happen.

Good luck.

mzhokie

I love my Fitbit. I have been using it for almost 2 years now. If you want to track how much you move in a day, it's great. But if you do strength training or bicycling, then it doesn't measure it as well.

The main selling point is the Fitbit is small, so no one really sees it. You can wear it everywhere you go. The website is free. I think it's a great little motivator.

If you search the forums, there are a lot of threads on Fitbit

tenikb02

I actually JUST set mine up but have yet to actually use it to track anything. I will attempt to get it going tomorrow and then reply back to your post

svetz

I also have a MIO watch but recently got a Fitbit and I couldn't be more thankful. I LOOOOVE it! It automatically syncs with MFP also, which makes it so seamless and easy to use. Combined, you can really get a great overview of your overall day and progress, including sleep issues. The Fitbit is also very motivating and addictive. If you thought MFP alone was good, you won't want to live without your Fitbit too! So obsessed with getting healthly with these two tools to help me! Good luck!

Funshinerika

I've had my fitbit since Mother's Day... and I really like it! I had a polar HRM already but wanted to get a real look at how active/non active I was on a daily basis. It has helped me to eat what my body needs based on what I ACTUALLY burn in a day.
It's fun to challenge myself to get more steps in at the end of the day. Also, I like the added sleep analysis. It's kinda cool to be able to see how my sleep habits are and maybe if there's a correlation between that and weight loss.
The only negative is that it has taken me awhile to get used to checking both MFP and fitbit to decide how to work the numbers....but I like analyzing data (I'm a weird like that).
I think it has helped me keep moving forward while I'm at the last 15 pounds.... well worth it!

Mr_anaya

I've had my fitbit for a few months now and feel naked when I don't have it on. Gives you a good idea of your activity and the calories burned sync's with myfitnesspal so you get a fairly comprehensive idea of calories in and out. It was also cool to have it illustrate your sleeping patterns, but I kinda lost interest in that after awhile. I'm getting the Aria wireless scale in a couple days too - I think that'll help me burn off these last 20 pounds fairly quickly. Bottom line, get it, you'll love it. Don't forget to sync it with MFP too!

bmw4deb

I have had mine almost 2 weeks i love it, im still figuring out the different
perks of it with mfp and my iphone. I like it much more than my HRM

SteffieMark

I love my Fitbit. It motivates me to go the extra distance! It monitors my sleep. It does a lot that I love. I only take it off to shower or swim. Other than that, you can always find it close to my heart!

I have mine synched with earndit.com. You can gain points to apply to rewards etc there. I spend all mine on the charities they have. You can have all your steps add to points that will supply clean water to Haiti, school for girls in Kenya, many things. It's pretty cool.

Natsume

I have a FitBit Ultra and love it. It is small, easy to wear, and helps with my OCD. Here are some "cons":
1) You have to know when you start your work out for accurate calorie tracking.
2) Riding a bus will likely give you extra floors you didn't climb.
3) Wear it on your waist band because if you wear it in your bra your floors climbed will increase.
Now that those are out of the way here is why I love it:
1) I am OCD
2) The charge lasts about a week (It has not died on me yet)
3) I sit on an exercise ball at work. It counts the bounces (I fidget) as steps/floors so the calorie count give you a light burn compared to sitting and doing nothing.
4) It is VERY user friendly.
5) It interfaces with MFP. The food database for FitBit is not very big, so this makes tracking food easier. FitBit also sends a calorie adjustment to MFP showing you how much "extra" you can eat due to activity.
6) The sleep function is cool.

Bob314159

I have a GPS/heatbeat/sports watch that works well to monitor my HB for weight training and is excellent for detailed monitoring of walking, but I bought a FitBit to fill in the missing parts.I've had it for 36 hours and am happy so far.

I get a count of my stair climbs and my overall activity when I'm not working out. I also get sleep activity, which was not a reason to buy it - but might be helpful. It adds to my motivation.

My only complaint is that it comes off too easy. It popped off when I got out of the car and was only sheer luck that I noticed it was lined up with the wheel ready to be crushed when I backed out.

The documentation is a bit vague and I'm a tech guy, I did some trail and error, but some might get stuck when starting.

The interface on the device is very simple and well designed. The updating is automatic when you get near you computer. Main selling point is that it integrates here so the activity just magically shows up in MyFitness.

SteffieMark

I have a FitBit Ultra and love it. It is small, easy to wear, and helps with my OCD. Here are some "cons":
1) You have to know when you start your work out for accurate calorie tracking.
2) Riding a bus will likely give you extra floors you didn't climb.
3) Wear it on your waist band because if you wear it in your bra your floors climbed will increase.
Now that those are out of the way here is why I love it:
1) I am OCD
2) The charge lasts about a week (It has not died on me yet)
3) I sit on an exercise ball at work. It counts the bounces (I fidget) as steps/floors so the calorie count give you a light burn compared to sitting and doing nothing.
4) It is VERY user friendly.
5) It interfaces with MFP. The food database for FitBit is not very big, so this makes tracking food easier. FitBit also sends a calorie adjustment to MFP showing you how much "extra" you can eat due to activity.
6) The sleep function is cool.

1. Push your button to start the timer at the start of exercise, push it to stop at the end. Then, on the Fitbit page, there is listed "Activities", where you can get the exact time, duration, even mph if walking, to add to your MFP exercise log.

2. On the same Activity page, you can add "Riding the bus" or whatever you were riding, from the search box, to a timed ride, to not have it count floors etc.

3. I only wear mine near my chest, not necessarily on my bra, it works well for me. It never counts floors if I didn't climb any.

I hope that helps. :flowerforyou:

ladytinkerbell99

I LOVE my Fitbit! I've had it for a couple months now and it definitely motivates me. I find myself walking extra flights of stairs so that I can get a certain badge or pacing around the room walking a couple hundred extra steps before bed so I can reach a milestone. I wear it at night and it's been intriguing to see my sleeping habits as well.

I just hooked it up to MFP and the synchronization is great. Along with the Fitbit Aria scale, I'm excited to see what changes happen.

Good luck.

Wow, thank you for this information. I never heard of the Fitbit Aria scale. Just looked and it is amazing!

angelmeanttofly

Great info all thank you, I think I am going to get one and try it out sooner than later.

Natsume

I never thought of the activity log to get rid of stairs climbed. Thank you very much for the idea SteffieMark. I really appreciate it.

snkoyle15

so is it ok to wear these while doing like Zumba or workouts other then walking/running/stairs? or would it track it funny?

LilacDreamer

I got mine in the mail YESTERDAY!

So far the numbers are confusing but i like seeing how active i am. I only started wearing at 6pm and i got to 9300 steps before midnight. kind of fun

Shell_7609

so is it ok to wear these while doing like Zumba or workouts other then walking/running/stairs? or would it track it funny?

I personally don't use mine to count workouts that are not walking because they have a higher calorie burn. I like it because it motivates me to try to do a little more each day than I did the last

gogojodee

I seriously want one! I just purchased my HRM so that is my next treat, LOL. I really, REALLY wanna do the sleep analysis! Quite curious to see how many times I'm "awake"...haha.

PunkyRachel

Fitbit is AWESOME! I've had mine for about a month. I wear it 24/7, you know unless I'm showering our something. I wore it to zumba today and it tracked pretty well. The fitbit tracks your movement 3D, so its pretty accurate. I love that it sync's with MFP and I don't have to log my exercise it just does it for me. The fitbit website tracks my every move and breaks it down into all these graphs for me to see my day. Oh, and if your sitting for too long, the display will flash stuff like, "you rock" or "vamos" to motivate you. I think its totally worth the money

Lay821

BUMP

SteffieMark

I never thought of the activity log to get rid of stairs climbed. Thank you very much for the idea SteffieMark. I really appreciate it.

You're welcome. I'm pretty OCD too and it was bugging the Hell out of me! lol

Vanilladays

I've had my fitbit since Mother's Day... and I really like it! I had a polar HRM already but wanted to get a real look at how active/non active I was on a daily basis. It has helped me to eat what my body needs based on what I ACTUALLY burn in a day.
It's fun to challenge myself to get more steps in at the end of the day. Also, I like the added sleep analysis. It's kinda cool to be able to see how my sleep habits are and maybe if there's a correlation between that and weight loss.
The only negative is that it has taken me awhile to get used to checking both MFP and fitbit to decide how to work the numbers....but I like analyzing data (I'm a weird like that).
I think it has helped me keep moving forward while I'm at the last 15 pounds.... well worth it!

I agree with most posters...I am finding it REALLY good. The sleep analysis is making me think though. I knew I had a bad pattern but oh boy.....I'll have to work on it some! AND the best is I was actually underestimating my daily activity and now using the correct figures I have MFP synced an I have started losing weight again. I'm very close to goal and have been building muscle but my weight had stabilized for the past few months. I am now eating more and have lost weight in just the first three days of having it!

cowgirlfromhanna

Thanks for all of the great feedback about the FITBIT!! I've been eyeing it for awhile and I think I just might pull the trigger and buy one this afternoon! Now the big choice...black and blue or black and plum?????

gypsydreaming

I absolutely love my fitbit. It challenges me to keep going when i don't feel like actually doing exercise. I push myself to hit at least 15 flights of stairs a day and to walk 12,000 steps. I check my fitbit at least a few times a day and love the immediate knowledge of how much work I have left to do to hit my goal. Last night, I'd managed 36 flights of stairs (I take my laundry upstairs 2 items at a time) and my fitbit pushed me on to hit 40 flights. Its the most I've done in a day and I was so proud. When was the last time you managed to sit and count how many flights you've done.
Its also great for recording sleep patterns. I see immediately what nights I've had a rougher sleep. I'd encourage anyone and EVERYONE to get one! So easy to use and worth every penny spent!

jojomia

I love my FitBit! Had it about 2 months and wear it constantly (except in the shower). I got the plum one and wear it on my bra and don't even notice it working 12 hr shifts as a nurse. It is amazing how many steps you can put it. I love that is automatically syncs with MFP and the sleep monitor function is cool too.

Amabuela

I love it! It makes me much more conscious of the effect of what I eat during the day. If I go overboard, I eat more lightly at night, or I exercise more to make up for the extra calories.

As to the syncing with MFP, you DON'T have to log activities on MFP if you have a Fitbit. The Fitbit will automatically track the calories you burn and factor them into your calculations. If you separately track activities, you will actually be tracking twice, and will get a skewed result.

One other thing - when MFP calculates your activities calories, it adjusts according to your BMR/BMI and your weight goal settings. So, for example, Fit it told me I had burned 300 calories this morning. But only 177 counted toward the extra calories I had earned, because of my personal settings. So don't assume if you burned 300 calories that you can eat 300 more calories. You have to have a certain number of calories just to stay alive, and if you want to lose weight, you have to have a deficit.

RuralShutterbug

I have had mine since January and LOOOVE it! it has definitely motivated me to be more active and aim to achieve daily and weekly goals. You can set your weight loss goal intensity and it syncs with MFP as many others have said. Tacking my sleep has been very useful also.

I wear mine in my bra and have had no issues of it recording flights of stairs if I have not actually done it. I am losing more weight each week now that I am using it properly and can see that it IS possible to meet my goals. Go for it, it's brilliant :-)