Fit Bit

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justalittleTLC
justalittleTLC Posts: 25 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am highly considering geting the Fit Bit Ultra. Has/does anyone use the Fitbit or Fitbit Ultra? Does it work well and is it accurate? Any information will be helpful. Thanks in advance.

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  • bridgelene
    bridgelene Posts: 358 Member
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    errr, 24 hours in so far I like my fitbit ultra I love it although I acknowledge that it's only 24 hours in so far ;)
  • emilynelson26
    emilynelson26 Posts: 4 Member
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    I'm thinking about getting one, but have a question as well. When I go to the gym, I primarily use the elliptical and bike for cardio. Does it calculate those calories burned as well or just when you are walking or climbing stairs?
  • justalittleTLC
    justalittleTLC Posts: 25 Member
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    errr, 24 hours in so far I like my fitbit ultra I love it although I acknowledge that it's only 24 hours in so far ;)

    So you just bought one yourself? I bought my niece and I one yesterday and she knows all about it already. I love it so far, although I am still getting used to it!
  • rjcelmer
    rjcelmer Posts: 431 Member
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    I have been using one for the better part of the year. Although I really love it, there are some things I do not like as well.

    It seems to calculate steps and stairs (by 10 foot increments) pretty accurately. It treats stairs and hills the same; 10 feet up is 10 feet up. It also calculates your rate of movement very well. It knows the difference between walking 1000 steps and jogging them and will adjust your calorie burn accordingly.

    Syncing with the web can be a pain a lot of the time. Sometimes, it takes forever to sync data if you link it to your MFP account. Sometimes it doesn't sync unless you link and unlink a bunch of times. The website isn't all that great but using it with MFP helps in that department.

    When you're driving, a lot of times it will calculate hills you drive as stairs and sometimes also calculates steps not taken, so make sure you get familiar with adding a category "Driving" and write your start and end times down. Once inputted, the fake exercise values will be omitted from your totals.

    The battery lasts a pretty good while without charging. I charge mine every night but I have gone a few days without charging.

    Also, make sure you go through all the settings on the website and personalize everything. If not, you will get messed up results not catered to you. If you sync with MFP, a lot of times your exercise totals will slowly disappear over time. This happens to me every day, so I am forced to link to get my totals then unlink to prevent them from disappearing.

    Example: I link the fitbit to MFP and it shows 550 calories. If I keep it linked and check back in an hour, the total will have dropped to say, 475. If I check back again a couple hours later, it will have dropped another 75-100. So, I am unable to properly estimate my calorie limit for the day. If you can get past this (if it even happens for you) then you'll be okay.

    Other than the sync issues and the need to link and unlink it with MFP every day, it's a very nice device.
  • MissMormie
    MissMormie Posts: 359 Member
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    I've never had sync issues with the fitbit (except for the two days it didn't work for everyone), nor have I never needed to link and unlink. The trick is knowing what the numbers mean. The fitbit number on mfp is the based on your actual and expected movement for that day. Say you normally exercise in the evening, but do it in the morning today fitbit will expect you to get a still higher burn for the day. When that doesn't happen it'll slowly dial back the adjustments. If it didn't do this you would continue to get a higher adjustment throughout the day. And it'd be inconvenient as well to look at night and find out you have to eat another 600 calories because you got your workout in late that day.

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