Fitbit One...

Well, I ordered 1. It should be here next week sometime so hopefully I'll be happy with it. I'm really curious what it will put me at for calories burnt though the day as opposed to the online calculators. Did you find it to be lose to the same or a fair difference?

I found that it generally comes in pretty close to what I'd otherwise calculate for a day. It's fun, it's motivating, and it removes a lot of "let's try to guesstimate the calories for this exercise" headaches.

I don't ever really pay the " let's try to guesstimate the calories for his exercise" game because I always wear my HRM when I'm doing actual exercise. I'm wanting it more for telling me what I burn through out the day doing my job and living.

Ugh, HRMs. That's a whole nother story. I think HRMs that give "calorie" readouts are one of the worst products ever.

Why do you say that?

Even within a single individual, heart rate and energy expenditure are only loosely related. Heart rate is affected by a host of factors other than oxygen consumption (oxygen consumption is directly linked to calorie expenditure; 1 liter of O2 consumed = 5 calories). My heart can be pounding at 170 bpm for several seconds after that 10th squat, but I'm burning a fraction of the calories as if I were running at 8 mph with my heart at 170 bpm. When I get nervous, my heart rate goes up - but my calorie consumption does not. A little bit of caffeine or chromium makes my heart race, but calorie consumption does not change significantly.

And all that is assuming you know what your VO2 max is in the first place. Knowing VO2 max is the only way you can get even close with an HRM. And most people don't know their VO2 max, even if they have an HRM that lets you enter it. And your VO2 max - and therefore calorie consumption during aerobic exercise - changes significantly as they become more trained, but the HRM doesn't know that.

It's just all a huge mess. I don't think HRMs produce anything remotely realistic for most people. If they get close, it's just by chance that the preprogrammed parameters just happen to be somewhat close to your own, there are zero modifying factors, and you're using it for purely aerobic exercise.

I have the body media and it tracks off your heart and off your body tempeture and such. ( www.bodymedia.com) which would then tell you how much you burned for each exercise done . I would say wait on the fitbit they are coming out with a new one that is worn on the wrist is 100% waterproof and looks so much better than the fit one, also I had a fit one and I disliked it. Just don't get how a little device that doesn't touch you can tell you how much you burned.

I have the body media and it tracks the steps you walk, which would then tell you how much you burned. I would say wait on the fitbit they are coming out with a new one that is worn on the wrist is 100% waterproof and looks so much better than the fit one, also I had a fit one and I disliked it. Just don't get how a little device that doesn't touch you can tell you how much you burned.

It does so because it keeps track of the acceleration you apply to your body. There's a direct mathematical relationship between that acceleration and the energy required to create it.

The Bodymedia devices use primarily the same relationship to determine calorie burn, except it modifies it slightly based on skin temperature and quantity of sweat.

I love my Fitbit. My family and my friends family both moved within a month of each other into home where we did have to use stairs. One year later, but both realized we had gained at least 15 pounds. It's crazy how using the stairs help keep the weight off, without thinking about it!

I'm sorry, this is one of my trigger topics :laugh:

Lol, well that only a little apparent, lol. So do you feel they are off on the low end of calorie burn or high end...the HRM gives you to many calories burned or not enough?

Depends entirely on the person and the exercise. I've seen some genuinely ridiculous posts like "my HRM told me I burned 1200 calories walking 2.5 miles" but I've also seen some people complain that their HRMs are giving them half of what they think it should. It can vary for a given person from exercise to exercise; it might vastly overestimate calories burned while lifting but underestimate calories burned while running, for instance. There's just too much variability IMO. Heart rate monitors are good for tracking heart rate, which is a great thing for people focused on performance. They're just not good at tracking calories burned.

Again, this is just my opinion.

Yes! Wait for the FitBit Flex! It comes out May 15 and its like a wrist band that will track your sleep as well!

Ultra and One track your sleep.
I think the flex looks ugly (my opinion) and its less stealthy. No one knows I have a pedometer on me at all times cause its hidden in my bra.

I really like mine! I like that it has a read out I can look at on the device since I don't have one of the phones it can sync too. I like that I can hide it in my bra and it still track. I get higher step counts with it on my hip but there's not enough variance that I'd feel cheated by wearing it in my bra.

Like another poster said I have a desk job and set mini challenges for myself- so many steps before noon and I find myself volunteering to take stuff upstairs. And I do think that none of these gadgets or tracers are gonig to be 100% but it's a tool to draw you a better picture. Just like MFP- I mean if I roast two potatoes and an onion and you roast two potatoes and an onion we'll probably come up with different caloric values for the entire dish- but it would be relatively close. And if the fitbit is pretty close then it's done it's job. Also for me, when I've gone out for walks or use an exercise DVD the mileage that the FB comes up with is within a tenth of google maps for the same rout and the calculated burn for the DVD is within about 15 calories of using my average heart rate to figure calories burned.

I think anything that can help you visualize your activity and get real feed back can only help a person become more active.

Well, I ordered 1. It should be here next week sometime so hopefully I'll be happy with it. I'm really curious what it will put me at for calories burnt though the day as opposed to the online calculators. Did you find it to be lose to the same or a fair difference?

I found that it generally comes in pretty close to what I'd otherwise calculate for a day. It's fun, it's motivating, and it removes a lot of "let's try to guesstimate the calories for this exercise" headaches.

I don't ever really play the " let's try to guesstimate the calories for this exercise" game because I always wear my HRM when I'm doing actual exercise. I'm wanting it more for telling me what I burn through out the day doing my job and living.

I have a HRM also but I ONLY go by what the Fitbit tells me. It is MUCH easier that way.

I can run 15 miles and the FitBit will say 400 calories, but my HR (mine doesn't give calories burned) used in an online calculator, taking age, weight, other factors into place will be 1500 or so, I know I burned more than 400 calories in an over 2 hour run. But the fit bit, assumed that I walked it at a normal no HR pace.

So you're saying you actually ran 15 miles one day and your FitBit said 400 calories?

If so, your Fitbit is horribly defective.

Your statement that the FitBit would "assume I walked it at a normal place" is completely nonsensical. It's 100% absolutely and unequivocally wrong.

Your Fitbit is horribly broken and you should replace it with one that works.

Just bought one today, was pretty surprised that out the box it said I burned 1125 calories, but after doing some research, that seems to be an estimate of how much I would have burned today if I did nothing at all.

Hopefully tomorrow I will have a more detailed report, but so far I am loving it. I tested it by going up a flight of stairs to my apt and sure enough it acknowledged the fact I climbed one flight.

When I run I use the stop watch function so it knows I am running

I also set my stride because I am short and their stride was off for me

If you travel bumpy roads with lots of hills I log the time I was in the car and fitbit adjusts my steps and stairs and mileage to what it should be ( I get lots of stairs when I drive threw the valley to work lol)