Questions about FitBit

I have a Zip, and it counts steps. That is all. It does not count calories burned when I lift weights. It does a simple calorie calculation if there are a lot of steps in a short period of time, but that does not take into account any difficulty (like incline on a treadmill). I use it to try to be more active during the parts of the day when I'm not specifically working out, by trying to hit specific step counts for the day. But I also have a HRM to get a more accurate calorie count for my workouts.

EDIT: You don't have to have a smart phone to use it, either. It will come with a cable or a dongle to use your computer to sync to the Fitbit site.

1. What benefits does the fitbit have over a heartrate monitor, and how does it accurately track calories burned if it has no idea what my heart rate is doing?? Does it track calories burned while lifting as well, or only cardio (by tracking steps)?

A FitBit is for tracking all day, while a HRM is for tracking during exercise. The FitBit is basically a fancy pedometer. It is accurate for tracking step based activities but not for stuff like strength training.

2. I do not have a smart phone, it looks like the fitbit is designed for people who do... am I correct on this? I have no interest in having a smartphone again - I am not someone who desires to be THAT connected at all times

I have the Ultra - it doesn't connect to a phone. You can sync when you're at your computer.


3. The sleep-tracking aspect is cool, but I have a hard time believing that this would be accurate as well..... do people find this tool useful? I have a history of insomnia and currently have a new rx that seems to be working well but it would be nice to see what 'quality of sleep' looks like.

The sleep tool is cool, I don't know that it is useful. I mean I know I don't get enough sleep, but I don't know what I'd do to change that.

4. Flex vs. Zip. vs. One?? The bracelet looks awesome, but it needs to be charged every 7 days?

I have the older model - the Ultra. I think the bracelet (Flex) is ugly personally. I think it is the Zip that doesn't track stairs or sleep - personally I don't care much about the stairs anyway as it isn't always accurate and I already talked about the sleep feature. So it just really depends on what features you want.

I charge my Ultra about every week or so. Usually for about an hour when I'm sitting on the couch watching tv so not moving anyway.

Any input people who have experience using these greatly appreciated!!

A heart rate monitor (HRM) and a Fitbit measure two completely different things and there is no crossover. You would benefit from both!

Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is made up of three things:
* Your BRM (Basal Metabolic Rate) -- how many calories you burn even if you are in a coma just to maintain your body/organs/etc.
* Your "daily living activity calories" -- how much burn doing laundry, getting the mail, going up stairs, any movement outside of bed
* Your Exercise/Workout calories -- how much you burn based on intensity and elevated heart rate

Fitbit measures your "daily living activity calories" and combines it with your BMR to give you the number of calories you burn each day ASIDE FROM WORKOUTS. Your HRM gives you workout/exercise calorie burns.

Your "daily living activity calories" account for a HUGE percentage of your daily/weekly calories, so its great to track them. Knowing that number helps you eat the right number of calories to reach your goal. Use your HRM to log your exercise calories. When you log the start time/duration/calories of your workout with Fitbit, it replaces its step data for that time period with your actual burn. The nice thing is that you can link your Fitibit account and MFP account so when you log your exercise in MFP it syncs automatically with Fitbit. Then you can get a complete, accurate picture of your calories burned each day/week. And Fitbit has awesome charts, graphs, averages, reports, etc.

I love my Fitbit One. I would go into serious withdrawal symptoms without it! LOL I love that it tracks my sleep. Someone asked if it is helpful. Yes it is. Just like tracking my calories naturally inspires me to make better calorie choices, so tracking my sleep is very motivating to get more. When you see that you are only 45 minutes shy of getting an awesome average number of hours of sleep a night.... its very easy to talk yourself into going to bed a bit earlier! And I have sleep apnea so its helpful to see how many hours of *actual* sleep a night that I get compared to how many hours I spend in bed.

1. The Fitbit is sort of a fancy pedometer, so it doesn't have any way to measure heart rate. It calculates calories based on your weight and speed when you're walking. So it's just an educated guess on calories I think.

2. I have a Fitbit and a smartphone, but I don't use them together at all. I sync each night with my laptop.

3 and 4. I have a Zip, which doesn't evaluate sleep, so I can't be of any help there! i tend to sleep very soundly, so I didn't bother with the sleep function. I think the best aspects of the Zip are that it's easy to wear and fun. It really encourages me to keep my steps high and take a walk if I'm lagging behind for a day. You can also challenge your friends who also have Fitbits. I also really like that it syncs with MFP to calculate exercise calories if you're walking or jogging.

It's a toy, overall, but it really keeps me motivated.

I don't think that the Zip can be very accurate since it doesn't measure stairs. But I do believe that the Fitbit One is pretty accurate. A lot of people use the number they get from their Fitbit to eat at maintenance calories after they reach their goal and a ton of people report that they can maintain their weight by eating their Fitbit number. So it can't be too inaccurate or it wouldn't work so well for people. :flowerforyou:

I have the Fitbit One and love it, but I'm still learning about it. My general understanding is that it is pretty accurate for walking calories burned but not weight lifting; I enter that separately. I, personally, don't log running either; I just use the Fitbit calories/steps. As others have said, you don't need a smartphone for it; you can use your computer and the dongle that comes with it.

I think it's worth it. I feel naked without it!

Bump

I bought a FitBit one in Jan of this year and love it. I also have a cheap HRM watch too that I wear sometimes to the gym or when I do cardio at home to check my target Heart rate. I don't usually wear the HRM watch to the gym since the cardio machines have the sensors on there to do that and I compared them with my HRM watch and they were pretty accurate to my watch.
I love my FitBit one. I have a smart phone but I usually sync it with my work computer during the day and at home with my laptop. I have a droid phone so the sync doesn't work really I don't think until it's synced with a computer I have noticed. They are supposed to be working on the Android stuff for this but it will sync with the iPhone.
The fitbit pushes me to get my 10000 steps in a day and see how many miles I can get it. Mine will do the sleep thing but I only did that the first night I got it and haven't since. I have MFP and FItbit synced together too.
Best $100 I spent was buying the fitbit one!

1. The Fitbit is sort of a fancy pedometer, so it doesn't have any way to measure heart rate. It calculates calories based on your weight and speed when you're walking. So it's just an educated guess on calories I think.

2. I have a Fitbit and a smartphone, but I don't use them together at all. I sync each night with my laptop.

3 and 4. I have a Zip, which doesn't evaluate sleep, so I can't be of any help there! i tend to sleep very soundly, so I didn't bother with the sleep function. I think the best aspects of the Zip are that it's easy to wear and fun. It really encourages me to keep my steps high and take a walk if I'm lagging behind for a day. You can also challenge your friends who also have Fitbits. I also really like that it syncs with MFP to calculate exercise calories if you're walking or jogging.

It's a toy, overall, but it really keeps me motivated.

i thought i slept soundly until i got my flex. Apparently i woke up 8 times. 2 that i know of...weird

Great detailed reply!!!