Fitness tracking bands (up, fitbit, Nike Fuel)

ironmonkeystyle
ironmonkeystyle Posts: 834 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Recent review here: http://www.technologyreview.com/news/521931/fitness-trackers-still-need-to-work-out-kinks/
notes that she is waiting until the tracking technology improves. I agree. I have noticed wide variation (as the reviewer does) across the tracking sensors for these products. If you aren't wearing all three, it's hard to take a conservative lower band estimate too. I guess, you could just reduce the calories burned by a random discount rate (say, 20%?)... but that defeats a good chunk of the purpose of tracking this way, no?

Replies

  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    My thinking is if it encourages you to move more, who cares if it's all that accurate? Especially if you know enough math to figure out how inaccurate it is for you and tweak things. I lost about 35 lbs. with a Fitbit in 2010 so I know it's pretty accurate for me because that's about how much the deficits I logged suggested I'd lose. But if it hadn't been I could go in and outsmart it by changing my profile data to make it ratchet my BMR higher or lower until I felt it had me better pegged.

    I guess for me it's more for fun and motivation and to track goals and progress than to get some perfectly accurate steps or calorie count. Calorie burn is always an estimate, anyway.
  • ironmonkeystyle
    ironmonkeystyle Posts: 834 Member
    So, I use a HRM (heart rate monitor), a Garmin 910, to track average HR/hour for workouts, and use a calculator like these http://fitnowtraining.com/2012/01/formula-for-calories-burned/ to track calories burned. You don't need a fitbit or something to do that.
  • VegasFit
    VegasFit Posts: 1,232 Member
    My thinking is if it encourages you to move more, who cares if it's all that accurate? Especially if you know enough math to figure out how inaccurate it is for you and tweak things. I lost about 35 lbs. with a Fitbit in 2010 so I know it's pretty accurate for me because that's about how much the deficits I logged suggested I'd lose. But if it hadn't been I could go in and outsmart it by changing my profile data to make it ratchet my BMR higher or lower until I felt it had me better pegged.

    I guess for me it's more for fun and motivation and to track goals and progress than to get some perfectly accurate steps or calorie count. Calorie burn is always an estimate, anyway.

    I agree with this. I like being to upload and track my progress. I used a Bodymedia and it helped me lose 30 pounds. I found it highly effective. I currently have a Garmin for hikes, walks, Polar HRM and just got the Loop. With the HRM I find it really helpful in making me push myself harder in certain activities and I like to see my calorie read out at the end. The Loop I bought because although I did love the Bodymedia I did not love how visible it was. And really none of these gadgets are breaking the bank anyways.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    So, I use a HRM (heart rate monitor), a Garmin 910, to track average HR/hour for workouts, and use a calculator like these http://fitnowtraining.com/2012/01/formula-for-calories-burned/ to track calories burned. You don't need a fitbit or something to do that.
    No, where the Fitbit type things excel is at estimating what you burn the other 23 hours... chasing kids, playing golf, housework, yard work, dancing, walking the dogs, taking the stairs, parking further away, pacing while on the phone. Basically your NEAT stuff (non-exercise activity thermogenesis). Or if your 'workouts' are steps-based, it catches that, too. So forget resistance, swimming and cycling, you need to log those separately if you want them counted in.
  • StaceyJ2008
    StaceyJ2008 Posts: 411 Member
    I have a BodyMedia Fit arm band. It works pretty well, even tracks sleep.
  • twistedbutterfly
    twistedbutterfly Posts: 61 Member
    I have a BodyMedia Core and it has worked really well for me. It helps me keep track of how much exercise I am actually doing as well as lets me know when I'm not giving it my all.
  • VincitQuiSeVincit
    VincitQuiSeVincit Posts: 285 Member
    I never considered one for myself, but I received one as a gift through work, and I love it.
    It's the jawbone UP, and the numbers it gives me on lazy days is fairly close to all the formulas Ive used for my TDEE. Is it fool-proof? Absolutely not. But it makes me conscious of how much activity Im getting, and it let's me track my workouts, make notes about them and intensity, and it syncs with MFP.

    I was previously using a HRM, and that was all i REALLY needed. But some people are very driven by daily goals, so they make an effort to walk more, move more, be more active. These devices are more showy-tech then they are essentials, but if they help, I dont see the harm. They are just another tool, not an end all be all.
  • kristinc06837
    kristinc06837 Posts: 630 Member
    So far I love my Body Media Fit arm band. I have been curious to see how accurate every one else has found their own to be? I am currently wearing my while pregnant just to try and keep a handle on things and am not sure how accurate it can be with no way to tell it i'm pregnant or whether that even matters.
  • ironmonkeystyle
    ironmonkeystyle Posts: 834 Member
    To the folks who are posting saying, "I like my device, because it works for me." If I told you that there's a 50/50 chances that your device is under-counting calories for you (or it could be over-counting calories for you), would you still buy the product? It's possible that the device works for you because it is inaccurate but over-estimating calories burned. I don't need a silly device to do that. I could just use MFP's tracking and just under-estimate. The purpose of the device is defeated, save for the psychological effect of an official computerized readout TELLING you how many OFFICIAL calories you burned... you know... with math and science.... ;-)
  • ironmonkeystyle
    ironmonkeystyle Posts: 834 Member
    So, I use a HRM (heart rate monitor), a Garmin 910, to track average HR/hour for workouts, and use a calculator like these http://fitnowtraining.com/2012/01/formula-for-calories-burned/ to track calories burned. You don't need a fitbit or something to do that.
    No, where the Fitbit type things excel is at estimating what you burn the other 23 hours... chasing kids, playing golf, housework, yard work, dancing, walking the dogs, taking the stairs, parking further away, pacing while on the phone. Basically your NEAT stuff (non-exercise activity thermogenesis). Or if your 'workouts' are steps-based, it catches that, too. So forget resistance, swimming and cycling, you need to log those separately if you want them counted in.

    I get that. I'm suggesting that you could use a calculator on leangains.com for free, and the estimate it generates would be approximately as accurate as the crappy estimates generated by these devices.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    To the folks who are posting saying, "I like my device, because it works for me." If I told you that there's a 50/50 chances that your device is under-counting calories for you (or it could be over-counting calories for you), would you still buy the product?
    There is a 100% chance that the device is either over or undercounting, because it's an estimation, like anything else. It's still a useful way of (1) motivating people to move more and (2) viewing the trends in your activity over time.
  • ironmonkeystyle
    ironmonkeystyle Posts: 834 Member
    To the folks who are posting saying, "I like my device, because it works for me." If I told you that there's a 50/50 chances that your device is under-counting calories for you (or it could be over-counting calories for you), would you still buy the product?
    There is a 100% chance that the device is either over or undercounting, because it's an estimation, like anything else. It's still a useful way of (1) motivating people to move more and (2) viewing the trends in your activity over time.

    Agreed. Hence, this: "The purpose of the device is defeated, save for the psychological effect of an official computerized readout TELLING you how many OFFICIAL calories you burned... you know... with math and science.... ;-) "

    If having a watch or band or app tell you your official estimate, then it is good. I don't need that any more than the estimates generated by leangains.com or similar calculators. ;-) Maybe when the technology improves, the devices that track more accurately will be more worth it. IDK. ;-)
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member

    I get that. I'm suggesting that you could use a calculator on leangains.com for free, and the estimate it generates would be approximately as accurate as the crappy estimates generated by these devices.

    How would I use an online calculator to quantify my day yesterday? This was totally not a normal day for me. 7 hours of working at the college, busy shift. Walked to lunch. Shopped at Costco after. I came home and thought, "I probably need to walk the dogs to hit my activity goals for the day. I'm guessing I walked maybe 6000-7000 steps." I checked my Fitbit-- over 13,000 steps, TDEE 2100. Trying to plug that kind of stuff into an online calculator is for the birds. Though, it's very true, you can get estimates from them.

    But if $99 isn't going to matter much and you enjoy having the tool and the charts and the history, these are fun toys. 100% non-essential, yes.
  • ironmonkeystyle
    ironmonkeystyle Posts: 834 Member
    You could use http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/ (Sorry-- above, I kept referring to leangains, which is a great site, but check out the calculators on IIFYM (if it fits your macros)). That will give you estimates for someone who is pretty active (check the drop down options under "Exercise Level." Then you don't have to worry about instances in which the device over-counts your steps and tells you it's ok to eat more calories than you should. Weekly averages might be better than the device. IDK... :smile:
  • BigGuy47
    BigGuy47 Posts: 1,768 Member
    The next generation of biomedical devices is just around the corner. New devices are emerging like the basis, angel, push and others. Interesting times.

    http://www.mybasis.com/
    http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/angel-the-first-open-sensor-for-health-and-fitness
    http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/push-the-first-fitness-tracking-device-that-measures-strength

    I agree with the notion that if it gets you moving it doesn't matter if the accuracy is 100% on target. What is 100% accurate? We live with a great deal of estimation anyway, food labels are not 100% accurate. We determine our TDEE from an estimated starting point. The only absolutes are death and taxes.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    I manually track nothing and that's worth a lot to me. I don't worry about the device overtracking on some days because it's internally consistent. Mine isn't the wrist style and it's been heavily tested.

    And I know it's all an estimate. I lost 35 lbs. with it before and lost 12 lbs. in the last 6 weeks with it. It works well enough for me. I don't 'eat back', I watch my longer term average intake vs. my longer term average burn and make decisions that way.

    It sounds like your'e happy tracking manually and there's nothing wrong with that.

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