Fitbit question

I recently bought a fitbit (about a month ago). I have it synced to MFP and I like that it holds me accountable for how much I move everyday. If I move less, it will adjust my calories for the day to a lower number, if I'm more active vice versa. I know some will say they don't like that it changes calorie numbers on their diary, but it has helped me get off this plateau and lose a couple of pounds since I bought it.

I have a charge, got it on sale at Target for $99 on black Friday. They have a new version coming out soon that will have a heart rate monitor for $149. If you can afford it, get that version. It will way more accurately track your calories burned. That version will also have GPS tracking. I already have a Garmin Forerunner 110 watch with a HRM strap, so it didn't matter that the Charge can't do GPS yet. They are supposed to be working on a patch for that.

What I love about the fitbits is the encouragement I feel to get up and move, to be able to see my progress on my wrist without having to check the phone or sync constantly, to check the app and see how I am doing vs my friends, and the awesome summary email at the end of the week that shows progress.

I also have a withings scale that bluetooths to my phone and measures my BMI and weight and auto syncs with fitbit. The best thing is that fitbit will automatically adjust your daily calories based on your steps and activities you enter. It has been an amazing accountability tool and like having a workout buddy to gently prod you in the right direction and a physical reminder of making good choices to get you that much closer to your goals.

I am down 3 lbs since the beginning of the month, holiday meals included. I have been more active and I am like hey, just a little bit more to my goal, why not? Mentally, I feel a lot better/clearer and I noticed that I have been making better food choices, not been binging at night, and staying on track. If I could kick this cold, I would be in a lot better shape!

Anyway, I feel like our health is the most precious thing we've got and if a little investment towards technology will help us stay on track and make long term positive improvements, we should go for it!! Good luck

I like my flex... but would go for the charge hr on my next go around.

I just bought a Fitbit Flex... I truly like it.. But sometimes it confuses me..
Thats why I joined the Fitbit club so I can learn more about it.. But so far it's very kewl

I love my Fitbit, but honestly, unless you are really motivated by numbers and an activity tracker will make you move a lot more, do not get one to help with weight loss. If you're the kind of person who is having trouble sticking to your deficit and is possibly looking for an activity tracker to tell you to eat more, it could potentially do more harm than good in terms of progress. Personally I find the calorie burn information to be inaccurate as calorie burn. It will underestimate the burn from truly intense exercise (which won't hurt your progress, if you're doing that!!!) but the downside is it grossly exaggerates the burn estimate from low and moderate intensity exercise, particularly walking. The burn estimate it gives me for walking about 3mph is ridonk: more than 6X my at-rest burn rate.

If it will make you MOVE MORE, you'll see some results. Possibly FABULOUS results. But if you want your weight loss to speed up, you've got to move more, and you have to let most of the increased deficit ride (i.e., not eat the calories back). Getting exercise is awfully good for you even if you don't use it to generate a bigger caloric deficit, but the deficit part is what makes weight loss happen.

I definitely increased my pace of weight loss when I got the fitbit. I was already exercising consistently when I got it, too. But I am the kind of person who was motivated by the numbers, and who likes consistency A LOT. So getting more numbers helped me see where my baseline was and helped me consistently move that activity baseline UP and UP and UP.

I eat a lot: 1850 calories per day when I got the Fitbit a year ago. But even though my active minutes have increased, I didn't increase my calorie intake until the time came when I wanted to slow my weight loss pace down.

Just food for thought. I'm only saying to think hard about what you want an activity tracker to do for you, and how it's going to happen.

sympha01 wrote: »

I love my Fitbit, but honestly, unless you are really motivated by numbers and an activity tracker will make you move a lot more, do not get one to help with weight loss. If you're the kind of person who is having trouble sticking to your deficit and is possibly looking for an activity tracker to tell you to eat more, it could potentially do more harm than good in terms of progress. Personally I find the calorie burn information to be inaccurate as calorie burn. It will underestimate the burn from truly intense exercise (which won't hurt your progress, if you're doing that!!!) but the downside is it grossly exaggerates the burn estimate from low and moderate intensity exercise, particularly walking. The burn estimate it gives me for walking about 3mph is ridonk: more than 6X my at-rest burn rate.

I wonder if they've changed the algorithm lately or if my Charge HR is just more generous because I used to think my Fitbits were pretty generous with the calories for walking but now it seems more so. It just gave me 5.8 calories/minute for a 2.6 mile walk at 3mph. The METS value is 3.5 and my BMR is about 1 calorie per minute so that implies around 3.5 calories per minute walking, so 5.8 is a lot higher. I suspect they're trying to be more motivational. I have mixed feelings about it.

I got a Fitbit Zip for Christmas and so far I am enjoying it very much! It is not the fanciest Fitbit, but it works great (& somewhat affordable), and I enjoy the little smiley faces that get happy when I walk more or sad when I sit on my couch for hours. Personally, my Fitbit is helping to keep me motivated.

Also, I love how it syncs up with MFP!

I love my fitbit. It makes me think about my activity level everyday and gives me calorie credit for really busy days. Best way to get step in: Cleaning

Hi,

Until just before Christmas I had a Fitbit Flex. I found it really motivating just in terms of the steps monitoring and being able to look at it on the computer and see how active or inactive I had been for the day. I think that anyone who purchases something like the Fitbit Flex (or jawbone or whatever with no HRM) and expects it to be accurate in terms of calories and specific fitness activity monitoring has unrealistic expectations of technology.

I used my Fitbit Flex as trend indicator as much as anything. I didn't take the calories burned as gospel but rather just had a set calories I was planning to eat and ate that regardless of what the Fitbit said. Obviously some people have found it quite accurate (as per comments above) and lost plenty of weight using the Fitbit cals burn estimates. I liked being able to set a steps goal and seeing if I was way under or exceeding it. I use a Polar HRM for exercise and update that in the Fitbit software interface. I also like that is syncs with myfitness pal. I think its a great motivational tool.

The reason I don't have it anymore is that it does have one drawback, which is that the band clips can be a bit dodgy. I got mine as a gift in June and it fell off a couple times. Then just before Christmas I was flying internationally and when I got to my destination my Fitbit had come off without me noticing. I was really upset. I emailed the Fitbit people just after Christmas to suggest they re-design the clips and I have heard back from them already and they are sending me a replacement fitbit flex for free! So excellent customer service.