Rebuttal to "Science Says Fitbit Is a Joke"

snowflake930 wrote: »

For what it is, my fit bit has been the single best motivator I have had for the past two years to get me to move more. It truly works for me, and so does MFP. Without MFP and my fit bit, I would probably still be an obese old lady. Truly a winning combination for me.

Thanks for the link!

^^This.

tat2cookie wrote: »

I love my Fitbit!! Worth every penny!!

+1

I'm not using my fitbit for scientifically accurate measurements. I'm using it to play games with friends, to motivate myself to get up and on my feet more often. Since I started using it, my average steps per day have gone up by 2000. So that's on the same device, and at least means that I'm moving around more than I used to.

I love the breakdown of how wrong "reports" get once the general media/bloggers get a hold of them (especially since they never seem to read the studies and just the press releases).

And I'm rather competitive, even with just my own step record, so the fitbit has been an awesome purchase for me. I've gone from averaging 6-8000 steps a day to 16-18000 steps a day.

Ugh. I'm so sick of people picking on the fitbit. I have friends who got rid of their fitbit flex because it was measuring steps when they were waving their arms around like crazy.

My thought is that I'm measuring movement. I don't really care if that movement is steps, waving my arms around, dancing, jumping, or moon walking. It all adds to my TDEE.

Fitbit makes it very clear on their website that they are measuring trends, not exact numbers of steps. If your trend is going up, you're moving more. If your trend is going down, you're moving less.

I completely agree with what others have said. When I started on 5th January on MFP I was fed up with hating the way I looked and though some days I was motivated to exercise and think about what I was eating it just wasn't consistent enough. That in addition to not really having any idea how much I was eating meant that my weight continuously yo yo-ed.

Now I am so much more conscious of how much I'm putting in my body on a daily basis and weighing and measuring means I no longer eat that little bit more food than I really need. I also feel bad if I don't log my exercise on MFP on a daily basis so it's impossible for me to skip a day because of the guilt I'd feel if I did. Plus I've said my calorie goal to be very low so I know that the only way I can eat enough to stop me feeling hungry is by doing some exercise.

I've had my Fitbit One for just over a week and it's also been amazing. Before Fitbit I barely made it to 4000 steps most days. Now I strive to get over 10000 on top of any other form of exercise I'm doing so I am definitely moving more.

It's too early to tell if Fitbit is accurate enough to allow me to lose my target 1.5lbs a week, but with the added activity I am hoping I can manage it as before I was only losing 1lb per week.

JAT74 wrote: »

SingRunTing I agree to a certain extent. No activity monitor can be 100% accurate but it would frustrate me if my fitbit picked up on arm movement rather than actual steps.

I deliberately bought a Fitbit One rather than one of the wrist based monitors for that reason as I'd read a couple of articles saying exactly what the others you mentioned said.

In my case, I clip my Fitbit to my bra or a pocket and when I look to see how accurate it is, it only ever goes up if I take an actual step so I'm confident about the readings it gives.

If I could choose all over again, I wouldn't have gotten the flex, but one of the clip ons. This is simply because I would rather not have to visibly wear it everyday, I would rather be able to hide it under my clothes.

But, I'm not about to drop more money on a different product when this one works just fine. If I ever have to replace it, I'll make a different choice.

That being said, I don't find that my flex measures arm movements for me. I only see it go up when I take actual steps.