Fitness bands.... Worth investing in one?

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  • MarziPanda95
    MarziPanda95 Posts: 1,326 Member
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    dougpconnell219 wrote: »
    bw_conway wrote: »
    aaliceinw wrote: »
    I I thought I slept well! And although it says you have to press the sleep button for it to do that, you don't have to. You can go into manually set your sleep time if you need to because it automatically records when it thinks you are sleeping.
    .

    What sort of data does it give you on sleeping that allows for you to make improvements?

    The sleep function is useless in my opinion.

    It just tells me that I slept six hours, woke x number of times, and was restless y times.

    Now I usually take it off at night.

    I have to politely disagree. The sleep part is the most useful for me, especially since I usually take a long time to fall asleep. It means if I know I've only had 5 hours on a given night I can go to bed earlier or get up later another day to make up for it and keep myself at an average of 8 hours.
  • kaitlinrt
    kaitlinrt Posts: 28 Member
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    I love my Fitbit Charge HR. I work in a job that varies from mind numbingly boring to extremely physically active(think doing CPR, running to codes, etc.). I'm a numbers person so it motivates me when I'm having a lazy day to get up and go for a walk. I like all the features on it, even the sleep one.
  • rushfive
    rushfive Posts: 603 Member
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    NateMcG76 wrote: »
    I have a Fitbit Charge(not the HR). I didn't buy it, had a family member send it to me. After two weeks, I don't see the point in it. Still at the gym every day.

    My wife has a Garmin watch thing with a GPS/HR/who knows what else. It seems much more useful than a band that tells me I went 1.5 miles and 3k steps during the time I was chopping/stirring dinner.

    And don't give a Fitbit to a teenage boy. It will say they are running a marathon a day with all the time the spend alone in the bathroom. lol

    HAHAHAHA!!!! this really made me laugh (last paragraph). Thank You.
    from a mother of 3 grown boys
  • luv_lea
    luv_lea Posts: 1,094 Member
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    I use a Polar FT60 for my workouts, and I absolutely love it!

    I have thought seriously about getting a fitness tracker, but instead decided to save my money and downloaded a pedometer app on my phone. The one I use is called Pacer, and I love it! I feel it incorporates the same idea that a fitness band would. This app lets you set goals, connect with people, challenge people, add groups, etc. It's also motivating to see my averages, and want to increase that every week.

    The only problem with these kinds of apps is you have to carry your phone with you everywhere you go to get a more accurate number (instead of having a handy dandy device clipped to yourself.) This isn't that big of a deal to me because I carry my phone everywhere; although I do forget sometimes. Also, you can turn on the GPS option which gets the most accurate reading on your steps, but it drains the battery. So I just use it normally and it seems to do pretty good. I compared it's numbers (distance wise) to Runkeeper on a run/walk and the numbers were very closely comparable.

    It doesn't have the sleep functions, but there's app's for that also.
  • jsadqi
    jsadqi Posts: 31 Member
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    peachyfuzzle wrote: »
    I bought one yesterday, but only because I had already proved to myself that I knew what I was doing after losing a significant amount of weight over the winter, and also because I would like a better picture of my daily activity during the next six weeks as I try to lose a good chunk of weight for a goal I set in front of myself. If it wasn't for setting the aggressive goal, I probably wouldn't have bought one.

    Like it has been said though, it's only a tool, and you're still the one who is going to have to put in the work either way.

    I too have lost a good amount of weight. 82 pounds so far. I set a goal for September. I have another 68 pounds I want to lose. I have been hitting the gym a lot and want to keep better track of what I am actually burning.
  • jsadqi
    jsadqi Posts: 31 Member
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    NateMcG76 wrote: »
    I have a Fitbit Charge(not the HR). I didn't buy it, had a family member send it to me. After two weeks, I don't see the point in it. Still at the gym every day.

    My wife has a Garmin watch thing with a GPS/HR/who knows what else. It seems much more useful than a band that tells me I went 1.5 miles and 3k steps during the time I was chopping/stirring dinner.

    And don't give a Fitbit to a teenage boy. It will say they are running a marathon a day with all the time the spend alone in the bathroom. lol

    Lol
  • jefemullin
    jefemullin Posts: 42 Member
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    I'm about a week into using my Garmin VivoActive as an activity tracker. I bought it to use as a run tracker and never saw the benefits of the simple fitbit step trackers. But now i do. I like it as a constant reminder to move as much as i can throughout the day. It has helped me remember to maybe park farther away in the parking lot to increase the walk into the store or to take the stairs instead of the elevator. Even at work the other day i had been sitting down for a while and it recognized that and prompted me to "MOVE!". So i did. I got up, walked to the water cooler, stretched out a bit, and sat back down. Was it a huge workout? Not at all, but it was nice to step away from my desk for a minute.

    What i'm really digging about it is the way it adjusts my daily calories and communicates with MFP. Plus, you can download golf courses to it and have a golf GPS on your wrist. That is, if i ever get back out to the links sometime this year.
  • FitPhillygirl
    FitPhillygirl Posts: 7,124 Member
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    I think it depends on the person and how they plan to use it as to whether or not it is worth buying on. I just got the Fitbit Charge and like it so far for calculating my steps and miles throughout the day. However, it won't replace my Polar FT7 for my more active activities like doing HIIT and Weightlifting.
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
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    Eileen_S wrote: »
    I think it depends on the person and how they plan to use it as to whether or not it is worth buying on. I just got the Fitbit Charge and like it so far for calculating my steps and miles throughout the day. However, it won't replace my Polar FT7 for my more active activities like doing HIIT and Weightlifting.

    Your FT7 is inherently inaccurate for HIIT and lifting.
  • derm78
    derm78 Posts: 17 Member
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    I have a sony smartband to go with my xperia z1 love the band and it's very accurate too it's just a shame it doesn't link to mfp.
  • FitPhillygirl
    FitPhillygirl Posts: 7,124 Member
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    brianpperkins wrote: »
    Eileen_S wrote: »
    I think it depends on the person and how they plan to use it as to whether or not it is worth buying on. I just got the Fitbit Charge and like it so far for calculating my steps and miles throughout the day. However, it won't replace my Polar FT7 for my more active activities like doing HIIT and Weightlifting.

    Your FT7 is inherently inaccurate for HIIT and lifting.

    I use it as a guide, and not a calorie burning bible. ;)

    It works well enough for my needs....

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