Fitbits.. is it worth the hype?

DaphneSW wrote: »

My friend got a fitbit recently and it turns out the MFP calorie recommendation was causing her to severely undereat as fitbit was reflecting much higher calorie usage ..

What are people's thoughts on fitbit? After syncing to MFP have you been 'allowed' to eat more with the same calorie deficit? Are you still seeing results?

I'm considering buying one but they are reasonably pricey

Likely your friend's issue to begin with was not properly setting her activity level...people do this all the time...they're not honest with their activity level and just default to sedentary which is going to give one a pretty low calorie target. On top of that, they don't understand the whole "eat back" calories thing and why one would do that. In this case, a fitbit might be worth it because it gives people a realistic picture of what they're really burning.

For myself, I find it pretty easy to be honest with any one of these calculators...I know and understand that I burn a lot of calories just being alive and more in my day to day...I'm not "scared" to properly set my activity level accordingly and then watch to see what's going on and make adjustments as necessary. For myself, a fitbit would be a total waste of money and completely unnecessary.

GYATagain wrote: »

I have the Charge HR - upgraded from the Flex a few months ago. Accurate? Not always - but, that is ok. My aim is to try and match or better my movement on any given day since I have a desk job. I do not eat back the calories it gives me - sometimes maybe a small percentage. Such as Sunday it gave me an extra 1200 calories from working my tail off, weeding, raking winter stuff up, hand mowing, walking dogs - did not eat those back. Tracks my exercise and active minutes without having to tell it to. - not to the very second and sometimes it says I was playing badminton -- hahaha. You can go in and start and stop exercise times also.
I use it for my silent alarm through the week. It is my watch now and it also tells me who is calling on my phone so I don't have to dig that out or run into the other room. Also, I had used a Polar HR for a long time, now just my Charge. So, overall I have had a positive experience with my FitBit.

If you burn an additional 1,200 calories you definitely should be eating at least some of those back. I imagine your net calories for that day were very low.

cookielover_96 wrote: »

It's a fad, I'm healthy without it...

I wouldn't call it a fad per say. I was healthy without mine and I debated for months but it's not just about tracking steps, mine tracks my sleep as well which is a good indicator if my workouts are not going well.

I have had mine for over a year now (almost 2) and find it is a motivator and a reminder if I get busy at my desk.

I'm surprised to hear so many negatives. I love my Charge HR and find it to be very accurate. I've worn it at the same time as my HR monitor with a chest strep and it was always within a beat or two. I've also worn it while walking on the treadmill and the steps always match up to the distance that I've walked. Honestly, for those of you that are having so many issues with inaccuracy, I would contact FitBit and then maybe they can walk you through some troubleshooting steps.

When I noticed that my Charge HR wasn't counting my steps accurately (after nearly a year of working fine) I contacted FitBit, we did some troubleshooting when they determined that mine was actually broken and they sent me a new one for free.

I got one from someone else who didn't like all the bother of synching and going to the web page.
I didn't find it helped me at all. It was a deluxe model, even had an alarm clock. It was inacurate in steps and I felt sorta like I had someone, I dunno, was being watched for calories, walks, just everthing I did was being counted and alarmed etc.

I'd never get one if I had to pay for it. My husband threw it in the garbage and I didn't bother digging it out.

I love gadgets and data so my flex really motivates me to move more. I sometimes compare the fitbit data to other sites/pedometers and mine seems to be fairly accurate.

I've been using the Charge HR since July; it brought me from 139 to 109 pounds.

• No device is 100% accurate; this is statistically improbable. However, those stating that their Fitbit was "wildly" off, I question the validity of their statements. The reason is due to the fact that some people get crazy HR readings or step counts because they are not wearing the device properly. If you're wearing it too loose, too tight, or in the wrong spot, your margin of error will be higher.
• Based on comments I've read both on MFP and Fitbit, it seems like Fitbit overestimates TDEE for obese people and underestimates TDEE for fit people. I take this with a grain of salt because this boils down to how accurate people are about their food intake. I'm sort of experiencing this right now, as I am currently bulking and I eat 250 calories more than Fitbit says I can, but I'm not gaining half a pound per week as I've hoped. I've been maintaining for the most part. However, when I eat out, I tend to overestimate the calories in my food.
• It helped immensely when I was losing weight because it let me really absorb the fact that I could eat more food. It was hard for me to get that I'm not sedentary, as I was originally in the mindset that I was overweight and lazy. I was one of those 1200 calorie people before I saw the light. I earn 700 to 1000 extra calories per day on average.
• It's definitely not a "fad". Pedometers have been around for a very long time. As technology advances, so will methods of step counting. Is a Fitbit necessary? No. Do I love mine? Certainly. I love numbers, data, and analyzing information, so I have a blast with my Fitbit. Does it have to be a Fitbit? No. I would love to try a Garmin device, honestly. Was it worth the money? For me it was. I have the disposable income and I decided to use part of it for my Charge HR.

What you get out of your Fitbit depends on who you are, what your interests are, and how honest you are about your food intake and activities. You'll either love it, hate it, or have mixed feelings about it. They definitely are not the holy grail of weight loss, health, or fitness, but I'm glad I bought one and I wouldn't change my decision for anything.

Oh, and if it IS a "fad"? It's a pretty good one, as fads go. In the last few years, I see a HUGE increase in the people just out walking - walking around downtown on their lunch breaks, walking their dogs in the evening, walking with their spouses. Taking the stairs instead of the elevator. I do think that this "step tracker" movement is a having a positive impact.

Christine_72 wrote: »

Buying a fitbit was the best investment I've made since trying to lose weight. It obviously doesn't do the work for you, but it is a great motivator. I have it synced with MFP, so it adds my exercise calories for me. Set and forget

I agree, as long as you think of it as a tool that needs to be interpreted then you'd probably benefit. Mine seems quite accurate, it says I burn about 2800 calories a day just living my life, and that helps me feel confident in eating 1800-1900 calories a day because I know there's still a deficit and I don't feel deprived. If I had to use online TDEE estimates I'd be under eating and making myself miserable which is why I quit and gained back weight in the first place. The step count is accurate, I adjusted my stride length to my actual measured stride and have had no trouble since.

I do sometimes worry that maybe I don't burn as much as it says, but when I truly am consistent with both my steps AND logging appropriate portion sizes I see results. I havent seen what I want to see yet because I've still been over eating. But I'm confident I will make progress now that I'm dedicated and have made a commitment to my doctor.

Plus I'm having a big wedding next year, and while I don't subscribe to the 'sweating for the wedding' concept, I do want to at least re-lose what I have gained back by then. Totally reasonable 60lbs in 12mos. So it's time now to stop just having a plan and actually put it in place. Fitbit is absolutely helpful to me!

I am sure it is a fad for some people, and does not do much for them.

However, I have had a fit bit for 3 years now. First a One, then the Force, Now the Charge HR. I will not be without one ever again. I was morbidly obese when I began on MFP 3/12/12. Now, because of MFP and my fit bit I am a normal weight and I get over 20,000 steps every, single, day. When I first got my fit bit, it was a struggle to get 10,000/day. No one will ever convince me that the motivation I have to move more is not enhanced by having a fit bit. I love it. I am 64 years old. Truly, I am in the best shape that I have been in in decades. For someone like me, who thought it was too late, it never is too late to become a healthier person.

Whatever works for each of us, (like Nike says), Just Do It. You will never be sorry you did.

I can honestly say that my fitbit has been very integral in my losing 43 lbs. When I first got my flex I was only getting about 6k steps a day (I am a teacher and on my feet all day). I would have to walk in place before bed to get my 10k steps. Now, I get over 19k steps a day. It helped me to see how sedentary I was on my days off and gave me the motivation to get up and move.

As far as getting steps when riding in a car, we take 8 hours trips to Philly quite often and my fitbit never registers steps during the car ride. I only get steps riding in a car if I am flailing my arms around!

I love my charge, it works great and is fairly accurate

I had the garmin version of a fitbit and loved it. It didn't motivate me to move more but I liked the data it gave me about my sleep, steps, calorie burns etc. The best thing about it was I could view messages from my phone on it and start/stop music etc.

If I didn't lost it on a boozy night out, I would probably still be wearing it, but the want for the data isn't greater than the cost of replacing it.

If someone was considering one, I would recommend investing in a cheap pedometer first and see if it motivates them enough.

And I've used it and checked with a actual hr machine and it's pretty close

remember when people said Facebook was a fad?