Thinking of getting a fitbit

kittiwakeh wrote: »

I have a second hand fitbit one so it wasn't very expensive. It really helped when I was starting out improving my fitness and healthy eating as it showed me how little I was moving. Trying to reach the targets I set myself for step count and for stairs climbed really helped motivate me. Now a few years in its nice to have but isn't so useful as I have learnt from how my body feels to know how active or inactive I have been and my preferred exercise workouts don't necessarily generate many steps.

My suggestion would be to get a cheap second hand model and see if it's something that is useful. If it is you can then upgrade to one that has the features you want.

My fitbit one also has a sleep function but apart from the initial novelty I don't use it so paying money to get specific features I am in the long term not bothered about is a waste of money.

This is exactly what I've been doing. I bought a knockoff about a week ago for under $30; the brand I bought was Letsfit, which I found on Amazon. It's not fancy but it does steps, heart rate, workouts, calories burned: the basic stuff. It gets the job done. I might use part of the tax return to get an Apple watch. Until then, I'm content with this unit.

I use my Fitbit Alta solely to make sure I am moving more during the day and getting my 10,000 steps in, as having a desk job is inherently sedentary. But I do not rely on any of the other data because I find it highly unreliable. At one point last week, it was registering some of my more contentious work phone calls as exercise, lol, so even my minutes of exercise are inaccurate!

YIPPPPEE!, I got the charge 2 and its changed my life!, and the social side to it IS SO SO FUN!, I met so many great people!, who really really care!

When fitness trackers started becoming popular, I held off because I didn't see the need for it.

Then I got a Fitbit Charge and now I have an Alta. I seriously love my tracker. As others have mentioned, the Charge was not a great build and the band kept coming apart; I went through several. When they introduced the Alta, I bought that one (without HR). The band is so much better, and I like the slimmer design.

I think it's made a huge difference in getting me to move more in general. I actually moved more than I thought and was not sedentary, despite my desk job, but I was still only maybe lightly active. Now my target is 12k steps M-F and 15k Sat/Sun. I sync it with MFP and I eat those calories and lose as predicted. While they can have inaccuracies, mine has been pretty on target.

If you decide to get one, realize that it can take a bit of time to adjust to you. You might get inflated numbers the first couple of weeks, but it should settle after that.

ETA: I've seen some people mention they have found success with accuracy by entering their height as one inch shorter than they are. I used to lift and not enter those workouts, now I do bodyweight exercises and don't enter those. I just let Fitbit pick it up as steps. That works for me.

i have the fitbt charge 2- love mine-

I've had the Charge2 for a year and really like it. I said I'd never get one until I could get a wrist worn HR monitor and I'm glad I waited. I don't want an Ionic, too many bells and whistles for me. The Charge2 is perfect.

I’ve had a zip, charge hr, and Alta. Like others have mentioned, the charge is poorly engineered and falls apart. The Alta is much better in that respect and you can easily change the bands. I’ve been debating whether or not to upgrade to an Alta hr just to track the intensity of my workouts but from what I understand, the hr models will interfere more with calorie accuracy on MFP because I do lift weights. So for now I’m sticking with the plain Alta until I hit my weight loss goals.

Pros: encouragement to move hourly, cute watch, step duels with friends, sleep tracking, silent alarms.

I love mine. It helps keep me motivated. I started at 4,000 steps or so and now have gone as high as 17 or 18000 on some days. I got it for christmas a year or two ago, rarely used it, and pulled it out again in January. Should have started sooner. I have the fit bit charge 2

I just got the Alta HR yesterday and I'm really liking it. I always assumed my TDEE was 1700, based on several online calculators so I was curious to see what the Fitbit would put me at. And drumroll, please... Yesterday it was 1703! I'm happy to know I was on the right track.

It seems like a good little gadget and I'm looking forward to seeing how well it works during excercise. I also like that it links up to MFP.