Fitbit...to buy or not?

i was wondering the same thing. let me know what you find out please

Me too...been looking into those or bodybuggs. Bump!

I have it, just purchased it in February but I try to use it every day. I like how it synchs together with myfitnesspal. I like to do stairs at work and think it's pretty accurate to keep track of. I also was really intrigued that it seems to track your sleep. It seems pretty on top of it for me. I'm not sure if it has really helped me but I do try to walk more and do more stairs to meet my goals on fitbit so I suppose that is a good thing!! You have a profile on fitbit and it tells you how many steps you've done, and what you should do, and your activity level, and a few other stats too. I am glad I purchased it! It's small, yet stays clipped onto your clothes and seems to work good, easy to use.

I've been using one for 2 months now. Love it. Makes you very aware of your activity (or lack thereof) and therefore motivates to do additional moving. I did just recently purchase a heart rate monitor (Garmin Forerunner 610) and am starting to compare calorie calculations for running/walking. Tonight - 50 minute walk, about 3 miles. Fitbit said 400 calories burned (includes basal metabolic rate, too). HRM said 200 calories burned. Too soon to draw conclusions on accuracy of calorie burn - want to test with running, hiking, etc.

For general use I recommend the fitbit to monitor relative activity level and serve as a motivator. It is small, discreet, holds battery charge for a few days, and has nice web interface. If you need to get extremely precise on calorie burns during workouts a HRM may be more accurate. Not practical to wear all the time, though.

I love my fitbit. It gives you a more accurate picture of your activity based calorie burn. It does motivate you to get moving if you're having a slow day. I'd recommend it to anyone working on their health and fitness.

I LOVE MINE! it never falls off! I run, jumping jacks, jump rope, and it makes me very aware of all my movement and how much more I can do in a day! It pushes me to take the stairs at work to get a new "badge" for most stairs in a day. It syncs with MFP and shows me real progress! it does not keep track of miles on the treadmill though, it does steps taken there, but not miles "moved". You sleep with it as well and it tells you how much you move around at night and helps you see how much you sleep compared to how much you think you do! I love it and now 3 of my friends have it. It is not cheap at 99 dollars, I got mine on Amazon and it came in 3 days! I love love love it!

I my FitBit!

I have one, love it, for all the above reasons. best $99 I ever spent. the calorie burn is adaptive, for example, although it logs steps, and doesn't necessarily see intensity of my cardio work outs, it sort of compensates by tracking it as flights of stair climbed, due to how much high-stepping one does. Thru my fit bit, I have learned I can burn quite a bit of calories by window shopping :-)

uhhh....i lost mine after having it for like 2 weeks.....so.....i don't recommend it. It kept falling off, even with the included clip. waste of money.

Contact FitBit support. I've heard from multiple people that they'll replace a lost unit. I have worn one since August and it has never fallen off. I clip it to my pants pocket, my shirt, or the strap of my bra where I can read it.

Yes, great point. The support on this product is pretty great. I called and asked for a second USB dock so it will update my profile from home and work. They said no problem and sent me one free of charge.

I saw someone else had posted that. I tweeted them the day it happened, but I just now went ahead and sent an email. Thanks


Wow you guys thank you all for the encouragement on emailing them. I'm hopeful now. I would love to have my fitbit back....even if its a different one than the original! It was a great motivator for getting those extra steps in!

I also LOVE my Fitbit!! It seems pretty accurate and I LOVE that it syncs with MFP, so there's no guess work with the calories burned from exercise! It keeps me motivated to walk at least 10 flights of stairs everyday and 5 miles everyday!! It's an awesome way to stay motivated!!!

I've had one for about two weeks - shortly before I signed on here. The Fitbit Ultra comes with a wriststrap (for monitoring your sleep cycles), a clip attachment (that I don't use) and free use of the website that integrates with MFP.

I must enter my food diary here, and it shows up on FitBit.com. I also enter my exercise here on MFP. I put my weigh in values on both sites (doesn't seem to synch that). My amount of steps taken, distance walked shows up here and is credited to my calorie allowance as calories burned. Stairs climbed will show up as calories burned as well.

I generally wear it on my bra, right near the center, and I ignore it all day. It has a USB attachment for your computer, and when you are within 15 feet of it, it will automatically upload your stats to the website. It kept the initial charge for almost 2 weeks. I did forget to wear it today, and I did forget to turn it into sleep mode last night. But the website is pretty forgiving: when I put in the hours I thought I was asleep for, the FitBit supplied information on my activity levels for that time and calculated my sleep pattern anyway.

Pretty cool!

I find it's a motivator. When I look at my activity levels for the day when I get home, and I've only climbed 7 flights of stairs, and walked only 3000 steps, I've had a crappy day, and I will go out and walk some more.

I wish my relatives would all get one: we're a competitive lot, and seeing the tally on a website is bound to spark a little Fitbit throwdown!

I have it & LOVE it!

FYI: I bought mine on eBay.. you can find one cheaper there. Mine has never fallen off. I wear it 24/7 (except when I'm in the shower - then it's on the charger).. Highly recommend it!

I agree with a lot of the comments here. I think it depends on your needs. An HRM may be better for actual workouts I am told.

I use it for tracking walking and climbing stairs. It does have a nice web site with lots of data. It syncs with MFP and will make the one-time adjustment on your exercise page if you go over the calories burned with normal activity set by MFP. For example, if your MFP normal burn is 2200 calories a day and you burn 2500 according to FitBit, it will make an adjustment (I think after midnight) of 300 calories. If you don't reach your 2200 level, it will not do anything. Hope that makes sense.

As far as the clip goes, I was using the clip that came with it and was nervous about losing it. Then I realized that the clip was for thick clothing, belts etc. You don't HAVE to use it. The device itself is a clip and slips easily over the lip of your pocket, or whatever. It is snug and I don't worry at all anymore.

However, you do have to remember not to throw it in the laundry with your clothes because it will NOT survive the washing machine!

The technology is a mystery to me. How it knows you are taking steps, I do not know. I can hold it steady in my hand and walk around the house at it will record every step. I read it uses an altimeter (like in a plane) to calculate heights (stairs, hills, etc) going up only though. Going down stairs is regular steps.

If you ride a bike like me, clip it to your hip. I tried it on my collar and it did not seem to work well.

While it is a motivator to some degree for me, I can't say it makes me want to get out and walk every day. I can still easily talk myself out of it!

Good luck!


Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Nutrition Facts For Foods