Comments on the Fitbit tracker?!?

What is a Fitbit tracker? I was thinking about purchasing a calories burned counter watch so that way I can keep better track of my calories burned.

nevermind I googled it! I really like the fitbit tracker kind of expensive and bulky.

We all just got fitbits at work from my employer as part of a "health challenge." I've used mine for 30 days now and I love it. I would highly recommend it and it integrates seamlessly with MFP. My only caution is that if you are a runner, as I am, you cannot get it to read your distance accurately for each run so it's likely not estimating calorie burn very accurately. There have been 2x that I ran a 10k race (6.2 miles) and it only measured 4 - 4.5 miles...I use a GPS for my runs, so I don't need it for my distance calc, and I actually don't mind underestimating my calorie burn - I'll just eat less then!

I got mine in April and wear it every day. I have my profile set to sedentary so it's great when extra calories pop onto my account when I sync in the evening on more active days :-) It's a great encouragement to keep active and do more than you would normally bother to do.

I've only had mine for a week, but I am already loving it. It has really helped me to get an idea of what my actual TDEE is, rather than having to use activity modifiers. I actually found that I was overestimating my average daily burn, which explains why my weight loss had stalled.

I have my MFP calorie allowance set to 20% below average TDEE, so I don't use the extra calories the FB gives me. I just delete them. I still use my Polar HRM to determine calories used for bike rides and log them to MFP.

I like that the FitBit is small and discreet. I wear mine clipped to the side of my bra and even when wearing tight shirts it is not visible. It can easily fit in a pocket as well.

To me it was well worth the $99 price tag.

I saving the money for a fitbit, not only to keep better track of my calories, but to help me with my sleeping issues. Not sure how it can help on the front, except it says it will show my sleep activity?

The fitbit measures quality of sleep based on whether or not you are "active" or "inactive" while you're in bed, then it gives you a sleep quality percentage. When you're getting ready for bed, you turn on the stopwatch feature (just hold down the button until it starts) and put it in the provided cloth sleeve, then turn the stopwatch off (the same way as turning it on) when you wake up.

I bloody love it. I had plateaued before it, and after it i lost 15lb

It's a decent pedometer but it's not as good as some might lead you to believe. While it says it tracks sleep, that's not totally true. It tracks your movement. So, if you move about at all while sleeping, it shows you as awake. On the other hand, if you quietly are in the bed reading, not moving, it may show you as sleeping. Not at all accurate.

It also misses floors at times. Sometimes when you walk a flight of stairs, it won't show it. And, when you don't walk stairs, it shows you as having done so.

Moreover, it takes calories from your BMR and not calories burned in activity only. Therefore, you can easily be misled into thinking you've burnt more calories in activity than you have in reality.

It tracks steps reasonably well and accurately. But it does not track other activities like weight lifting or yoga as just two examples. Also, it does not show the speed at which you are walking. For the price, it should at least do that.

But, it's handy and small. Some people love theirs. Or say they do perhaps trying to justify paying so much. They're not too sturdy and many people have to have them replaced multiple times.

Finally, customer support stinks. It's all by email and you may not get a reply to a week or more.

Personally, I believe heart rate monitors are the way to go for tracking calories burned. I have been using a mid priced one now for about a month and I love it! Everyone is different when it comes to daily activity and exercise, keeping track of your heart rate is the only way in my opinion to get an accurate idea! Walking or running two miles is totally different for someone who is just starting a weightloss program compared to someone who has been running for a longer period of time. Your heart rate is your metabolism!

Considering one myself (in addition to a HRM).

(Posting so I'm reminded to check this thread later.)

I love mine!!! It works wonderful!! I have had mine since March and it is great to be able to glance at it and see if I need to move more each day. It does great keeping track of steps. It does occasionally add floors climbed that I havent climbed. It counts if you are going up hill or an incline. It doesnt go as accurate when exercising but once you sync it with MFP you can go and put the beginning time and your exercise and then it will all balance out. You dont set the sleep mode till you are laying doing and going to sleep. I wait till Im done reading and running around before I hit the button! Overall it is pretty awesome! I love it!

bump

I only recently started reading about these but have some concerns. What I read suggests it is nothing more than a glorified pedometer. It tracks your steps, and calculates calories burned based on the data.

Here are my concerns:

1. By using your steps, it is going to provide a very generalized calorie burn reading....nothing I would put a great deal of faith in.
2. I am reading threads and posts here where people are seemingly using the data to track calories burned doing other activities other than walking, or climbing stairs, which would be even less accurate, and not what it was designed to do. I see many do this with hrm's too so I am not real surprised by this.
3. If you are logging the calories burned for walks you take as part of an exercise program, that is one thing, but it appears some are wearing it throughout the course of their day, then logging the calories burned as exercise. That practice is going to give people all kinds of problems because the data would be inaccurate, and inflated, since throughout the day it is going to misread some body movements as steps and calculate accordingly. Also, your daily activity is not exercise and is already factored into your TDEE, which is what is used to determine your calorie goals for the day. If you log them again as exercise, you essentially counting them twice, and as a result, probably eating more than you intended to since your net totals will be off.

Based on what I read, it is highly rated for what it is and what it does, but it seems like it is being used improperly by many.

nevermind I googled it! I really like the fitbit tracker kind of expensive and bulky.

Its not bulky... its like the size of a battery. lol

I love my fitbit and once I got my stride length in there correctly it really helped with distance tracking, if you haven't inputted a correct running stride length it's likely going to be wrong.

I do use an HRM for workouts since the fitbit is for "steps" and much of what I do at the gym has no real steps for it to pickup and it can't pickup exertion.

I have improved my steps and stairs since getting it and that broke a rather lengthy plateau for me and got me headed down again. then I had to have surgery and the only exercise I could have were stairs and steps so I was happy to use my fitbit to set daily goals to get some calories burned.