FitBit- Anyone have one?

Sara7272 · 08-20-2012, 06:43 AM

I am seriously thinking of buying this and the scale that goes with it and concentrating more on fitness and body fat, etc rather than only my weight.

Does anyone have one and if so, what do you think of it?

Thanks in advance!!!!!

giJ · 08-20-2012, 08:30 AM

A friend of mine has it and loves it. She spent a while trying to convince me to get one, but it doesn't do what I want it to.

It's not a true pedometer. It's an accelerometer, which means it measures how far you move, not your actual steps. That means if you go to the gym, and walk/run on a treadmill or elliptical, it doesn't count that.

It also doesn't truly measure YOUR calorie expenditure. It estimates using algorithms. It doesn't actually have any sensors to be able to customize it for you (no heart rate monitor, not body temperature sensors, etc).

Walking 10k steps a day is nothing to sneeze at, but it also, in and of itself, doesn't encourage anything else related to a healthy lifestyle. My friend likes seeing the "flower" grow, but it "grows" the same way each day regardless of what you eat, how fast you move, and whether you get your heartrate up. She (43 year old morbidly obese woman) still walks at the same 2.5 MPH now (when she's out going for a walk) that she did in January when she started using it. I know, because I walk with her. I don't even count it as exercise (calories burned? Sure. But I get there early and do a couple of miles before I meet up with her to get some cardio in for me). When we started, I was obese, and the 2.5 MPH was sometimes a challenge for me. Now, I'm a healthy weight (51 lbs lost) and I walk 4-4.5 MPH (though I've noticed that's slowed down recently - I think it's directly related to increasing my carbs, so I'm relowering them) for an hour for my exercise.

For the money, I don't think the FitBit is worth it. There are other monitoring systems that look more interesting to me.

giJ · 08-20-2012, 11:22 AM

So, I have to take back a lot of what I said above.

I've been thinking about getting the BodyBugg, and it just came out discounted through GrouponGoods today, so I did a bit more research. In emailing with someone who recently switched from BB to FB, this is what I was told:

Quote:

The Fitbit is actually as accurate as the bodybugg, and it will track those non-walking exercises. It as a "trip" function - and what you do is press and hold the button when you start your workout. When you're done, you press and hold again and it shows you your calories. I've tracked my calorie burn for every single workout and every single day since I got my bodybugg, and my Fitbit is right on with the burns. I walk/run sometimes, but the majority of my workouts are TurboFire, Insanity, P90X, Tae Bo, etc - and it's definitely accurate.

And then you can take these burns and workouts and enter them into an online tracker and it subtracts it from your food.

I really like the Fitbit compared to the bodybugg because with the bugg, you HAVE to upload your data once a week or it fills up. With the Fitbit, your information automatically uploaded when you charge, or whenever you're within 15 feet of the sensor, which plugs into your computer USB. I had issues with my bugg on two occasions where it got too full and jammed, so I had to reset the full firmware and wait a day to use it again.

I've gotten just as much info from the Fitbit's tracking as I did with the bodybugg - and the Fitbit has the sleep monitor, which I really didn't care about when I bought it, but now it's a great function that I like to use.

HTH.

LadyKT · 08-20-2012, 12:59 PM

I've got a Polar FT4. Doesn't measure distance, but the calories burned is pretty neat.

svenskamae · 08-20-2012, 03:54 PM

How helpful this sort of tool is depends partly on what sort of exercise you do. I walk a lot, so I use a pedometer (you can get a very good one for around $35). I take it off when I use an elliptical machine, because a pedometer won't accurately measure steps on an elliptical machine--and neither will Fitbit or Bodybug, according to what I've read. I also assume that reports of calories burned--according to the pedometer or elliptical recording device--are overestimates for me, because my body is really used to walking and doing the elliptical machine. I'm guessing that the same issue--an estimate of calories burned for an AVERAGE person of that weight, for that number of steps, etc.--could be true of Fitbit or Bodybug.

LumpySpacePrincess · 08-21-2012, 05:24 AM

I had a BodyMedia Fit (generic BodyBugg) for awhile and found it highly inaccurate. Last fall at 255 pounds, I went for an 8 hour, very strenuous hike for a forestry class that included climbing rope ladders up sheer cliff faces, scrambling over rocks, and lots and lots of hills. Got home and it said I'd only burned 300 calories and that my effort was in the lowest category! That's not something I could trust, considering that I'd been exercising like crazy for months before this hike, had good stamina, but at the end of the hike could barely climb back into the school van!

Also, in order to see how many calories you are burning you have to pay monthly for the service, and I had a terrible time getting them to stop billing me even after I'd cancelled. Months of calls to customer service went on before I finally had to pay to get a new credit card and get everything transferred over. Then they had the gall to send me to collections for "past due bills" that were billed to me after I'd already gotten a cancellation confirmation months prior.

I also found it useless during weight training, cycling, and the like. Instead of relying on a fancy machine to tell me how much I burn (which it won't tell you accurately), I'd rather just keep going by the "move more than you sit" philosophy.

xamier · 08-21-2012, 05:47 AM

I don't have the scale, but I love my fitbit. It is fun to see how far you have walked and calories burned. It will combine with many calorie/fitness apps too. I don't know about the scale, I just weigh weekly on my regular scale and write it down.

Sara7272 · 08-21-2012, 05:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LumpySpacePrincess

I also found it useless during weight training, cycling, and the like. Instead of relying on a fancy machine to tell me how much I burn (which it won't tell you accurately), I'd rather just keep going by the "move more than you sit" philosophy.

I love this philosophy!!! I will definitely keep it in mind!!!

I'm still not sold on any sort of tracker yet, they just seem so expensive and I don't want to end up hating it, then it's a waste.... I was thinking it would motivate me, but I think what I need to motivate me is ME!

svenskamae · 08-21-2012, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sara7272

I love this philosophy!!! I will definitely keep it in mind!!!

I'm still not sold on any sort of tracker yet, they just seem so expensive and I don't want to end up hating it, then it's a waste.... I was thinking it would motivate me, but I think what I need to motivate me is ME!

It's definitely true that no device is going to motivate us unless we motivate ourselves. Still, I do like wearing a pedometer because it keeps me honest about how many miles I actually walked in a day--and sometimes goads me into fitting in an extra walk. My pedometer is an Ozeri brand, the 4XKrazor (hard to read the logo, but that's close) and it was $35 from Amazon. It tracks steps, miles, minutes walking, and estimated calories burned, and is really accurate (I've counted steps and compared, and the results are the same). Lots of gym equipment, like rowing machines and ellipticals, track miles covered and estimated calories burned, so you can also use those separate tools to track mileage, calories, time, or whatever metric you like.

freeman525 · 08-21-2012, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by svenskamae

It's definitely true that no device is going to motivate us unless we motivate ourselves. Still, I do like wearing a pedometer because it keeps me honest about how many miles I actually walked in a day--and sometimes goads me into fitting in an extra walk. My pedometer is an Ozeri brand, the 4XKrazor (hard to read the logo, but that's close) and it was $35 from Amazon. It tracks steps, miles, minutes walking, and estimated calories burned, and is really accurate (I've counted steps and compared, and the results are the same). Lots of gym equipment, like rowing machines and ellipticals, track miles covered and estimated calories burned, so you can also use those separate tools to track mileage, calories, time, or whatever metric you like.

Thanks for the info

Janice

LolaBear · 08-21-2012, 12:57 PM

I have one and love it. I'm not sure that all of the above posts are accurate, from what I've understood about mine at least (the newest version) - it very accurately tracks my steps, even when on a treadmill, and it also tracks the amount of floors you climb. While I don't pay much attention to it for exercise since I have a garmin with HR monitor (I use the fitbit just to keep myself accountable to walking at least 10K steps per day), when I have checked/matched the two up, the fitbit seems very accurate, both with distance covered and calories burned (I calculate my basal metabolic rate with a body fat percentage and weight formula, too).

I guess my overall opinion is that it's cute, super easy (like one earlier post pointed out, it automatically syncs your info whenever you get within 15 feet of your plugged-in base station, which is great for me since I am laaaaazy when it comes to uploading anything), and provides a lot of info that I believe to be pretty accurate for me. I like having a more personalized idea of the calories I'm burning and knowing exactly how much I've walked in a day - it is very motivating to me and if you get one, I hope it will be for you too! I have a "thing" for gadgets, though, which may be tainting my opinion a bit!

walkingwoman · 08-21-2012, 05:23 PM

I have both the fitbit and the aria scale and love them both. I like the way the info syncs to the fitbit site and if you record your menus on a popular online tracker they sync over to the fitbit site. It may seem silly but I enjoy the feedback my fitbit gives me. The scale is cool because it syncs but you could just enter the info too. Just a matter of preference. I bought them as a 'get on track' gift to myself and am glad I did.

Sara7272 · 08-24-2012, 11:46 AM

Well, I got it... and so far, I love it!!!!!! It definitely makes me want to go up the stairs more and take more steps etc, I love gadgets too

I'm so glad I got it, I hope I continue loving it

Thanks for the feedback all!

svenskamae · 08-24-2012, 12:40 PM

I'm glad it's working out for you, Sara.

Keep us posted on how it works for you and/or consider joining one of the exercise-related challenge groups, where you could set and track your goals using your Fitbit.

LolaBear · 08-26-2012, 05:14 PM

Yay, so glad you're liking it so far! I consider anything purchased in pursuit of better health/fitness a very good investment, indeed!

Susanpmi · 03-04-2013, 01:07 PM

I am a new fitbit user and I love it. If you are on the computer a lot, it can be great. It is terrible to see the graph of your activities with long sedentary periods. Makes me grab my dog leash and take poochie for an extra walk in the afternoon, or head down to the basement for a "Just Dance" session on my Wii. It is so gratifying to see that jump in activity and calorie burn. I also like the sleep tracker, because I am trying to become more aware of my sleep hygiene, as I have read many articles relating sleep deprivation and weight gain. I am going to wear my fitbit on vacation next week and hope to use it to keep my activity levels high the whole vacation. I have the phone app downloaded and ready to go.

cathlaur · 03-06-2013, 06:32 AM

Hi there
My friend bought me one for my birthday last week. I love it. It is interesting to see how much you walk. I walk a ton at work and was surprised at how far I go each day. I try to walk all the time and it is interesting that some days I am way over my 10000 steps and others below so I started walking around in my house lol. It is a fun thing that certainly will do more good than harm. It makes you aware of what exercise you are actually doing

ss1 · 03-06-2013, 11:45 AM

I have the scale, and i didnt see it mentioned here but im sure the body fat % is not correct. Ive read online that many people have problems with this as have I. I can get on and it will tell me a certain number, get off and get back on the the number has jumped up or down significantly. Also, the last 3 days I have been working out more than usual and it says my body fat has gone up. I can see my weight going up, with muscle gain and water weight but the body fat number should not have jumped as high as it did. I just dont pay attention to that anymore.

08-20-2012, 06:43 AM	#1
Sara7272 Major LCF Poster! Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 1,964 Gallery: Sara7272 Stats: 230/216/145 5'4"-30yo WOE: Low carb my own way, started at 280 in 9/2010 Start Date: A new beginning!! 1/4/2013	FitBit- Anyone have one? I am seriously thinking of buying this and the scale that goes with it and concentrating more on fitness and body fat, etc rather than only my weight. Does anyone have one and if so, what do you think of it? Thanks in advance!!!!!

08-20-2012, 08:30 AM	#2
giJ Major LCF Poster! Join Date: May 2004 Location: NOVA Posts: 1,098 Gallery: giJ Stats: Size 18W+/8 WOE: My own - low carb, high fat, calorie controlled Start Date: You mean this time? 9 Jan 2012	A friend of mine has it and loves it. She spent a while trying to convince me to get one, but it doesn't do what I want it to. It's not a true pedometer. It's an accelerometer, which means it measures how far you move, not your actual steps. That means if you go to the gym, and walk/run on a treadmill or elliptical, it doesn't count that. It also doesn't truly measure YOUR calorie expenditure. It estimates using algorithms. It doesn't actually have any sensors to be able to customize it for you (no heart rate monitor, not body temperature sensors, etc). Walking 10k steps a day is nothing to sneeze at, but it also, in and of itself, doesn't encourage anything else related to a healthy lifestyle. My friend likes seeing the "flower" grow, but it "grows" the same way each day regardless of what you eat, how fast you move, and whether you get your heartrate up. She (43 year old morbidly obese woman) still walks at the same 2.5 MPH now (when she's out going for a walk) that she did in January when she started using it. I know, because I walk with her. I don't even count it as exercise (calories burned? Sure. But I get there early and do a couple of miles before I meet up with her to get some cardio in for me). When we started, I was obese, and the 2.5 MPH was sometimes a challenge for me. Now, I'm a healthy weight (51 lbs lost) and I walk 4-4.5 MPH (though I've noticed that's slowed down recently - I think it's directly related to increasing my carbs, so I'm relowering them) for an hour for my exercise. For the money, I don't think the FitBit is worth it. There are other monitoring systems that look more interesting to me. __________________ Dieting to look good in cute clothes. Exercising to look good without them --- I can do Hard Things.

08-21-2012, 05:47 AM	#7
xamier Major LCF Poster! Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Citronelle, Alabama Posts: 1,056 Gallery: xamier Stats: 125 5'2"tall WOE: Atkins Maintenance Start Date: 6/17/03	I don't have the scale, but I love my fitbit. It is fun to see how far you have walked and calories burned. It will combine with many calorie/fitness apps too. I don't know about the scale, I just weigh weekly on my regular scale and write it down. Last edited by xamier; 08-21-2012 at 05:52 AM..

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08-20-2012, 12:59 PM	#4
LadyKT Major LCF Poster! Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Central NJ Posts: 2,102 Gallery: LadyKT Stats: 159/150/125 - 5'3" WOE: Whatever gets me to goal... Start Date: January 2013	I've got a Polar FT4. Doesn't measure distance, but the calories burned is pretty neat.

08-20-2012, 03:54 PM	#5
svenskamae Major LCF Poster! Join Date: May 2012 Location: Minneapolis Posts: 2,927 Gallery: svenskamae Stats: 235/178/135 5'3" WOE: Nutritional Ketosis/Primal/JUDDD Start Date: January 15, 2012	How helpful this sort of tool is depends partly on what sort of exercise you do. I walk a lot, so I use a pedometer (you can get a very good one for around $35). I take it off when I use an elliptical machine, because a pedometer won't accurately measure steps on an elliptical machine--and neither will Fitbit or Bodybug, according to what I've read. I also assume that reports of calories burned--according to the pedometer or elliptical recording device--are overestimates for me, because my body is really used to walking and doing the elliptical machine. I'm guessing that the same issue--an estimate of calories burned for an AVERAGE person of that weight, for that number of steps, etc.--could be true of Fitbit or Bodybug.

08-21-2012, 05:24 AM	#6
LumpySpacePrincess Senior LCF Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: New Jersey Posts: 154 Gallery: LumpySpacePrincess Stats: 289/257/150 WOE: Very low carb and low calorie Start Date: 18 June 2012	I had a BodyMedia Fit (generic BodyBugg) for awhile and found it highly inaccurate. Last fall at 255 pounds, I went for an 8 hour, very strenuous hike for a forestry class that included climbing rope ladders up sheer cliff faces, scrambling over rocks, and lots and lots of hills. Got home and it said I'd only burned 300 calories and that my effort was in the lowest category! That's not something I could trust, considering that I'd been exercising like crazy for months before this hike, had good stamina, but at the end of the hike could barely climb back into the school van! Also, in order to see how many calories you are burning you have to pay monthly for the service, and I had a terrible time getting them to stop billing me even after I'd cancelled. Months of calls to customer service went on before I finally had to pay to get a new credit card and get everything transferred over. Then they had the gall to send me to collections for "past due bills" that were billed to me after I'd already gotten a cancellation confirmation months prior. I also found it useless during weight training, cycling, and the like. Instead of relying on a fancy machine to tell me how much I burn (which it won't tell you accurately), I'd rather just keep going by the "move more than you sit" philosophy.

08-21-2012, 12:57 PM	#11
LolaBear Junior LCF Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 30 Gallery: LolaBear Stats: 186/178/135 WOE: Atkins	I have one and love it. I'm not sure that all of the above posts are accurate, from what I've understood about mine at least (the newest version) - it very accurately tracks my steps, even when on a treadmill, and it also tracks the amount of floors you climb. While I don't pay much attention to it for exercise since I have a garmin with HR monitor (I use the fitbit just to keep myself accountable to walking at least 10K steps per day), when I have checked/matched the two up, the fitbit seems very accurate, both with distance covered and calories burned (I calculate my basal metabolic rate with a body fat percentage and weight formula, too). I guess my overall opinion is that it's cute, super easy (like one earlier post pointed out, it automatically syncs your info whenever you get within 15 feet of your plugged-in base station, which is great for me since I am laaaaazy when it comes to uploading anything), and provides a lot of info that I believe to be pretty accurate for me. I like having a more personalized idea of the calories I'm burning and knowing exactly how much I've walked in a day - it is very motivating to me and if you get one, I hope it will be for you too! I have a "thing" for gadgets, though, which may be tainting my opinion a bit!

08-21-2012, 05:23 PM	#12
walkingwoman Way too much time on my hands! Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Sunny Arizona Posts: 19,122 Gallery: walkingwoman WOE: maintaining 124-128 range Start Date: 2/1/13	I have both the fitbit and the aria scale and love them both. I like the way the info syncs to the fitbit site and if you record your menus on a popular online tracker they sync over to the fitbit site. It may seem silly but I enjoy the feedback my fitbit gives me. The scale is cool because it syncs but you could just enter the info too. Just a matter of preference. I bought them as a 'get on track' gift to myself and am glad I did.

08-24-2012, 11:46 AM	#13
Sara7272 Major LCF Poster! Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 1,964 Gallery: Sara7272 Stats: 230/216/145 5'4"-30yo WOE: Low carb my own way, started at 280 in 9/2010 Start Date: A new beginning!! 1/4/2013	Well, I got it... and so far, I love it!!!!!! It definitely makes me want to go up the stairs more and take more steps etc, I love gadgets too I'm so glad I got it, I hope I continue loving it Thanks for the feedback all!

08-24-2012, 12:40 PM	#14
svenskamae Major LCF Poster! Join Date: May 2012 Location: Minneapolis Posts: 2,927 Gallery: svenskamae Stats: 235/178/135 5'3" WOE: Nutritional Ketosis/Primal/JUDDD Start Date: January 15, 2012	I'm glad it's working out for you, Sara. Keep us posted on how it works for you and/or consider joining one of the exercise-related challenge groups, where you could set and track your goals using your Fitbit.

08-26-2012, 05:14 PM	#15
LolaBear Junior LCF Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 30 Gallery: LolaBear Stats: 186/178/135 WOE: Atkins	Yay, so glad you're liking it so far! I consider anything purchased in pursuit of better health/fitness a very good investment, indeed!

03-04-2013, 01:07 PM	#16
Susanpmi Junior LCF Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Michigan Posts: 19 Gallery: Susanpmi Stats: 134/135/125 5'4" WOE: South Beach Start Date: July 2005	I am a new fitbit user and I love it. If you are on the computer a lot, it can be great. It is terrible to see the graph of your activities with long sedentary periods. Makes me grab my dog leash and take poochie for an extra walk in the afternoon, or head down to the basement for a "Just Dance" session on my Wii. It is so gratifying to see that jump in activity and calorie burn. I also like the sleep tracker, because I am trying to become more aware of my sleep hygiene, as I have read many articles relating sleep deprivation and weight gain. I am going to wear my fitbit on vacation next week and hope to use it to keep my activity levels high the whole vacation. I have the phone app downloaded and ready to go.

03-06-2013, 06:32 AM	#17
cathlaur Very Gabby LCF Member!!! Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 3,978 Gallery: cathlaur Stats: 225/202/175 5"10 WOE: Atkins. Start Date: Restarted Feb 5, 2013. Weighing once a month!	Hi there My friend bought me one for my birthday last week. I love it. It is interesting to see how much you walk. I walk a ton at work and was surprised at how far I go each day. I try to walk all the time and it is interesting that some days I am way over my 10000 steps and others below so I started walking around in my house lol. It is a fun thing that certainly will do more good than harm. It makes you aware of what exercise you are actually doing

03-06-2013, 11:45 AM	#18
ss1 Junior LCF Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 32 Gallery: ss1 Stats: 160/137/130-125 Start Date: september 2012	I have the scale, and i didnt see it mentioned here but im sure the body fat % is not correct. Ive read online that many people have problems with this as have I. I can get on and it will tell me a certain number, get off and get back on the the number has jumped up or down significantly. Also, the last 3 days I have been working out more than usual and it says my body fat has gone up. I can see my weight going up, with muscle gain and water weight but the body fat number should not have jumped as high as it did. I just dont pay attention to that anymore.