Fitbit One

Manco

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Oct 14, 2008
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Does anyone use Fitbit or other tracking devices? I picked up a Fitbit One to keep track of my activity (primarily steps, calories burned, miles walked) and am real happy with it. Simply clip it on your jeans and let it do all the work. When you are within 20 feet of your computer, it can upload the results which are then viewable from a website or from a tablet/phone application. It is rechargeable, and a charge lasts about a week or more depending on usage.

My Son got the Fitbit Aria digital scale, and he really likes that as it uploads your weight via WiFi so you don't have to manually enter it. I haven't got this since I have a good scale.

For those looking for something that can help with a fitness program as far as losing weight, I find this a good option. I have lost around 15 pounds from tracking diet and exercise in about 6 weeks time.
 

memebag

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That's a lot of weight. Congrats. My Pebble can do fitness tracking, but most of my fitness comes from biking, so I just use the Strava app.
 

Manco

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Do any of you have a Fitbit and a Mac? I bought one a month ago and still haven't had time to set it up, but heard the software isn't as good on a Mac.

Not sure, but there isn't much to the software on the PC since most of the code is actually hosted in the cloud. There is a taskbar utility that has a menu of options such as Sync, Show dashboard etc. There is a nice Windows 8 App that shows your stats so maybe that's what people are talking about. They do have a nice iPhone App from what I hear.
 

TSS Taylor

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Finally set mine up. Pretty much just syncing with my Mac which is super easy. I just couldn't get it to log my sleep right. I must have prematurely tapped it in the middle of the night causing it to think I was up.

Can't wait to see how this pans out.
 

TSS Taylor

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I lasted about 3-4 days and I'm already bored with it. And got sick of having it on my wrist. My friend convinced me to get it and really sold me on it. I was most excited about tracking my sleep but I could never get that to work properly. You have to tap it just right before you go to sleep and when you wake up. And I think I must have woken up in the night and tapped it convincing the Fitbit that I was awake.
 

TSS Taylor

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Well that just confirms my suspicions.

What's the point of tracking your sleep?

The way my friend described it he told me the FitBit would understand when you were in a really deep sleep and could waken you at the right time (when you weren't in a deep sleep). But I didn't even come close to tracking my sleep right so I bailed on that.
 

HecticArt

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Oct 19, 2008
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Well that just confirms my suspicions.

What's the point of tracking your sleep?

Hell, Santa already does that.
I know I don't have the determination to stick with something like that. We had a goofy contest/team building thing at my last office where we wore pedometers for 2 weeks. I lost one and kept forgetting to check them like I was supposed to.

Sent from Tapatalk.
 

memebag

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I log all of my bike rides via Strava on my phone. It's useful to keep track of how many miles I put on each bike, and to go back and see my improvement over time. But the rest of my life doesn't really need tracking as far as I can tell.
 

Manco

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I haven't used mine to track my sleep yet, but I do wear it to bed. I have the one that you wear on your waist band or belt loop or in pocket, not the one that is on your wrist. They provide a wrist wrap that you can put the device in for tracking sleep. I think it simply tracks how actively you move in your sleep, which can be useful to see how much you move in your sleep. This is probably some indicator of how deep you are sleeping.
 

memebag

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I haven't used mine to track my sleep yet, but I do wear it to bed. I have the one that you wear on your waist band or belt loop or in pocket, not the one that is on your wrist. They provide a wrist wrap that you can put the device in for tracking sleep. I think it simply tracks how actively you move in your sleep, which can be useful to see how much you move in your sleep. This is probably some indicator of how deep you are sleeping.

What do you do with the info from your Fitbit? That's the part I don't get.
 

Manco

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What do you do with the info from your Fitbit? That's the part I don't get.

I use it as a measuring device, one that lets me know if I'm moving enough every day or if I'm meeting my goals. When you need to lose some weight, I find it helps to track the food and exercise, and this device help you if you are setting walking goals. They say getting 10,000 steps a day is a good plan to be fit and lose weight or keep trim. But then you have to also track the food, and I use a different program for that. I'm using My Plate from livestrong.com for that part. Between the two I have a good picture of why I'm losing weight or not. And when you find yourself stuck or going the wrong direction, one or the other has to change, more walking or adjustments in the food intake.

The fitbit just makes it easier to track since it wirelessly sync's to your pc so no forgetting to upload. I had an Omron pedometer which worked well, but it was bulkier and didn't have wireless sync.

As for sleep use, I would assume if you wake up thinking you got a good night sleep, you would expect to see a different pattern on the nights you got a bad nights sleep. Through this feedback, you may be able to make adjustments to your habits that promote good sleep.
 

memebag

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I use Strava to track my bike rides for the same reason. My walking calories are tiny compared to my riding calories, so I really don't care about them. And I don't dare much about my riding calories, either. I know if I'm losing weight because I get on the scale every day. If I'm gaining, I eat less and ride more.
 

Manco

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It sounds like you are in more of a good maintenance mode, but I think these devices are most valuable for those that need a lifestyle change to get fit. For those that have been fit and have a pattern of maintaining, I wouldn't see a real need for it.
 

Wolf

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I been seeing these certain wristbands on people for a while and couldn't figure out what they were, until today and I didn't realize they were the Fitbit Flex. I learned more about it and wouldn't mind keeping track of my weight and other actives. I already input the information into my phone, but now this wristband can do just about everything manually for me like Manco has described it. I wouldn't mind knowing how I sleep. So I order the Fitbit Flex and should have it in the mail in a few weeks.

Plus with the soon update iOS 8 that keeps track of health, I bet the Fitbit should work with that app.