Fitbit Review and other Fitness-Related Geekery

Tuesday, February 7, 2012
I tend towards a bit of OCD, especially as it relates to fitness and diet. I'm pretty conscientious about recording what I eat, how much I exercise, and how those things affect my body.

So when the website I use to manage those things (www.myfitnesspal.com) announced that they would now integrate with Fitbit, I decided to buy one and give it a whirl.

The device itself if very unobtrusive, and slides right onto my bra with no discomfort. This totally works for me, as I am at an age where bra usage is never, ever optional. I have no idea how secure it is when clipped to pants or a belt, although it did come with a little belt clip.

What it is
  • It's an excellent pedometer. It not only counts the number of steps you take, but also the number of stairs you climb, and reports on everything. For someone like me who loves, loves, loves to examine and manage data, this is very appealing.
  • It's a good tool to determine your daily caloric needs (exclusive of targeted aerobic exercise - more on that later). By wearing it all the time, even while sleeping, I get a much better idea of how many calories I burn on a daily basis, since it monitors and reports on my actual incidental activity. For me, this tends to be far more accurate than the Harris Benedict Equation.
  • If you need help managing your sleep, this might be helpful. After eleven years of chronic insomnia, I tend to be hyper-aware of my sleep patterns, but if you're tired and don't know why, this might help.
The Sleep Tracker from a rare night of excellent, uninterrupted sleep.
The Sleep Tracker from a more typical night.
 What it isn't
  • It's not a heart rate monitor. If your preferred aerobic activity involves anything but walking or running, this product will not give you an accurate representation of your activity. That's not necessarily a criticism - it's not what the device was designed for. But if you want an accurate measurement of what's going on with your body when you engage in non-impact aerobic exercise or strength training, you'll need to invest in a heart rate monitor, as well. Don't count on the integrated calorie counters in the machines you use, or the database values. I use the Polar FT4, but there are many affordable, accurate choices.
  • I think the food tracking component of the Fitbit website is inferior to the one I use over at MyFitnessPal. The main reason for this opinion is that MFP offers a Mobile App (rather than a mobile website), and I find the app much more user friendly and manageable. I like the daily activity reports over at Fitbit better than the ones over at MFP, though:



All in all, a worthwhile investment.

3 comments:

Megan said...

I ordered one and it should be arriving at my camp later this week. I am looking forward to becoming even more of a data junkie than I already am.

The Mechanicky Gal said...

It measures incidental activity??? I will be VERY interested in seeing this gizmo in action.

Random Michelle K said...

I've had mine for a couple weeks now, talked Michael into getting one, and pretty much LOVE the fitbit.

I really like the sleep tracking bit.

Only thing I don't like to far is I have not figured a way to get the data in excel so I can play with it there.