I agree that FitBit makes me much more aware of how I move around.
Feeling better today. I took it easy on the treadmill yesterday and went to yoga last night. That might have been pushing it a little as I struggled near the end of the class. I will do treadmill this evening unless I don’t feel ok.
Feelin those oodles of squats I did last night!!!
I find since my Fitbit that when I’m talking on the phone at home (which I hate - not a phone talker) I start climbing stairs - I’ve always been one to fidget around when I’m on the phone - so I just walk down to the basement up to the main floor, up the stairs to the second floor and then work my way down again - if the attic stairs weren’t so dang steep I’d include them too!
Has anyone had to replace the battery on their Fitbit? Easy or not? Where do you get the battery? I’m not there yet but was wondering the other day…
Heading to the gym later - VERY jealous of those of you who are outside still - we got another inch of snow last night so the icy/snowy roads/walks continues. I get so furious this time of year at the people in the neighborhood who don’t take care of their walks! I be sure to thank every person I see out shoveling when I walk the dog (or myself!).
The battery on my Fitbit is my one gripe with it. I love the step tracking, the heart rate tracking, the sleep tracking, I love how it synchs with WW and with Mindbody so I know that I burned X calories in a certain class. I even love how it flashes when someone calls on my cell phone! But I have to plug it in (recharge) it all the time.
I just bought a Jawbone Up2 - it should arrive today. I’ll post a review in a few days!
I charge my FitBit about every 3 days, but it would easily make it 5 days. I get “battery anxiety”. I don’t have the HR one, though.
For some reason I am blocked from Oiselle at work. Has my husband been in touch with my IT department? There’s an additional 30% off sale items and there are some tights on sale I have been watching. With 30% off I would break my no-spend January plan for them.
Extra 40% off Anthropologie today - just sayin. 
PG, how often is “all the time”? I find that I need to charge my Charge HR every 5 days or so UNLESS I have been checking it on my wrist alot. I had it totally drain on my when I was at work and without the thingy to charge it and I was beside myself!
It has been crazy busy at work this week - very long days with really early morning starts. And lots of snow/ice so no outside exercise besides shoveling and walks at night. I did get 4 miles in on the treadmill Monday night at the gym. Tonight is a workout with my trainer at the gym. Tomorrow is a very early morning run. H is home now so my eating is finally back to normal. Hopefully my weight will go back to normal within a few more days.
I am totally addicted to my Fitbit. I have the Surge, which has heartrate and GPS. If I’ve done a lot of running (used the GPS a lot) I charge it every couple days. If I haven’t used GPS much I charge it every 5 days or so. But I also have “battery anxiety” and don’t let the charge get too low. I keep my charger in my backpack that goes back and forth to work everyday (for my laptop) so I am never without my charger.
H got to look at the new Fitbit Blaze at their booth at CES and liked it a lot, I think he’s planning to pre-order (they should be available in March). It doesn’t have GPS, but he’s planning to wear the Blaze all the time except change to his Surge for running and biking since it has GPS. Now that you can support more than one Fitbit on an account it will be easy to switch devices like that. Yeah, we are Fitbit addicts. I predict I’ll last approximately one week after he gets his before I end up ordering a Blaze. They certainly look much nicer than my very ugly Surge (and the Blaze has lots of different band options).
Nrdbs4-I sure hope you are feeling OK after that bike crash. How awful that the people didn’t stop to make sure you were OK.
abasket-I hope that there are enough complaints about the new class schedule that some changes are made. Was the attendance pretty good at the classes with the previous schedule?
MomofWildChild - you sound like me when Nordstroms was blocked by the China firewall. So aggravating!
I have the Fitbit One and charge once a week. It will go longer but it’s easier for me. I use a Garmin FR 225 for hr while running.
We are on vacation where it’s flat dry warm and sunny while house sitter takes care of rainy cold house 
it was weird to run this morning, so flat that I ran longer and faster than I’d intended and still averaged same hr as usual. Short swim afterwards in tiny outdoor pool felt like a complete luxury!
@VaBluebird, there are pros and cons with weight machines. The pros are that they are effective at isolating individual muscle groups with a single exercise designed to specifically hit that muscle. They also provide some safety enhancements compared to free weights because with a selectorized stack of weights that travel on a track, there are no bars or free plates to drop or lose control of as you do an exercise. Provided that the machine is set up correctly for a user, there is also good structural body support as you do an exercise. Finally, if a gym has a fairly complete line of machines. it makes it kind of easy to hit all your major muscle groups; you just go down the line of machines on the floor and you get a complete workout of all your major muscles.
Now the downsides:
In contrast, free weights, body weight exercises and some newer concept/design functional movement machines do not generally present these negatives and present multiple positives that address these kinds of issues. However, with respect to free weights and body weight exercises, you need to learn how to do them properly and safely and there can be a learning curve. Machines are not “bad” per se, you just need to understand their limits. For many people, machines are more than adequate to meet all of their fitness goals. For others, a combination of machines, free weights and body weight exercises can be ideal. And for some, they eschew machines in favor or free weights and/or body weight exercises. For me personally, the only weight machine I ever use is a cross over cable machine which I would categorize as a functional movement machine. Every exercise on that machine can be done standing and requires engaging your core and secondary control muscles. All the other resistance training I do involves free weights and body weight types of exercises (including enhancing my body weight with weight vests or hanging plates off a belt).
Hope this helps.
On the trackers, I recently got a Garmin Vivosmart HR. I chose it over the Fitbit Charge HR and the new Fitbit Blaze because it is sufficiently waterproof to wear while swimming. Most of the other devices are not even rated for immersion in a shower. After wearing it for a week, I’ve concluded its a fun toy but provides little real world utility for me. As with all of the wrist based hr monitors, the hr readouts fluctuate significantly and are not nearly as accurate as a hr strap. it also will not replace my Garmin Edge 800 when cycling. Counting steps is fun and the alarm telling me to stand up and walk around is a convenience but not one I really need. The most use I get from it is being able to sneak a look at incoming calls, emails and text messages instead of reaching for my phone.
There is a new class action against FitBit about the lack of accuracy of the heart rate monitors.
Yeah, I saw that. Wonder how long it will take to spread to the other wrist based trackers lol. As I’m sitting at my desk engaging in work avoidance behavior, my Vivosmart is showing a resting avg hr of 50 and an actual live hr that started at 67, climbed to 71 and then dropped in single digits to 58, then went back up to 72 and dropped back down to 62, all in the span of 60 seconds. And if I manually take my pulse, it’s about 58 sitting at my desk.
I’m liking the Garmin 235 technology and feel it is giving me an accurate HR. I had one short glitch on a really cold morning when I started, but then it kicked in.
I think the Garmin 235 and the other related GPS models are using a whole different level of technology than the tracker bands.
I read that Garmin is using their own technology now in place of the mio technology in the 235. My 235 has been erratic the last couple days on the bike and the treadmill. I’ve read that it helps wearing it further up the arm especially for cycling.
The sleep monitor stats are fascinating. Wondering how many hours total I should be getting? What should the ratio of deep and light be? And if more deep sleep is needed then HOW can you increase it!
Does anyone use melatonin for sleep?
Michael - very helpful.
My general routine with my trainer is as such:
Warm up on a rocker board - rock my ankles back and forth while keeping balance
Leg swings (just holding on to something)
Medicine ball - standing on those soft discs, maintain balance and lift above my head / then squat
Cheerleaders (carry weights, hop up / over a Bosu and raise arms as I reach the top … gets the heart rate up)
Leg press (lie on back, angled, push against the weight)
Adductor machine - legs in between, open them out (the resistance is to opening them out)
Resistance band around the legs - side to side walk, then zombie walk (I LOVE this)
Various arm machines - but the moves are all shoulder / arms, not the bicep ones you are talking about -
it’s basically like doing the fly move, but with hands in different positions
TRX - various pushup or pullup maneuvers - sometimes facing in, sometimes facing out
Stomach crunches on a slightly angled board
Then active stretching (he stretches my legs various ways)
It changes, and some days it’s more arms and some days more legs, but that’s the general gist. Thoughts?
“And if more deep sleep is needed then HOW can you increase it!”
For me, just give me a flat surface, any time, any place and in 60 seconds I can be in a deep, deep sleep. Ah, the joys of a constant state of sleep deprivation ;).
@Pizzagirl: I added my comments to your list.
Warm up on a rocker board - rock my ankles back and forth while keeping balance - Not bad but need more than that as a warm up. need more dynamic motion of arms, shoulders legs, hips.
Leg swings (just holding on to something) - Again, a warm up. Try to do more warm ups that track what you will be doing when you work out.
Medicine ball - standing on those soft discs, maintain balance and lift above my head / then squat - Like it! Compound, functional movement exercise that engages core.
Cheerleaders (carry weights, hop up / over a Bosu and raise arms as I reach the top … gets the heart rate up) - Same reaction as medicine ball.
Leg press (lie on back, angled, push against the weight) - Ask why you are doing these. Can put a lot of stress on lower back and knees. Unless there is a specific training objective that calls for this exercise, there’s a lot of other things you can do, like squats and lunges with dumbbells, that will hit same muscle groups but in much more functional manner. Squats with barbells are a great total body exercise that hit your quads, glutes and hamstrings just like leg presses.
Adductor machine - legs in between, open them out (the resistance is to opening them out) - This is an abductor exercise. Some machines can switch between abductor and adductor.
Resistance band around the legs - side to side walk, then zombie walk (I LOVE this) - This is a fun one. Side to side is also abductor.
Various arm machines - but the moves are all shoulder / arms, not the bicep ones you are talking about -
it’s basically like doing the fly move, but with hands in different positions - Do something for your biceps with dumbbells or TRX.
TRX - various pushup or pullup maneuvers - sometimes facing in, sometimes facing out - I love TRX. Have your trainer also show you how to do assisted pull ups/chin ups using resistance bands on a chin up bar. Can use for shoulders, lats, back, biceps. Have him show you how to do assisted rowing on a Smith Machine bar (the assist comes from the height of the bar, your body angle and how close in front of you you place your legs.)
Stomach crunches on a slightly angled board - Try reverse crunches too. Have him also show you Mountain Climbers. Work a stability ball in on your ab work. Have him show you TRX ab work.
Then active stretching (he stretches my legs various ways) - Good way to end. But also stretch your back, shoulders and arms.
MNK - I’m like that too - put me horizontal and I’m out! Your comments are super helpful above!
Wow, you guys are lucky! No matter how tired I am, I just cannot fall asleep instantaneously. It takes me at least half an hour…