Fit bit Questions

Parent Cafe
21

<p>@TempeMom – I will join you if you start a thread. Motivation would be good with winter approaching. I log more than 20K steps/day during warmer months, but in looking through undeleted Fit Bit emails from last winter, I averaged 11K to 15K steps/day some weeks. Even on low mileage weeks, I averaged 50 flights/day. I routinely average 75 and am not surprised to break 100.</p>

<p>We had a lot of snow here last winter and I fear the same this winter, so could use any group motivation offered.</p>

<p>@MomofWildChild – the Fit Bit One displays steps, flights of stairs, miles and maybe calories burned. I am not sure what that last stat is measuring as I only focus on flights & # of steps. I agree that it is very difficult to break 8-10K/day w/o exercise.</p>

<p>@somemom – I agree with your statement:
It is a matter of personality, either the gadget and the knowledge are appealing and you stick with it or they are not your thing.</p>

22

<p>I aim for 10k minimum, but also aim for 100k steps in a week, so try to be at 15k steps most days. My record was 32k on a day when we had a huge party. I would guess I average 40-50 flights a day, but am often closer to 100. I have stairs in my house and once I got the fit bit I began using any excuse to run up and down the steps with some item or another. Apparently it’s my thing.</p>

23

<p>The Vivofit looked interesting to me. Our gym has it on sale for black Friday, as I’m sure many other places will. You guys are making me really think about it. </p>

24

<p>If any of you are expert Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopper-keeper-tracker-of-sales, I’d love to know of any sales on these items you are aware of ahead of time - especially the Vivofit. Links would be great! </p>

25

<p>Make sure you get the little “keeper” if you get the Vivofit. I believe Garmin is sending those out with it now, but it came separately for mine. It’s just a little loop that goes over the clasp to keep it secure so you don’t catch it on something and spring it open. You can buy extra keepers on Amazon for just a few dollars.</p>

26

<p>It looks like sports authority, dicks sporting goods, and best buy will have vivofit for $79.99, and I think Amazon has it for that now. </p>

27

<p>$79?? That’s getting tempting…</p>

28

<p>I have had a Flex for 2 weeks now. it has been a learning curve for sure.</p>

<p>Things I like: </p>

<p>–pretty comfortable. Can wear it in the shower if you want (I haven’t).</p>

<p>–I can keep track of how much water I drink and set a goal, because I never drink enough</p>

<p>–just having it on reminds me to move more than I used to</p>

<p>–you can enter stride lengths for walking and running for better accuracy</p>

<p>–I have been better about tracking my food/calories</p>

<p>–the fitbit website is very easy to use</p>

<p>Things I wish it did better:</p>

<p>–the Flex does not track flights of stairs</p>

<p>-- I wish it had an alert like the Jawbone to tell you you’ve been sitting too long</p>

<p>–the sleep function is interesting, but really only says “2x awake, 10x restless”. Not sure what to do with that info.</p>

<p>–when I run I have to enter it manually, but it is worth doing to get the active minutes and a better mileage calculation. Still, it isn’t very accurate about mileage; days where I know I have run 4 miles AND walked a bunch of steps, my total mileage might only say 3.96 or something. Doesn’t really matter as I really use my Garmin watch for running anyway.</p>

<p>–though it says it won’t track driving, people have reported it does. There is an app called drivebit you can use to tell the Flex you are in a car and it won’t count any steps during that time. </p>

<p>–some people have also noted it doesn’t record steps when pushing a stroller or grocery cart because your hands aren’t moving. You can put it in your pocket in those cases for a more accurate count.</p>

<p>—I had an issue with KNITTING—I sat down to knit for an hour and when I checked progress next, I’d racked up a couple thousand steps just through wrist movement! I contacted fitbit and they said 1) log the time as driving (or use the drivebit app before I start) to get rid of false steps 2) change the setting (they recommend as a default to wear on your non-dominant wrist and set it to non-dominant, but I now wear it ND but set it to D–supposedly it counts fewer false steps that way).</p>

<p>On the whole, I’ve had fun with it. I do feel a tad more self-involved logging stuff, but we’ve also had some really fun evening dance parties with the whole family when I need to make my step goal!</p>

29

<p>Haha on the knitting action - knitting is exercise!!! Who knew??? :)</p>

30

<p>My daughter/son in law were on a Safari in Kenya riding in a bumpy jeep all day and their fitness trackers recorded thousands of steps. I was on crutches for a month this summer and my Vivofit wouldn’t pick up hardly any steps, even though it was a LOT harder than walking! So- there are definite limitations. They are what they are. </p>

31

<p>REI has both VIVO and Fitbit on sale Friday
<a href=“http://www.rei.com/black-friday?cm_mmc=email_com_gm-_-blackfriday-_-112514-_-cta_hero&ev36=10257718&RMID=20141125_Black_Friday_Teaser&RRID=1675664&ev11=1”>http://www.rei.com/black-friday?cm_mmc=email_com_gm-_-blackfriday-_-112514-_-cta_hero&ev36=10257718&RMID=20141125_Black_Friday_Teaser&RRID=1675664&ev11=1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I chose the Fitbit one because it clips on the body, not the wrist for some of the reasons bearpanther listed above.</p>

<p>I have noticed extra steps when doing something “bumpy” and I know it cannot record the intensity when I walk in soft sand, but I figure it just gives me a baseline.</p>

<p>On the sleep function, on the website can’t you see a graph that shows when you sleep and when you are wakeful. I log my sleep on the website to see the graph. It shows when and how long you roused</p>

32

<p>DH likes his Fitbit. The early ones had clip defect, and a coworker found it on the floor, after stepped on / crushed. REI was really good about replacing it for free. </p>

<p>I work from home, a lot of time on the computer. I prefer a simple pocket pedometer. It gets me out the door for a walk when I see … gasp… sometimes only 800 steps at the end of the day. I only look at steps and ignore the distance. I’m just looking for rough compare. Clearly a day with 10.000 steps is better than a day with 1.000 steps.</p>

33

<p>I saw one of the fitbits at Costco last night, came with two extra colors of bracelet, $97</p>

34

<p>I’ve had my flex bracelet for maybe a month. I do notice it on my arm, tap it, see my step level, get up and walk around, and generally feel it has helped me add a few thousand steps to my day compared to before I had it. Of course the new bracelets (charge and surge) were advertised shortly after I bought this one. I think I like that it doesn’t tell me exact steps on my arm. I’d probably be looking at my arm every time I walked anywhere.</p>

35

<p>Love my FitBit! I keep it clipped in my bra. I make sure I walk 10,000+ steps each day. I try to get in 5+ flights each day, but my work and my home are both one level, so that makes it a little more challenging. I also use it to track every calorie I consume. I have set the goals on my account to help me lose a half pound a week. When the dashboard tells me I have 0 calories left for the day, I stop eating or I go for a long walk so I can have a little dessert. I have been using it about eight months and I am in the best shape I have been in since my last child was born, 20+ years ago. I have not used the sleep feature. I sleep like a rock… </p>