A little while back,
Jenn wrote a review about a little fitness gadget called a Fitbit that she was digging. It sounded really cool and her description made my geeky little heart go pitter-patter. When I mentioned the Fitbit to friends and clients, I found out that a bunch of them were in love with the thing, too. I was sold.
I got my
Fitbit Ultra after work on February 13th and was so excited to get started using it that I set it up and used the sleep tracker (Yes! It tracks your sleep!) feature that night, even before I’d used it to track a single step. I was immediately infatuated, but my feelings have deepened into true love. This thing ROCKS!
The Fitbit Ultra is a pedometer, but it is so much more. It has a accelerometer, like the ones in the Wii, so it senses not just how many steps you take, but how you move and how much effort you’re putting into those movements. It’s also equipped with an altimeter, so flights of stairs are tallied, as well.
Did I mention that I lovity-love-love this thing?
You just slip this puppy on and go. It communicates wirelessly with your computer when you are within 15 feet of it, and automatically synchs the info from the gadget to your profile page. Putting the Fitbit on the included USB-connected charger synchs your info, too, and charging takes less time than it takes to read a blog or three.
Set-up was easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy and took just a couple minutes. You enter your stats, set your goal(s), and choose your privacy settings. I have to say that I appreciate the thought they’ve put into the website (free, by the way). You have complete control over what you share and with whom (just you, friends, and public), decided item-by-item. I’ve yet to add any friends, mostly because I don’t really want unsolicited advice and letting people peek at my food choices/activity levels/progress is bound to garner at least a little opinionated commentary.
If losing weight is the goal, the Fitbit offers four levels of difficulty from slacker to superstar. Initially, I chose the second-from-slacker level because the approximate calories it offered seemed doable to me. I soon realized, though, that the caloric offering is based on just breathing and strolling around through the day—if you move your butt, you are allotted additional calories. Woo-hoo! I upped my choice to the not-quite-superstar level because I’m a good little calorie-burner. :O)
On the dashboard, there’s a little half-circle graphic with a target area highlighted at mid-point, which represents your target caloric intake to stay on track for the level you chose. As of today, I’ve exceeded that target area once (not by much, and it was on a day when I wasn’t allotted many extra calories because I spent a good chunk of the day chillin’ with the hubs), in the zone once, and under every other day. I have a feeling I’m operating at the superstar level, but I have no desire to up the setting. I kind of like it where it’s at—if I keep moving along quicker than planned, dandy, but no pressure.
Oh, you can log your food, too! There’s a HUGE database of food products, and if by chance what you’ve eaten isn’t in there, you can add it to your list so that it’s just a click away next time. Every item in their database has all the nutritional info--not just calories--so you can see at a glance how many calories, carbs, fat grams, protein, fiber, etc. that you've eaten and it tells you what percentage of your daily intake came from carbs, fat, and protein, too.
I’ve told you I dig this thing, right?
Finally, the sleep tracker feature. Very cool. You move your Fitbit from your waistband to a wristband (included) and close your peepers. While visions of sugarplums (or, you know, Johnny Depp) dance through your head, your sleep is analyzed, based on your movements. It estimates the time it takes you to fall asleep (usually about 6 minutes for me), senses your movements, and tallies the more substantial ones as times awakened—even if they were short-lived enough for you not to consciously notice or remember them.
That’s about it. The one thing the Fitbit folks don’t tell you is that their little gadget is crazy-addictive. I’d compare my adoration for the thing to how I once loved Bejeweled Blitz—and this gets me off my behind instead of encouraging me to park on it.
I think the Fitbit Ultra is the best hundred bucks I’ve spent in a good long time and if some horrible thing happened to it (gasp!), I’d be in a mad rush to buy a replacement. As addictions go, this is a pretty great one.
This was a little before 11:00 this morning.
Again, about 11 this morning:
About 9 p.m.:
Sleep last night (I never sleep as well on Sunday nights as I do the rest of the week):
A Friday night:
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NaBloPoMo, Day 5.
Oh, and I forgot to mention something! See that flower on the top pic? It grows as you increase your activity!
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