Hi Friends!
Should I get a Fitbit? That’s the question I’d been asking myself FOREVER! I knew lots of people that had them and talked about how amazing they were…but really, I just didn’t want to spend the money- they are $99.
When my mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I bit the bullet and asked for one! Ask and you shall receive. My brand new Fitbut Ultra showed up last Friday and since then I’ve fallen in LOVE!
In fact, you might go so far as to say I’m obsessed. Just as the hubby. In fact, hubby- you should stop reading this post right now. It’s all about the Fitbit and I know you don’t care how many steps I’ve taken 🙂
I thought I’d use today to share a little bit about the Fitbit with you guys in case you’re on the fence about getting one like I was. We’re skipping Fitness Friday one more time because I’m still finishing up my antibiotics for my sinus infection and after running three miles one day earlier this week and feeling like I was going to puke the whole time, I decided to focus my efforts on walking until those pills are gone.
So, I got my present in the mail Friday afternoon. I charged it up Friday night and was off to the races on Saturday when I used it for the first time.
The fitbit is small. It’s about the size of a USB drive. During the day I usually wear it clipped onto my tanktop…or the waistband of my pants.
It’s a simple device. It only has one button. You press the button once to light up the display and the first thing it shows you is your steps so far that day. If you press the button again, it moves to miles, then calories, vertical flights, a flower that grows based on how active you are, and the time. I know the pics are blurry but it doesn’t stay lit very long!
When you go to bed, you clip the fitbit to a wristband that it comes with. It’s super soft and closes with velcro so you can adjust it to fit your wrist.
When you’re ready to go to sleep, you hold down the button until a timer starts. When you wake up, you do the same thing and the time stops. The fitbit tracks your sleep during the time when the timer is on.
The fitbit syncs wirelessly when you’re within 15 feet of your computer, as long as you have the dock plugged into the usb port. This is what the charging dock looks like. I just leave mine plugged into the computer all the time and then every time I go near it, it syncs.
This is also what you use to charge the fitbit, but please note I’ve been using this continuously since Saturday, have not charged it yet and am still at medium battery!
To view all the info your fitbit collects, you visit your online dashboard at fitbit.com. All your info is automatically loaded there. You can see how many steps you walked on a particular day, floors climbed, miles traveled, calories burned and your active score.
The first day I wore it (Saturday), I didn’t do anything extra. It was just a day of running errands with the hubby. I didn’t go to work, I didn’t work out, I didn’t put in any extra effort and I only walked 5,800 steps.
Sunday, I decided I wanted to get at least 10,000 steps for the rest of the week. I went to work and even though it was a super slow day, I was shocked to see that I walked almost 6,500 steps while I was at work!
On Monday, I didn’t work, but I walked to class and took the dogs for a long walk, did a tabata workout and did a bunch of stuff around the house.
Tuesday was by far my most active day. I went to work- it was busy so I walked about 7,500 steps there, plus I ran/walked 3 miles when I got home. I hit 15,000 steps!
For each day, you can scroll down even further and see charts and graphs about your activity level throughout the day. You can see calories burned:
You can see that when I was at work from 4-7 my activity level increased to fairly active, and then that I was very active while doing my three mile workout later that night. You can also see how imbalanced my days are. I tend to be not very active in the mornings when I’m blogging and working on schoolwork and then cram a lot of activity into the second half of the day.
And you can also switch from calories to steps/floors/active score and watch the graph change. The graph below shows steps:
Finally, you can see how you slept the night before. When you start the timer, it tracks how long it takes you to fall asleep- or basically stop moving. It keeps track of how many times you wake up, etc. As you can see, I wake up every night between 3 and 4 to feed the dogs. It’s weird, I know…but it’s just easier for me to do it then, then to try to fight them off until a more “normal” time. It also tells you your sleep efficiency. My score is always pretty high, which surprised me.
One thing I did notice is that since the fitbit isn’t really hooked up to you and officially monitoring your sleep, more your movement, one night it thought I was asleep when really I was just lying in bed reading. So, after that I decided to not start the timer until I actually turn out the light and lay down to go to sleep.
Wednesday was another fairly active day. I didn’t want to run, but I took the dogs on a two mile walk and then walked two miles on the treadmill.
This was a more typical night of how often I wake up throughout the night.
The fitbit also has a lot of other features that I’m not using yet. You can track your food and water intake, your weight, your blood pressure and glucose if you monitor those and you can write journal entries about how you’re feeling each day.
I don’t track my food so I haven’t really done much with this, but if you do, and you use apps like My Fitness Pal, you can synch those with your fitbit so they all work together using apps. You can also use apps like EarnedIt where you get points for your activity levels and you can redeem those points for prizes.
You can also use apps to sync with your Nike+ workouts, set up alerts to get emails or texts when your fitbit battery is getting low or do more analysis of your sleep patterns:
There’s also a fitbit app for your phone that you can use to track your water intake throughout the day. It shows your steps and all that info, but just like the webpage, it only updates when you’re within 15 feet of the docking station.
Finally, you can always see your overall achievements, like your Lifetime steps, stairs, etc…as well as your best days for each. You earn badges for getting certain achievements and you can connect with other friends who have a fitbit. As you can see, I have no friends 🙁 Lol, but I haven’t actually looked for anyone yet! If you have a fitbit, find me!
There’s even a community section where you can join groups for support or just read the forums:
So there you have it. More than you probably ever wanted to know about the Fitbit.
I have to tell you guys, this little thing is making me do crazy things…like running in place in the basement, walked around while tweeting or reading my book, taking the long way to walk to class and leaving my laundry basket farther away from my dresser when I put my clothes away, just so I can get extra steps!!!
I LOVE the challenge of trying to get a certain number of steps each day and it’s definitely motivating me to move more.
If you’ve been thinking about trying to be more active, I’d definitely recommend a pedometer. It doesn’t even have to be as fancy as a Fitbit. Just get something that can track your steps. It can be a super motivating way to kick your butt in gear when you look down at 2pm and see you’ve only walked 1,000 steps for the day!
Do you wear a pedometer?
–Lindsay–
PS. I was not asked to write this review. I was not compensated for this review. Fitbit has no idea who I am. My mom bought this fitbit for the full retail price. All thoughts and opinons are my own. I just wanted to share this cool little gadget with you guys!
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what a fun little contraption! i can see why you would be addicted. 😉 all those facts always fascinate me.
That is so freakin cool! I love gadgets 🙂 *off to investigate if they are available in Aussie*
This is seriously the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. I want one!! I would never take it off haha
I’m so glad you reviewed this because I’ve looked into getting it a few times. I sporadically use LoseIt to journal my food and always see advertisements for the fitBit on their website. It sounds pretty cool!
I wore a pedometer sometimes in college – my parking spot was really far away from my classes so that made it easy to get in the steps. But on the weekends, I did crazy things to get my steps in. I had to laugh when you talked about putting the laundry basket far away because I did the exact same thing!
LOL! I would do the same, basement running and all. Is it similar to the bodybug?
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I WANT ONE NOW!!!!!!!!!! I am a teacher and know I am fairly active throughout the day, but I’d be so curious to see what that actually meant! Oh my gosh I totally love this and am researching it now! Thanks for this detailed post!
I’ve been toying with the idea of getting one ever since I read Sarah (Sarah Learns) review and Diana (Veggie Next Door) reviews. Perhaps I’ll ask for one when my bday rolls around in October, because you’re right. Spending $99 on it just isn’t something I can do at the moment 🙁
Awesome! Looks like such a neat tech toy. I’ve heard good things about fitbit, and it’s interesting to see what the screens actually display and how it tracks and breaks down your information. So interesting and useful!
I don’t wear a pedometer, but I did for a period of time a few years ago and I remember trying to always get in 10,000 steps. It was usually not difficult, given that I was in college and walking around campus all day, but it also inspired me to always walk when it was an option rather than taking transportation or not going to wherever I had to go anyway. It can be motivating! Glad you’re enjoying it 🙂
I am so glad you are enjoying your FitBit! Mine is on it’s way and I can’t wait to get it! My husband bought one and I didn’t because I already have a BodyBugg and a Garmin Forerunner and I was like “How many devices do I need to count my calories?” Apparently, I need one more! It’s just so neat! I am always excited to see how my husband has slept or how many miles he walked on the golf course (10 miles one day!!) I’ll friend you when mine comes! Enjoy!
I just gave my mom my old fitbit so I could buy the newer one that includes steps! I love it, but am still learning how best to use it for me. I use it in conjunction with My Fitness Pal, and have my activity level set to sedentary for both, so that it will calculate extra activity calories for me based on how much I move around from day to day. I tend to take it off during exercise though, and log that separately. I haven’t used it while sleeping as much, since I was getting some pretty big variations depending on whether I had it set to normal or sensitive sleep mode, and neither one seemed particuarly accurate. I think normal is the better setting, but you just have to make sure to move around a bit when you DO wake up, or it might record you as still sleeping!
This is so cool! I think it would be super motivating to know how many steps I’m taking in a day. I’d probably tell myself to take the stairs more often! I’m glad you’re enjoying this lil gadget 🙂
Thanks for the write up on this. I’ve been curious to know if the FitBit was worth it. I think you have me convinced! I was thinking about this as a birthday present for me, too. This was an excellent post. Thanks!
i’m glad you’re loving your fitbit just as much as i love mine. 🙂
i’ve definitely looked at my stairs climbed at the end of the day and ran up and down the stairs in our apartment building to hit my goal.
add me as a friend on fitbit! i didn’t use my blog email address to set up my account so it’s under my [email protected]
This looks like so much fun! I will have to look into it for myself (:
Oh man, now I totally want one of these babies! I would also love to know how many calories I actually burn in a day haha.
A lot of clients at barre n9ne track their steps and it becomes this funny little competition to see who can get the most steps in everyday. It’s been great for camraderie and it’s getting everyone even MORE fit. I love the idea of the sleep pattern stuff too — that’s super cool!
This looks awesome! Thanks for sharing, I’m going to have to look into getting one now!
I used to wear a BodyBugg, but stopped because I don’t like wearing something on my arm for the whole world to see! Plus, you have to pay a monthly subscription fee to use the website. I’ve been thinking about getting a Fitbit…thanks for sharing!
you’re welcome! i like that you can wear this one anywhere!
What a coincidence! My birthday was Wednesday and my boyfriend got me the Nike Fuelband. It basically does the same stuff as the fitbit and it looks like it’s from startrek! It’s fun to observe how many steps go into each day. On the corresponding iPhone app that the band syncs to via bluetooth, a little cartoon man does a dance for me when I complete me daily goal. What a bonus!
i was debating about the fuel band as well but decided i like the fitbit because i didn’t have to wear it on my wrist!
I have been so close to buying one of these. I’ve had it in the “cart” to buy 3 times. You may have just pushed me over the edge.
Love that disclaimer, btw. 😉
yay!!! get one!!!
Hmm, well that’s interesting! It looks like it has a lot of cool features. I always wonder how accurate tools like that are, though. I know my Nike Sports band isn’t completely accurate (regarding my mileage), but it’s pretty darn close, so it’s good enough for now! 🙂
i definitely don’t think it’s 100% accurate…but i think it does a fairly decent job which is all i need!
I’m totally interested in one of these — mostly for the sleeping portion. I want to find out how much sleep I actually get a night. It would be really interesting!
yeah it’s super cool to see the graphs!
at first I was all “100 bucks for something the size of my thumb?” but now I totally want one. ahhhhhh.
hahaha….that’s how i felt to. but worth it!
I love how much this fitbit does! As Jess said, we advocate for this at barre n9ne a lot, getting in 10K steps a day as a guideline. And it’s fun to see how people get creative to get their steps in 😉
the creativity is what makes it fun 🙂
Ok Fitbit sounds so awesome!! I love how it tracks all of those things and then puts it together in color coded charts for you! I think I might get one because I could certainly stand to increase my steps both at the office and at home! I’d be interested to see how different my numbers are on the weekend vs .workdays! And I’d love to know more about the sleep app!
i’m making an effort to stay equally active on every day! but really i just wanna sit around on the weekend 🙂
I’ve always wanted one of these. I love the charts and graphs!
me too 🙂 i’m such a visual person!
OMG it is so little and amazing! I want I want!!
yes! you’d love it!!
Oh man, I wish I never read this post … Because now I *NEEEEED* one!
*Starts to wonder how many chocolate chip cookies I have to bake for DH to get him to agree to get it for me…
hahaha i definitely think you need one 🙂
Omg I want this! Awesome review. Im gonna save up and get it
woohoo!!! you’ll love it!
I don’t think I need something as fancy as that . . . I use my HRM during workouts and love that! But I might be interested in a pedometer. I like setting goals like the 10000 steps you did.
agreed….i definitely don’t think it’s necessary to have a fancy one. i had a basic one forever and it still gets the job done!
darn, I see $198 flying out of my wallet this weekend
haha hope you love them if you get them!
I have been thinking about getting a Fitbit as well, though have a very strict budget so have been on the fence for a while. Your review has convinced me! It is going on my rewards list and I will be starting to save for it! Thanks!!
awesome!!! enjoy 🙂
I must admit that I’ve never heard of a Fitbit. I guess that’s what living in Japan will do to you! This looks pretty awesome though and after reading your post I want one! Definitely adding it to my wish list 🙂
haha i only heard of them this year but apparently my mom has had one for several years!
Whoa look at your mom so on top of things! I’m impressed :).
I’m not one for activity trackers usually since I think I’d develop a complex BUT this one looks pretty cool! I always wonder how efficient of a sleeper I am. 🙂 Great review!
haha i agree….i could easily get obsessed so i’m trying not to let that happen!
I’d heard about the FitBit for awhile, but didn’t know if I should do it. I’m mostly obsessed with tracking things (mostly personal finance, but now, more recently, fitness/eating/exercise/etc.). So, I made a promise to myself: once I’ve “run” 50 miles (according to my nike+ that’s inside my iPod nano), I’d buy myself one. I saw it on sale on Amazon a few days before I hit my 50 mile mark, so I jumped on it. I like it a lot, and I have it synced with LoseIt and Earndit. Maybe I track things a little too much, but I’m a fan!
i looked into synching with earned it, but haven’t done it yet!
I’ve been wearing my FitBit everyday since January and am hooked on it. My boyfriend thinks it’s weird, especially since I’ll march in place or frantically pace around the house if I’m getting close to 10,000.
The only thing I wish was easier on it is connecting with friends on FitBit. There’s no way to search for your friends that are users. I just sent you an FitBit email invitation though so hopefully you’ll be my FitBit friend 🙂
i agree. i tried to find some people last night and it was not very easy!
I’ve never heard of this before, but it sounds so cool! I’ve worn pedometers in the past, but they were always cheapo ones and I fell out of the habit because I didn’t trust the accuracy. I think the sleep tracking is so interesting though!
it’s really interesting to see. i know it’s not totally accuarate but still gives you a good idea!
Wow, I really enjoyed your review of the Fitbit!! I’ve done a lot of research on the FitBit, because I am interested in getting one, and none of the reviews I’ve read are in depth as yours. For example, I didn’t know you could sync it to ALL those other apps, like My Fitness Pal, Nike+, Foursquare, EarnedIt, etc! Cool!
Also, you shared way more pictures than any other “paid” reviewer– seriously impressed, chica! You’ve sold me more than of those people!
Glad you like the Fitbit so much– I’m definitely intrigued and leaning more towards getting one. Keep us updated as to how you like it! I’m worried about burn out/getting bored of it.
so glad it was helpful! i will definitely keep you updated on how i like it after a while. like you, i was nervous at first that i would burnt out…but i’ve been quite shocked with how motivating it’s been for me so i’m hoping it will stay that way. i have a feeling, knowing my competitive nature…that i will always want to get those 10,000 steps now that i have a way to track it 🙂
I had completely dismissed the thought of getting a FitBit. Until now.
I’m about 99% sold, as soon as I have the extra cash. I’ll have to bookmark this for future reference 🙂
woohoo!!
I have been looking into getting something along these lines and I’m so glad I found this post!
I have been thinking about one, I just wish they were a little less expensive!
Just browsing your blog and came about this…..you’re making me want one! Sounds so awesome!!
Thank you so much for this information. I too have spent a lot of time debating whether this gadget is worth the money. Your blog is quite useful and provides all the info I could ever want. OK I’m getting one. Thanks again for taking the time to provide this to everyone. When my Fitbit comes in the mail I will definitely look for you as a Fitbit friend.