Fitbit One

[tarasis]

I wanted to ask your opinions of the Fitbit (specifically the Fitbit One), how have you found it? Helpful? Fairly accurate? Worth it?

I'm thinking about getting a burgundy one to help push me back into walking more.

[stacelee]

I swear by them.  I have been through all three iterations of them, I'm now using the fitbit flex.  My husband also uses a fitbit flex after he lost his fitbit one.  I find mine fairly accurate although to be honest I don't care if it is out by a few steps here and there....it gets me up and moving.  I've lost 42 kilos since 31 October 2011.  I'd stalled after losing about 20 kilos and bought a fitbit when they first came out in July last year.  I've lost another 22 kilos since then through a combination of diet and walking.  I haven't had to be extremely strict with my diet because the fitbit has made me far more aware of how little I was moving.  Since wearing it there have not been many days that I have not gotten at least 10000 steps.  I have now up'd my goal to 12000 steps a day and most days I get between 13000 steps and 15000 steps.

The flex is probably my favourite so far of the fitbit's.  I wear it constantly and don't have to think about remembering to put it on.  There were several days when I forgot to put the fitbit one on.  My husband lost his fitbit one three times but found it again, but lost it permanently a couple of months ago at the football.  It somehow kept slipping out of his silicone holder. We have now replaced it with the flex for him.  The only thing I don't like about the flex is that it doesn't have a digital display, just lights.  I would love it if it had a display like the one so that you could see a clock/steps etc.  I will be upgrading to their "next" fitbit if they release one with that feature.  I definately think I've gotten my money's worth out of them...particularly if I can get the last 9 kilos off and get down to my goal weight.  At the moment I am the lightest I have been that I ever remember....and the healthiest!

[Wonder]

That is fantastic Staclee, an amazing effort and good luck for thos last 9 kilos.

[achookwoman]

Stacelee,  you are inspirational. 
I have a Fitbit one.  Have put it through the wash twice and it still works.
Not sure about it being accurate,  but near enough. 
Good value for money. 
There was a comparison on a site, ( American)  and it would be worth reading,  but I can't remember which one.  Sorry.

[KarenH]

Would someone be able to explain what a fitbit is?  Is it just a fancy pedometer, or does it do other things/have other advantages?  I tried looking at their website, but it didnt really explain exactly what they were or what they did, except I assume measure distance walked in a day.

[jo_nz]

I've had the Flex for about a month and really enjoying it - finding it harder to meet my steps goal during the school holidays, so hoping I can improve my numbers a bit next week.  

I think it's worth it for me.  Fits into my life, and makes me look for little opportunities to walk more (take the slightly longer way etc), and much better value than forking out for a gym membership which I may or may not use.  
It seems accurate enough - I did have one issue of it going into sleep mode when I rode my son's scooter to school to pick him up though!  

Karen, yes it is basically a pedometer, but with a few fancy features.
It hooks up to your computer (and also an app that works on some phones) so you can track how you are going over time.  You can compare/compete with others if you are so inclined.  You can track your food on your online account, or can link it to MyFitnessPal so can add that in. 
I've been finding it interesting - I often get to 10,000 steps in a day, just pottering around, but rarely get many "active minutes" so that's something I need to work on, which a basic pedometer wouldn't tell me.  Also that I need more sleep! 

[stacelee]

Jo,

I've found to get my active steps I have to use the treadmill or go shopping for a fairly long while where I really walk!!! around a shopping centre.  To get my daily steps when I'm at work, I spend about 10 minutes every hour walking back and forth across my office and I don't pick up the phone when I need to speak to someone internally....I go to their office...I think people wonder why they are getting so much face time with me.  When I'm at home I make sure that I walk around the house when I'm on the phone and when I go somewhere I park as far away as possible. 

[achookwoman]

My DS hitched me up to the computer and it sends messages as to how I am doing. 
I love the morning messages when i first put it on .,  such as get moving Bess. 

[cookie1]

Staceelee a great big congratulations

[Cuilidh]

I have never heard of a fitbit before, but Staceelee's results are stunning, well done you.  It sounds like a pretty good device and I feel that I should probably get one but my job - and hence my life - is very sedentary and I think I would feel very embarassed at how few steps I take so wouldn't use it.

[tarasis]

Cheers for everyone's thoughts on the Fitbit One. I'm fairly convinced I want one, and that it would be helpful. Been working on my wife to actually buy it for me.

One comment she made was that it was a shame that my birthday had passed, t which I pointed out I don't/didn't quibble about her paying for The gym (two at the moment) / weight watchers when she was trying to lose weight. So why is she quibbling about this.

[mcmich]

There's always Fathers Day Rob. Do you have Father's Day in September or is it different for you guys?

You could always just treat yourself - you deserve it. 

[Wonder]

Rob just go for it, spending on health/fitness and education is never wasted.

[Girlpower247]

Hi Rob, Ive I only had my fitbit one for a week and I think it's great!
It's not too big, has a good clip and I love the way it wirelessly synchs with the mobile app via Bluetooth.

Ive found it very motivating so far....
Eg...the last 3 days (due to my type of work) Ive not got enough steps in, so have walked my hallway to make sure I make
the 10,000+ steps...love the green smiley face when it's done
Wouldn't have done this if I wasn't wearing the FB1!

I walk to one of my jobs, just over 2 kms return trip, but now Im taking the longer way home when I don't have my second job to go to
Ive upped my water intake from 500mls to 1.5L...last 3 nights have needed to get up to use little room Grr (trying to get this in ealier during the day but not so easy when it's winter time, want hot drinks hehe.
I should sip hot water - hmm, (note to oneself)

Ive linked another mobile app called my fitness pal to the fitbit one app. They work great together and Ive been able to add my TM recipes to that, plus it scans bar codes which is great for things added to fav foods.
Im still figuring out a few things there but they synch perfectly on my iPad 4th gen, iPad mini or iPhone 4 - big tick!

Only possible down side.....Ive heard a few have lost their FB1 and now wear the fitbit flex.
I used to wear a pedometer often, so Im used to it being on my waistband and the FB grips much better than two previous pedometers.....

Not sure what country you are in, but I got mine from Harvey Norman for $100 (Im in Australia)
Best price I had seen online was $105 so I went in with this price in mind.
I ended up getting the black one, burgundy is nice too.

Walking to work and back has been a big help for my active steps and Ive reached that target by finishing up with my hallway walks.
Will be much easier during summer with a lovely summer nights walk
From the reviews Ive read the FB1 has had positive feedback
Good luck with your decision / purchase

[tarasis]

Apologies it's taken so long to actually respond back to my own thread. My bad, I got swept up with having guests for pretty much all of August that I lost track.

I will update this later to respond to individual points, I'm using Tapatalk and at the pool so can't easily see other posts

I did get a Fitbit One on the 6th of August and I've been using it actively ever since. I've already got my 250km badge and a bit over that now, thanks in part to walking my daughter to school and back (that's an easy 7.2km a day) but that will ease off in a bit when she gets comfortable and wants to go/ come back alone. Most days I have been doing 5-8km extra as well, making a point of going out to do that. On the whole it is going well, my shins/feet/calves/back of knees have going through their share of pain.

I am using Fitbit, Runkeeper and MyFitnessPal to keep a track of everything and have started using the Fitbits projection of the Calories I should be eating based on my activity (I used Runkeeper on longer walks as I haven't calibrated the Fitbit to my stride, which means when I'm walking quickly, roughly <9.5m per KM, it records about 1KM less than Runkeeper. The steps do appear to be accurate though.

I use MyFitnessPal for food tracking as their DB has a good selection of stuff I use and the recipe bit works well enough too. I'm mostly find for Calorie counting though it's a pain when you've gone out for dinner which we did a few times when we had guests.

The sleep tracking thing is kind of interesting but really doesn't add anything, or allow you do really do anything different.

Overall it's working for me, though I wouldn't say it's making me healthier The walking, as well as the calorie counting and cutting sugar down, has helped to lose weight. I'm down 3.1 (3.3 yesterday) from my high point on July 18th, and 1.5kg down from when I bought the Fitbit.

I do find the app a bit annoying at times, I'd rather it just let me sync when I choose rather than each time I open the app (say to check when calories I have left, or if I'm in the zone). It also crashes occasionally but that might be down to running the iOS 7 betas. I wish their website didn't use Flash as I tend to have it uninstalled.