I have had my Fitbit wireless personal trainer for several months now and I have to tell you – I LOVE IT!
I don’t go anywhere without it and am finding that this little device is making a major difference in my weight loss program.
What Is A Fitbit?
T
he Fitbit is a $100 wireless pedometer available from www.fitbit.com that tracks your steps, estimates calories burned and the new model even counts the number of stairs you climb thanks to a built-in altimeter that can tell when you are climbing a set of stairs versus walking down a hill.
Yes, I know, a $100 pedometer seems outrageous and I thought the same thing when a friend of mine showed me hers but then I started to read some of the Fitbit reviews that are scattered around the Web and they were pretty positive with only a few people receiving problem units that were quickly replaced by fitbit.com.
I still balked at spending that much money on a glorified pedometer so I kind of forgot about it until my friend started talking about the progress she was making using it as a fitness tracker so I researched a bit more and then decided to buy a Fitbit for myself and am I glad I did!
What Comes With The Fitbit?
It comes with a Fitbit base station that plugs into a USB port that charges your Fitbit (you need to do it about once a week) and also reads the information stored on the device using the included Fitbit software if your computer is on and your Fitbit is within range.
This is cool because I can have my Fitbit in my pocket and sit down at my computer and the data is transferred automatically for me. No hassles, I like that.
You also get an armband that you slip the Fitbit into at night when you go to bed so it can determine the quality level of your sleep.
I tried this a few nights but since I didn’t buy it for that purpose I really had no interest in wearing it to bed but it might be helpful to you if you aren’t sleeping well as it shows you how often you wake up during the night.
Does Fitbit Work?
After using it daily for the last two months I have come to one conclusion – the Fitbit fitness tracker does work as long as you use it.
The key element of using the Fitbit for maximum benefit is to sign up for a free account (they do have a paid account but it isn’t necessary unless you want more detailed reporting) on the Fitbit site and start logging you data each day.
How it works is you enter your age and weight and a target weight and then select an activity level and the site tells you what date you will reach your goal if you follow the plan.
It uses the data that is automatically uploaded to adjust the date based on how many calories you burned, etc. but this is where it gets really interesting and is a key point I think that many people miss…
You can log your daily food intake using their data base of foods (you can also add your own custom foods pretty easily) and see how many calories you have eaten and so at any point during the day you know how much more you can eat in order to reach your goal.
Now you also can log other activities like a workout on an elliptical trainer as an example and the calories burned from that activity get added in so you can now eat a bit more food since you have extra calories burned.
To me this is genius because I now know if I can have an extra snack or not and how much I can have while still staying on track to make my weight loss goal. It is a perfect marriage of pedometer and calorie tracking and so far for me it works as evidenced by my weight loss which is currently around a healthy one pound a week (Moderate Activity Level).
Fitbit Accuracy
I was pleasantly surprised when I started walking with the display on and saw the step count tracking my physical steps one for one and I tried it on a half mile walking route I measured in my car years ago and it was right on.
The stairs climbed number is pretty close but sometimes it under reports a flight of stairs when I walk up 5 flights at work but it is close enough for me. Note: It doesn’t count walking down the stairs.
Fitbit Problems
I have read where people received units that were DOA (Dead On Arrival) but mine worked fine right out of the box and the people mentioned they got replacement units pretty quickly so that shows a good customer support process in place.
Others talked about losing their Fitbit because the built-in clip is kind of small but it comes with a nice solid slip-in clip like the kind 
made for cell phones but smaller. I just toss mine into my jeans pocket and haven’t had any problems but I wouldn’t recommend putting it in the little pocket found on most brands of jeans like this picture from the Fitbit site as some people have said it doesn’t stay in very well because the pocket isn’t deep enough.
One time the data wouldn’t synch with the Fitbit site so I checked their online FAQS and it said to reinstall the software so I did and two minutes later I was happily synching again.
Should You Buy A Fitbit?
I usually spend a lot of time researching a product before I buy it because I want a quality product as well as one that performs well and in the case of the Fitbit I am extremely pleased with my purchase and I think you will be very happy once you get yours and start using it.
It doesn’t take long to start seeing results and you will soon be as excited as I am that you are finally losing weight!
Where To Buy Fitbit?
The Fitbit wireless trainer is kind of like Apple products in that they aren’t discounted so I am recommending getting yours right from Fitbit. That way if for some reason you did have a problem or question it would be so much easier to get it resolved pus they usually have free shipping.
Here is the link if you want to read more Buy Fitbit
Follow @Jen_WLG