Should I purchase a fitbit? Pre owned

[KBecks2]

I am doing a summer weight loss challenge.  I am already food journaling, but I would like an accurate calorie counter.

I could buy a fitbit. Probably the clip on one.

I am tempted by Apple watch for fitness but it seems too new.

I am a senior fitness /Zumba instructor and work out 6 days a week so it will get used!

Any input

I may also get one for my more sedentary spouse.

KBecks

[Fastfwd]

The fitbit is not an accurate calories counter. In reality nothing seems to be on the same page. Using a polar heart rate watch gives me a different number than a garmin heart rate watch and yet different from myfitnesspal step counter.
Just time your exercice and enter it into a journal such as myfitnesspal and live with the fact that calories are always an estimate.

[Beef Rindly]

Personally I am more of a HR monitor person.  However, that being said, I received a free FitBit Charge (non-HR version) from my employer last month.  They retail for $130+tax, and I tried returning it to the store to get store credit, but they wouldn't give store credit on items valued at over $100. 

So if you do decide that you want a FitBit, maybe we can work out a deal ;)

[RocketSurgeon]

I borrowed my Dad's Fitbit Ultra for a walking challenge a few months ago, and found the thing pretty underwhelming. It had connection problems (to fitbit's credit, they sent me a new base station at no charge,) occasionally reset several hours before midnight, and started cracking apart at the seams. (They discontinued the Ultra, perhaps for that reason. Maybe the others are better.)

I needed it to track 1000 steps a day for 3 months, and it did do that, but I just didn't see the point after the competition. I know on what days I'm putting in the exercise, having the Fitbit just to confirm that to me didn't seem worth much, especially considering the questions about it's accuracy. I haven't really bothered with it since. My Dad never asked for it back, so I don't think he liked it either.   

[asiljoy]

I'm a fan of mine. But I guess it isn't clear what you're going to get out of it?

I'm a desk jockey that struggled to get off the sofa in the evenings. My husband and I both got one and now we compete against each other for who can get most steps in a day. Since we're competitive people, that's really working for us and we now both routinely move at least 10,000 steps(5-ish miles) in a day and take walks instead of parking in front of the boob tube; we've also managed to pull a few friends down the rabbit hole with us, making it more of a game. The small investment (120 per unit) also gave us the final push to get rid of our gym membership (180 per month) we used once a week or so to play racketball in the name of being healthy/active...

But you're already super active?

[KBecks2]

Yeah, maybe I don't need one.  I was with some friends who are also fitness instructors a couple months ago (at a bar -- rare!) and they showed me their fit bands and I honestly thought they were kind of geeky.  But… if it helps people get in shape, I'm all for it. 

I teach 7 - 10 classes a week, mostly cardio or cardio/strength/stretch so I am definitely meeting/exceeding the activity level goals for good cardiovascular health.   

Two days ago I started logging food on Myfitnesspal.com and perhaps that's all I need to do.  I need to clean up my eating!!!
 Sleep tracking is actually intriguing to me.  Sleep is very important to health, and I am sleeping less well as I age…  but would I really make time for a catch up nap?  I don't know.

I'll hold off on a purchase and see how I'm doing in a few weeks.  I probably don't need anything and I'm just "shopping" for my new hobby of this food tracking stuff.  I estimate the calories burned through exercise but I am sure my estimates are poor.  That's where I would like to get more accuracy so I really know if I can eat a little extra something or not.  I like to eat!!!  :)

[ketchup]

My girlfriend has one.  It's nice for tracking steps taken (and therefore an estimate of distance based on height), but everything else is borderline useless with its inaccuracy (calories burned, "active minutes", sleep tracking).

[Bardo]

They are a bit of a fad where I work - a LOT of people have them and love them.  There are several employee contests going.  I thought about getting one, but then I figured it was just one more gadget I could live without, so I blew it off.

[r3dt4rget]

Everything you need to lose weight and understand the scientific process of how it works: http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/ and https://www.myfitnesspal.com/

All for free :)

People like these trendy fitness gadgets, but they don't help you if you don't understand how to actually lose weight. Simply moving a bit more without understanding what you are controlling in the weight loss equation is not a sustainable solution to a healthy lifestyle.

[iamlittlehedgehog]

Everyone's mileage with this will differ (pun intended). I have the Charge it has been wonderful for me in terms of motivation. I'm a couch potato by nature so seeing the numbers have really kept me motivated. The food tracker leaves a lot to be desired though- I would stick with My Fitness Pal for this.

[big_slacker]

Strangely enough, people managed to stay most lean and fit before electronics by using the highly technical approach of:

Eating real food, not too much.
Moving around throughout the day.

I'm not a luddite (I use strava, haha!) but gizmos are meaningless if you haven't implemented the basics in a consistent manner. I don't mean weight loss challenges, fad diets, macronutrient ratios or gym trainer plans. I mean having only good whole foods around your house, using the 80% rule of eating (if you feel 80% full, stop eating and get up from the table) and being in motion at LEAST 2-3 hours a day.

'Hacks' shortcut the process of long term health, as it has always been, as it shall always be. :)

[sunshine]

I have had a fitbit about a year and love it. I cant say if it is accurate. It motivates me to get my ass moving so that works for me.

[mickeyj]

I owned a few of these (Fitbit, Jawbone, etc.) that I bought during my pre-MMM time (now I still wear an smartwatch that tracks my steps).

I felt that it was more important doing the food logging exercise than tracking your steps. I lost 10 kg when I logged all my food on MyFitnessPal (the best ever!) and swam every day. Personally, there wasn't a real need to track my steps.

If you want, you can use your phone to track your steps for your daily activities. After 2 weeks, you kind of get a sense of the number of steps and you can just manually input it into MyFitnessPal so that it updates your calories burnt.

Plus if you are bike commuting, your step counts aren't that high anyway to be worth tracking.

[jacksonvasey]

I think the best feature for some fitness trackers is the sedentary monitor.  As others have said, just moving around more probably doesn't correlate much with overall health.  But the models that alert you when you've been inactive too long seem to be something a lot of people could use.  I write software for a living and sometimes get lost in my work, so having an alert to get up and stretch once in a while is a good thing.

I keep seeing studies saying that sitting for more than an hour at a time is dangerous to your health long-term, even if not to your figure.  So I ordered an $18 model off AliExpress.com that has the sedentary alert built in.

I used to use the Basis B1 watch, which had a heart rate monitor (that wasn't the least bit accurate if you were exercising/sweating), automatic run and biking tracking, and automatic sleep tracking.  The sleep tracking was great, because I could see how much I stirred in the night without having to tell the thing I was going to sleep.  It was also good at tracking my resting heart rate, which I figured was good to know.

[DrKartman]

apple watch is the perfect choice for tracking your sport activity, it has some errors in counting but those errors aren't vital

[skp]

I'd say no, if you really want one, buy one, don't buy pre owned.  Your just flushing your money down the toilet.  I loved my fitbit, but keep losing it or accidently washing it and ruining it. I've had to replace at least one a year at $60 a shot.  Last time,  I replaced it with a preowned one I bought on line and it broke within a month (no I didn't do anything wrong this time).  Even though my work offers a reduction in myhealth insurance if I use it and get the step requirements in, I have given up on the fitbit.  I felt it was costing me more than it was worth.

[HenryDavid]

Of all the ways to ensure Big Tech companies know when you are sleeping and know when you’re awake, and know if you’re being bad or good (or at least when your heart rate spikes).... fitbit is cheaper than Apple watch.

But honestly, why donate this last shred of privacy about your own biology to Google (owner of Fitbit and all the data)?

Workout tracking is great. No need for connected gadgets to do it, though.

[StarBright]

Of all the ways to ensure Big Tech companies know when you are sleeping and know when you’re awake, and know if you’re being bad or good (or at least when your heart rate spikes).... fitbit is cheaper than Apple watch.

But honestly, why donate this last shred of privacy about your own biology to Google (owner of Fitbit and all the data)?

Workout tracking is great. No need for connected gadgets to do it, though.

^^^ I just read the book Surveillance Capitalism and agree with this.

I did buy a used fitbit last year and it worked well and got me up from my desk once an hour. I think it helped build a habit of getting up and moving around on work days (before I had my fitbit I would get 3k steps on work days and 20k on weekends - now when I check I'm between 8-10k on work days).

I took the app off my phone, killed my account on the web and now only periodically use it (in what I hope is a closed loop) to spot check my movement throughout the day.

If you are very active already OP you probably don't need one.

[Master of None]

The OP is from 2015. I'm sure they have already made their decision on whether or not to purchase.

[Nightwatchman9270]

Never mind fitbits.  I heard Donald Trump may decide to run for President.  Is he SERIOUS?

[sixwings]

I am doing a summer weight loss challenge.  I am already food journaling, but I would like an accurate calorie counter.

I could buy a fitbit. Probably the clip on one.

I am tempted by Apple watch for fitness but it seems too new.

I am a senior fitness /Zumba instructor and work out 6 days a week so it will get used!

Any input

I may also get one for my more sedentary spouse.

KBecks

I lost about 40 pounds 3 years ago and kept it off since. TBH I think most of the health tech is well marketed products with little actual need. I used myfitnesspal app for free to track my eating every day and exercised at the gym. I then just weighed myself constantly to see if i kept losing weight, how fast, etc. It was cheap and I didn't drop big money on fitness tech. The most important part of a weightloss challenge is diet anyway.

[LetItGrow]

Never mind fitbits.  I heard Donald Trump may decide to run for President.  Is he SERIOUS?

That’s awesome. I kept reading expecting someone to finally point out the date....didn’t expect someone to go full on time period proper.

[Weisass]

I’ve had a Fitbit for 5 years at least and I like it, but mostly that has to do with the fact that most of my family has then and so we motivate one another. Without that I doubt it would matter as much to me.

[TomTX]

I needed it to track 1000 steps a day for 3 months, and it did do that, but I just didn't see the point after the competition.

Okay, this is ancient - but I still have to comment.

I really, really, really hope this is a typo. Even my laziest days are several thousand steps.

[ice_beard]

I see this is a very old thread but thought I'd try to ignite some more discussion...

I received a fitbit for Christmas this year and I really like it.  I thought when they first came out that tracking steps was for old people, well, now I'm officially old.  I really like knowing how much activity I'm doing in my every day life.  I don't get out for 8000 calorie burn days much anymore so I need to be paying closer attention to my calorie intake and calorie burn.  The fitbit really helps me do that. 
I combine it with the MyFitnessPal app and without any particularly painful changes to my diet, I've been slowly losing weight which is much better than in the past when I make huge changes to my diet and loose a bunch of weight quickly and inevitably, it comes back. 

Tracking my eating and my movement with my FB has been really helpful.  It also tracks my sleep patterns and heart rate which is also really neat.  It has also helped me apply "exercise" (really just activity) value to a lot of things I used to just consider not really exercise.  Example.... last week I went to the beach and between surf fishing and metal detecting, I logged 31,000 steps.  That burns/earns a lot of calories, which helps me justify choosing a day at the beach vs. a 2 hour road bike ride.   I really like it.

[moneypitfeeder]

@ice_beard do you find that the heart rate monitor is accurate? I have an arrhythmia/heart palpitations that I think I might want to monitor more. I've read that fitbits can track that and report.

[LetItGrow]

@ice_beard do you find that the heart rate monitor is accurate? I have an arrhythmia/heart palpitations that I think I might want to monitor more. I've read that fitbits can track that and report.

Evening news had a segment about this tonight...but I didn’t pay close attention. Some kid was saved by Apple Watch HR feedback or something. So could be some new info out there about accuracy and dependability.

[ice_beard]

@ice_beard do you find that the heart rate monitor is accurate? I have an arrhythmia/heart palpitations that I think I might want to monitor more. I've read that fitbits can track that and report.

I think the fitbit HR monitor is accurate, for me.  It goes up when I'm exercising and doesn't when I'm relaxing. 

I'm hesitant to comment on using one to monitor arrhythmias.  Mine works fine for tracking my heart rate.  Most arrhythmias are seen by "viewing" the heart from multiple electrical pathways or leads.  A heart rate monitor you wear on your wrist does not offer multiple leads that I know of.  Probably a good question for your doctor.   

[Channel-Z]

I don't know if he wears FitBit, but one of my co-workers has a smart watch of some kind. Last week it detected some kind of oddity with his heart and he ended up in the hospital. I'll have to check this week to see what the doctors told him.

[geekette]

The Apple watch will catch atrial fibrillation, the most common serious abnormal heart rhythm.  It can be set up to check periodically, and also alert you to high or low heart rate.  You can also check for afib at any time (it's basically records a single lead ecg, which I find oddly fascinating).  As we age...

I got one at Christmas and use it a lot for reminders, timers, and the occasional hands free phone call.  Plus the time.  I do like that it encourages me to move every hour, although that sometime annoys the cat who thinks I'm warm furniture.