Personally, I think they're expensive and another piece of equipment I'd have to carry around.
I have a free app, I know there are several. I just scan in the barcode of the product I'm going to eat and it logs it for me. You can also enter your exercise info in.
It's ultimately your decision, but before I spent the money on the fitbit, I'd atleast try the free apps.
Gizmos motivate me - always have, always will. I love to spin in the class where I can see my output - it pushes me to try harder every time. So, I avoid the gyms (we belong to a community assocation that owns several gyms) that don't have bikes with computers.
I had a garmin forerunner watch and I used that - but it got stolen and it wasn't great for gym stuff. Then I bought about 6 weeks ago a BodyMedia Fit (like a bodybugg). And in that month I've lost 8 pounds whereas I was stuck for the month before - having a hard time getting back on plan after the holidays/in the dead of winter.
Was it the gizmo that pushed me again? Only partly, but it was part of it - so were longer days and better weather and getting used to eating less again after the holiday pig out season.
I like that I can see where I burn calories. Like I burn far fewer calories doing housework than I thought I did. I take far few steps mall window shopping than I thought I did. And walking just a couple miles a day briskly, burns enough calories and gives me enough active minutes to make a difference (and I tend to walk fast). It's helped me fine tune things.
I don't input my food on the gizmo app because it's database is weak. I use an Iphone app for that and just add the total calories consumed into my account daily...
Other people - like my husband dont' need that feedback. I do. (though he did just get himself a swim gizmo as he wanted to challenge himself more with speed and efficiency - making it a game to keep pushing harder.
Ok I am the biggest fan of my fitbit. Since getting it a few months ago I hardly ever take it off - it only needs like 1/2 hour a week if that to charge, it's light weight [I wear it in the center of my bra] - you can program it specially for workouts & running which is cool too.
It tell you steps walked, climbed, cal. burned, it sends motiviating messages and tells you how active you are throughout the day. And you wear it on your wrist at night and it tells you how well you slept, how often you woke up or tossed/turned which I LOVE. All of this is easily accessible on their free website too which rocks. You can also log food intake on the website but I still use livestrong b/c it's my fav.
Since getting the fitbit I am way more active b/c I love to beat myself - now I'll walk the 1 1/2 miles from work instead of taking the subway to get over my goal of 10k steps/day - you can do challenges against ppl too for the motiviation. For $100, it's the best $$ I've spent!
I LOVE MY FITBIT. To pices, really. I feel lost with out it because it pushes me to burn just x more calories, or just go x more steps... I like it more than my bogy bugg because its FREE, and doesn't have a monthly fee!
I have my fitness pal on my app on my phone and I have endomomdo also. But i cant track myself at work because i cant have my phone on me and i just really want to know what exactly I do all day. I just didnt know if it would benefit me that much because i haven't heard any comments until now! I'm in a standstill right now with losing weight and im getting depressed! So maybe this will give me the umph I need. How many calories or steps do you challenge yourself with? Or does it give you a guide line?
I like to challenge myself with 10k steps a day [I think they start out w/ 7500] and above 2750 cals. This is supposed to be VERY accurate but I usually set my goat to do 3000 cals just in case to measure for inaccuracies to a degree. I really love it, it helps keep me in check so I can kick my own butt which is smart. The sleep thing really helps it's nice to know how much I wake up or toss/turn [like 8 times a night on avg].
I try to climb 8 stair cases a day too[easy b/c of the subways I take to work]...
I really really think it's a good investment for $100 but obviously you know your financial situation best. I have gotten 2 ppl in my office to get one too and they love it!
This is a sample if you want to see the read out they give you on the comp - it's updated any time you come w/in 15 ft. of the charger - mind you this was a day that I took my dogs hiking for like an hour and half in the morning and did a 5k that night and was crazy active so it's above what I normally can achieve, but it's also good b/c they send you a weekly avg so like food, if you slack off one day, you an make it up the next!
16018 steps taken .
30 floors climbed
You just climbed
The Tallest Sailboat Mast
(29 floors)
Next milestone in 2 floors
7.69 miles traveled .
2950 calories burned [200 above goal]
1218 active score [218 abovle goal]
I really like mine. I found it to be one of my most used pieces of fitness equipment. I don't have my settings fully tweaked for accuracy on calorie levels to meet my goals yet but I like having something to judge my activity.
You manually put in what you eat - I still use livestrong so I can't comment on that part. You can change the settings to challenge yourself each day or challenge other fitbit users.
I wore a Gowear Fit for three months. Initially I loved it but then after a couple months I realized it was not quite as accurate as I had hoped and after three months I sold it and would not buy one again.
Having said that - I am extremely glad I did have it for those three months because it showed me how powerful NEAT can be. Small movements don't burn many calories but being more active during the day adds up quick. At my size it was about 300 calories daily difference between sitting at my desk all day and getting up regularly, walking to lunch, etc. Over the course of a week of 5 days you're talking serious calories.
If you're on the fence I would get it. You can always resell it on Ebay.
To buy or not to buy...
