The Fit Bit One…Worth It?
Living in the age of modern technology has its perks. A date for Friday night could be just a click or swipe away. A ride to the airport or a club in Hollywood is at the tip of your thumbs. You can even get your groceries online. Why leave the house? Oh yea, that staying fit and moving around thing we do. It is important. Most of my life I have been motivated to get up and go workout without knowing how many calories or steps I was taking each day. However, now, because technology is so awesome, I can know how many steps I take each day and approximately how many calories I burn.
Behold, the Fit Bit. The Fit Bit was designed to be more than your average pedometer, measuring your daily physical activity as well as the length and quality of your sleep. I have a few friends, specifically other dietitians and trainers, who rant and rave about this product, so I finally caved in and bought my own. I bought the Fit Bit One, which has a clip you can attach safely to a belt, pant pocket or bra. The idea behind it is to track your everyday activity- total steps, distance, calories burned and stairs climbed. This Fit Bit One can also track your sleep patterns and wirelessly syncs to your Mac or PC. This little guy can even wake you up in the morning with a silent alarm. What more do you want?
The first day my Fit Bit One arrived. I was concerned with how long it would take to actually set up. I was very impressed with the instructions given on the internet, and it took about 5 minutes to register the product. You might have to charge your Fit Bit for a little while since it is brand new, otherwise, once I plugged in the charger and set my age, height and weight, it was ready in no time.
Since I received my Fit Bit One on a Saturday afternoon, I had already done my workout for the day, so that did not get recorded. I had a few errands to run before going home to cook dinner and head to a friend’s going away party. Between that time, around 3pm, until coming home close to midnight, I logged a little over 5,000 steps. I was surprised, because I felt like I had done so much more. I had gone for a 5 mile run in the morning and gone to Venice Beach area to have lunch with a friend and walk around an arts festival. But then I realized I didn’t have the Fit Bit at that point. If I did, I probably would have logged the minimum 10,000 steps that is the typical goal of most Fit Bit users. I realized it is an awful lot of extra work to make this happen if you don’t get in a cardio based workout every day. But that is the beauty of this step inducing toy. Checking it and then plugging it into your computer at the end of the day and syncing it to the app, which also shows you what your friends with the Fit Bit are doing, is motivating and makes me want to try harder.
One day I did a six mile run, and that put me at over 11,000 steps before 10am. The next day I went swimming. That would be one of the downfalls of the Fit Bit One, is that while it is rain, splash and sweat proof, it is not waterproof…so if you are a big swimmer, you can forget it with this fitness toy. Another downfall of the Fit Bit One is because it is a clip on item, it can easily get lost or misplaced. I was trying my hardest the other day to get to over 15,000 steps. After a run and an overall active day, I left my Fit Bit on the shorts I had on all day and forgot to take it out that evening. Not the end of the world, but I missed a few hundred steps. In these sort of cases, having the Fit Bit bracelet might be better. Your choice, but overall it can be a helpful device to inspire otherwise uninspired people to move just a little bit more.
