superdumb supervillain: FitBit: Healthy Accountability for Gadget Lovers
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Monday, March 25, 2013

FitBit: Healthy Accountability for Gadget Lovers


You can download different apps for your iPhone or Android phone that can keep track of what you've been eating and count calories for you or maybe work as a virtual pedometer but one of the best things about getting healthy in this day and age is the number of tech tchotkes that exist solely to keep you accountable for your exercise and nutrition goals. 

I'd been hearing about the awesomeness of FitBit devices for a while but was skeptical. I mean, the things are basically LED pedometers that you have to wear all day– how great could they be? And then I found out that the FitBit One actually uses WiFi and the cloud to keep track of not only your activity but your estimated calorie burn AND your sleep patterns. Being a notoriously light sleeper, I was super curious about that latter bit. How could this teensy gadget the size of a flash drive figure out how I was sleeping? And, more importantly, how that affected my metabolism? Sold.


My friend at AT&T hooked me up with a FitBit One to try out. (Did you know that AT&T carries all of the latest health and fitness tech accessories? This was news to me. Good news!) First observation: it's tiny. Seriously tiny. About the length of my thumb, when it's in its little silicon clip case. 

It's very inobtrusive. You're supposed to fasten it to your waistband during the day and use the included wriststrap for sleeping. The latter didn't work so well for me because the velcro strap caught onto my plushie microfleece blanket and came off while I was sleeping. I clip it to my nightie strap instead and it still does its job. I haven't had much of an issue with it except for the fact that it's so small, you sometimes forget it's there. I freaked out one day and assumed I'd flushed it down the toilet or something when, in reality, I had merely forgotten to reclip it to my clean clothes after my shower.

What I like about the FitBit One is it really underscores how much you SHOULD be moving versus how much you're REALLY moving. It makes me occasionally jump up from my desk to climb the stairs or do a couple of quick squats. No joke! Without trying to guilt you into it. It kind of gives you all the info to guilt yourself.


I'll admit that I haven't gotten into the habit of entering in other exercise and food journaling on the FitBit iPhone app but I think that's the next step. I'm also contemplating buying the FitBit Aria WiFi Scale, which wirelessly transmits your weight, BMI and body fat percentages to your stats. Talk about total accountability…

Written as part of the Mamavation Monday blog carnival for the Mamavation Sistahood.


In accordance to the FTC Guidelines and the WOMMA Code of Ethics, I am disclosing that I am an AT&T customer and I received a complimentary FitBit to facilitate this review. No compensation was provided for this post. All opinions are, as usual, entirely my own.

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