FitBit – Week 1

I have completed my first week with my FitBit Flex. I must say I LOVE THIS DEVICE! 

I’ll start at the beginning for those who don’t know what it is. It is a fitness bracelet you wear 24/7. It tracks your activity as in steps and how you sleep and in conjunction with other apps it will also track your food intake. The main goal is to help you achieve and maintain an active lifestyle, and point you in the right direction of what you are doing wrong.

The FitBit has been comfortable to wear. A few times I have had to adjust it as well as felt as it wasn’t secure enough and I was going to lose it however through all the bumps at work it has stood up to the durability test.

There were a lot of complaints about putting it on and snapping it closed however I have not had any issues with that. The first time was difficult however subsequent times it was easier to adjust.

I have had to recharge the battery twice however the first time I didn’t give it a full charge because I was so excited to start using it and I think I ran the battery down quite quickly because I was showing everyone, and Adam knows how to make the lights flash on it so he quite often sits there for some time which would also run down the battery. I charged it Friday, a full charge so we will see how long it lasts. It is supposed to have a battery life of 5-7 days.

What I have really enjoyed playing with is the FitBit Dashboard. It’s a snapshot of everything you are doing and trying to achieve.

Off the bat the FitBit suggests a goal of 10,000 steps a day. Walking 5 miles (you can switch it to Kilometers). It also starts with a very active goal of 30 minutes a day. I have set up my own weight loss goal and then have been adjusting my caloric intake a few times this week. I am still trying to find the balance that will give me the results I am looking for however keep me satisfied. I am headed in the right direction however I’m sure I’ll be tweaking a little bit more. The dashboard makes it easy to keep track of where you are, where you want to be and how you are doing. It’s a great motivational tool as well as it gives great insight into things I am doing right and wrong.

The sleep tracker is amazingly accurate, and has given me some insight into how and when I sleep. I can directly link how I feel that day to how I slept the night before. The only consistent part of my sleep is when I wake up. When I go to bed isn’t consistent at all. I can sleep 6 hours one night and 8 the next. I sleep when I am tired, not when the clock tells me to sleep.

My step goals I achieved 10,000 steps 6 out of 7 days. Friday I took a rest day because Thursday I really hurt my hip running after Adam and could barely walk on it. I rested and didn’t push myself Friday and by Saturday it was feeling much better. I love this part as well because it forced me to be active. Last night after going out for dinner I looked at the app and I had 1,200 more steps to do. I was so exhausted and full from dinner I really didn’t want to walk anymore. However I wasn’t going to fail to meet the goal two days in a row. So I put my shoes on and went for a walk. I went until my bracelet buzzed and did its little celebration that I hit 10,000, turned around and went home. I felt horrible and awesome at the same time. In the end I know it was better for me to get those steps in.

The FitBit really is insightful into how active or inactive you are in a day. It breaks down your steps into 15 minute increments. It’s very easy to think you are more active than you really are, or don’t give yourself enough credit for being active. The game at work is to guess how many steps I will take during my shift. Most people have been guessing around 2,000 steps in 4 hours. In reality I’m walking between 5,000 – 7,000 steps in a 4 hour period.

The first week has been quite insightful and interesting. I think I may have Sunday’s my weekly update of how things are going and what I have learned.

Have I found success yet? I have lost 2.2 lbs this week so I would say I’m off to a pretty good start.