With the New Year in full swing, many people turn to their New Year’s resolutions to begin 2014. One of the most common resolutions people make it to get in better shape. I recently had the opportunity to try the FitBit One, which runs on Verizon Wireless’ 4GLTE network to see how it works. Lately, devices that track your movement, sleep and calories, have been all the rage. The goal of this particular device is to motivate you to reach your goals. The FitBit One tracks your steps, distance, calories burned and stairs climbed during the day. At night, it measures your quality of sleep and wakes you up in the morning.
Simply clip the tiny device onto the pocket of your pants, or on your bra for easy and discreet readings. If you’re worried about the rain and snow, think again. This convenient device it sweat, rain, and splash-proof.
A feature of the FitBit that I really enjoyed was that it automatically syncs to PCs, Macs and many iOS devices. This allows you to see what you’ve accomplished in an easy format and allows you to compare your daily stats with your goals. Using this feature, you can also log your food, water, workouts and weight into your dashboard. You can input data such as swimming and hiking and even create a food plan. Additionally, the FitBit incorporates social media into the mix to help keep you motivated. Milestones will earn you badges such as 25,000 steps in a day or 100 stairs climbed and you can cheer on and compete with your friends who are also using the device.
The FitBit is incredibly easy to use… I bet even my mom could do it! Another feature of the FitBit that I liked was that I could compare my day to day activities and become aware of when I need to be more active. However, there are some drawbacks to the FitBit. When partaking in activities other than walking or running, you have to manually input these activities into your dashboard in order to get an accurate reading of calories burned, which can be a hassle. Additionally, since it tracks walking/running and not heart rate, the readings can be a bit off, if for example, you are cleaning your room and bending down to picks things up, but not necessarily walking all over the place, it might not track those calories that you are burning.
Overall, I think the FitBit can be put to great use for those who want to partake in a healthier lifestyle. The most important thing I found when using it was learning how active I am during the day and setting goals for the next. The FitBit comes in other models, as well. The FitBit One retails for an affordable $99.95.
