However, since acquiring the fit-bit my perception of the fit-bit has changed a little. Here are my two cents.
The GOOD and the ANNOYING of the fit-bit world.
THE ANNOYING
- It stinks at tracking anything but walking and running. If you are doing weight lifting or interval training, which I do, it will basically say you have sat on the couch and eaten Girl Scout’s thin-mints, while watching Gilmore Girls, ALL DAY. For instance, I could do 1000 burpees, deadlift 2 million pounds, and do 500 pull-ups, and I will look at my wrist and it will say, I have burned 7 calories and stepped 14 steps, and basically have just sat around for the past hour. But I swear I almost puked twice during that lifting, interval session. Fit-bit don’t care! So you will do a hard work-out like the one above, not really, but you get my gist, and you will have sweat pouring down your face, and your heart is beating out of your chest and when you look at your wrist you will want to smash it with a hammer into tiny fit bitsy pieces. RESIST THE URGE. Just know going into it, it doesn’t track starting and stopping so great. Also know that the calories you just burned AND will be burning for the next 8 hours will not be counted.
- It tracks your sleep, or basically tells you how much you don’t sleep, which totally stresses me out. I tried to wear it one night because I really wanted to see how much rest I was getting, but I know if I move an ounce it basically says I am restless. So I purposely keep myself awake trying to be still, which means I am afraid to actually go to sleep, which results in NO sleep. By 2am I had to take if off for fear it would tell me in the morning I wouldn’t be able to function for lack of sleep. And in the morning it said I slept 1 hour and 46 minutes. So I don’t wear it to bed.
- It can get obsessive. Like, you might check your wrist every time you do anything, especially if you are in a challenge with your husband or your friends who are more competitive then you. You may stay up until midnight walking all over your house, JUST to get the bad graphics trophy on your screen the next morning, the true sign of victory. You have defeated your friends by walking in your jimmies at 11:59. And then you can text your fake graphic trophy to all your loser friends.
- #3 above can also be good, because it gets you moving. Moving ALL the time. You will walk and pace your floor at all hours. Sit and watch a movie, no way, you will walk while watching that movie for fear of not hitting your step goal. So it will definitely keep you moving. And when you are not in a challenge you will see that you stepped 10,000 steps less that day, and wonder if you can only be motivated by the taunting of your fit-bit friends.
- Competition is fun and competition helps you find out who someone really is: Out of all my friends I thought I would be the most competitive. But the fit-bit challenge has brought the competitive crazies out of the woods. For instance, I have friends who will challenge me to a work week challenge (which means it counts your steps for the entire week and whoever gets the most steps wins) and I know they have done Jack squat all day, better yet all week. So I feel that since I have walked the dog 14 times and am ahead by 6000 steps I can finally sit down. But then 30 minutes later, I look at my phone, and see that person inching up on me. What in the world have they just done? Have they just ran a marathon while I took a cat nap. Keeps you on your game. Also keeps you crazy.
- Trash talk all day: There are not many things anymore that allow you to trash talk all day and it be acceptable, well this and the presidential race. Taunting my friends makes me feel young and back in the basketball days. I get to taunt my friends who sat on the couch all day. And I single-handedly hold myself responsible for my challengers fitness levels.
- Fun for the family- My kids love this. They ask everyday what my steps are, they want their own so we can stay active as a family. They jump and play and run with me.
All in all, I have enjoyed the fit-bit. My dog is in better shape then ever after all the extra walks he gets. I single-handedly hold myself responsible for helping my friend run a marathon daily to beat my steps, and I do love hitting a goal daily. For those who want to get motivated to stay moving I recommend. For someone who needs accountability, I also recommend.
Don’t take it too seriously. Get to stepping, invite someone along for a challenge, and brush up on your trash talking skills. I will be charging mine for a few days to rest my feet, so if you need a dog to walk, I have one waiting for you.