Activity Monitor

[sarahrob]

Does anyone use an activity monitor to measure their exercise? I've tried mfp but didn't get along with it, so I'm thinking of buying a monitor I can wear which will give me better data. I like the look of the fitbit flex, has anyone used it? If you use a different one what do you use and what sort of data does it give you? Will it sync with a mobile?

So many questions!

 

[Paula Garner]

The fitbit and jawbone activity monitors are supposed to be brill. Plus you can sync them to myfitnesspal aswell. I'm getting a fitbit for Christmas.

 

[WeightlossDreamer]

ive got the pacer app on my phone which is good! keep your phone in a pocket and it records how many steps you take in a day and cals burnt. You can input your stats so that the cals burnt is more accurate. If you like walking theres also the map my walk app thats good x

 

[top_kat]

I have a fitbit flex.

I have very mixed feelings about the flex to be honest. It fits around the wrist, which is great, but if you move your arm, it registers a step. So if you stand there and brush your teeth without taking a step it will register something like 200 steps. As such, the steps need to be taken with a pinch of salt - as such, is there a need to spend £80 on a flex? No, you may as well just get a decent pedometer such as the omeron.

I find that it doesn't record the sleep accurately either. It has stated times I've been asleep, when I've actually been awake so its not reliable.

You don't get a warning on the thing itself when the battery is about to run out, when it does, it just switches off. Life lasts about 5 days of normal use. Also, its all done via synching to an app, so there's no way apart from 5 little lights that light up, to know where abouts you are in terms of the target you've set.

The food diarys on fitbit aren't great, but you can link to MFP and log the food that way and it then offsets the calories used from your exercise against the cals etc on the MFP app. So the app itself is great.

Someone I know has the fitbit one, which links to the above, but it clips onto a waistband or bra, and we've found this to be MUCH more accurate than the flex that goes around your wrist.

As such, I've done comparisons on my phone with an app and I have an armband which it sits in, and if you've got a smartphone you can get some great apps to go along with it and its just as good.

Would I spend or recommend a fitbit flex ? No. Motivationally wise, these things are great, but quality wise, reliability wise and the fact the flex gives such inaccurate results, I'd suggest looking into a fitbit one or even a decent pedometer such as an Omeron.

 

[WeightlossDreamer]

could u not fit the flex around your ankle like an ankle bracelet? xx

 

[top_kat]

could u not fit the flex around your ankle like an ankle bracelet? xx

Not really, unless you have tiny tiny super tiny ankles as the strap only reaches and locks at about 7.5 inches.

 

[WeightlossDreamer]

ahhh i seee never mind x x

 

[top_kat]

I've tried it just fitted into my socks too, but it moves around and if the sock drops then its likely to fall out - which is a downer too as they aren't cheap lol

 

[sarahrob]

It hadn't occurred to me that a wrist monitor would pick up more movement than it should, but it makes a LOT of sense! Thanks for the info, I am rethinking it now.

I liked the idea of being able to track the info and see progress on my phone, but if the info isn't accurate it's not worth tracking. I don't tend to have pockets so a wristband seemed ideal.
Back to the drawing board lol!

 

[top_kat]

check out the fitbit one, it clips onto waistband or bra and still links to the fitbit app, and it does monitor things such as climbing stairs etc I believe

 

[sarahrob]

Sometimes life throws up the weirdest coincidences!

My cousin was binning a load of games for Nintendo DS as her kids' consoles stopped working years ago and the new machines take different games. I still have an old DS kicking around, so she offered them to me (plus her bin is pretty full with it being Christmas and all)
One of the games is Walk With Me. Lovely neat little non-rattly pedometer which just needed a new battery, then the DS shows activity over the full day. It doesn't show calories burned or have any groovy heart rate stuff, but it does graph activity across the day and allows me to see a pattern over weeks, which is what I really wanted. The only major drawback is that there's no display on the pedometer, you have to upload the data to see it. It does allow you to set a daily step target, and you can see when you reach that as the tiny led flashes green instead of red.

The pedometer is tiny enough to fit into my bra, and although it's not the most accurate when wedged into my cleavage it's not as bad as I thought it would be - I counted 1000 steps and the pedometer measured it as 1070. Still, it was free, which is always a major selling point

 

[WeightlossDreamer]

Sounds great good luck with it! X x

 

[brooke_marie]

Thanks for all this info, super helpful! Think I'm going to buy the FitBit one

 

[Smallerme]

Dh bought me a Fitbit today as a surprise. It advises wearing on the non-dominant hand, that way things like teeth brushing are not going to get picked up. I will see how it goes.

 

[top_kat]

Dh bought me a Fitbit today as a surprise. It advises wearing on the non-dominant hand, that way things like teeth brushing are not going to get picked up. I will see how it goes.

I do wear mine on a non dominant hand and have adjusted the settings so that this is the case, it still picks up movements when you're not taking steps, even doing things like lifting the kettle can pick up a step.

 

[brooke_marie]

Yeah the FitBit One doesn't seem to have that problem - probably will put it in the middle bit of my bra! I've heard that the flex picks up a considerable amount of steps when you sit down for 30 minutes!

 

[Smallerme]

I found this the most helpful review when trying to compare: Fitbit Flex vs. Jawbone Up and More: A Wearables Comparison - Lauren Goode - Product Reviews - AllThingsD

 

[tc_99]

I had the original clothes peg version of the fitbit device, but it eventually gave up after being machine washed 1 time to many lol. Now use the S fitness app which is free on the samsung galaxy s4. Also use strava (cycling gps tracker) and endomondo, which allows you to layout a route on a map a roughly estimate how far it is.

to in"thin"ety and beyond...... regards Trev