Anyone using a Fitbit?

[Pete]

Just curious as to whether anyone is using a Fitbit? I'm toying with the idea of starting a ProcessWire group if there's interest

EDIT: Here's the group: https://www.fitbit.com/group/22ZNVL

I got into using one of these because I was (and still am a bit!) overweight. These things with the accompanying app help you reliably* track exercise. So far things are looking good and I'm proof that it's never too late to take up exercise (running and swimming at the moment, not at the same time).

*reliably for this kind of technology - things like your heart rate is probably never going to be as accurate as when you're strapped to an ECG machine.

[netcarver]

No Fitbit here, Pete. I do, however, use the pedometer app on my phone.

[Craig]

Hey Pete

I have one! In fact, the four of us in the company where I work have one each - we agreed to take part in a three month office wellbeing experiment conducted by a local university. Fitbits were given out to participants, and the academics used the heart rate and sleep data in their study.

Once we got them, we became very competitive. Who got more steps this week? Who's walked the furthest this week? We constantly wanted to better our scores, so it has certainly been good for all of us. I think just having the ability to monitor what you're doing and having quick and easy access to that is great.

I'd be up for joining a PW group

[Pete]

Cool - thanks Craig, I'll likely set one up soon then

I'm actually impressed with myself how I'm managing to keep calories on target most of the time (was hopeless prior to this) and am finding seeing my pace per km increase on the same run every few days is a real incentive to keep going.

I have only been exercising properly for a couple of weeks, but have lost half a stone already just by dropping the amount I'm eating to more sensible levels (no crash/fad diets here, just better portion sizes and measuring things properly) and the exercise of course can easily cancel out the calorific intake of one of your meals a day.

If I was to try and get to more competitive levels or do longer distances I'd have to look more closely at the diet aspect but... well... I'm finding that whilst it can be a chore if you don't log the food as you eat it and spend 10 mins at the end of the day doing it, the stats are quite fascinating over time.

I've also hooked up my Fitbit account to Strava as a lot of friends are on Strava but not Fitbit and the runs get ported across automatically. It's basically a social network for runners/cyclists/hikers but I've not looked into it much at all to be honest beyond linking them together.

[Craig]

That's pretty good Pete! Should be nice seeing the data and results and getting the feedback and seeing the differences in a short time

[Pete]

Group set up: https://www.fitbit.com/group/22ZNVL

[felix]

I'll also start tracking my vital signs, soon. But after a lot of "research" I'm going to to buy a Garmin Vivosmart HR (longer lifetime, more accuracy...) instead. I'm also slightly overweight atm but cycle about 100-150km(63~93miles) per week (for the last 5 months). Currently I use Strava to track my rides. As I'm always cycling with my mobile phone as a tracker there was no need for a gps enabled device (otherwise I would most likely have chosen the vivioactive hr). You should really check out garmin products instead of fitbit from what I've heard and read.

[tpr]

I never liked such equipments. When I do sports I do it for my pleasure. I run about 20-30 km per week, which is only a fraction I did a few years ago when I run marathons (PB is 2:51). Obviously I'm much slower nowadays but I don't care, I put some good music on and let it go. I also swim two times a week, which is pure nostalgia because swimming is my #1 sport from my childhood. I enjoy taking over others in the pool in breaststroke, that was my preferred style back then.

In short, I've tried a few equipments but the killed the show for me, even using a stopwatch is often too much for a hobbyist imho. Of course this may not be the case for others, many of my sportsmates wore them and they liked them.