The Fitbit has been around in one form or another since 2011 and for a long time I’ve been suspicious of the “glorified pedometer”. However, when a friend bought one and boasted she’d lost 3 kilos in two weeks I started to sway. It wasn’t long before I too had jumped on the Fitbit bandwagon!
The ethos behind the Fitbit is twofold — first it espouses the “magic” number of 10,000 steps a day. This number feels as though it’s been plucked from thin air by certain Japanese researchers. The researchers, led by Dr Yoshiro Hatano, determined the average person took 3,500 to 5,000 steps per day. Given more steps than the average would be better why not aim for 10,000?
So the Fitbit has a daily goal that you reach 10,000 steps which is around 8kms. I have no real objection to that, it seems like a good achievable goal and one I have to think about. Do I walk when I get home or before I go off to work? Do I take the stairs or the elevator? Moreover, if the 10,000 step goal is too high or low I can customise it via the synced smartphone app. I always aim to do the 10,000 though.
Fitbit Gamification
The second ethos is the gamification of exercise. Each day I get points awarded and an email congratulating me of reaching my target. I also obtain lifetime achievement points when I’ve walked 50 and 100km. But what’s really motivating to me is seeing the green bars that appear on the app once I hit my goal. Orange or yellow are just not good enough!
Wearability
The Flex itself is small, unobtrusive and very wearable. In fact, the Flex feels just like wearing a watch. However, this is also its downfall since my model doesn’t feature a watch. Countless times I’ve checked my wrist only to realise that the Flex offers nothing on the time front!
Sleep Monitoring
Apart from telling me how many steps I’ve walked during the day, the other thing that the Flex does is monitor my sleep. To be honest, for me this is a useless thing because generally I know if I’ve slept badly or not. Subsequently, I don’t really need the sleep chart it generates to tell me how well I did. That being said, it did surprise me how often I woke up during the night. I suppose it might be useful if you thought that you had a really interrupted sleep pattern.
The Best Fitbit?
All in all the Fitbit Flex is great as it’s helped me achieve what I bought it for in the first place — to change my sedentary ways! It’s definitely spurred me on to walk more and any investment into things that improve my health are always worth it. After all, my health is my number one priority.