Activity trackers - useful?

[ozliz]

I’m planning a New Years resolution for 2021. I don’t really believe in them but I’ve been much too lazy and eaten quite poorly for 2020 and I’ve told myself that once the Christmas celebrations are done it will be time to change that. I have some leftover gift cards from a sports store and had planned to get some exercise clothes in the sales (I don’t have many that fit anymore) but I can get by with the clothes I have and wonder whether an activity tracker might be useful. I’ve been looking at the basic fitbit and some others but I am not sure whether it is really necessary. For those that have found them useful why was it useful and what did it help you with? For those that haven’t found them useful, why not? I used to be quite active and I’m already swimming twice a week and dancing once a week but I need to get back into something more strenuous. I know I can do it without an activity tracker but wonder if I might be more successful with one.

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

I have a Fitbit, charge 4 model I think. I just leave it on. During lockdown, winter months, when it is all too easy to become sloth like, I find it a useful prompt to get moving. I like knowing (smugly) how far the dog and I walk everyday, weekly totals etc. It has a resting heartbeat monitor which for some reason intrigues me. 63 bpm which is apparently excellent for an ‘old codger’. Ridiculously, I like the sleep monitor. On those mornings, when I feel tired and think it is because I slept badly, it tells me that I am thinking nonsense and I actually slept well. My year old golden retriever, had a case of the ‘zoomies’ and sliced a chunk off his paw pad yesterday, so he is now bandaged up (£500 vet bill, thank you) and our walking will be restricted for a while, but I think the Fitbit will nudge me to not hibernate and keep being active. It has lots of things that I don’t use, like specific exercise monitors, food and water monitors, WiFi for incoming messages, Spotify. It isn’t going to do the hard work and get you fit and healthy but it you want to track how active or inactive you are now and then set yourself a target of steps or miles or heart rate/fat burn etc, I think you would find it useful. It’s inexpensive compared to an Apple Watch.

 

[happily single]

I just saw something on the world news last night that people wearing an activity tracker are (I forget what %) more likely to be more active. Women who do at least 4,400 steps are less likely to have some (again I forget which one) health issues.

i bought a Fitbit during covid lock down and am honestly surprised at how inactive I normally am. I’ve begun wearing it again and get to 4-5k steps when I wear it.

My favorite workout pants are the straight leg yoga pants from Walmart. They are about $11 a pair and hold up well. I’m a massage therapist and I wear these to work as well.
Use the gift cards to purchase a tracker. It will be fun

 

[jo-jo]

i bought a Fitbit during covid lock down and am honestly surprised at how inactive I normally am. I’ve begun wearing it again and get to 4-5k steps when I wear it.

Make sure you wear it when you get to disney. 15,000 steps easy. I've always felt, if I could go to disney for a month or two, I'd be skinny. Walking a track----boring----speed walking to 7 dwarfs--fun.

 

[happily single]

Make sure you wear it when you get to disney. 15,000 steps easy. I've always felt, if I could go to disney for a month or two, I'd be skinny. Walking a track----boring----speed walking to 7 dwarfs--fun.

Funny story-last “family trip” I used my daughters Fitbit as I hadn’t bought one. Obviously there was an error. It said the entire day in MK was 1,550 steps!