Fitbit Ultra Wireless Tracker Review

 

Let me start by saying that I am NO fitness guru – in fact, I completely hate exercising! (GASP!) I know, I’ve tried those free online spreadsheets to keep track of everything but by the end of the day I either forget to fill them out or I can’t remember what in the world I was supposed to be filling in! While at BlogHer’12 I spent quite a bit of time with my sponsor Best Buy as I am one of their Brand Ambassadors and they gave me this Fitbit Ultra Wireless Tracker to wear. Sadly at the conference I couldn’t set up my account online since I had (not so conveniently) forgotten my computer cords but I wore it anyways! You’ll need to set up an EASY and quick account for your Fitbit, and then anytime you are near the computer you set your account up on it will AUTOMATICALLY update your online account with your activity information! I NEVER have to transfer it over!

This itty bitty device is nothing short of amazing! I have to admit I was thoroughly impressed! It counts your steps, your calories burned, the amount of stairs climbed, EVEN your sleep quality! Being a mom of 2 crazy little boys I am ALWAYS pretty exhausted so I was incredibly interested to see what it would tell me about my sleep! So although I couldn’t record my steps while at BlogHer I wore my Fitbit anyway – it is SO small I had to keep checking to make sure I still had it! But it never once moved out of place – and I did a LOT of walking! Once I got home the fun really started!

Here is my Fitbit on a regular sized Post-it Note. I even wore my Fitbit while at the Red Carpet movie screening! You can wear it one of several places – I usually wear it on my pants line, but you can very easily attach it to your bra as well (for the ladies anyways!). And it comes with a soft wristband to attach it to while you are sleeping.

On the Fitbit is a tiny button you can press to scroll through and see quick updates such as how many steps you’ve taken, how many stairs you’ve climbed, the time, how many miles you’ve walked, and how many calories you’ve burned. There is even a cool digital flower that grows the more you are active and shrinks the less you are active! Check it out – my very first day wearing it I received a badge!

I absolutely LOVE that essentially I could do absolutely nothing more than wear my Fitbit and learn a whole LOT of information. But that’s not all it does – when you sign into account online there are an incredible amount of options.

Check out these categories that you can choose to log on every day and keep track of. You can keep track of what you’ve eaten which will automatically count the calories for you, keep track of your activities, weight, sleep times, journal, heart rate, blood pressure, and glucose amounts for those with diabetes. It will automatically take what you have input and create charts and graphs out of them, show you your average stats, and quite a few other things.

Remember how I said I’m always tired and I was curious what my Fitbit would show me about my sleep? I’ll have to say – it wasn’t pretty! Look at this!

Y.I.K.E.S. – look at all of those red spikes! That means I was awake…. a WHOLE LOT! Around 8am you can see I woke up for the day but it looks like I’m pretty active all through the night! I am VERY interested in continuing to track this and see if there is any difference in my sleeping patterns based on when I go to bed at night.

If you are trying to lose weight I LOVE this “Calories Burned” chart! At a glance you can see your most active times during the day (or night!) and try to increase the times when you’re less active. Don’t forget that you can also keep track of your caloric intake as well! PLUS there are mobile apps for Fitbit so that you can log in your food, glucose levels, etc. while you are out for the day. There are a LOT of different corresponding programs depending on what your need is. I love that I can “compete” with myself or even a friend to try and take the most steps per day or climb the most stairs.

This morning before I started writing this post I took a quick screenshot of my “daily activity” which you can see below.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Fitbit! Although I am not a hardcore exercise guru or diabetic there are still a LOT of uses for me with this little device. It only needs to charge about once every five days for maybe 15-20 minutes so it is very low maintenance. I love that it automatically sends all of my updates to my computer so I don’t have to worry about inputting extra data (unless I’m tracking food, glucose, etc.). I love that it’s tiny so no one sees it and I never even remember if I’m wearing it or not!

I love how many people this can help! This is an AWESOME way for my diabetic friends to keep track of the average times during the day they need insulin/glucose. For those that need to lose weight I think it’s awesome that you can earn badges! Even though you don’t really get something from it a virtual badge always boosts your self-esteem level just a little bit. Plus if you look at the image above at the amount of floors I climbed today – I climbed as high as a tall giraffe! That made me feel pretty awesome because let’s face it – giraffes are T.A.L.L.!!! 🙂

 Personally I would love to lose some weight & get back to my pre-baby weight (don’t all moms?!) and this Fitbit might just be what helps me get there! Every day in the back of my mind I am reminded that it is recording my steps, and my goal is at least 7000 steps per day. I’ve noticed myself taking the kids on walks more, going down the stairs more, and in general being more active knowing that I will visually see my payoff throughout the day via my Fitbit. If you need a way to keep track of your exercise, sleep patterns, glucose, or any of the other things I’ve listed above I definitely think it is worth the price. It is a very good investment for your health and really help you to stay on track with your fitness routine.

Disclosure: The reviewer has received no compensation for this post in the form but did receive the product featured.

 

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