10 Reasons I Wear a Fitbit
I was recently listening to an episode of the Tim Ferriss Show podcast and he asked an interesting question: what is the best $100 purchase you’ve made in the past year? I got to thinking about this and the answer became abundantly clear: my Fitbit activity tracker. You’ve probably heard about these, seen them on the wrists of friend and colleagues, or even own one yourself. Rachel and I each got the Blaze model about 18 months ago, and these things have barely left our wrists since. For such a small purchase, the impact on our lives and health has been tremendous. Since the internet is abuzz with bloggers posting their “top 10 lists,” I thought I would jump on the bandwagon and give you the top 10 reasons I wear a Fitbit!
1. Don’t underestimate the importance of taking more steps every day
Seriously! This is #1 for a reason. When we got our Fitbits, I thought it would be a gimmick that would wear off quickly. But soon we saw the real impact that “getting steps in” had on our daily lives and energy levels. Simply making the effort to walk a round a little more each day–to take a walk around the hospital at lunchtime or a loop around the neighborhood after dinner–seriously improves energy and mood. As you know, Rachel and I follow a Primal lifestyle and one of the major tenants is to “move frequently at a slow pace.” It seems seems like an obvious recommendation, but its surprisingly hard to do in our modern lives. Many us work behind a desk, drive cars everywhere we go, and enjoy relaxing after a long day by watching TV on the couch. This lifestyle couldn’t be more disconnected from the way we are wired as humans. Even if you don’t wear an activity tracker, make an effort to move around more throughout your day. I typically do my dictations/charting while walking (or at least standing). Rachel has made a habit of walking whenever she’s catching up with family or friends on the telephone. Go head and try it–I promise you’ll feel better at the end of the day!
2. Reminders to move
Though not all Fitbit models are equipped with this feature, its probably the most important one. Despite the hectic nature of our modern lives, we are far too sedentary. Nowadays its possible to be performing 10 different tasks at once and our brains are working overtime…but our bodies are stuck at the desk. That’s where this little device comes in really handy–it delivers a brief buzz to your wrist when you’ve taken less than 250 steps in an hour (surprisingly easy to do even for an “active” person while reading, typing, or working on the computer). When I get the buzz, I find myself making a mad dash at the end of the hour sometimes just to get that “dot” filled in on the screen. Sound cheesy? Absolutely. But get one of these and you’ll know what I’m talking about!
3. Exercise tracking
While its important to increase even low level activity by moving often at a slow pace, let’s not forget two other super-important Primal principles: “Run really fast once in a while” and “Lift heavy things.” Personally, I don’t advocate regular distance running (for a variety of reasons I’ll address in a future post), but it can keep track of that for you too. Personally, I find it fun to see how far I run in an hour and a half game of full-court basketball (usually about 4-5 miles if you’re curious). It’s also interesting to see how many calories you burn during different exercises. You’ll probably be surprised to see that the 5K jog or the cardio session on the elliptical doesn’t burn that much more than an equal time just moving around at a slow pace.
4. Heart rate monitoring
One of the other cool features of at least some models (those with an HR in the name) is the ability to track and monitor your heart rate in real time. While not as accurate as a chest strap monitor, the device does a pretty good job, especially at rest. I’ve checked my heart rate at work with a medical grade pulse oximeter on one finger and the Fitbit Blaze on the same wrist and reading are within 5 beats per minute. Resting heart rate is an excellent indicator of overall fitness. Real time monitoring of heart rate is useful during aerobic training, although I have doubts about its accuracy. Nevertheless, it is cool to see how quickly I can get my HR up to peak levels of about 170 BPM during a row sprint or a MetCon compared to the profile achieved during a 5k jog or weight lifting session.
5. Sleep tracking.
I firmly believe sleep is one of the most overlooked aspects of our health. We live in a culture where sleep deprivation is a badge of honor. I know, I’ve been there (medical school, residency). But more and more evidence suggests that sleep is critically important for optimal health, and we all need to be paying more attention to both the quality and quantity of the sleep we get. In order to track your sleep, all you have to do is wear the tracker to bed and it analyzes your sleep using your movement and heart rate data. When you wake up in the morning and sync with the smartphone app, it gives you a profile that tells you when you actually fell asleep, how many times your awoke, and even the stages of your sleep (REM, deep sleep, etc). The technology is far from perfect, but for less than $200 its a great start.
6. Logging food (once in a while)
Another great feature of the Fitbit app is the food tracking/logging function. Let me be very clear: I do not routinely do this or suggest that you do. My general philosophy regarding most health interventions is to only do things that are sustainable for the long term, i.e, things that can become a “health habit.” Logging food is definitely not one of them. But for those of you who have never paid attention to what you eat, this is a great tool to get started. Even for those of us who are very conscientious about what we eat, its a good idea to see if you “practice what you preach” every once in a while. The app now gives you a macronutrient profile, which is also very useful if you’re just starting out or have never tracked “macros” before. I typically log food for 2-3 days a month. When I first got it I think I was able to do 2 weeks straight, but its just not practical (or necessary) to track for much longer than that. The goal is to gain a subconscious understanding of food quantity and macronutient profiles and then just go on autopilot. I promise, if you are able to track religiously for a week or more you will pretty much have it figured out.
7. Tracking weight.
If you’re trying to lose weight I firmly think there is no better motivation than to weigh yourself regularly. Even if you’re not trying to lose weight I have made a practice of weighing myself at the same time of the day, in the same conditions at least two or three times per week. I wouldn’t do it daily and certainly not at multiple times in the same day. It can become an obsession, and fluctuations in fluid retention based on what you eat (or the time of the month) can impact your body weight by several pounds. Unless you’re truly obese, losing weight is not the only goal. Improvements in body composition can be more satisfying than a few pounds lost and may not be reflected on the scale. Be sure to supplement your weight measurement with body fat percentage readings or good old fashioned waist circumference measurements. The new Fitbit Aria scale helps in this regard as it estimates body fat percentage in addition to weight, BMI, and lean body mass and syncs these data directly with your app.
8. Healthy competition
The Fitbit app can connect you with a social network of friends, colleagues, and other fitness obsessed weirdos wearing these devices. Within the app, its easy to add “friends” and get started, but certainly not required. Admittedly it’s kind of cheesy, but this feature has proven to be a good source of motivation at times. Not that I would advocate always competing with your spouse or friends, but once in a while it can be a good kick start.
9. Silent alarms
One nice little feature of this tracker is the ability to set a silent alarm that will awaken you with a gentle buzzing on your wrist at the appointed time. OK, I’ll admit, it doesn’t always feel so “gentle” at 5am, but its made a big difference in our family’s happiness–now I can wake up to play basketball without waking Rachel!
10. Notifications from smartphone
OK, so this last one isn’t really a health or fitness reason to wear a Fitbit, but it sure is practical. Some models are equipped to send notifications from your phone for text messages, calendar events, and phone calls. At first I thought this was silly and promoted a frenetic, “connected” existence, but in actuality its just helped me not miss calls when my phone is on silent and more discreetly receive text messages while at work. I’ve actually grown so accustomed to these silent notifications that I’m kind of lost when I choose not to wear the watch to work. These alerts can be easily disabled if you don’t want the distraction, which I’ve found is particularly useful before bed.
So there you have it, those are the 10 reasons that I wear a Fitbit. I’m fairly confident that no other product I’ve purchased for less than $200 has proven to be as useful or impactful than this little device. So have I convinced you yet? There’s still a few weeks left before Christmas–maybe this will be the gift that you can give yourself or a loved one that will actually improve their health!
~Brendan