On Fitness {Fitbit Review}

Happy Monday! If you're stuck in the blizzarding weather on the east coast, I hope that you're warm and cozy and getting to stay inside on this blustery, snowy day. Before you read the following post, I just want to note that I did not get compensated for this review in any way and all views are entirely my own and unsolicited. Also, I am not a fitness expert and all of my reviews here come only from personal experience.

Alternate titles for this post included "YayFit!," "WhooooooaaaaaaaFit," and my personal alternate favorite, "Fitbit Should Be Renamed FitLife." But I thought I'd go with something a bit more direct. Fitbit has also helped jumpstart a whole new, healthier lifestyle for me, and this is only my first post in a series over the next few months about fitness and health.

I spent a long time debating whether or not to get a Fitbit. The main thing holding me back was the price, but over the long Thanksgiving weekend, Amazon had a sale and it was only $75. (Originally, it is $100, but it is being offered with Prime now for only $93.) Without the $100 price tag holding me back, I went for it over that long weekend. But, honestly, knowing about it what I do now - it is definitely worth the $100 pricetag.

Early morning pre-gym photo. I wear it a little large because during the day I keep my watch on the same wrist.
Aside from the change in price, there were 2 different forces that came together that made me buy the Fitbit 2 months ago. The first force was a challenge. There was a fitness challenge going on at my high school. All of the teachers who wanted to participate joined a Google spreadsheet and, on the honor code, kept track of their weekly steps. I spent the first week of the challenge only using my iPhone and guess what - my recorded steps were so low! But was it because I wasn't active? No, not at all. It was actually because as amazing as the iPhone is at most things, it can't track steps when it isn't on your physical person. Because of that, anytime I didn't have the phone in my pocket, it wasn't tracking my steps. I knew that if I wanted to be serious in the challenge, then I needed a real pedometer.

The second force was a conversation that I had with a student. On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving break, I brought in cookies for my students. As I was taking another cookie, I was joking with one of my students and telling her that I'd eaten too many, but that it was okay, my diet would start on Monday. She laughed, took a cookie, and walked back to her desk, not thinking twice about what I'd said. Except I thought twice about it. And then a third time. And then I thought to myself, why not? Why not start on Monday? Monday was December 1st and I love a good fresh month on the calendar. That, and the fact that it was after Thanksgiving, made it a perfect day. And so, I started.

I bought my Fitbit Flex Wireless Activity and Sleep Wristband in black on a Friday and it arrived on Monday afternoon (thank you, Amazon Prime!). I put it on that evening to get used to it, and since then, it has only been off of my wrist a handful of times to recharge. My first full day using it, I hit my 10,000 steps and was instantly hooked.

Since then, I've only had a handful of days not hitting my steps - all of them weekend days when I wasn't teaching and instead, was either sleeping in or being a couch potato. I got very competitive in the fitness challenge and pushed myself to go above and beyond - hitting over 175,000 steps in the last week of the challenge. I came in 1st place in the most improved category and am looking forward to the next challenge!

So, should you get one? Aside from it helping to spark a competitive edge I didn't know I had, here are my pros and cons for the Fitbit.


- It takes what I can tell is a fairly accurate count of all of the steps I take, and activity I engage in, during the day. It does have the sleep tracker, but I haven't been using it, so I can't comment on that.

- It allows you to track your food intake, making it really easy to keep track of healthy eating all in the same app.

- It is water resistant - I almost never take it off and can wear it in the shower.

- It goes with just about everything. As I said above, I almost never take it off and the sleek black look doesn't draw any added attention. 

- It also lets you track your water intake, an awesome way to keep track of hydration throughout the day.

- You can use it to challenge your friends and push each other further towards reaching your goals. My personal favorite challenge is the Workweek Hustle!

- And my final favorite thing? Goal setting. You can set any goals relating to steps, miles, activity or calories burned. Then, it alerts when you've hit your goal. I usually feel the vibration around 10:30 or 11 in the morning letting me know I've hit my 10,000 steps and it always adds an extra smile to my morning.


- It isn't 100% accurate. There are definitely times that I take steps and it doesn't register all of them and when I run on the treadmill, the mileage doesn't always add up.

- It doesn't go with everything. The black band is great for the everyday, but we have a wedding we're going to in a couple of months and it definitely will not look right with my fancy dress.

- And I hate that I have to take it off to charge it. I know this is something that can't be changed, but I always get annoyed and tend to do it when I go to sleep so that I don't miss out on the tracking. 

While there are a few cons to owning the Fitbit, in my opinion, the pros far and above outweighed the cons. My Fitbit tracks my steps and motivates me to stay active and be healthy. It's been just under 2 months, and I could not be happier that I bought the Fitbit Flex.

Do you have a fitness tracker? A Fitbit? Or another technological method you use to track your activity? If you have the Fitbit, did I leave out any pros or cons? 



  1. I am loving my Fitbit too! We definitely need to do another work week challenge after all of these snow days!


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