Challenging Myself with the Fitbit One

Last October, I was lucky enough to be able to go on a fun blogging trip to the mountains of Tennessee. While we were there, the bloggers went to lots of cool activities and events, and even spent a day at a theme park.

During the trip, a few of the bloggers were wearing Fitbits. I’d never heard of Fitbit before and was curious about the little devices. They told me that with Fitbit, they were able to count the number of steps they took each day, how many flights of stairs they’ve gone up and approximate calories burned. The girls kept checking their “stats” throughout the trip and comparing their numbers of steps and flights of stairs with each other. And on the day that we walked through the Theme Park, they were all amazed at how many more steps they’d taken that day than they did on typical days.

I decided I needed a Fitbit.

I saw how much the other girls enjoyed challenging themselves to meet their daily goals and then to break their previous records. It’s one thing to park the car farther away from the store or to take the stairs and hope you’re getting a little more exercise, but with Fitbit I’ll have actual counts of what I’m doing each day. 

So I got a new Fitbit One a couple of weeks ago. 

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I’ll admit that I let it sit for a couple days, assuming that it would be a pain to set up. But it wasn’t! When I opened the box, there was the Fitbit tracker, a clip, a charging cord, a wristband, a little metal doohicky that plugs in to my laptop for wireless syncing and a piece of paper telling me to go to the Fitbit website. I put the wireless sync doohicky in my laptop, went to the website and within a couple of minutes my account was up and ready to go.

With my new Fitbit, I can now track my steps, stairs climbed, distance walked in miles, calories burned and can even track my sleep if I want. Plus, with the Fitbit membership, I can also log and track my daily activity, my sleep, water, body mass and weight online to check my progress. 

The Fitbit device itself is small, about the size of a USB thumb drive. Once slipped into the metal and silicone clip, I can keep it in my pocket or clip it onto a piece of clothing like a waistband or bra. There’s only one button on the fitbit, so it’s super easy to use. I just push the button to have the screen light up and then push the button again to scroll through the screens. As you can see from the graphics, it’s easy to tell which number you’re looking at (steps, stairs, etc.).

The photos aren’t as clear as the Fitbit screens are in person, but you can see the little feet (steps), the distance markers (miles), the stairs (flights climbed), and the fire (calories burned).

With the wireless sync dongle, my Fitbit automatically syncs with my computer as soon as I come within 20 feet of my laptop. I can then check all of my stats online or on my smartphone (the Fitbit iPhone and Android apps are free). It’s sooo easy to use and I’ve been really pleased with it so far.

After using the Fitbit for two weeks, I’m hooked. I’m already getting a feel for how many steps I’ve taken at certain points in the day. On days that I haven’t reached that number, I make an effort to get out and move a lot more. I want to at least meet my daily goal and find myself trying to set a new, higher goal each day.

You can see what my dashboard looked like earlier today. I could see that I’d climbed approximately a tall giraffe (love that) and had taken 843 steps. At that point in the day, I’ve usually gone around 1000 steps, so I made sure to walk a lot more in the afternoon. 

I really love my new Fitbit and would definitely recommend it as a great way to get yourself moving. I’ve been challenging myself to get more active in my regular daily routine and I can see it happening daily. Love it!

Learn more about what Fitbit can do for you!

I received a Fitbit One for review as part of a promotional program with MomSelect. All opinions are my own.