How the Fitbit changed my thinking about "dieting"

As I shared yesterday, the Fitbit has rekindled a desire to keep my wellness in balance. The nice thing about their products is they are nearly ready to go out of the box. Download software and apps for mobile devices, and charge the tracker for 3 hours, and you're set.

Once you slap it on, the FB constantly tracks your steps, distance walked, etc. This is the core function, and you don't have to ask it for any more. 

But like anything in life, it's what you make of it, and it also has additional functionality for sleep tracking, an alarm to wake you (a buzzing bracelet is hard to ignore!), plus ways to input weight, plus food and water intake. 

I also bought the FB Aria scale, so my daily weight would automatically upload. By logging this, and setting a weight loss goal on the FB website, it estimates how long it will take to make goal (but personally, partner app Trend Weight does a better job of taking the daily up/down from a bad meal out of the equation). 

While I wasn't surprised my BMI was slightly overweight, I was surprised to see I am about 1/3 body fat!! That's a sign right there that we can watch what we eat, but exercise is as or even more important in fitness. 

I like how the FB adjusts your consumption goal based on activity. More active one day? It's ok to eat more. This makes sense. Also, it's a calorie based system, so there's less scrambling because I don't know the Points for an item. 

Like any product, there are less than perfect parts. The food database is limited (which I'll expand on in tomorrow's post on My Fitness Pal). And the daily water goal is set at 48 oz and can't be changed. You are allowed to go over, and I often do. I do like the game of filling up the water girl :)

There's also a good listing of partner apps, which is what led me to look into better food databases. I like Sleep Debt for catching up on my ZZZZs. And the FB website has additional features not in the apps, like body measurement tracking, blood pressure and diabetes tracking modules, and the ability to add one custom tracker on the free site (premium comes with more reports). Anyone can have a FB account, even without a device. 

So armed with some nutritional analysis, I was hungry for more data on what I was eating. Tomorrow, I'll tell you how I found it with My Fitness Pal.