Travel & Food Writer

My Love for Fitbits Explained

Okay, so I need to back it up for the blog readers who don’t know what a Fitbit is, i.e., my parents, and anyone who’s not as fanatically insane about exercising as I am.

The Fitbit is a brand of tracking devices that the government uses to learn about our habits and pinpoint our location at all times.* But it’s marketed as a fitness product that helps people monitor their activity, exercise, food, weight, and sleep to lead to healthier lifestyles.

*I learned this on Scandal.

Basically, it’s a bracelet that counts your steps, records your sleep, and can sync up with other devices to let you know how many calories you’ve burned. There are different variations of the Fitbit: I bought the Flex. I know people like visuals, so here is a picture of me wearing my Flex. It’s pink and blends in nicely with all of my other bracelets.

It’s a little hard to see, so I’ll zoom in.

And while we’re zooming in, let’s just take a minute to appreciate M-dog’s face.

So, I wore my Fitbit religiously for four months. The only time I took it off was to charge it. And then, a few days ago, as I was preparing to go to sleep, I realized IT WAS MISSING.

The irony was that I had JUST had a conversation with my friend that very night in which I confessed to loving my Fitbit, and it was a confession I had been withholding for quite some time.

You see, with Fitbit and me, it wasn’t exactly love at first sight.

When I first bought my Fitbit, I had mixed feelings. I had even considered returning it within the first 30 days and purchasing something else because I thought I could do better. Maybe a tracker with a heart rate monitor, or a device that offered a more detailed sleep report (e.g. I wanted something to tell me if I went into deep sleep and when. I MUST KNOW.)

But a few days before I went to the mall to make the return, something changed. I discovered MyFitnessPal. Not to bore you with details, but MyFitnessPal is an app for one’s phone that keeps track of how many calories one is consuming and expending. I learned that I could sync MyFitnessPal with my Fitbit, and suddenly life was AWESOME. I just opened the app, and boom! Automatic deduction for my daily exercise. I actually had an idea of how much I was earning (calorically) versus how much I was spending.

Oh, I walked 18,534 steps today…? How many calories is that? How many granola bars can I eat because of it? These questions: answered.

The second reason I fell for the Fitbit was the accuracy of its step-counter. I had doubts about this early on, based on consumer reviews online, but over time it proved itself to be spot on. In fact, two days before I lost my Fitbit, I performed the greatest experiment ever.**

**based on my ideas of excellence and not those of actual scientists

Along the bike path in Lincoln, there are numbered posts at each half-mile to let people know how far they’ve gone. The trail extends for miles, and I was running 8 miles that day. Now, my Fitbit was set to buzz whenever I reached 10,000 steps, and 10,000 steps = approx. 5 miles. So, I gave Fitbit a test. As I approached the five mile mark, I said (aloud), “If you’re accurate, Little Fitbit, you will buzz soon. Don’t let me down,” and I kid you not: the exact moment I stepped by the five mile marker, my bracelet starting buzzing. It was one of my proudest moments. I did a fist pump, and I might have even said, “Yahoo!” because FITBIT HAD PROVEN ITSELF THAT DAY. (5/14/15, RIP) Anyhow, I lost my Fitbit shortly thereafter. It must have come off my wrist somewhere in Providence when I was slugging my backpack around the city (whilst carrying my laptop, mind you, in the hopes of writing a blog), and I was so upset, I wrote a post about it for my Facebook friends and Tweeted about it. This is what I said.

If anyone finds a pink Fitbit lying around (you know, in the great Providence area), please let me know. @fitbit

— (@fushilou) May 19, 2015

Funnily enough, I had JUST admitted liking the thing, and shortly thereafter it took a flying leap off my wrist in rebellion. — (@fushilou) May 19, 2015

This just in: pink Fitbits have a lot in common with the male species.

— (@fushilou) May 19, 2015

(I thought I was funny.) (Not to mention, it’s TRUE. Matt Hussey, can you corroborate here?) So, I tagged @Fitbit in the posts, and you’ll never guess what happened: THEY REPLIED.

@fushilou Oh no! Sorry to hear that your tracker is missing. Please email us through http://t.co/n568EV68G3 so we could have a look at this.

— Fitbit Support (@FitbitSupport) May 19, 2015

Phenomenal! But I can’t write just an ordinary letter to these people–oh no. I wrote this:

This somehow did not deter them, and these fine and wonderful people are sending me a replacement Fitbit! Therefore, I LOVE YOU FITBIT PEOPLE. You spared me from losing $100 and a lifetime of happiness, and everyone ought to purchase their products because they rock.

Thank you!