Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Fitbit vs. Slimcoach: A Head to Head battle

Before I get into it...at today's weigh in : 294.0  I am down 10lbs in just 3 days shy of a month.  Woot Woot!

Exciting, right!?

My mood this week has been all over the place.  I have been thinking a lot about what it means if I do not get this job.  I know it doesn't MEAN anything in the grand scheme, but it means that I am closer and closer to being 1 whole year with no job and that means a lot. 

No beating myself up.  Just wish I knew something so I could get excited or move on.

Now....onto the challenge.
and
As you all know, I lost my fitbit.  Couldn't find it for months.  Yesterday, through some quirky circumstances I located it, only to have it fall apart in my hands moments later.  Lucky for me...I purchased the two year protection plan on it through Best Buy, so no biggie. I have been considering replacing it with a new device anyway.  After all, I paid around a hundred bucks for it and the new MyTrak Slimcoach (used by this season's Biggest Loser contestants) is priced at about $130.00 (between 180.00 and 300.00 total, if you purchase a recommended Polar Wearlink Heart Monitor). 

To be honest...the decision to put them head to head was made before I even got to the store.  I ended up with them both and I will USE the one I love and perhaps give the other one away.

Even though I have had the fitbit for nearly a year, Best Buy replaced it with the new fitbit Ultra, which NOW measures hills and flights of stairs, so there are still new aspects of it.

Perhaps next week I will give an overview of my first impressions of both.  I definitely already have strong opinions on either side.  I plan to use both for a month and then openly and honestly compare them.

Do you have a device that you prefer?  What is it?  What do you love about it?

Today's Spark: A 3.8lb loss!  I want more weigh ins like this!

6 comments:

  1. Great job on that monthly weight loss!! Keep up the good work!!
    Good luck with those 2 products, it should be fun trying them both out to see which is right for you.

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  2. I love my Fitbit Ultra. The instant feedback you get is very motivating and makes it a great tool.

    One problem I have noticed however is the calorie estimates when logging activities manually into the website are wildly inaccurate.

    For example, today I swam, which I obviously can't do with the Fitbit. I swam 3200 yards. If I enter the duration as one hour it says I burned 611 calories. But if I put 1:04, it says 400. Obviously it cannot be that huge of a difference (-33%)for four extra minutes.

    So my recommendation if you use the Fitbit is to rely on a heart rate monitor or a site like Livestrong.com for more accurate calculations on calorie burn. I think the Fitbit does fine when it is tracking your steps, stairs, etc. but not when you try to adapt it to other sports.

    I still think it's a great little gadget.

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  3. Great job on the weightloss. I have a weigh in tomorrow. Good luck with the machines...I have no idea of them or have even seen them. I have my fingers crossed for you on the job. keep up the great work you are doing.

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  4. One more thing about the Fitbit and calorie burn: the Fitbit calculations always seem to err low, not high. This is a good thing in my opinion, because the errors will not adversely affect your weight loss if you are consuming the calories you burn through exercise. (If anything, they may speed it up a bit.)

    I eat the same number of calories regardless of my workouts, but I know a lot of people go by the total the website will tell them they "can" eat including what they burn through workouts. I hope this makes sense. Those that have a Fitbit will probably know what I'm talking about.

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  5. Christie, My package arrived in the mail today. I was so thrilled and will start reading the book tomorrow. That was a wonderful giveaway and I feel so lucky to have won it. Thank you again for your wonderful generosity. Hugs,

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    1. Yay!!! I am glad you finally received it. I was starting to worry. I hope you love it. They are very inspirational to me.

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