Against my better judgment, I purchased a Fitbit Charge 3 online for $80, and it arrived this past Sunday. I wouldn’t recommend buying one of these “personal activity trackers” without having a specific benefit that you want to attach as a “carrot” to keep you motivated and using the tracker. I am sure you remember the days of the treadmill in the apartment or house used as a clothes hanger.
In any case, the Fitbit Charge 3 came charged with 70% battery life, which helps with the “right out of the box” setup. The Fitbit was relatively quick and easy to set up when I started the device setup process. It took me about 20 minutes to create a profile account online @ fitbit.com, update/select the different options I want to track (steps, meals, exercise, and sleep), and load the latest firmware to the Fitbit watch.
I purchased the watch to better track my lifestyle metrics in movement, meals, and rest. I do subscribe to the management adage of Peter Drucker, “you can’t manage what you can’t measure.” I have been tracking and charting progress, but I found that using technology would be a new and interesting path to use from a time management perspective. So far, I am glad I did it. The simple benefit of having all my activity data tracked, charted, and available from near-instant to 24 hours (depending on what you want to measure you want to see) is very powerful.
Much of the research around the overall benefits and accuracy of collected data based on the various product algorithms employed by personal activity trackers seems mixed from what I can tell; however, I will see for myself how one of these gadgets can help me in my journey.
I am planning to take advantage of every feature this product has to offer. This is truly an upgrade for me in the area of tracking progress and holding accountability.
Stay tuned for the journey; I just got a new tool in the kit. More to come as I learn more about using my Fitbit!
Make it a great day!
Reference info
https://www.wired.com/story/science-says-fitness-trackers-dont-work-wear-one-anyway/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5225122/