
Living the Fitbit life - eroo
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/06/30/140630fa_fact_sedaris
======
anonova
I had a Fitbit Force for a couple of weeks before falling victim to the the
rash/skin irritation problem [1]. It got quite bad, and my doctor had to
prescribe a topical steroid for it to go away.

Fitbit handled the situation rather poorly. There were hundreds of users
complaining about the problem in their community forum, and it took months for
the company to initiate a recall. What annoyed me the most was that during
this process, they claimed that there was nothing wrong with the product, and
that if there were one, it was due to a nickel allergy. I know, with
confidence, that I am not allergic to nickel. This was still their conclusion
when they posted the final voluntary recall [2].

I now have a minor scar on my wrist, and I can't recommend any of their
products. This isn't because they're bad but how badly the customer service
was during that period. I hope they can recover from that slip up, but I don't
see myself buying anything Fitbit anytime soon, especially with so many other
nicer fitness bands being released.

[1]: [https://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/2014/Fitbit-Recalls-Force-
Ac...](https://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/2014/Fitbit-Recalls-Force-Activity-
Tracking-Wristband/)

[2]: [http://www.fitbit.com/forcesupport](http://www.fitbit.com/forcesupport)

~~~
halviti
Everything I have read seems to suggest that the problem is not with the
product and more with the individual and what happens when you allow something
to cover your skin and never take it off for a long period of time. The larger
surface area of the force being the biggest problem.

I don't think a recall taking a few months is extreme, as an investigation
into what is causing a medical problem might not be the easiest thing in the
entire world, not to mention the fact that it just takes time to investigate
period. I'm also sure that the decision to stop selling them entirely and to
ask everyone to return them, likely to have them never be sold again, is not
something that is often decided at a moment's notice because someone
complained on an internet forum.

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ejain
I've been wearing a Fitbit One for almost two years now. I'm not too
interested in the motivational aspect, but use the data to back up health-
related decisions.

For example, I was able to use the data to confirm that getting exercise late
in the evening doesn't affect my sleep (so no need to change my gym routine).

I ended up building an entire service to support these kinds of analyses
(zenobase.com), hoping to find enough people who care more about data than
badges :-)

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eroo
Once we start seeing reliable metrics for other common vitals, I'm optimistic
we'll see massive benefits from data insights. With a large enough sample size
and the right vitals, I'm hopeful we can find highly correlated early
predictors of some massive events: e.g., does 20 minutes before a heart attack
have a reliable signature?

Is there any boilerplate legalese for open sourcing that kind of data?

~~~
bluedino
I can't wait for a device that can measure how many calories you've eaten. The
possibilities for that would be endless. Beeping after you've hit your
goal/limit for the day?

~~~
evanlivingston
I tend to just pay attention roughly to what I eat, and not eat foods that are
generally bad for me/empty calories. However on some days I'll consume twice
the amount of "recommended daily calories" for an adult my size. Yet I remain
an 140lb adult male.

There are no hard/fast rules for calorie consumption, and I don't believe a
calorie counter will help. In-fact, it is the precise quantification of food
that leads to poor diets/eating habits.

EDIT: My fear is that focusing on only a small part of nutrition will further
harm the nutrition of individuals. If we place too much attention on calories
other things can be overlooked such as vital fats and acids or minerals. I'm
trying to make the case that increased awareness and education of food and the
human diet/nutrition is more important than counting calories. As someone
points out below, there are many situations where calories are not labeled. In
my case, I'm aware of what food is decent, and what food is junk and this
allows me to forgo strict quantification of the food I consume. I know that
food from most food chains is generally junk. This extends beyond the
nutrition of the food as well. Food chains typically source their food from
the cheapest distributors, and these are often the same distributors that end
up distributing massive quantities of contaminated foods.

Here's another case. I could potentially consume 5 sodas in a single day and
remain under my caloric restriction, but I would have consumed a ton of empty
calories. A calorie monitor is not able to help in this case, but my own
awareness of health and nutrition keeps me from doing this.

The issue of health is far larger simple quantification of a few metrics. It
is within any individuals ability to determine for themselves general effects
of the food they are consuming.

For some of the best arguments contrary to my own:
[http://www.foodpolitics.com/tag/calorie-
labeling/](http://www.foodpolitics.com/tag/calorie-labeling/)

~~~
bluedino
>> However on some days I'll consume twice the amount of "recommended daily
calories" for an adult my size. Yet I remain an 140lb adult male.

That's the thing - some days. People who are overweight generally do it _every
day_.

And I'll also assume you're ~ 25 years old and your metabolism hasn't started
slowing down yet.

~~~
evanlivingston
I think obese and many overweight people are aware that they consume more food
than the average person. What is the obese person going to do at 6pm when
they've received the notification that they've consumed too many calories?

There are much larger issues than calorie counting that cause 2/3 of the U.S
to be overweight. Agricultural corn subsidies for starters, a defunct FDA,
poor education, lack of strong culinary traditions and a lack of preventative
healthcare all play into a massive amount of people being overweight.

~~~
olefoo
Not to mention a culture that encourages people to spend money on things that
allow them to live a sedentary lifestyle.

If you drive to work, take the elevator, sit in front of a computer all day
and then watch television to relax... then; duh. You're gonna be chubby, even
if you only eat organic salads from Whole Paycheck.

If you walk or bike for local trips, stand or take frequent stretch breaks
while at work, always take the stairs and garden in the evenings you're going
to much more fit even if taquitos are a food group as far as you're concerned.

Habits are the key. Figure out how to shift your default behaviours and you
will effect change.

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tannerc
I'm fairly active — running on a treadmill for 20 minutes then lifting weights
for 30 every day of the week, walking nearly everywhere, only using stairs,
etc. — but I can't bring myself to use these types of trackers.

I eagerly ordered the SE Nike+ band when it was announced, I used it for maybe
a week before giving it away to a friend. Perhaps it wasn't as interesting to
me because there was no way to compare my numbers (no personal friends used
similar devices).

The idea of personal fitness trackers still intrigues me (it sounds fun), but
in reality the moment you discover your "number" as an average, it's easy to
lose interest.

~~~
TarpitCarnivore
Something like the Basis Band may be a better choice for you. It has issues
with tracking your heart rate during intense activities, but I think with what
you're doing it should still work. The points of data it captures blows away
anything else on the market is doing. Unfortunately their future is a bit in
limbo since Intel bought them.

~~~
tannerc
Thanks, I haven't heard of Basis before reading your post. Though your last
sentence makes me wonder if its' worth pursuing or not. Any alternatives you
know of?

~~~
TarpitCarnivore
I have not see anything that offers the kind of data recording and
encouragement Basis has. I'm hoping to see one go up on eBay or a flash sale
somewhere, I'd love to get one even if the future is uncertain. The Pulse came
kind of close, but it didn't offer the encouragement Basis did. I guess the
next closest is the Up24, but no HRM.

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Tyrannosaurs
I have (but no longer wear) a FuelBand.

My experience was that I found the data initially interesting (mostly that the
idea anyone was under the Nike "average" staggering - I have a desk job and
don't consider myself massively active but easily hit it most days) but the
problem I had was that in a busy life I found relatively little room to flex
what I was doing in any substantial way.

My week day routine essentially goes - get up, get ready for work, get kids
up, leave, drive to work, work, drive home, get kids bathed and into bed, tidy
house, get dinner, eat... and by that time it's about 9pm and I've either got
to do whatever jobs need doing or relax. In itself that routine is relatively
active outside the desk job (kids...) but there isn't a lot of wiggle room.

My commute isn't easily changable (I live in a rural location so anything
other than driving is out), I can sometimes get out and go for a walk at
lunchtime and I try to do walking meetings if possible (maybe once a week) but
generally speaking my day is my day and I can't really change much.

As a result measuring it didn't feel like it had much point - the number was
the number and it was relatively rare I'd look at it and think I could have
done better.

~~~
tptacek
I have roughly similar problems; for instance, I could walk more by taking
public transportation instead of driving, but that would add overhead
disproportionate to the benefit (I'd lose about 1.5 hours out of every day,
and a huge amount of schedule flexibility).

But: can you do things like park further away from work?

When I lived in Ann Arbor, I was walking distance from the office. I really
miss looking forward to that walk (listening to music and clearing my head for
an hour a day), and I was definitely healthier then than I am now.

~~~
jasonkester
Sounds like you're flirting with the answer. Eventually, you hit a point where
your health becomes more important than 10 billable hours a week.

I made this leap this year, explicitly cutting down to 4 day weeks and making
fitness a priority again.

The previous 3 years were my least healthy on record. Two separate month-long
flus and that annual six-month cold thing that never seems to go away.
Coincided nicely with committing to a 40hr/week contract.

I'm 5 months in to this now. A bit less billed than this time last year, but
not a sniffle in all that time.

~~~
tptacek
It has nothing much to do with billable hours, and more to do with the amount
of time I have for my family obligations.

------
bluedino
>> “It’s a Fitbit. You synch it with your computer, and it tracks your
physical activity.”

Is it sync, or synch? The 'h' really bothers me for some reason.

~~~
morgante
Both are correct, though I believe "synch" is slightly British.

~~~
collyw
That explains why I automatically type "sychdb" instead of "syncdb" every time
I want to update my Django app.

------
kator
My wife and I are avid fitbit'ers. We used to walk about an hour every day
before we got them so it wasn't like we became fanatics when we got them but
things have changed in some very subtle ways:

We can get the same amount of walking in even when we travel to a new city, we
used to slack off sometimes when we travelled because we didn’t have a “route”
to follow. Now we just go and often walk until we get to 1/2 our goal and turn
around. Meanwhile we get to see so much more of the city we’re visiting. Our
last trip to London we had so much fun we walked 8 miles out before we
realized we needed to head back to the hotel.

We bought them for my Mom and Dad. My dad who is “Seventy something” walks me
into the ground every day. He is on the west coast and we’re generally on the
east coast. Every day he would beat me by 2,000 or more steps. I thought maybe
my dad was taking advantage of the time zone advantage he had over me. To test
this I stopped syncing for a couple days and then sync’d “all at once” and I
managed to beat him. When I confronted him with this data he laughed and said
“What else is an old man to do then to walk his son into the ground!”

My best friend has one also and he often loves to taunt me when I’m a bit
behind. When we travel we usually smash his weekly records into the ground and
the taunting goes the other way!

I’m an avid MMORPG player and since getting a fitbit it has slowly taken place
of leveling toons or getting that next cool piece of gear. I have managed to
make my life more of a game and enjoy the benefits of being more active while
feeding that competitive part of my brain that want’s to win.

The only thing we love more is we have a Withings WiFi scale, tracking our
weight along with activity and intake (Lose It! App for iPhone) makes for a
pretty nice trifecta of tools to help meet personal goals. It also makes it
easy when I slip up, I can look back “Ohh yea I really slacked off that week
because of x, y or z”.

I have lost several of these and always replace them immediately. For a time
my wife and I actually kept one in her travel case because we lost one when we
were traveling and were crushed that we couldn’t replace it the very same day.
We gave that one to one of our daughters and needless to say she’s in love
with it.

Funny story: I lost one in New York city on a rainy night in December of last
year. When I figured out it was gone my wife and I retraced our last walk and
we found a fitbit in the rain but it wouldn’t turn on. I assumed the rain got
to it so I took it home in hopes of reviving it. When I got it dried off I
plugged it into the charger and it pops up “Hello Frank”. I laughed so hard I
couldn’t stop laughing for ten minutes. My name isn’t Frank. We never found
mine, I hope Frank found mine and reloaded it on his account. I’m still using
Frank’s FitBit (Thanks again Frank) and happy to say it’s been a good
companion in my day to day life.

~~~
jgrahamc
Great story about the tech.

Now...

What actual benefits have you seen? For example, weight loss, increased muscle
strength, blood pressure, heart rate?

~~~
kator
I lost 35 lbs my wife lost more but she would not want me to say the number!

After Hurricane Sandy we had to walk up and down 36 flights of stairs because
our building lost power. We made 36 flights very quickly and my heart rate
(Heart Rate iPhone app) returned to normal very quickly. (Sorry not going to
share too much here lol). If we had tried this before we would have been DOA
half the way. We made several trips up and down over the course of a couple
days and we had to walk from downtown to mid-town for many things because so
much of the area was without power.

~~~
foobarqux
Since you got the fitbit or since you decided to start exercising?

~~~
varelse
I've exercised regularly since the age of 22 when my ballerina girlfriend
dumped me for someone effectively identical to me in every major way except
that he was ripped and he could dance (and oh yeah, Atari ST versus Amiga). He
and I have even indirectly intersected over the years. That event was both
heartbreaking and catalytic for me. I have been a fitness freak ever since.

"Big things have small beginnings" to quote David from _Prometheus_.

Anyway, the Fitbit uncovered that I wasn't walking enough even though I had a
pulse of 50 or so and all my vital signs were more or less awesome. My
response was to address that immediately. But that does not seem to be the
norm. The norm (at least in America) is to return to denial. A solution for
that IMO is _the_ _killer_ wearable business model.

~~~
foobarqux
To be clear, you lost 35 lbs after getting and as a result of the fitbit?

~~~
varelse
In my case, 13 pounds, and yes 100% directly attributable to the mindful state
induced by wearing the fitbit. But as I've said in my other two posts in this
thread, my response to the information it provided does not seem to be the
norm.

Or as the old joke goes: How many psychoanalysts does it take to change a
light bulb? One, but the light bulb has to want to change. Devices like the
fitbit offer you either the blue pill or the red pill. Which one you take is
up to you.

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tptacek
Does anyone have a sense of how accurate the M7 step counter is on the iPhone
5S? Is there a point in having a Fitbit if you basically always carry a 5S
around with you?

I've been watching the step counter on the phone over my trip to the UK and
I'm surprised how motivating it is.

------
jamesRaybould
I love my fitbit and wear it pretty much religiously, it tracks how much I
move in a day and how much I sleep, but 2 things irk me about it. It is
constantly broadcasting my location via bluetooth LE. You have to have an
internet connection to retrieve any data from it.

As a software dev I'd love to get my raw data out just to see what fun an
interesting things I could do/see with it. When I have asked in the past they
have turned me down flat saying that they don't provide access to the raw data
because people could "figure out how we calculate our raw data and algorithms,
so this data is all proprietary"

~~~
Yen
There is one open-source project that manages synchronizing a fitbit to their
service. Apparently, one used to be able to get data from listening to this
communication, but they now encrypt all data coming off of the device.

I got a Jawbone Up24 for my birthday, which seems to be a similar device. I'll
see how easy or difficult it is to get data off of that. (I think it's
designed to sync via bluetooth directly to a smartphone, which then syncs to
their service, so there might be some more wiggle room on communicating to the
device).

~~~
alecdbrooks
It looks like Jawbone has a reasonable-looking API [1]. Alternatively, you can
set up Beeminder [2] to collect the data (or for Fitbit) for free and then use
Beeminder's API [3].

[1]: [https://jawbone.com/up/developer](https://jawbone.com/up/developer) [2]:
[https://www.beeminder.com](https://www.beeminder.com) [2]:
[https://www.beeminder.com/api](https://www.beeminder.com/api)

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craigching
I had heard about "10,000 steps/day", was curious, so asked for one for
Father's Day (just over a week ago).

After one week, being a software engineer for over 20 years now, it gets me
out of my chair once in the morning and once in the afternoon for 10 minutes
each, just a walk around the block + some change if I walk for lunch. I don't
quite get 10,000 steps with that and I have two young children so it's hit or
miss if I can get out after work with them, but I do get 20 to 30 minutes of
activity per day that I didn't before. Totally, 100% worth it so far.

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unsigner
Wonderful article, but it's major effect on me is more curiosity about the
iWatch. I hope it does cycling and weightlifting better than the current crop
of devices - I'm definitely NOT going to drop my 30 km/day of cycling to walk
more.

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naveen99
I just got into fitness 3 weeks ago. Fitbit seems interesting. There is a ton
of info on [http://reddit.com/r/fitness](http://reddit.com/r/fitness) Also
[http://stronglifts.com](http://stronglifts.com) Tons of youtube videos on
fitness, for example by pendlay Myfitnesspal is very useful also for free. I
have already lost 3 lbs and am actually eating more than when I was a couch
potato. I am also trying to apply discipline I am learning for fitness in my
work and home life also. Love it.

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gadders
I wish someone could invent a FitBit equivalent for strength training, rather
than cardio.

~~~
thesehands
presumably this could be done fairly easily using some RFID on the weights and
sensor tracking in a wristband or ankleband to identify the activity.

~~~
gadders
Good point. I was wondering how they would measure "effort" or pressure on the
bar. It's not as easy as just counting steps. RFID could work. I wonder if
there is a sensor that could check muscle "activation" as well.

