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Top 7 Reasons to Get a Fitness Tracker

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May 15, 2015

Let me start by saying I absolutely love my Fitbit. I didn’t think it would be as addicting as it is. I had no clue it would motivate me to get up and walk across the room to put away one piece of laundry at a time. But it does. And it does more than that.

If you haven’t hopped on the fitness tracker wagon yet, here are seven reasons how they can help improve your fitness.

  1. Fitness experts recommend a daily step goal of 10,000. You might be surprised to see how little, or how many, steps you take on a typical day. When you go for your goal, you will find yourself taking the stairs more, parking farther from stores or your office and walking the dog a bit farther each night.
  2. You’ll track your sleep and see how restless you are on a typical night. While the exact accuracy is questionable, it’s enough for me to see that I do get a nice stretch of 4 hours once and a second stretch of about 3 without detectable movement. If you are very restless, it could inspire you to change up your exercise routine, go to bed earlier or to cut down on caffeine or alcohol.
  3. Accountability! You can get competitive with friends by accepting work week or weekend challenges. This got me off my lazy butt on many cold winter days and even got me to the mall when the ground was frozen, so I could reach my step totals. I still came in 7th of 10 but I did try!
  4. You’ll see how many calories, approximately, you burn on a typical day. Based on your settings, it gives you a rough estimate and you can make adjustments to your intake. I typically see that I burn about 1800 calories a day so I know to lose a few pounds, I’d have to cut back from that number while adding more steps and active minutes. This can inspire you to eat healthier and make better food choices that you know are lower in calories.
  5. Fitbit has a tracker called “active minutes” which measures way more than just walking. You’ll have to run or do aerobic type exercise for this to track so it could inspire you to really get your heartbeat up and achieve fitness goals faster.
  6. You can track your weight. It’s a very visual thing when you log in your numbers, so it may just keep you from ordering dessert or reaching for that second plate of dinner.
  7. It’s fun to challenge yourself. Anything that gets you thinking about your activity level is a good thing. When I go to the park to walk, I’ll do that extra lap to watch my numbers go up. I’ll go one street further in my neighborhood. I’ll walk around the soccer field as my kids practice instead of just sitting.

For the $100 expense, it’s up to you to decide if a fitness tracker is worth it for your lifestyle. I’m enjoying mine at this time and it definitely reminds me to get up and get moving. If you like seeing visual results, as I do, then you may like checking yours to see that you hit your 10k steps!

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