Fitness/activity trackers

[Bonniebird]

Worth it or just a gimmick?

I'm thinking of one for monitoring everyday activities and encouraging me to get a bit fitter. For hiking, maybe a gentle run/cross trainer etc.. not for serious training or anything ( )

Waterproof would be good, maybe sleep monitoring, not sure about HR tracking and preferably one that will also tell you the time as I don't want to wear two wristbands. Not mega expensive either (need money to spend on bikes and beer )

Any suggestions?

[Joeman]

i just use Google FIt thats a free app on my phone that tracks movement (steps and distance walked). set a goal of 1.5hours activity per day. nothing fancy, but its good to keep track

[Bonniebird]

I'm using the health app on my iPhone but, being a girly and not always having a pocket etc.. I often leave the phone on my desk at work when I go down to the warehouse etc. I don't carry it around the house at all and I think it may also be a bit less accurate when 'handbag mounted' so wearable/sync-able seemed a better option.

[Arwen]

I looked into them before Christmas, but came to the conclusion that in order to get one that does walking, cycling and swimming I need to spend £200-£300 on a Suunto Ambit 3 Sport Just now, Google fit and Strava does everything apart from swimming (I can manually add though) reasonably well.

Edit: Also, I've found if you have small wrists, most of them look silly/weird/fall off.

Edited March 2, 2016 by Arwen

[Arwen]

A few folk at my work rate the microsoft band highly though. They love that they can get their text messages on it as well, although I'm not sure if it will talk to an apple...

[Guest]

Waste of time, what do you want to get out of them? If it's just to tell you to move more give me your mobile number and I'll text you one a day calling you nasty names and telling you to get off the sofa.

[Bonniebird]

A lot of people at work seem to have the Fitbit (flex or charge HR) but they are pretty ugly and not waterproof.

I might just play with some apps and try and carry my phone more!

You seem to have to spend quite a lot to get something particularly accurate as a lot don't have GPS and, unless you are serious sports person, the really good ones seem a bit much.

[Bonniebird]

Waste of time, what do you want to get out of them? If it's just to tell you to move more give me your mobile number and I'll text you one a day calling you nasty names and telling you to get off the sofa.

That's pretty much what I want out of them.

I'm a scientist though and love graphs and statistics (sort of)

[Guest]

Waste of time, what do you want to get out of them? If it's just to tell you to move more give me your mobile number and I'll text you one a day calling you nasty names and telling you to get off the sofa.

That's pretty much what I want out of them.

I'm a scientist though and love graphs and statistics (sort of)

I work at Northumbria University as one of their strength and conditioning coaches, for what it's worth, and I wouldn't recommend them. All you need is:

- Lift some heavy things

- Get your heart rate up a little bit for a few hours a week

- Do ALL your stretching at home and NONE straight after training

- Eat what you KNOW is sensible (every knows what we should eat, really)

- Treat yourself

There's no magic formula (formula.. See what I did there..) and the money you spend on these watches could buy you a set or 2 of running/gym trainers or even a 6 month gym membership.

Edited March 3, 2016 by Guest

[Joeman]

You could look at the various smart watches. The android watch syncs with your phone and I think will log the movement data whilst you are away from your phone. The apple watch might do the same.

[Joeman]

I'm a scientist though and love graphs and statistics (sort of)

The gym I used to go to projected your current stats on the wall whist you worked out from numerous projectors around the building. Had to wear a wireless heart rate monitor around my chest, but seeing the numbers up on the big screen and being able to analyse the data after the workout appealed to the scientist in me (degree in physics so like graphs and stats and stuff).

Also the calorie burn figure was good as it may not have been deadly accurate but as a comparative figure between sessions it worked as a good target figure to try and beat each session.

[Guest]

Literally nothing will make you feel better and cope better with day to day life than:

- Getting a little bit stronger (you know how to do that)

- Doing a little bit of cardio (you know how to do that)

- Eating a little bit better (you know how to do that)

- Drink a little more water

Everything else is just over complicating and over-coaching.

[Joeman]

Literally nothing will make you feel better and cope better with day to day life than:

- Getting a little bit stronger (you know how to do that)

- Doing a little bit of cardio (you know how to do that)

- Eating a little bit better (you know how to do that)

- Drink a little more water

Everything else is just over complicating and over-coaching.

 

But seeing graphs and statiatics is very satisfying..

No little graphs, it never happened lol

[Guest]

But seeing graphs and statiatics is very satisfying..

No little graphs, it never happened lol

Haha I do sympathise, but is that not just distracting you from the real goal? A graph can't tell you how you feel, only how "hard" (...) you've worked.

As long as each day you're feeling better/stronger. No graphs needed.

Regarding food:

If you're getting fatter - eat a little less

If you wanna gain mass - eat a little more

If you don't want it to change - eat the same

[Mr Fro]

During my meathead years I used an analogue, manual interface fitness/activity tracker.

It was a bit a paper and a pen. I'd scribble my reps and weights or time and distance then chuck it in to excel the next day. Still got to see trends and performance with zero outlay.

[Fozzie]

My fitness pal is a good app to use your phone as a fitness device.

What you need to do is just monitor your calorie intake. And then either by yourself or with help of a fitness trainer find out what's your bodies required intake for its energy use.

It lets you track sugar/fat intake as well, which is very handy.

You have to be very honest with it though

It really helped me as I found my diet fluctuating between 1200-1600 calories a day at the beginning of 2012 as I skipped breakfast and then had little for lunch. I fell below 60kg, which at 6ft2" is ludicrous. When I started lifting weights I used it to get my intake high, but keep track of various fat/sugar intakes and I eventually cut out fizzy drinks totally.

I find it showing me graphs of where my fat/sugar/sat fat intake useful, and I think you will too. As seeing a problem quantified drives you to make steps to fix it.

It’s a great tool, it helped me put 25kg on, and I’ve used it to inflate my weight during times of heavy training, and then to cut off fat when switching to a cardio routine to tone up.

The best thing to use is your own intellect. Use the app as a tool to find out what holds your weight, then bring up your activity level and ensure you don’t try to eat too much more after periods of workout.

The biggest problem people have is the day after a workout they drop their usual work load down a bit to recover and it undoes some of the work you did. It’s key to maintain a steady activity level, with times of higher activity like a walk/run/gym session placed throughout the week.

[cockercas]

I use strava to record my cycling.

Its got segments on routes so you can try and be the fastest on that segment.

Average speed is a bonus to. I could see how i was getting fitter over the last two months.

[Joeman]

This is an interesting article talking about how the Internet Of Things (IoT) might help the NHS

http://hitcentral.eu/integrated-care/co ... ustain-nhs

[Guest]

I would legit have the NHS implant me with a chip or something if then all I had to do was scan it and I could get my full vitals on my laptop/phone! Be even better if I could send this via email to my GP/Boss to prove I'm sick.

No doubt there would be some secret tracking device in it as well, f**k it, I'd still have it!

[Guest]

Waste of money and could ultimately make you not as for without it just as much as it could make you fitter with it (confusing I know).

For the heart to increase in mass, it needs to be stressed. If you use the watch or equivalent it will keep you in a specific heart rate which is ultimately nowhere near as accurate as going by how you feel.

Are you going to die? (yes) - lower the intensity.

Are you breathing heavy? (no) - increase the intensity.

Are you breathing heavy and feeling like you will faint? (no) - you're probably at the right intensity to increase your fitness.

This is pretty basic and then there's some more advanced stuff but for most people, the above will suffice.

Problem with today's society is that nobody gets anywhere because they don't adjust their diet and believes exercise will help them lose weight (which of course it doesn't) and because they don't see the results they opt for the next fitness related gimmick to try and give them a little boost.

The average person spends £600 per year on fitness related spends. That's £600 too much in my opinion lol. Get a new exhaust for that lol.

Push yourself hard and don't wimp out, your measurements is how far you can run / cycle / swim etc at a particular level... Don't rely on a heart rate monitor to tell you where you should be training at.

Also... Most people do themselves a dis-service by not eating enough carbs before training (2hrs before). This then creates a glucose debt and severely limits your higher intensity output. Don't be one of these people and think your body can do it - it can't.

Do my advice is... Eat enough before hand, do what you want to do but at a high enough level to feel strained 70-80% of the time and focus on what you can do rather than what a watch or device tells you.

[Arwen]

There seems to be a few fitness gurus here so I'll ask here... Cause the doctors have been no help so far. Anyone have any advice for a borderline diabetic who is trying to get more active and lose some weight? Also suffer from fibromyalgia, so not really able to do high impact stuff (like running).

Basically what happens is I can reduce my calorie intake to around 1200 a day, and can loose a little bit of weight over a a few weeks, then nothing. The main problem is if I do almost any sort of exercise on that amount of calories, I feel really faint and dizzy.

Just now I've went back to not really monitoring my diet. I reckon I am probably eating around 1800-2000 calories most days. Exercise - tend to go out for a 1.5m-4 mile mostly flat/gentle hill walk 3-4 evenings during the week. Weekends, normally a longer walk (around 4-8 miles) or a cycle. I have just started cycling though and keeping it short because I came very close to fainting the first time I went out and reach a long sloping hill... Also 4 morning a week I do around 30min of various stretching exercises (it's basically yoga) to help with the fibro. I also (very) occasionally go swimming. But as I only learned how to swim last year, I'm not very good at it!

This pretty much maintains my weight and I don't feel faint when doing exercise.

Any tips/suggestions? I'm hoping to change a couple of my evening walks to cycles once it gets a bit warmer. Hoping this will help shift some weight. Ideally I want to lose around 8-10kg, with no real time scale. My problem seems to be eating enough that I don't faint but can still lose weight.

[cockercas]

Eat more carbs before you go out.

The lack of carbs is making your blood glucose levels drop below what your body needs.

If im active i dont take any insulin otherwise it makes me ill.

[Guest]

Basically what happens is I can reduce my calorie intake to around 1200 a day, and can loose a little bit of weight over a a few weeks, then nothing.

If you're not losing weight you are eating too much. That is the black and white answer, no ifs or buts, that's it.

You're probably not eating low enough on average for the week and anyone can quite easily screw themselves over with a cheat here and there.

You don't have a huge margin for error to be honest... Your body will use around 1400 calories per day then add on another few hundred for movement and that's what you use daily... If you're reducing that to 1200 then basically you can screw yourself over with a couple of bad meals in the week.

Exercise won't help you to lose weight... Do it since it's good for you but ultimately, you need to be eating sufficiently low calories.

[cockercas]

I eat and eat and eat. Im 6ft and weigh 75kg.

Im active all day (builder) then il cycle 12/15miles a night and cycle to work a couple of times a week.

You cant live on 1200 calories a day.

I dont know if your taking anyting for pre diabites but if you have cut out carbs you wont have the energy to do exercise.

When they told me i was type 1 and stuck me on insulin it made me ill (hypo) alot.

Id cut out carbs and reduced my fiod intake. it made me feel shit for ages.

The diabetic nurses was useless.

I figured it out for myself. The only time i take insulin is if im going to binge eat (like indian all you can eat) or if im ill sat at home doing nothing.

It will be a long reply, il cut it short and pm you so were not right of topic.

[MrBrightside]

I've an LG G watch R. It's great for what I need it for and does all the fitness thingies well. Not very girly though but I'm sure there are more feminine smart watches available...