The review of this product is based on my honest opinion. I have not been paid to advertise this product, however I may receive commission for any sales generated through the links provided in this post at no extra cost to you.
In the Summer of 2018, I bought myself a Fitbit watch. I wanted to improve my overall fitness and I convinced myself that having the watch would do that. I thought I would become a fitness fanatic, tracking my heart rate and my steps. I had this image of myself becoming not just toned, but strong. This is my review of buying a Fitbit watch.
Fitbit Alta HR Activity & Fitness Tracker with Heart Rate, 7 Day Battery & Sleep Tracking – Fuchsia, Small (5.5-6.7 in)
What actually happened?
Within two days of buying and setting up the watch (which included weighing myself and setting a target goal), I was counting calories. The app has an inbuilt function which allows scanning of products and automatic counting. Within two days, I was tracking every mouthful from morning until late afternoon and then overeating on sugar in the evenings. My habits that I had worked so hard to get rid of came crashing back into my life. After 4 days, I deleted the function from my dashboard on the app.
I continued to track my steps and monitor my heart rate. I tracked how many workouts I was doing a week and found the menstrual cycle tracker very useful. Despite my constant monitoring of my body, I didn’t get any leaner.
After about 9 months, I stopped wearing the watch altogether. It felt like a waste of money. I didn’t want to feel pressured to keep working out just to hit a weekly target. The watch ended up in my bedside drawer for about 6 months until one day, I decided I wanted to track my steps again.
Important note:
Although the Fitbit watch is useful for trying to be less sedentary (which is very important for reducing your risk of cardiovascular disease and anxiety & depression), it is important to remember that it is another product of diet culture.
- Intuitive eating is safer for your body and mind than counting calories. It is possible to remove the calories tracker from the dashboard of the Fitbit app.
- Tracking your exercise and setting unrealistic goals can sometimes lead to shame and guilt. Listening to your body and how it feels is important when deciding whether or not to exercise.
- You do not need to track your weight or set any weight targets. Your worth is not defined by the numbers on the scales.
If you feel that you could use a fitbit without succumbing to diet culture, then go for it! I enjoy seeing how many steps I’ve done and it’s interesting to see how I sleep. I also love the menstrual cycle tracker too.
Now that you’ve read my fitbit watch review, what do you think? Would you buy one? Have you got one? Let me know in the comments below!
Feel free to sign up for email alerts for new blog posts! You can also follow me on social media through Instagram , Twitter and Pinterest.
Thanks for reading!
omg preach!! I wanted a Fitbit for SOOO long and jack finally bought me one for Christmas a couple years back. I still wear it now but don’t really use the functions. I set the exercise mode off when I start and finish but only so I can see it at the end. Can’t remember the last time I turned the app on tbh!
Yeah, I think it’s one of those things that we assume we will use all the time and then in reality, why do we need to constantly track and monitor our behaviour? It’s effort and it’s not always positively managed! Thanks for reading, Millie 🙂