The Fitbit - Taking Your Health to the Next Level One Step at a Time

When my wife came home recently with a receipt from Target that had an extra $100 expense I wasn't expecting, I was quite shocked to say the least. What is this "Fitbit" item listed on there? Well it turns out that it is the newest item in exercise technology and has only begun to reach its full potential. While there are many folks out there with conventional methods of tracking their daily activity, the Fitbit takes it to a whole new level not only for the person exercising, but also all of their friends.

The Fitbit is the most recent technology to take advantage of wireless Bluetooth connectivity, as well as the mobile smart phone app craze. The Fitbit is a pedometer in the old school sense of the word where it will measure the steps you take throughout a given day. However, with its advancements in connectivity, you can now sync your results on a daily basis to your PC or your smart phone to keep track of your activity. In addition to steps, the Fitbit also monitors your sleep schedule, total distance traveled, the number of stairs climbed, and works as an alarm clock to wake you up in the morning. All of this is in a small, lightweight piece of plastic that isn't even two inches long.

Once you are synced with your phone or your computer, not only do you get to see your daily progress in 7 day increments, but you also have access to track all of the food you eat, the number of calories you burned by your activity, and put it all together to tell you how many calories you have left for the day. This information will continuously update throughout the day based on your level of activity. You can let the Fitbit know what your goals are (weight loss or maintenance) and based on your current height and weight it will give you a recommended calorie count, and then update if you did something like go out for a run and burn 500 calories. Beyond all of the information that it can give to you, you can also link in with your friends, and give them access to see how many steps you took in a day. This creates a social contest amongst friends and shares the information as soon as you sync with any device. If you are like most people these days and always have your smart phone on you - the Fitbit creates an up to the minute account of where you stand - or step in this instance. Additionally, the app for the Fitbit allows you to link with other fitness apps to create a full scope of your workout and meal routine where it can all be traced back in your online tracker. From the online tracker, Fitbit will also give you additional encouragement, if your friends aren't enough, and provide you with status updates on your achievements to the goals you set.

The Fitbit has an enormous amount of potential going forward as well. With the social application the Fitbit has, the ability to post your achievements directly from the Fitbit to social media such as Twitter and Facebook can't be far behind. The more people that log their information on Facebook or tweet about how many steps they took will only gather more interest in the technology, and overall help everyone achieve a healthier lifestyle. As it is already drawing in people just from the Bluetooth technology it uses, the Fitbit continues to grow a following and will continue to expand its abilities. I guess I will have to retract my statement when I first balked at my wife stating, "You paid $100 for a pedometer???"