It seems like a lot of people are participating in the daily work out thread and trying to be more active and fit my self included. For about 2 months now I have been using MyFitnessPal to count calories, while this works very well I started to get more curious about the calories I burn on a daily basis. I started looking into the Nike Fuel Band and doing research on that came across a couple different options for this. I decided to go with the Jawbone UP band. I have had it for about 4 days now and I really like it, how ever I noticed there are a few things that I have learnt over the few days based on playing around and searching on their forum that a user's guide would have been nice to have.
I thought I would put my thoughts together for other members here that may be looking into something similar.
Right off I love the fact that it's a wrist band, unlike on of its top competitors the FitBit. I like not having to take it off unless I am syncing or charging. I do wish it was bluetooth like some of its competitors but that is minor.
The app is very informative with information, calories burned, resting calories burned, steps, miles etc. This also tracks your sleeping pattern, while its not a perfect science since it is only a wrist band, it does give you insight into how much you may toss and turn and wake up during the night.
There are a couple things I have realized during these first few days of use that wasnt very obvious and wasnt suggested unless I scanned through the forum on their site. I wanted to let people know about these things to help them in their decision and get the most out of it.
1. Take the steps as more of an acitivity meter. Since this is on your wrist while doing normal activity like washing dishes, washing hands, taking a shower etc.. you will build steps by the hand movement. I figure the calorie burn it will show you is still fairly accurate and it will balance out when it may not register steps due to hands in your pocket or not moving.
2. If you buy one calibrate it when you get it. Go to the gym and walk a mile on the treadmill in stopwatch mode and then sync and calibrate. I did this today with mine, it was dead on but just to double check I suggest doing this right away.
3. Use stopwatch mode for any fitness activity ie. Golf, Tennis, Lifting weights, treadmill etc... This will do a couple things first you will get a more accurate calorie burn count, since you can control the intensity level. Also you are able to look at specific details for these activities instead of lumping everything into your daily activity.
I thought I would put my thoughts together for other members here that may be looking into something similar.
Right off I love the fact that it's a wrist band, unlike on of its top competitors the FitBit. I like not having to take it off unless I am syncing or charging. I do wish it was bluetooth like some of its competitors but that is minor.
The app is very informative with information, calories burned, resting calories burned, steps, miles etc. This also tracks your sleeping pattern, while its not a perfect science since it is only a wrist band, it does give you insight into how much you may toss and turn and wake up during the night.
There are a couple things I have realized during these first few days of use that wasnt very obvious and wasnt suggested unless I scanned through the forum on their site. I wanted to let people know about these things to help them in their decision and get the most out of it.
1. Take the steps as more of an acitivity meter. Since this is on your wrist while doing normal activity like washing dishes, washing hands, taking a shower etc.. you will build steps by the hand movement. I figure the calorie burn it will show you is still fairly accurate and it will balance out when it may not register steps due to hands in your pocket or not moving.
2. If you buy one calibrate it when you get it. Go to the gym and walk a mile on the treadmill in stopwatch mode and then sync and calibrate. I did this today with mine, it was dead on but just to double check I suggest doing this right away.
3. Use stopwatch mode for any fitness activity ie. Golf, Tennis, Lifting weights, treadmill etc... This will do a couple things first you will get a more accurate calorie burn count, since you can control the intensity level. Also you are able to look at specific details for these activities instead of lumping everything into your daily activity.
