Friday Five - things I'm loving about my fitbit

This week has flown by and it's already Friday!  I'm looking forward to the weekend but first, it's time for the Friday Five link up with Mar, Cynthia and Courtney.  This week's theme is "Holiday Wish List" but I'm going to talk about something I received last Christmas that could be a great option for someone on your gift giving list :)

And that's my Fitbit! I have the Fitbit Charge HR and I absolutely love it.  And this is entirely my own opinion.  I wasn't compensated in any way and I got my fitbit as a gift from a family member.  I just really love it that much.  Here are 5 of the things I love most about it.

1.  Increased activity during my work day - This is the main reason I got the fitbit and it's wonderful for this purpose.  I have a desk job and there were times when I'd pretty much just sit at my desk for hours a day.  There were days at the beginning when I'd just get less than 4000 steps during the work day and days working at home, I was lucky if I got 2000.  But with the fitbit, I try to get up once an hour to go walk a circuit around the lobby.  And when working at home, I just get up and walk several circuits around my living room. 

The fitbit also has a silent alarm functionality where you can set alarms throughout the day so it will vibrate and remind you to get up if you need a more tangible alert.  I also like the silent alarm for mornings when I have to wake up early for a run but don't want to wake Mike up.

2.  Sleep tracking - This was a nice extra benefit.  I love that the Charge HR has automatic sleep tracking so you don't have to do anything to put it into sleep mode.  It automatically knows when you sleep and when you wake.  It's a nice way for me to check on how I'm sleeping and whether I might need to go to bed earlier.

3.  Automatic activity tracking - This is new (I noticed it around Thanksgiving) and I love it!  If I go for a walk, a run, or on the elliptical, somehow the fitbit automatically knows and adds it in to my activities. 

And for less defined activity like weights or yoga, I can still add it in manually and the fitbit lets me know my heart rate during that time period as well.

4.  Great customer service - I've had to call fitbit customer service a couple times for various problems and they were always a pleasure to talk to.  More importantly, they always helped me resolve my problem quickly so I can get right back on track with my steps.

5.  Social elements - This is one of the things I love best about my fitbit.  I love how social it is and the little challenges I can do with friends.  I'm in multiple challenges this week because some of them have a harder group than others.  It definitely provides that little extra push to keep moving.

I also really like the badges you earn based on daily and life time achievements. 

Here are my top badges

So those are the things I love about the fitbit.  There are plenty of other things that it syncs easily with other sites.  For example, I just sync'ed mine to weight watchers, which is nice.  And there are plenty of things it does that I don't even use it for, like tracking water and food intake.  Lastly, there are a range of fitbit products at different prices.  They all have different functionality but it's nice that if you don't plan to use the heart rate function, there is a fitbit out there that doesn't have it and you can save some money.  It's definitely worth researching the different options to see which one would work best for you or your intended gift recipient.