If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you know that I’ve been using Fitbit for years. I really like Fitbit, but I question their quality since all my Fitbits break after a year. I recently bought the Apple Watch Series 5, and thought my experience might help you make your purchase decision.
My Fitbit Versa broke recently. Luckily, Fitbit was able to replace it, but I wanted to share what was happening to my screen in case others are experiencing the same thing. Also, I share why I think this will be my last Fitbit ever:
Fitbit recently came out with a new fitness tracker/smart watch — the Fitbit Versa. I have been using mine for three weeks now and am ready to share my review:
Last year, I decided that I wanted to lose weight and I lost 30 pounds in three months! After that I lost 10 more pounds and chose to go into a more “maintenance” phase. But we had a few trips and I stopped tracking my calories and I knew that I had gained. I weighed myself and had gained five pounds — not terrible, but I wanted to get things back under control.
To reinvigorate my weight loss and help me to be motivated, I wanted a new fitness tracker. This is a review of my Fitbit Alta HR:
This post may contain affiliate links; all opinions are my own. See Disclosures here
Remember when my Fitbit ChargeHR broke and Fitbit was so great and replaced it? Well, the replacement just broke too!! I’ve only had this new one for ~8 months, so it’s crazy that it’s breaking already!
This post may contain affiliate links; all opinions are my own. See Disclosures here
This month went by quickly. I found a few new favorites this month and I’ve kept a few from previous months on the list. Check out the things I’m loving this month!
This post may contain affiliate links; all opinions are my own. See Disclosures here
It had been about a year since I first got my Fitbit Charge HR as an upgrade to my Fitbit Flex when the Charge HR strap broke! 🙁 Sad day. My Fitbit Charge HR breaks and I couldn’t wear it anymore; it was terrible. I had actually been having issues with the Fitbit syncing fully as well, but the band can’t do any good if I can’t wear it.
This post may contain affiliate links; all opinions are my own. See Disclosures here
Valentine’s Day is so much fun for me; I look forward to it every year. Even if you don’t have a “valentine”, February 14th is a day full of candy, pink, and hearts — you can’t go wrong! I’ve put together another Valentine’s Day Gift Guide and, of course, these are all things I would love!
This post may contain affiliate links; all opinions are my own. See Disclosures here
Like the Fitbit Flex I had before, The Fitbit ChargeHR is a fitness band that mainly tracks your steps and is a motivational tool to help you be more active throughout the day. The Fitbit app for the phone and the main dashboard on the website are very user-friendly and make it easy to monitor your progress during the day.
I’ve had my Fitbit Charge HR for just over three weeks now and I’m ready to give my review! The Fitbit ChargeHR comes with a USB charging cable and a wireless syncing dongle.*
The Fitbit ChargeHR has textured wristband that is soft and smooth underneath. The band is .83 inches wide & has a watch-clasp closure that feels very secure. 
The display is larger than the Fitbit Flex display and will show your daily activity stats and real time heart rate.
I got the Fitbit ChargeHR in size Large. There is a sizing guide on Fitbit’s website to help you determine the best size for you. I picked the Large size because Fitbit recommends wearing the ChargeHR higher up on your wrist for a more accurate heart rate reading. They suggest about 2-3 finger widths above your wrist bone which is pretty comfortable to me. I probably could have been great with the Small size band — I’m wearing the Large at the 3rd to tightest hole in order to wear it higher on my wrist.
The Fitbit ChargeHR was about 50% charged out of the box. I fully charged it before using it and the battery lasted about 4.5 days before I got an email to let me know the battery was low. I’ve consistently gotten between 4-5 days between charges. Charging the ChargeHR takes about 1 hour. The charger plugs into any USB power source and then into the underside of the Fitbit ChargeHR display.
There is a small button on the left side of the display which lets you toggle through the time display, daily steps, distance walked, calories burned, stairs climbed, alarms, and heart rate. You can customize what categories are displayed and in what order they appear. You can also set a shortcut for a specific display by double tapping the Fitbit ChargeHR. I have mine set to display the heart rate since that was what I was most interested in purchasing the ChargeHR.
I really thought the sleep tracking data from the Fitbit Flex was great, and I think it’s even better with the ChargeHR. The ChargeHR automatically records your sleep without having to do anything. With the Flex, you had to tap it to tell it you were going to sleep, but the ChargeHR detects it on it’s own & it’s super accurate. The ChargeHR will tell you how long you slept for and how many times you were restless in the night. It’s awesome.
The heart rate monitor is accurate. I compared it with a pulse counting app and each time it is within 10 BPM which is great for me. The Fitbit ChargeHR uses LED lights to reflect off your skin to detect changes in your blood. When your heart beats, your capillaries expand & contract, the ChargeHR measures those changes with special algorithms to display your heart rate.
The display shows you live heart rate monitoring and what “zones” you’re in while working out. The three zones — Fat Burn, Cardio, and Peak — are calculated based on a max heart rate of 220 BPM minus your age, but you can adjust it and make your own custom zones. I like to check my heart rate and see how intense my workout is.
If you press and hold the side button, the Workout mode will begin and track your exercise activity. I like to review the workout data because it isolates your heart rate data for the workout and helps me stay motivated throughout the day. My workouts are mostly jogging/running so the Fitbit ChargeHR is tracking my steps as well.
Overall, I love my Fitbit ChargeHR. The heart rate monitoring is the main reason to get this fitness band; it’s accurate and easy to view your data. The band is comfortable and it has good battery life. The sleep tracking feature is better than before and also very accurate.
This post may contain affiliate links; all opinions are my own. See Disclosures here
I’ve had the Fitbit Flex for just over a year and a half and I’ve loved having a lightweight fitness band to track my steps and help me stay motivated about staying active. When I heard about the new fitness bands from Fitbit, I was curious. I’ve always been interested in tracking my heart rate, but I didn’t think a chest strap monitor was right for me. So, when I saw that Fitbit had a new fitness band that could track heart rate — the ChargeHR and the Surge — I thought this would be perfect for me.
I started researching the Fitbit ChargeHR but I wasn’t getting all my questions answered. How accurate is the heart rate monitor? How often do you need to charge it? How can I transfer my data from the Flex to the ChargeHR? I kept checking my local Target to see if they were available (at fitbit.com, there is an 8-10 week backorder) and I got very excited when I found the Fitbit ChargeHR at Target yesterday. I decided to buy it today and here are my first impressions.
I bought the Fitbit ChargeHR in Large in the color black. I thought I might like the Plum color, but it wasn’t available in store and the Plum display band seemed a little to pink for my liking. I plugged the ChargeHR into my computer to charge it while I went through the setup process.
Some of the first things I noticed:
I synced up the Fitbit ChargeHR very easily through my computer and Fitbit asked me if I was replacing the Fitbit Flex. I clicked “Yes” and that was it — all of my data was ported over very easily. The entire process took maybe 7 minutes. I’ll do a side by side comparison post soon between the ChargeHR and the Flex.
The Fitbit ChargeHR was 50% charged out of the box, and just having it plugged into my computer while I did the setup, took it to 100%.
I then wore it for a treadmill workout to see what the heart rate monitor was like. I ran for 30 minutes and the heart rate seemed very accurate. I also have a Heart Rate monitor app for iPhone that has you key your pulse beats for 10 seconds and it tells you you BPM. Both heart rate numbers were with in 5 BPM each time I tested it.
The band was very comfortable during my workout. Fitbit recommends wearing the band higher on your wrist for more accurate heart rate results. I wore it about 1.5 finger lengths from my wrist bone. I’m excited to see more of my heart rate data throughout the week.
A more in depth review to come after I’ve had time to really use the Fitbit ChargeHR for a while. Let me know if you have any questions so I can include them in my review post. So far, I like the ChargeHR and it’s very comfortable. 🙂
This post may contain affiliate links; all opinions are my own. See Disclosures here
It can be difficult to incorporate your New Year’s resolutions to be healthy while at work. These 4 tips will help you to stay healthy at work and help you to take care of your body so you can stay on track with your personal goals.
What are your tips for staying healthy at work? What do you think about the new FitBit line?
This post may contain affiliate links; all opinions are my own. See Disclosures here
It seems like the phone is the one accessory we never leave the house without. It’s a camera, a calendar, fitness tracker, social media outlet, and of course helps us keep in touch with our friends and family. We use our phones everyday for tons of things, so I thought I’d share some of what’s on my iPhone with you.
Diptic – Make a quick and easy collage with this app. With lots of free templates to choose from and customization options, this is my go-to for any Instagram collage. You can even adjust the borders’ thickness, shape, texture, and color.
ColorSplash – This app makes it easy to add a splash of color to a black & white photo or vice versa. You start with a color photo and then you can hand-draw the black & white filter, leaving something specific in color so that object really stands out.
LINE camera – The auto-enhance option on LINE is really good, especially for selfies. It corrects the lighting, smoothes imperfections, and can make your eyes look bigger. They have a lot of fun “stickers” to choose from too that make this app super fun.
PixlrExpress+ – I use pixlr to edit photos on my blog, so when I saw that there was an app for iPhone, I knew I wanted to try it. I use this for most of my phone-editing. Lots of filters and fonts for text overlays and powerful basic editing features. Plus, I really love how I can resize the image to keep its full size and clarity. I hate when a great picture end up looking pixilated because the app compressed it — not with PixlrExpress+!
Bokehful – The best app for adding bokeh! Not just a filter or overlay, Bokehful lets you kind of control the placement (puts a bokeh near where you tap; not exactly on the spot). You can also choose the color/color palette and shapes of the bokeh.
A Beautiful Mess – I got this app for free from Sephora and it’s pretty cool. You can add text, doodles, and borders and choose from a few filters. It’s pretty basic. There are some upgrades that I haven’t tried, but the free content seem sufficient for a quick edit.
Twitter – I like the official app for Twitter on the iPhone. It’s clean and simple; gets the job done.
Instagram – It’s fun to go through different Instagram feeds and see everyone’s pictures. I never really use the filters in Insta; instead, I’ll upload after using some of the apps I mentioned ^.
WordPress – I mostly just check comments from the WordPress app. It’s a little tricky for me to try to blog from the app, but I have before. It’s good in a pinch!
MyFitnessPal – This app is great for monitoring your food intake and calorie goals. There is a huge library of foods you can select and you can chat with your friends so everyone stays motivated. I have it linked with my Fitbit, so MFP automatically keeps track of my activity too!
Nike+ Running – I’ve been slacking on my running goals lately….big time. But I still love the Nike+ Running app for tracking my runs. The Nike Coach update is great and helps you reach your goals without having to think too much into it.
Nike Training – I just recently downloaded this app, but it seems cool so far. Great for a Cross-Training day or its own program — I like how there are lots of sessions you can choose from. It’s like a guided workout with videos so you can see what each move is supposed to look like.
Fitbit – The Fitbit app helps me track the number of steps I have for the day, my sleep cycle, and my ranking among my friends. It’s great to not have to log into a computer to sync up my stats.
Let me know what some of your favorite apps are; I’d love to try out some new ones!
This post may contain affiliate links; all opinions are my own. See Disclosures here
I follow NikeRunning on Instagram and a few weeks ago, I started seeing a lot about the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco #werunsf. How fun that would be — to run in San Francisco! I’ve always enjoyed running and have been running off and on for many years. I don’t know if I’d consider myself a “runner” though. A true runner is probably a lot more consistent than I am, but I always enjoy the occasional run.
But this marathon got me thinking — would I even be able to run for 13.1 miles? I’ve done a few 5K races here and there, but 3 miles and 13 miles are very different. When was the last time I ran for more than 3 miles in one run? And then it was decided — I needed to train for a half marathon.
I’m using my Fitbit Flex and my Nike+Running App to track my runs. Over the last five days, I ran 5 miles at 12’03″/mi; 3 miles at 12’03″/mi; and 1.5 miles at 9″51″/mi. I’ve found a few training plans online that I’ll modify and follow. My goal is to be able to run 13.1 miles straight by February!
This post may contain affiliate links; all opinions are my own. See Disclosures here
Sad news — my Fitbit Flex‘s band is broken.
I popped the tracker out of the band to charge it, and the band separated where the view finder is. I haven’t even had the Flex for that long! This is crazy. I’m super disappointed. At least I have the larger band that I guess I can use.
I didn’t really want to buy the replacement colored bands, but I might have to.
I’m going to check Fitbit.com to see if they have a warranty or something. Or maybe I can do an exchange at Target?
Has this happened to you? if so, what did you do?
I sent an email through the fitbit.com website at “contact.fitbit.com“, letting them know about my defective wristband. They replied in less than 15 minutes and said they’d be happy to replace my band! So awesome! I replied providing my address, phone number and wristband details like they requested.
September 4. I received my new band in the mail today! Yay! Thanks Fitbit!
You can buy your own replacement bands in the classic colors or fun/bright colors online. They come in a three-pack which is nice for some variety & just as a handy replacement in case the band breaks :/
*** Check out my first impressions of the new Fitbit ChargeHR! It even has a heart rate monitor! I love mine!
UPDATE — my Fitbit Charge HR band broke too!
