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(Continued from page 10)
der in wealth.
As a means of improving her lifestyle, Judi
purchased a Fitbit Charge. She choose this
model because it monitors steps, heart rate
and has the time on it. When you purchase
one, it recommends that you attach it two fin-
gers above your wrist bone. It also has caller
ID when configured with compatible mobile
devices.
It comes with a USB charger, a dongle that
you place in your computer through which you
upload data to your Fitbit page online so that
you can records your activity. She said that
the battery life states 7 – 10 days, but it is not
that long in her use of it, but that was not a big
issue.
The Fitbit charge also monitors your sleep.
Current health advice strongly recommends
that we get enough sleep in this fast paced
world and the Fitbit aids you in that account-
ing. Judi did wonders what it records when
one falls asleep in the chair from time to time.
Judi then brought her Fitbit account online,
this is displayed in what is called the Dash- source for information and comment while
board. This is the genius of the device, as you
dongle the Fitbit periodically it uploads all of
your data and helps you visually to see your
progress and goals.
The Fitbit Charge will also track your move-
ments as you exercise. One day she walked
around a large building at her place many
times and you could see her track recorded
online as a series of circles in transit.
She did mention a couple of operating quirks.
For example, when she was shopping in
Walmart and her hands were on the shopping
cart the lack of movement of her hands meant
that the Fitbit charge was not tracking her
steps. Apparently the Fitbit needs see change
in your arm movement to record steps. For
situations such as these you can tell Fitbit that
you are walking a predetermined amount of
time and it will account for steps accordingly.
The Fitbit Charge also tracks your movements
on stairs. Judi's explanation of her resent stair
movement was interesting. She arrived early
before the QCS meeting and decided to walk
about record and demonstrate the device.
11
Nearby is Viele Park in Moline. There is a de-
scending terraced set of steps. Going down
was easy, but coming back was a bit of chal-
lenge. This walk was a good choice for exer-
cise.
Her Fitbit Dashboard account of that travel
indicated that her heart rate reached 153
beats per minute and that she was credited
with going up 17 flights of stairs on her return
back to the Butterworth Education center. By
the time she entered the building her Fitbit
Charge buzzed which meant that she
reached her goal of over 10,000 steps for the
day.
The online interface calculates calories
burned. You can also input your food intake
to see what you have taken in and the bal-
anced burned for the day. Additionally you
have the option of downloading your data to a
spreadsheet so that you can monitor and an-
alyze your progress.
If you purchase a premium subscription to the
Fitbit service, a personal trainer will devise an
exercise plan just for you. Judi mentioned
that Fitbit Blog online is a good and enjoyable
using the devices.
You may have seen reports that Fitbit is be-
ing sued by some athletes for inaccurate re-
sults. With any measuring device of this type
it is more noteworthy that you have the same
device giving you data each day, it a base
from which can accurately monitor your pro-
gress even though it may not tell you to the
inch what your travel has been.
Judi concluded her remarks by observing that
media forecasts see a 35% growth each year
in personal tracking devices of this type for
the next five years. It is certain that we all
wish to improve our health status in life and
devices of this nature will help move us along
towards that goal. The QCS would like to
thank Judi for her fine presentation and look
into this new and emerging tech field.