Chances are you recently bought a Fitbit for yourself or received one as a gift from a loved one. Fitbits are great tools for monitoring your physical activity and leading a healthier lifestyle, but sticking with one throughout the entire year can prove to be a challenge. Here are a few tips to keep you going throughout all of 2019!
Products used in this guide
- Fitbit: Fitbit Charge 3 ($150)
- Fitbit: Fitbit Versa ($200)
- Fitbit: Fitbit Ionic ($270)
- Fitbit: Fitbit Aria 2 ($130)
Customize your goals
Out of the box, the Fitbit app will help you set certain activity goals to meet each day. These goals are designed to help you keep moving so that you have a visual finish line to reach, but at any point throughout your fitness journey, you may find yourself needing to increases or decrease these goals.
Whatever your reasons for needing to shake things up, here’s how you do it.
Open the Fitbit app.
Tap the Account button (the one at the top-right that looks like an ID card).
Scroll down until you find the list titled Goals.
Tap Activity.
From here, you can customize your goals for steps, distance, calories, active minutes, floors, and your hourly activity goal.
In addition to this, tapping the Exercise option on that Goals page will also allow you to tweak your weekly exercise goal from 1 to 7 days each week.
Get reminders to move each hour
If you have a job at the office or at home where you’re sitting for long periods of time throughout the day, it can be easy to forget that you even have a fitness band on your wrist. Thankfully, Fitbit makes it easy to have your band or smartwatch remind you to move every so often so that you can steadily make progress to reaching your goals.
To ensure that these reminders are enabled:
Open the Fitbit app.
Tap the Hourly Activity tile (the one that shows a red stick person standing up).
Tap the settings icon at the top right of the screen.
On this page, you’ll see settings for getting reminders, the time you want these reminders to start and stop throughout the day, and on which days you want to be reminded.
Check out the Community page
In addition to the wealth of fintess-tracking features, the Fitbit app is also home to an incredible community of like-minded individuals that are eager to share their fitness journies with anyone and everyone.
At any time in the Fitbit app, just tap on the Community tab at the bottom of your screen and you can join various groups based around certain workout types, see what other people are sharing with the global Fitbit community, and cheer on your friends when they share a big accomplishment.
Whether you use Community to interact with just people you know in real life or everyone who’s sharing from around the world, it’s a great place to connect with people and build up a support group.
Sign up for Fitbit Coach
While finding the effort to workout each day is hard enough on its own, it can sometimes be even more difficult to figure out what to actually do once you’re at the gym. Thankfully, Fitbit has a solution to this problem with a service called “Fitbit Coach.”
Fitbit Coach is available for Android, iOS, your computer, and the Fitbit Ionic and Versa. It has a huge library of various workout routines to follow, with workout sessions ranging from 7-60 minutes long and the option for customization based on how physically active you are.
There are workouts for running, walking, focusing on your core, and plenty more.
You can start using Fitbit Coach for free, but we strongly recommend looking into the premium membership that grants you full access to the service for just $39.99/year.
Buy a connected scale
In addition to whatever Fitbit you have on your wrist, you may also want to consider buying a connected scale — specifically the Fitbit Aria 2. The Aria 2 measures not only your weight, but your body fat percentage and BMI.
After stepping off the scale each day, all of this data is sent right to your Fitbit account and automatically available for viewing within the app. If you’re using Fitbit to try and lose or gain weight, this is a great way to easily keep a history of your progress and see how your activity is impacting you.
The best Fitbit gadgets you can get
If you don’t already have a Fitbit but are eager to join the community, here are a few of the company’s top products we suggest checking out.
Best fitness band
Fitbit Charge 3
$150 at Fitbit
A powerful, affordable way to stay in shape
While Fitbit’s been getting more and more active in the smartwatch market, the new Fitbit Charge 3 proves that the company can still make one heck of a fitness band. In addition to tracking everything from steps, sleep, heart-rate, and more, the Charge 3 can also retrive smartphone notifications, set timers, and even make payments using Fitbit Pay.
Full-on smarts
Fitbit Versa
$200 at Fitbit
Fitbit’s best smartwatch yet.
Want a device that combines the best of a Fitbit tracker with powerful smartwatch features? Meet the Fitbit Versa. The Versa delivers Fitbit’s powerful fitness-tracking platform, a wide array of on-device apps, and so much more in a watch that’s incredibly lightweight and lasts up to four days on a single charge.
Flagship
Fitbit Ionic
$270 at Fitbit
The most powerful Fitbit you can get
For folks that want the most capable Fitbit possible, the Fitbit Ionic is an easy buy. Not only does it offer the same smartwatch experience as the Versa, but it also packs in built-in GPS, week-long battery life, and Fitbit Pay is available on all models. It’s a bit chunkier and not as pretty-looking, but this thing does it all.
Smart scale
Fitbit Aria 2
$130 at Fitbit
Make stepping on the scale something you enjoy
A Fitbit fitness band or smartwatch is a big step towards living a healthier life, but if you want to go the extra mile, picking up a smart scale that ties in with your Fitbit account can be hugely beneficial. With the Aria 2, you can measure your weight, BMI, and body fat percentage and have it sync instantly with the Fitbit app. It’s pretty neat stuff.
