It’s Week 6 and here’s a SOLID LOW-DOWN on Fitness Trackers (and how to get one on a budget)

Hey Squad,

Who is excited about BLACK FRIDAY coming up? Well, I really am not an online shopper so those sales but go over my head, but last year’s Black Friday, I copped a 35% deal off my FITBIT FLEX 2 Tracker and God knows how happy that made me. Still costs me 35k but it wasn’t me that paid Sis. It was hubby lol.

I had always wanted a fitness tracker but the prices were always too steep for me… So, when this offer presented itself, I jumped at it, and even though it is the CHEAPEST Fitbit, I am proud of it abeg as it opened me up to the world of Fitness trackers and Heart rate monitors.

I am looking to get a higher brand (or steal my sister’s FitBit Alta) with this year’s Black Friday on Jumia, which was where I got the first…

Oh, if you have 2 seconds, I share how I lost my FitBit for like 5months and how God MIRACULOUSLY brought it back on my personal faith-based blog here…

In that time my FitBit was missing, I went online again to look for another possibly cheaper brand… I thankfully found MiFit.

My cheap FitBit has no screen so you have to track everything on your phone via the App but the MiFit which costs me N17k had a screen so I could see the steps I had taken, monitor my heart rate, see the time, check ACTIVE calories burned so far in the day and see how many kilometers I had walked all by tapping the button on the screen.

Wow!!!

It is a Chinese product and even though the App is not as sophisticated as FitBit, my sister it gets the job done and well too.

I just realized now that there is MiFit Band 3 which costs even cheaper at 11k.

Mine is band 2 and it looks better than mine. Can’t say how effective it is though but I hear it is an upgrade. Wow!!!

So, here’s how these Trackers work…

You wear it on your wrist like a watch, and somehow through your pulse tracks all those things I mentioned above..

You have to download the App and sync the tracker to your phone. The tracker is really small so it fits into the band which you wear on the wrist.

Both work all the time so you don’t need to do anything extra, just wear it and it tracks
I also love that it tracks your sleep and even the quality and MiFit goes further to give me unsolicited advice cos I sleep for 4hours lol.

Even if I sleep for 7hours it will still tell me to sleep for 8 to 10hours. Jokers… Lol

One quality my Fitbit has which MiFit don’t have is a food diary which can help you calculate your calories.

However, being a Non-Nigerian brand, how is it going to tell you how much calories is in your Jollof rice or Ewedu?

Anyways, you can enter it manually but for those universal foods and fruits, it tracks accurately.

Also, FitBit tracks your entire calorie burned in the day, including when at rest, but MiFit tracks only active calories. So, at the end of the day, FitBit may be showing 2500 calories while MiFit will be showing 600calories lol.

Very annoying I tell you.

FitBit also allows you to monitor your water intake which is really cool so far you remember to enter.

Recently, FitBit added female trends where it tracks your menstrual cycle and ovulation which is superb!!!

Also, with both, your steps are tracked though I noticed FitBit always gives me higher than MiFit. I think MiFit is just stingy lol. With both too, you can track specific workout sessions… So, say you wanna skip, go and start that activity (MiFit has a WIDER range of activities) then do your workout, and stop it when done. It shows you how many calories you burned doing that.

When I take walks, if GPS is turned on, it also maps my run and gives a solid estimate of everything that session entailed

When I go to the gym, for fun I try to compare what the treadmill says and what both trackers say. Again, MiFit is always lower and the stupid treadmill just goes over the roof with figures. It can show me 600 calories while my FitBit is showing 425 and MiFit shows 200 haha. Actually, I think MiFit is very poor when it comes to calories but one of the BEST features it has (Which the higher FitBit have) is that it can monitor your heart rate in real time!!!

WOW!!!
So just tap the button till it gets to heart rate and hold still, it calculates it. I like to monitor my heart rate when I run or do any High intensity work out so I see how much I am beasting. My highest has been 185bpm or so, compared to when at rest at 60 or 70bpm which is beats per minute. I challenge myself with that when I run

With both too, you can log in your weight and track your weight loss progress…

FitBit is a lot more sophisticated here cos it can help you tailor your activities and meals to suit your weight loss goals which you entered.

And cos it is telling you how much calories you are burning daily, you can trust its recommendation…

I wish I even started using it with this my #10kgIn6weeks weight loss challenge…

Speaking of which, yay for week 6 mehn. I am sorry I haven’t been faithfully updating for these last 2 weeks but here goes Sunday to Tuesday… (Will wrap up on the trackers at the end and how to use your phone to achieve some results too)

Sunday, I had bread from our fave mobile bakery on Church street. I have decided bread will be a Sunday Sunday thing… I wish they had coconut bread made from white flour tho but they use white flour.
That aside, it has been a good week as shown by my food diary…

I have also worked out daily this week, morning and evening.

Mornings have been walks cos they are prayer walks and evenings have been this KILLER Keaira LaShea Dance Kickboxing.

Hubby did it once and abandoned me and I can’t blame him. That thing is cray!!! Last night I did a video which I will try to upload here.

It truly reps how I felt afterwards. Didn’t upload but it’s on my whatsapp status haha… or will try again Later…

My water and teas game have been on point and I think I have taken crackers daily
Can’t lie, I love yellow crackers…

Like I said, it has pretty much been an uneventful but on-point week. No indulgences or unplanned cheats…

Back to the Trackers…

Oh, you need active internet for both to work and sync ooo and your Bluetooth must always be on. Impacts battery life.

Both have silent alarms too which are bound to wake you up as it vibrates and sounds low on your wrist. It in intense even though silent and I love it. Again, you need a connection for it to be set…Both also alert you when you hit your goals.

I really can’t choose the one I prefer cos for 17k or less, MiFit offers a lot esp the wrist watch and date thing so I don’t need to wear a watch, but if I could afford the higher FitBit which have a full screen and watch and even Heart rate monitor, I would buy.

So, I am looking out this Black Friday and then beg hubby again haha. I want the Charge 2.

The FitBit app provides a better user experience though plus really cool fun challenges, goals, rewards and all.

Really really rich If you have friends who use FitBit, you can do challenges and go on virtual trails together (anyone have a FitBit please holler let’s connect). It is really cool I must say.

MiFit has nothing but then again, 17k was what I paid so… But the FitBit battery lasts just 4 to 5 days (less if on auto-sync) but MiFit can go 12 to 15days so THAT QUALITY IS BAE!!! Trust China…

They charge with a USB cord or charger like your phone and may take between 1 to 3 hours to get full. Both are also water resistant to a certain depth, so you can’t just throw it into water but rain, washing your hand and the likes won’t hurt them…

MiFit can also be set to alert you on some certain phone notifications so I set my calls, and texts so the names show on the screen. Not the case with my FitBit cos no screen but the higher brands have that feature which is really cool. So long as your phone is within range, you can tell who is calling and determine if you wanna pick or not…

Now, you are probably asking whether all those Fitness Apps without a tracker can provide the same experience like Endomondo, Google Fit, Runtastic Samsung Health and co.

Yes, to some extent, BUT YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE PHONE ALWAYS WITH YOU TO TRACK ANYTHING and may even need to have it set first in some cases, unlike the tracker that just keeps working even when your phone is off cos when it comes on, it can sync right back and show you everything… Talk about convenience!!!

Plus, the phone Apps wont ever be 100% accurate cos you have to drop your phone sometimes and then they can’t track heart rate, but if you strap your phone to your arm like I have that phone strap here, you can track your run, walk, or workout manually.

Even if it is in your pocket or your bag so long as it is connected to your body…

I also have the Samsung health and even though the steps if calculates are always rubbish (it can tell me I have hit 6k when FitBit is on 4k plus, considering that I haven’t even held my phone all through), but I can trust its sleep monitor. I don’t even know how it knows considering that if during the day, I leave my phone for 5hours to do DEEP WORK, it doesn’t count it as sleep but at night, it can accurately tell.
Like see my last night’s sleep track…

So accurate. See what FitBit showed. Almost same thing.

I also have Google Fit App which I think tracks calories and steps just as good as FitBit but without a tracker so you must hold phone…

I don try abi? If you have any more specific questions, please ask and I will collate and answer in a new post or just in comments

I bought all mine on Jumia as the FitBit prices in computer village were about the same and I didn’t even see MiFit at all…

Also, I must state that FitBit flex wrist band is RUBBISH. I have had to replace several times and even now, I am using cellotape to hold it. It is better with the higher devices though cos my sisters watch strap is SOLID!!! It’s charge 2. She rich??????

MiFit band is stronger but still I would advice that when you buy either, buy extra straps.

Ok that is all…

I highly recommend FITNESS TRACKERS cos there is a range for you. If you check Jumia you will see some 5k ones but I doubt they deliver anything substantial, so if you are on a budget, go for MiFit and if you have more money, go for FitBit, or just get both haha

It’s a SOLID investment in your health and fitness journey. Plus people actually confer a cool status on you as a result haha.

Kisses…I’m off for my morning prayer walk