I love a bit of gadget so when I heard about Fitbit I was all for testing it out. The Fitbit tracker shows your real time activity, including steps, stairs climbed, calories burned, miles walked and even monitors your sleep patterns. This tiny discreet monitor can be worn without anyone else knowing and also syncs your data every time you come within 15 feet of the base station which is plugged into your Mac or PC. This enables you to track your progress from day to day. On your personal page online you can log your weight, food and workouts if you want to and also share your progress with friends. An online community is available for support and forums are there for various discussions.The tracker also has a clock, stop watch and gives motivational prompts.

What do I think?

Honestly? I think it is brilliant! It was quick and very easy to set up in minutes. I have to admit to obsessing a bit everytime I walk past the computer, I have a quick peek at my progress, or lack of it I should add. I am surprised to find that my very hectic tiring life does not generally involve me doing the recommended 10,000 steps a day. Obviously I spend too much time in the car, the downside of not living within walking distance of anything, and not enough time walking, or running. Research shows that walking 10,000 steps a day significantly improves health. Source: NHS/DoH

The other worrying factor for me is that one week I was shown to be sleeping an average of approximately five and a half hours a night, and apparently less than seven hours of sleep a night increases your risk of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and depression. Source: Sleep Council  I now know that I have to make more effort to get more sleep.

I am pleased to report that I usually climb more than the recommended ten flights of stairs a day though.

Here is a good day

Unfortunately even on this ‘good day’ for steps though I still haven’t managed to walk the recommended 5 miles or burn off enough calories but I have noticed that a shopping trip is good for getting the step count up!

Whilst I haven’t yet managed to maintain 10,000 steps a day every day I have a goal now. I have even started to park slightly further away from the school when I pick my daughter up just to increase those steps so I know I am heading in the right direction and I can curse myself when I have had a really lazy day, I hadn’t realised quite how lazy before and know that if I want to improve my fitness, lose weight or tone up I have to get moving…

The tracker is very light, you really do forget you are wearing it, it is easy to hide on your bra, tops, in your pocket and the battery life is very long so you don’t need to worry every day about charging it. I have had it three weeks and only charged it three times. I think this little tracker is fantastic and just the thing to get so many of us aware and then hopefully motivated to get moving and keep ourselves healthy!

Fitbit Ultra will be available from Amazon and online from Fitbit.com to pre order from 26th December 2011. Available in two colours blue or plum the device will cost £79.99 RRP. The UK launch on 2nd January 2012  will see it also available from high street retailers.