Fitbit Flex 2, I'll give it flex!!!!!!!!

[NinjaW78]

So here's the scenario.

You think "I need to understand how my calories are burning off, possibly what my sleep patterns and heart rate are like etc etc" , so you look around and read reviews/ offers/ differing types of these smart watches and decide that the one for you based on what you want is the Fitbit Flex 2, you don't want an all singing and dancing one that will work on the top of Mount Everest, or be water resistant to enable you to visit Captain Nemo on the sea bed, so you visit your local Argos read the description on the sales bumf and it states compatible with over 200 android smart phones or via Home computer, you then think OK your coming home with me! so you buy one.

Now you get home remove from the box your new toy and plug it into your USB port to charge it, once charged you then go to set it up only to find that, a) it doesn't work with windows 7 (and my computer does not have wireless option) but it works with windows 10 which I do not have!!!!!!!!! you get so far through the set up menu and then it says plug in the wireless dongle, Er er What dongle, b) the Fitbit Flex 2 doesn't come with a wireless dongle, so now you go to good old Amazon read through all of the options and find that a 'dongle' is available and will work on home computers running Windows 7, so you order it (now I have to wait another 3 days for it to arrive.

Now after a few choice words that would make a Nuns habits hem curl up and some stomping around the house you calm down.After that failure you go to set up/sync the fitbit with your mobile phone, only to find that the HTC One X is the only mobile in the HTC range that is not compatible as it has an Android system on it that is 4.2.2 and you need at a minimum of 4.4, so as the phone flies across the room closely followed by the fitbit you go; "hang on a minute" when you notice that your heart rate is through the roof, your out of breath due to all of the rampaging around the house, your sweating profusely.

Eventually you calm down even though £70 appears to be wasted (until the dongle arrives) because you realise that you have just done over an hours exercise with out knowing it, I don't care what anyone else thinks I COUNTING THIS AS MY DAILY EXERCISE!!!!!

Part 2 to follow, when the dongle turns up

[Caz28]

Lol! That's technology for you! It's right what they say then, trackers encourage you to exercise!!!

[IndigoBlue61]

Lol lol lol 😂 Love it

Good luck with your dongle-thingymajig!!

[Hidden]

Lol NinjaW78.😂😂 Have fun with the dongle when it arrives🤞😊 I personally get my daughter to deal with all the techi stuff but maybe that's why I'm failing on the exercise front.....I did ask her to wear my fitbit on her long walk the other day but she was having none of it😄👩‍👧👟

[NinjaW78 4lbs in reply to Hidden]

Don't blame her I was considering doing the same with my son when he goes out for one of his marathon bike rides with his mates, but I think his response may be short and sharp!

[Pineapple27]

I use a FitBit Charge 2 and love it. I use it just to assess how active I've been in a day. 3000 steps is a "good" day for me because I have a disability, but on days where I've been int he garden, it's often many more!

I swapped my phone yesterday (Samsung to iphone!) and found all of a sudden, certain functions that hadn't been synching - are doing!

Strange old things....

Make sure you upload (if you have a laptop or similar) the FitBit dashboard. This gives you access to more information about your daily activity than you'll ever need! All interesting though! My FitBit is synched with the food logging website I use, so I can also see my calories used vs calories burned. Not always happy reading....

[ChoosingLife in reply to Pineapple27]

Can I ask what food logging method you use? I'm enjoying pen and paper but have not found a calorie counter I like except to Google 'beetroot calories' which works well but I wondered if your food app is good for calories?

[NinjaW78 4lbs in reply to ChoosingLife]

Hi, to be honest what I did was get an A4 note pad, put it in a folder with my twelve week plan, I then write down on a daily basis what intake I have had and how much exercise I have done, that's even down to cutting the grass or house work including the time it took me. Don't get me wrong it's not a long novel but just bullet points, and then I fill in the twelve week plan on a daily basis as well.

As for calorie counter, I haven't bothered with that, all that I have done actually started to read the calories on the tins, packets, and used various quick references on Google on calorie content for items like Baked potato's with selected toppings, chili, Spag' Bol' etc, I have substituted snacks in my 'crib box' like angel cakes,biscuits that I ate regularly for fresh fruit. Oh yes and I now drink around 2 litres of various home made squash throughout the day.

That's about it really, the main thing is that I still eat the foods that make me happy and feel full,but now in moderation so that I do not cross my threshold of 1,900 calories per day, at the moment I'm eating what I like but still hovering around 1,750 calories.

Just be totally honest in what you write, you must record everything, then if you have a blip, at least you can see where it started going wrong and then you can correct it.

[Pineapple27 in reply to ChoosingLife]

I use a website that you have to pay for: weightlossresources.co.uk. But there are others that are free - myfitnesspal - and also there are some apps. For me, the £80 or so I pay to be a member of the site is well worth while. I still log my food even now (over 5 years on!) But there are lots of valuable tools available and a great discussion forum.

My Fitbit is synched with the website, so automatically keeps track of my calories in vs calories out.

[NinjaW78 4lbs in reply to Pineapple27]

Don't mention fitbit to me ;-( the dongle has turned up, so all elated I plugged it in thinking that I was now going to be able to sync my Flex 2, and my wireless lap top would not connect to the internet. so still not there!!!!!!!!! Tonight the lap top may well end up flying like the mobile phone and Flex 2 did the other day.

[Pineapple27 in reply to NinjaW78]

Oh no! We've both had computer issues this week too! My iMac had to go off for a very expensive repair £525! - it was the video card. Thankfully, Apple have said they'll not charge me as the computer is less than 6 years old, I bought it from Apple and it's a known issue with the particular card that was installed in the Macs back then (2011). Very pleased with the outcome. Not sure if hubbie's going to get the same with his (non-Apple) PC.... still waiting on news!

[elliebath Maintainer in reply to ChoosingLife]

"Myfitnesspal " was my bible in the ten months I was losing my excess weight. Im not a great techie but it is so easy to use for calorie checking and for a food diary. I still use it in maintenence ( although more loosely) and its certainly helped me to keep all my weight off for over two years so far.

[NinjaW78 4lbs in reply to elliebath]

Hi RachDawson,

See what I mean, all of this great info your getting from other members. I wouldn't be without it now.

[ChoosingLife in reply to elliebath]

That is amazing and so encouraging about your loss and the years maintaining it. Well done and thanks for inspiring me!

[ChoosingLife]

Love this - really made me smile. I have similar feelings or frustrations about something or other in my life fairly regularly. From the teensy problems to the big ones, your humour is a boon and maybe sharing helped? I hope to bring humour to my next frustration. Thanks for the inspiration.

[NinjaW78 4lbs in reply to ChoosingLife]

Glad you found the humour in my post and it possibly got you thinking about how to take a positive from what (at the time ) seems to be a major set back, or negative, and maybe you can apply some of that to your personal woes and worries. At the end of the day you have to introduce or balance the humour in life other wise as I said in one of my previous posts, "What is the point in life if you can't have a laugh" we have one shot at it so make the most of it I say!!!!!

Keep being inspired and it will help you through, have a great day or at least have a smile every now and then, I try to remember something that made me chuckle and keep this in my head, so when faced with adversity I just bring it out of the memory banks have a chuckle to myself and then tackle what ever is making me teezy. I have to say this is a great forum to vent your frustrations as there is always someone out here with a sympathetic ear who will respond positively, which you may not get from family and friends, or feel comfortable in talking to them about. Have a great Day.

Regards.

Mick.

[ChoosingLife in reply to NinjaW78]

Thanks for the encouragement and tips. Timely and good stuff

[NinjaW78 4lbs in reply to ChoosingLife]

Trust me, I'm not one for diets, hey after all I'm a man!!!!!!. and this is NOT a diet that's what I like about it, for me what this forum and the NHS choices web site has done is made me pay attention to what I eat and how much I exercise, balancing calorie intake and making sure that my exercise calorie burn slightly exceeds my daily intake is working and after losing hopefully I will have lost 7 lbs (and get my 7 lb badge by my next weigh in, which will be the completion of week 4.

There are great ideas and recipes on the plan and sent through to my email from the NHS Change 4 life.

There's a lot of info' here and a lot of people who can give you invaluable pointers if you lose you way, so don't be worried to ask,I have done it!!.

[NinjaW78 4lbs in reply to NinjaW78]

Sorry the bit 'and after losing' should n't be in there so it makes poor reading.

[elliebath Maintainer in reply to NinjaW78]

Hi, if you want to correct a post, just click on the little "v" box underneath your post, you can then edit or delete what you've written

[NinjaW78 4lbs in reply to elliebath]

You learn something everyday, Thanks