In preparation for my second marathon in December, I decided to take my training and eating (and general fitness) a little more seriously. A few days ago I invested in a Fitbit One… a cool little wireless device that helps track all sorts of fitness metrics. Here are some of the things it tracks:

Sleep: This is probably one of the coolest features in my opinion. When you go to bed (after you’re done reading, watching TV, etc) you press a button on the Fitbit and it starts timing your sleep. Through the magic of modern technology it tracks how many times you wake up during the night as well as how many times you were restless (but not necessarily awake). In the morning, you push the button again and it stops tracking sleep and goes back to steps (although if you get up in the middle of the night, it keeps track of steps too). You can then sync up with your computer or smart phone to see how long it took you to fall asleep and how effective your sleep was.

Steps: The Fitbit keeps track of steps similar to a traditional pedometer, but with an internet and smart phone interface. Your standard daily goal is ten thousand steps (recommended to maintain a healthy lifestyle) which is roughly five miles. You can update this goal if you find you’re more active and too easily hitting the daily target.

Mileage: The Fitbit also keeps track of mileage – the goal is five miles per day, but again, you can change that if you’re more active.

Calories: The Fitbit tracks calories throughout the day, including the calories you burn sleeping, sitting, etc. If you’re looking to lose weight, this is a great tool to better understand calories in vs. calories out.

Flights of Stairs: The Fitbit also tracks how many flights of stairs you climb each day.

The online and smart phone tools also have some input areas – you can track things like body weight, blood pressure, heart rate, water intake, blood glucose, and food. I’m using the food tracker to better understand what helps or hurts my running… I’m terrible about remembering those sorts of things (especially over the eighteen week training program), so it will help me identify any trends. I’ve noticed that I have no concept at all of calories (or protein or sodium, for that matter) and looking at them is helping me to make healthier, more informed choices!

I am so excited about this… being a data geek, I love something that gives me data to analyze! It costs $99 (available on Amazon, at Target, or direct from Fitbit) and is well worth it if you’re looking to improve your lifestyle!