I wanna fitbit

[haapai]

Like right now, and I didn't want one last week.

The realization that the A/C at my parents house was not cycling on and off between freezing and roasting has knocked me a bit off my stride.  I suddenly feel the need to know just how unhealthy my resting heartbeat is, how messed-up my sleep patterns are, and, if possible, just how much my temperature is jumping around. 

But I don't have a smart phone and don't want to get one just to read pretty graphs about myself whenever I am bored or trying to ignore someone.  Do any of you have anything to say about using a fitbit and laptop combo, or the reliability and utility of thermometers on any such fitness device?  I know nothing about these things and I don't want to ask anyone that I know IRL about it.  I'm a little defensive about the dumb phone thing and I don't think that hearing that lecture face to face would do me any good. 

[Gardening Grandma]

I have a fitbit.  I like that it "talks" to the Weight Watchers app and tells it how many steps I have taken.  Mine doesn't have a heart rate monitor - I'm thinking of upgrading but can't decide between another fitbit or a garmin. The only think I don't like is that in the summer my arm gets sweaty where I wear it..

Do the newer ones tell your temperature?  I don't know (don't care).  Resting heart rate is easy to do the old fashioned way.

[haapai]

There appear to be some fitness trackers that monitor estimated core temperature.  I don't think that any of the Fitbit brand do though.  The ones that I let myself look at certainly didn't.  I was wondering if the measurement was inaccurate or unhelpful or if anyone else knew anything about why a device stuffed with so much other stuff would skip that one. 

Trying to research this stuff online is kinda frustrating.  The manufacturers site is long on beautiful pictures and surprisingly short on text.  The comparison sites come up next but read a lot like a slightly wordier versions of the manufacturers' sites.  Then it's right onto the hard-core fitness and wellness geeks who rave about the more esoteric features of the more expensive watches - like the device's ability to distinguish between five different snow spots and critique your form in each of them. 

I seem to be looking for is someone who had one of these buggers a long time ago, before they had a smart phone, who can tell me a bit about reading the data from a laptops.  Is that even an option anymore?  Believe me, whether sold online or from locked displays, the information available about actually using one of these things is surprisingly difficult to find. 

Yeah, it's the whine of a late adopter.  Just be glad you're only reading it.  It's whinier in person. 

[empress of self-improvement]

I read my stats online on my laptop. I tend to forget I have the app on my phone most of the time. They send an email practically every frickin' day telling you to go to the site so it's not like using the smartphone is the end all, be all. I only pay attention to the steps and the time. Every once in a while I'll think I'm going to care about the rest of the options but then I go to sleep.

[haapai]

That's kinda reassuring to hear.  You make it sound like there are no special steps associated with reading the reports the old-fashioned way. 

Can I ask what model you are using that is so newb-friendly?

I'm not the typical user who wants to burn more calories or collect steps.  My job involves plenty of walking and although I am vaguely interested in just how much walking it entails, it's the sleep and heart-rate functions that turn my crank.  I work from midnight til dawn-ish, so I know that my sleep is screwed up but I have no clue how little or how much I sleep or how irregularly.  I'm also gaining an interest in continuous heart rate monitoring.  If temperature sensors are rare, unreliable, or meaningless, periods of increased heart rate are probably my next-best indication of when and how often the hot flashes are occurring. 

I've been feeling like crap for a couple of years now and I've attributed most of it to a crummy sleep schedule, untreated depression, and far too many hangovers.  I'd like to get a handle on how much of it might be symptoms of perimenopause.  

[sesfw]

I bought a fitbit type and when I tried to put it on I didn't have the strength in my hand to deal with the clasp.  It was the rubber band that you had to poke a nob through the hole.

Whatever you buy, be sure it is user friendly.

[empress of self-improvement]

I have a Charge 2. There may be special things but I don't pay attention to them. I really just want to know the steps. I understand the sleep schedule. I work from 8PM to 4:30AM so my sleep schedule is not all that normal either. Not that it ever was even before this job.

Are you me? I've been feeling like crap for a couple of years now and I've attributed most of it to a crummy sleep schedule, untreated depression, and far too many hangovers

I had all the EXACT same issues. I stopped drinking 179 days ago (you bet your ass I'm keeping count). At the end of my last job, I used to drink at work. Didn't really help when one of my bakers brought me a bottle of whiskey for my last week.
I used to plan my suicide on my way to and from work, along with how I was going to murder some of the managers and associates. I actually remembered to say something to my neuro during a checkup in June and he put me on an anti-depressant. If it wasn't for the fact that I actually still see him because I loathe going to the doctor but damn, seizures HURT!!, I wouldn't have bothered and would probably have beaten the shit out of a coworker by now. Get thee to a doctor. It will be one of the best things you ever did. Yes, exercise and diet and all that crap help too but the depression sucks ass. Well, the hangovers are no fun either.
Sleep, well, my sleep schedule has always been off. Finally realized I may as well find a job where I can get paid to be up all night.
Let's not talk about perimenopause. I'm afraid it may be coming for me and I really don't want it. Zits hurt!

BTW, since we're up at the same time, you can always PM or I can give you my email if you need someone to chat with.

[Tiny]

I had a fitbit (not the bracelet - the other style) and no smart phone. It came with a "dongle" -- a thingy that you stick in a USB port on your PC/laptop. I think the "dongle" has to be in the port ALL the time... not sure. Maybe the newer fitbits communicate some other way.   I think the pc/laptop app will be basically the same as your smartphone app.  

FWIW: I just wanted the fitbit to count my steps... and it did that reasonably well as long as I subtracted 2000 from the number it produced. I had had other step counter thingamabobs in the past - and I KNOW how many miles I walk on a typical work day (minimum of 2.5 miles a day). The fitbit thing gave me extra steps for who knows what.

I'm also not motivated by Gold Stars and I'm not particularly competitive so it's constant "yeah! you!" and it's constant reminder to find friends to exercise with made me kind of Hate it.

I'm sure they've updated the software to include an "introvert" mode... atleast i hope they have.

The battery died 8 months into my using it... and I never bothered to get it started again.

[haapai]

I'll say this in pubic before going dark for a bit, which just might have been in the cards for me for quite some time.  I'm neither suicidal nor homicidal.  I just feel like crap, pretty much all the time, and my feelings toward my coworkers are dark but usually take the form of a really great burn instead of something more explicitly homicidal.  It would not surprise me a bit if I soon found myself collecting chips and counting days and I'm not too ashamed to admit that doing so might just save my life and immeasurably improve the lives of those around me. 

But I'm not there yet.  In vulgar and cliche parlance, I haven't hit bottom yet and I'm quite a ways from the edge of the cliff.  I'll be sleeping well tonight and I hope that everyone else who stumbles across this exchange manages to do the same.  I promise empresspumkins (dang it's taking me a while to type this) that I won't be PMing her tonight and I'll be doing my best not to exhaust her generosity in the future. 

And I swear to the rest of you who haven't gone through the lady-change yet, even removed by a degree or so, that I don't think that what we've been talking about tonight is particularly typical or something that is in store for you.  As far as I can tell, this shit's been piling on me, and not being dealt with, at least not by me, for much longer than I could possibly have been perimenopausal.

[CCL]

Aug 23, 2017 22:57:05 GMT -5 haapai said:

I'll say this in pubic before going dark for a bit, which just might have been in the cards for me for quite some time.  I'm neither suicidal nor homicidal.  I just feel like crap, pretty much all the time, and my feelings toward my coworkers are dark but usually take the form of a really great burn instead of something more explicitly homicidal.  It would not surprise me a bit if I soon found myself collecting chips and counting days and I'm not too ashamed to admit that doing so might just save my life and immeasurably improve the lives of those around me. 

But I'm not there yet.  In vulgar and cliche parlance, I haven't hit bottom yet and I'm quite a ways from the edge of the cliff.  I'll be sleeping well tonight and I hope that everyone else who stumbles across this exchange manages to do the same.  I promise empresspumkins (dang it's taking me a while to type this) that I won't be PMing her tonight and I'll be doing my best not to exhaust her generosity in the future. 

And I swear to the rest of you who haven't gone through the lady-change yet, even removed by a degree or so, that I don't think that what we've been talking about tonight is particularly typical or something that is in store for you.  As far as I can tell, this shit's been piling on me, and not being dealt with, at least not by me, for much longer than I could possibly have been perimenopausal.

 Hope you feel better soon.

[Lizard Queen]

Tell you what, I felt like crap pretty much all the time since the first couple years at my last job.  I've always had sleep issues, temperature issues and been somewhat depressed.  At that time, I also ate too much crap, and didn't get any exercise.  Quitting that damn job has added years to my life, at a huge monetary cost, though.  I hope you can find something that helps you.

[JustLurkin]

Aug 23, 2017 21:08:48 GMT -5 empress of self-improvement said:

If it wasn't for the fact that I actually still see him because I loathe going to the doctor but damn, seizures HURT!!,

Does your fitbit give you any information that is seizure related (ie, any kind of predictor)?

Haapai, hope you are better soon.  Leaving my previous job saved my mental well-being, if not my life.  Find the root of the unhappiness and end it--you don't *have* to hit bottom, and if you really think it is hormonal see your doctor they can help with both the hormones and side effects.  

[haapai]

I got the Fitbit Charge 2, the Bluetooth dongle, and a couple of cases of bottled water to substitute for Diet Coke or coffee. 

I've got some reservations regarding the accuracy of its sleep tracking features.  Although it claims to be able to characterize sleep stages by monitoring heart rate and restlessness, it also appears to over-estimate the amount of time that I am actually asleep.  It seems to be treating any time that I actually spend in bed as sleep, no matter how long it takes me to get to sleep or how much time I spend tossing and turning before actually getting up.

And it's telling me that I am routinely attempting to function on less than four hours of sleep. 

Not surprisingly, those days of getting less than four hours of sleep are followed by some pretty rocky nights at work and some marathon z-sessions on my days off. 

I had no idea that it was this bad.  No wonder I feel like crap.