I love gadgets.
If you ask any of my friends and family members, I’m always playing with some new fitness gadget, tracker, system or website.
Sadly, in reality, the majority of the gadgets I end up buying or getting sent to me for review end up sitting around collecting dust.
Most of them I never use for more than a few days, or perhaps a few weeks.
However, there are three gadgets that have stood the test of time and I think are absolutely essential to helping you achieve success with your weight loss plan.
#1 – The Fitbit Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale
It connects to your Wi-Fi network and allows you to automatically track your weight so easily that you’ll actually step on it on a daily basis.
Over the years I’ve had many different scales, and I’ve tried various ways to track my weight, and my body fat % etc., but I always ended up giving up as the tracking process just took way too long.
Meaning, I would go into the bathroom in the morning and step on my scale, and then look at my weight and then have to remember what I weighed and what my body fat % was…
…THEN I would have to walk from the bathroom to my computer, load up a tracking spreadsheet of some sort and type in my new weight…
…that’s IF I wasn’t interrupted by someone or a phone call, or if my dogs didn’t need me to let them out or if someone didn’t text me or some other interruption didn’t cause me to completely forget what my weight was.
I hated the process tracking my weight using such a manual method, so I ended up giving up.
Since getting the Fitbit Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale though, it’s been super easy to track my weight.
I simply step on the scale, it automatically detects that it’s me (based on my weight), and it measures my weight, my body fat %, and it connects to my Wi-Fi network and uploads my data to the Fitbit website where I can get a detailed analysis of my weight, and my body composition.
It’s simply awesome.
And the FitBit website is a great tool as well for tracking your weight and activity levels.
Although I haven’t actually been on a weight loss plan for the past few years, since getting the scale about a year ago I’ve been tracking my weight pretty consistently every few days and now I have all that data available to me, so I can see exactly how much weight I’ve put on in the past 12 months etc.
I’m a firm believer that in order to lose weight you must track your progress regularly on a daily basis while on a weight loss plan, and several times a week if you’re just on a maintenance plan.
This scale makes that easy.
If you don’t keep track of your weight daily, it makes it way harder to lose weight as you then have no idea what’s working and what isn’t.
This brings me to the 2nd tech gadget that I think is a must-have for a weight loss plan.
#2 – The Fitbit Activity Trackers
The Fitbit family of activity trackers is awesome for tracking your daily activity.
I had a Fitbit Force activity tracker for the first half of 2014 and loved it, except for the fat that there was a recall on the rubber they used for the band which caused a little bit of irritation in some people.
I ended up sending mine back in order to get a $140 credit from Fitbit as I wanted to try out using the Samsung Gear watch instead, which also tracks activity and also heart rate.
I like the Samsung watch I have, as it syncs with my Samsung cell phone and I can answer calls on it, read emails and text messages, but I’m not too impressed with it’s activity tracker system.
Yes it counts steps like the Fitbit, but what I like about the Fitbit system of activity trackers is that they integrate with the Fitbit website.
This way I have my weight tracking and graphing and my activity tracking and graphing all in one place.
I can also track my meals on the Fitbit website as well, or track my meals using MyFitnessPal and then synchronize automatically with Fitbit.
Overall, after testing several different bands from Nike, BodyMedia, Samsung etc., I still like the Fitbit system the best.
I’m currently using a Fitbit Flex but will be upgrading to the new Fitbit Charge HR bands when they come out in the near future.
#3 – The MyoTape Body Measuring Tape
The MyoTape body measuring tape is not really a “tech” gadget but it’s still really cool and I think it deserves a spot in my top 3 favorite weight loss tools.
This very simple tape measure allows you to easily measure your body measurements such as your waist, hips, thighs, biceps, forearms, neck, chest or whatever else you want to measure without the need of a second person.
Ever try measuring your bicep with a regular measuring tape? It’s nearly impossible.
With this tape it’s really easy!
And it’s very inexpensive, so I definitely recommend getting one of these.
Keeping track of your measurements is extremely important especially if you’re embracing on a weight loss program that is going to combine dieting and exercise/fitness.
The reason for this is that if you’re building muscle, your weight might not drop, but your body measurements will improve.
By combining the scale measurements you get for body weight, and the body fat % and your body measurements with this tape you’ll have a very good way to measure your weight loss progress with a lot of accuracy.
These are the three tech gadgets that I recommend picking up if you want to lose weight in 2015.
Out of all the things I’ve bought and tested, these are the gadgets I have used the most and continue to use.
Louis Di Bianco says
Paul,
Happy New Year.
I like the professionalism you use to market yourself.
What weight loss system do you use?
Louis
Paul Piotrowski says
I will actually be revealing my weight loss journey and system on my Blog over the next few weeks, so stay tuned Louis! and Happy New Year to you too!
Agata Klein says
Thanks for posting these reviews Paul, I like the depth you went into on each of these. I like the last gadget – measuring tape – specifically for the ease of use, as I have quite often been frustrated by not being able to accurately measure on myself without the assistance of a second person. I have also wanted to try the FitBit so this gives me a better idea of what to expect. Thank you!
– Agata
Tamara Hawk says
Wow, I thought my scale that measured BF & waterweight and fat % was cool. These FITBIT gadgets sound amazing.
And a scale remembering you based on your weight, that would be pretty neat. My kid reset all my measurements to his so I had to go in and re-do mine. My scale thought I was a 14 year old boy. I swear it said “WTH” when I stepped on it. lol