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Fitness By the Numbers  Image courtesy Fitbit, Inc. Ten-thousand steps. Sixteen-hundred calories. Eight hours a day. Keeping track of daily health is a numbers game and, for many, one that is too much work to justify the means. The Fitbit Tracker, a new wireless, wearable device the size of a book of matches, aims to take the guesswork out of staying fit. The legwork, however, remains up to you. "Our goal is to make people aware of their overall fitness and well-being, and to use technology to accomplish this in a motivating and entertaining way that appeals to people beyond just hard-core athletes," says James Park, CEO of Fitbit Inc., San Francisco. The Tracker, which can clip onto an article of clothing or be slipped into a pocket, automatically monitors and wirelessly uploads data to your computer about activities, such as exercise-intensity levels, calories burned, sleep quality, steps walked and total movement distance each day. Users create an avatar, such as a flower, and set long-term and daily goals. Based on daily progress toward the goals, the flower will blossom or wilt. "At a time when studies show more than 60 percent of Americans are overweight, the Fitbit Tracker and Fitbit community Web site are designed to break down barriers to physical fitness by offering a new and easy way to stay aware and motivated about your daily physical activity level and eating habits," Park says. Data collected by the Fitbit Tracker, available in early 2009, is wirelessly uploaded to the product's Web site every time the wearer is near the device's docking station. Graphs provide individual updates and goal-progress, including information on workout intensity and how many times the user woke up during the night. A social-networking component encourages users to share progress with other users and lets people create groups made up of friends, family members or co-workers to jointly work toward a common goal. Users also can input nutrition, weight and other health information in order to gain a more complete picture of their health.
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