While weight loss should truly be as simple as eating less and exercising more that doesn’t mean we don’t need help from technology. I have a number of different gadgets that I use in my weight loss journey such as a digital bathroom scale, a heart rate monitor and a Sansa Clip MP3 player.
I thought it would be interesting to hear from other weight loss bloggers what fitness gadgets they use in their journey, so I asked a handful of bloggers from my blogroll “What is your favorite fitness gadget and why?”
You will notice that my definition of “gadget” is very liberal and that there was a wide variety of responses. In fact, no two respondents reported the same favorite gadget!
Here is what they had to say:
Tony from The Anti-Jared: “Hmmm, for me, I would say that it is my Southwing bluetooth headphones. Great sound, I am able to use my phone in case someone calls, and the battery life is like two weeks.”
Roni from Roni’s Weigh: “This is SO EASY! It has to be this… Nike + iPod Sport Kit - A Review. The Nike plus has totally motivated me to run. But not just to run, to run longer and faster! It tracks my mileage, allows me to join challenges and let me know when I beat my own time. Plus how can you beat those little handy dandy charts to visually represent your run. Oh and the best part… it’s around 30 bucks!”
JoLynn from The Fit Shack: “My favorite gadget is my treadmill. I love it because I can do my paced walking in my target heart rate zone non-stop for at least 30 minutes, as opposed to walking outside when I need to be aware of stop signs and such.”
JC from JCD Fitness: “My favorite fitness gadget is the BodyBugg. It is one of the first gadgets to accurately monitor energy expenditure and is relatively simple to use. The software provided is very easy to navigate and also provides a log to track your kcals. I personally really enjoyed checking out how many kcals I burned during regular activities such as grocery shopping, walking to class, riding my bike to work etc. Wearing the arm band can become a nuisance at times as it is a bit bulky, but for the time spent wearing it, you can really get a firm grasp on your maintenance level calories. I wore mine for a little longer than necessary because I tested many different schedules/workout plans and their effect on energy expenditure. For anyone who is unsure about their expenditure I think using the BodyBugg for a week or so would help you tremendously.”
Israel from Fat Man Unleashed: “My computer, because it connects me to the web and has allowed me to chronicle my weight loss journey which has had led to a major breakthrough in my weight loss. The support and motivation from the community doesn’t hurt either.”
Andrew from Andrew is Getting Fit: “My favourite fitness gadget has to be my Garmin 305. It tracks my runs - time, distance & heart rate. I use it in conjunction with Sporttracks software and it gives me my pretty maps. I love being able to log all the details about my runs. It really helps keep me motivated.”
Steve from Weight Loss Weapons: “My favorite fitness gadget right now is the strapless heartrate monitor sports watch by Mio. They sent me one to review back in November and I have been “testing” it for the past few months, I think it’s a pretty good product. It has a lot of features like multiple timers, tracks how many calories you are burning etc. When I am doing my outdoor running (on the days it has been nice anyway) I get my heartrate instantly (5 seconds or less) and I can stay in my optimal fat burning zone more or less. It’s a good check to make sure that I’m working hard enough and not wasting my time. I use it on the treadmill too. I’ve been using it during my P90X cardio workouts as well as a heartrate monitor is “required” for some of them, same thing just to make sure you are working hard enough. I’ve found it to be quite accurate too 7 beats is the most it has been off compared to checking my heartrate the old fashion fingers to the neck way. There are 5 different timer modes which is pretty cool and it doubles as a sports watch. You can get the one I am using for less than $100 some of the lower models are like $30-$50 so the prices aren’t too bad.”
Stephanie from Back in Skinny Jeans: “I think this is uber cool and am making one myself as we speak. One of my girl friends showed me this. At Snapfish they have these “skins” you can put on your digital devices like cell, laptop, and mP3 players. For my iPod, I’m making a motivational skin either a “before” me picture like back in the skinny jeans 
or an inspiring quote to help keep me motivated while I’m working out because I ALWAYS workout with my iPod. The skin becomes a visual reminder to keep going and focused on my workouts. They have skins for practically all the mp3 players out there not just iPod so that is really cool!”
and last but certainly not least:
Shauna from The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl: “My favourite gadget is the Enell Sports Bra - When I discovered it in 2003 I almost wept for joy - for the first time I could run and jump without The Girls bouncing around. It’s an exercise essential for the busty lady.” (ed. note - I’m weeping for joy right now myself.)
What a unique list, thanks to everyone for sharing.
Want to participate? Tell us in the comments - What is your favorite fitness gadget and why?
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