Lizzy and Lissa break down the hidden costs – financial and otherwise – of fitness trackers. Tracking fitness for better health might seem like a no-brainer, but is it always beneficial? In this episode, we dive into our personal experiences with fitness tracking, exploring both the benefits and the downsides of becoming too focused on the numbers.
Lizzy and Lissa break down the hidden costs – financial and otherwise – of fitness trackers. Tracking fitness for better health might seem like a no-brainer, but is it always beneficial? In this episode, we dive into our personal experiences with fitness tracking, exploring both the benefits and the downsides of becoming too focused on the numbers.
Main Topics
00:00 Step Count Check-In
01:34 Running The Numbers Segment
03:28 How Much Fitness Trackers Cost
07:36 The Obsession with 10,000 Steps
15:46 Privacy Concerns With Data
25:24 The Benefits of Sleep Tracking
29:20 The Durability of Fitness Trackers
32:00 Balancing Health and Dependence on Technology
39:23 The Future of Wearable Technology
41:06 20 Cents Segment
References for Statistics
https://www.statista.com/outlook/hmo/digital-health/digital-fitness-well-being/fitness-trackers/worldwide
https://www.precedenceresearch.com/fitness-tracker-market
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/steps-per-day-moderate-activity_l_662a9899e4b09d8df9d5d8e3
Lissa: It's 2:00 PM right now, we're recording. How many steps do you have today?
Lizzy: Let's check it out. I have 4,722 steps.
Lissa: That's not bad.
Lizzy: It's all right for 3:00 PM.
Lissa: I'm under 3,000 because I was at my computer all day. Disappointing.
Lizzy: Got to step it up, girl! All right. Today we're talking about are fitness trackers worth it? Let's talk about it.
Lissa: Welcome to Net Net with Lizzy & Lissa, where we analyze hidden costs and empower you to make your own damn decisions in life. Each episode covers a different facet of life, and at the end of each episode, we each give our take on whether we think something is net positive or net negative.
Lizzy: I'm Lizzy, a strategist and consultant with almost 20 years of experience in finance and investing.
Lissa: And I'm Lissa, a personal finance expert, and an accredited financial counselor. We're best friends who talk about money.
Lizzy: And everything else.
Lissa: In today's episode, we are discussing fitness trackers. However, this episode is informational and educational and entertaining in nature, and should not be misconstrued as medical or health advice. So, are fitness trackers worth it?
Lizzy: First up, running the numbers on fitness trackers. According to Statista, user penetration for fitness trackers will be 9.61% in 2024, and is expected to hit 13.41% by 2029.
Lissa: Statista also projects that revenue in the fitness tracker market is going to be $41 billion in 2024, with the most revenue coming from the United States. And they define the fitness tracker market in three parts: smartwatches, smart bands, and smart scales.
Lizzy: Oh, interesting. Okay.
Lissa: Yep.
Lizzy: There's actually a lot more to the fitness tracker market, depending on how you define it. So, according to Precedence Research, the market projections for 2024 are closer to $66 billion. They include products that focus on glucose monitoring, heart rate monitoring, sleep rate, calorie count, and others. So, a little bit broader of a category.
Lissa: Yeah. Yeah, it's not just a couple devices, like smartwatches.
Lizzy: For sure, yeah.
Lissa: There's so many ways to track fitness. So, the 10,000 step goal that a lot of people know about is known to be an arbitrary number from this Japanese marketing campaign back in the 1960s. But there have been studies done to show that more steps can decrease your mortality rate. So, you can live if you have more steps.
Lizzy: Logical.
Lissa: It's just that 10K is not this magic number.
Lizzy: Made up out of thin air, yeah.
Lissa: Yeah. So, for example, a 2019 study from JAMA Network showed progressively decreasing risk of mortality for people under 60 when they logged anywhere between 8,000 to 10,000 steps a day.
Lizzy: But we all know there's more to life than numbers, so let's talk about it. Are fitness trackers worth it? First, let's talk about the financial costs of fitness trackers, right? Fairly affordable-
Lissa: For devices.
Lizzy: ... for devices. So, I was looking this up the other day. On the lower end, there's maybe $50, $80 for the more simple functionality, all the way up to some of the more sophisticated, Garmin watches are $500 plus, depending on the technology behind them.
Lissa: Yeah, I saw one over $1,000.
Lizzy: Okay, right.
Lissa: I was like, wow, what can this Garmin do that my Oura Ring or Fitbit can't? I was wondering that.
Lizzy: But let's say a one time purchase, theoretically it lasts a while, which we will talk more about, of a few hundred dollars on average. Plus some have an app component, like a premium. I pay for the Fitbit Premium, which is like, I don't know, 15 bucks a month or something like that.
Lissa: I pay it yearly, and I just checked before recording this episode, and it was $79.99-
Lizzy: Okay.
Lissa: ... a year.
Lizzy: A year, okay. And I would imagine other... Oura Ring, I also pay for.
Lissa: It's like $6 a month or something, right?
Lizzy: I think I paid that one yearly, and I don't remember what it was.
Lissa: Yeah.
Lizzy: But yeah, so maybe some kind of ongoing subscription component, if you want. Some of them it's for the enhanced functionality versus just the baseline.
Lissa: Another thing I Googled right before we did this episode, I was like, "Wait, what am I getting with Fitbit Premium that... If I didn't have Premium, would I not be able to see my steps or my sleep?" And it turns out they have a bunch of workouts and meditations and things in the app and I never use them, because I have Headspace. I have these other apps we could talk about in another episode, but I have all these other apps that do the same function.
Lizzy: For sure.
Lissa: I have the Peloton App that has workouts, but the Fitbit app also has workouts. But to me, at this point, it's duplicative. It's like I don't need it.
Lizzy: For sure, yeah. I don't ever use those, that's not why I got the Premium. I want to say, because I don't remember off the top of my head, there's additional features and additional tracking.
Lissa: I think sleep tracking?
Lizzy: The sleep tracking is more detailed.
Lissa: It goes [inaudible 00:05:35], yeah, more detailed.
Lizzy: That's why I got it. But speaking of being duplicative, man, y'all bamboozled me! My three closest friends in the world all wore one of these fucking things, the Oura Ring, and are like, "Oh my god, girl, you need one, you need one, you need one." And I dove right in. Unlike me, I didn't research the hell out of it. I got one maybe five or six months ago now. It's the same damn thing as this Fitbit. Now, I absolutely check both of them, and I compare. There are some features I prefer, and I have heard that eventually, with that much data, some of the predictive stuff gets better. But for the cost of it, which was $500, I think, for the one that I got-
Lissa: Was it?
Lizzy: Yeah!
Lissa: I got it as a gift.
Lizzy: Oh yeah, girl, that thing is not cheap!
Lissa: Oh.
Lizzy: I was like, "Why did I buy this?"
Lissa: Thanks, Alan.
Lizzy: What was I thinking?
Lissa: Yeah, so I really wanted it, but I couldn't get myself to pull the trigger on buying it, because I had the Fitbit, but I kept talking about it. So, my birthday a year or two ago, Alan, my fiance, got it for me.
Lizzy: Okay.
Lissa: Yeah. So, I didn't actually pay for it.
Lizzy: The other thing I will say, just to clarify, is for you and for another one of my friends, a big feature and component of it was the fertility tracking and the cycle tracking and stuff, which was a big feature for me that I was interested in, but it doesn't work because I have birth control. And so, that was interesting. So, there's pros and cons to it. But sitting over here, looking at both my trackers, which one has my sleep more accurate? They're actually pretty close.
Lissa: Yeah. Okay, so, financially, we're talking about, for fitness trackers that have devices, there's a cost, a one-time, supposedly "one-time", cost-
Lizzy: One time.
Lissa: ... for the device, and then for certain ones that have apps, there is a monthly recurring cost.
Lizzy: Yeah, for sure.
Lissa: Yeah.
Lizzy: But the financial cost isn't the only cost.
Lissa: Nope.
Lizzy: So, what has your experience been with fitness trackers? Both the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Lissa: Okay, I don't know if this is good, bad, or the ugly, but literally two nights ago, I had 7,200 steps and it was 10:00 PM. And I was like, "Man, there's no way I'm going to hit my 10K tonight." And then I was like, "Or is there?" So, I was studying, I was on my iPad trying to read all of these things. I'm studying for my CFP exam right now. So, I just started doing little quizzes on my iPad while walking around the house. I got dizzy because I can't... It's hard to do that, study and walk at the same time, and not safe. But I did it in 20, 25 minutes, I got the steps, and I hit my 10,000. So, I don't know.
Lizzy: I think that's a good thing.
Lissa: I think it's a good thing that I got the steps, but I don't think it's a great thing that I obsess over the 10K, because if it's a day that I don't get 10K, I actually feel guilty or I feel bad.
Lizzy: Yeah, I think that's the line. I have let go of that. I've been wearing a fitness tracker since 2013, I think. So, over 10 years, really long time. To the point where it's instrumental to my life, I check it every day. I actually was just being made fun of the other day for wearing a computer to bed. But I have kind of gotten to the point where I glance at it. It's not a hard and fast "I'm a failure if I don't hit my targets" kind of thing. Overall though, I think the main benefit is it makes you more mindful, right? I think that's part of it.
Lissa: Yeah, huge benefit.
Lizzy: It gives you awareness.
Lissa: I'm saying I'm overly mindful.
Lizzy: Yeah.
Lissa: So, there's a common thing, and I know this is true of you, if you go to the gym and you forget your headphones, it's almost like you can't work out, right?
Lizzy: Yeah.
Lissa: I feel that way with fitness trackers. It's like if I don't have my Fitbit on when I go take a 30-minute walk, I feel like, "Dang, those steps didn't count."
Lizzy: They don't count! They don't count. They don't count, bro. They don't count.
Lissa: They don't count. I didn't burn the calories, it didn't actually happen.
Lizzy: No. Tell me why... So, we play in a basketball league where you can't wear jewelry. So, I tie mine to my shorts or put it in my shoe.
Lissa: I used to do that, but guess what I've done the last three weekends of basketball games?
Lizzy: What?
Lissa: I wear a wristband over my Fitbit on my arm.
Lizzy: Right, because otherwise, these are good calories, girl.
Lissa: Yeah!
Lizzy: This is a good workout, and it doesn't count!
Lissa: Because some days, when I don't get a full on workout in, it's kind of hard to get... So, one of my fitness goals on my Fitbit is to get 30 minutes of-
Lizzy: Active minutes?
Lissa: ... of active minutes, which is when your heart rate has to go up to get these active minutes. So some days, when I'm taking a rest day, it's hard to get that. So yesterday, I had a basketball game, played the whole game, it was an hour, and I think I got 200 active minutes, because it counts double minutes when you hit a-
Lizzy: Are at a certain heart rate zone.
Lissa: Yeah, a certain heart rate zone.
Lizzy: Yeah.
Lissa: Anyway, so going back to the original question, it's like I think it's great that I'm mindful about my fitness, but I think I'm a little... Not a little, I'm a lot obsessive. Too obsessive. I'm trying to work out of this, because I don't like being this obsessive.
Lizzy: So, I relate. I've been there. I'm not as bad as I was, but it definitely doesn't count if I'm not wearing it.
Lissa: Like my sleep, I didn't sleep last night if it didn't track how long I slept.
Lizzy: I won't charge mine at night because then it's like my sleep didn't count! Deadass, last night, I was so tired, and I lay down, I was like, "Oh, my phone's going to be... Or my watch is going to be dead tomorrow." So, I plugged it in, and then I laid there for 15 minutes, and then I put it back on.
Lissa: Just enough charge to get you through the night.
Lizzy: Just enough to get me through the night.
Lissa: Yeah.
Lizzy: Yeah.
Lissa: So, that's interesting too, because I actually do think that this is a great quality of fitness trackers, at least for me, more so than the tracking my activity and my steps: the sleep tracking. Because I must have not gotten a lot of sleep in my twenties, when I used to drink a lot more and stay out late. Now that I track it and I see like, oh wow, the days that I don't feel great, and I feel tired and no energy, and I look at my sleep stats, it's directly tied to how late I went to bed, or how many times I got up in the middle of the night, or how little REM or deep sleep I got.
Lizzy: Absolutely.
Lissa: Directly tied. So now, in the past year or two, especially of having the Oura Ring, I pass on drinking a lot of nights because if I drink, I 100% have worse sleep, every time.
Lizzy: Yep, without a doubt.
Lissa: So, it's made me more conscious about it, to where I'm living, I guess, a healthier lifestyle by drinking less. But again, to this obsessive point, where it's like now I'm always just not a fun person.
Lizzy: I completely relate to that. The sleep is the number one thing I look at. It used to be calories burned. That's still, I think, my number one metric, because I use the app most of the time, I would say 50 to 70% of the time, to track my food. And so I'm mindful of my calories and stuff. But the sleep, I check every day, that's my favorite thing about having both of them, because they track it a little differently. And I agree, the good thing about the Oura Ring, not to make this an ad for them, is that you can add tags. So, I tag every time I drink alcohol, so I can see the trends. And if you are a data nerd like me, that is so definitive of why am I doing this? Spoiler alert, peep our episode on is alcohol worth it? But that's been really valuable for me also, in changing my habits and recognizing... It used to be basic math, like, "Okay, I went to bed at 11:00, and my alarm's set for 7:00, so I'm going to get eight hours." Nah, bro! No!
Lissa: No, that's not eight hours.
Lizzy: Because you actually took 25 minutes to fall asleep, you woke up a few times, you had to pee or whatever. And then the quality of those six and a half hours is very different.
Lissa: Yeah. So, I do appreciate the alerts I get on my app that... I have a daily routine, where around 10 o'clock it says, "All right, start winding down for bed." So then, as best as I can, I try to avoid screens and blue light. So, I do what it tells me, to some degree.
Lizzy: I wish I could do that.
Lissa: And it helps me out. But then sometimes it can just get annoying, because then it's like-
Lizzy: I just don't listen.
Lissa: You don't listen to it?
Lizzy: That's my ADHD that's like... I look at it and I'm like, "Fuck off."
Lissa: You use it to give yourself information, but you don't use it as a tool to proactively-
Lizzy: I ignore them. I have that thing in me that I don't listen to other things. My brain won't even listen to me, let alone other things. So, I'll see that, like, "You need to take more steps!" Or, "It's time for bed!" And part of my brain is like, "Fuck off."
Lissa: Yeah.
Lizzy: Yeah. That would be really helpful though, if that worked for me.
Lissa: So, the stats said that it's somewhere teetering around 10%, and I think this is globally, of people use some kind of fitness or health tracking.
Lizzy: I think at face value you're like, "Oh, 10%." But when you think about how many people that is? In, let's say, a decade or so, that's actually really incredible market penetration, across all age groups and everything. So, I think there's been a cultural shift too. We are in a little bit of a bubble with that, living in LA, where there's so much meaning and value placed on health and fitness. But I think just across the US, and certainly globally, the awareness and the use of technology to be more aware to track things, using data. I'm such a nerd about that, I want all the data I can get about myself. But that brings up another cost.
Lissa: Yeah, I was about to say.
Lizzy: Do you get concerned about all your health data?
Lissa: No. I don't think I get concerned about my health data. I think when people, at least friends and family, older family members, when they get concerned about data and privacy, I think what they think is happening is that someone in another country is looking at their individual health data. So, I'm not concerned about that definition at all. In terms of companies having our data, large data sets of our health in aggregate, so that they may create new products, whether they're good or bad, or sell us on the things that they know we are lacking or in need of, it's part smart and capitalistic, but it's also part predatory, where it's like, at what point are you actually trying to help us in our health? Or are you trying to get your bag by selling these products and apps?
Lizzy: I think both can be true at the same time.
Lissa: Yeah.
Lizzy: Yeah. I'm not a person that's going to trip out about that kind of stuff. I'm just not really wired that way.
Lissa: Life's too short to worry about-
Lizzy: It's more I'm just like, "You can have it, whatever."
Lissa: Yeah, what are you going to do with my-
Lizzy: What are you really going to do with my data that's so meaningful, right?
Lissa: Yeah.
Lizzy: I'm more concerned with when it comes to that stuff like photos and art and stuff-
Lissa: Oh, yeah.
Lizzy: ... that's used, like your likeness being used.
Lissa: True.
Lizzy: But then you want to know how many hours I slept last night or my weight? What the fuck ever, I'll just tell you, you know?
Lissa: Yeah. Maybe you guys will make better pillows to-
Lizzy: Right, yeah. So, that part doesn't bother me personally, although I think I understand why it freaks people out, and that's valid. And I think to the extent that that could be used in a nefarious way, not so much the product development or... It's hard for me to think of data, the type of data this tracks, that could be used in a negative way. But I think in general, health data being used to, I don't know, target someone with something negative, that, I'm like, "Oh, okay, that's a little sketchy."
Lissa: But it's interesting though, because of the companies that do hold a lot of this data, right? Apple Watch is what a lot of people use. And then Fitbit is now owned by Google or Alphabet.
Lizzy: Right, that is where it gets really interesting. I saw something the other day that gave me pause. I can't think of what it was, but yeah, basically, so you know now all of my preferences about this, or you know that I am navigating this thing, so what ads are you going to serve me? And that is where it gets a little weird, and it's a line, right? Because when they're serving you an ad, hypothetically, for something you actually want, you like it. You're like, "Oh, they know me so well, my algorithm is dialed in." And then when it's not, it's such a turn-off, and it feels really invasive. What's your take?
Lissa: I feel like, I think, what most people do, is that even though ads get served to me that are like, "Oh, I actually thought of that", or, "I wanted that", or, "I just texted someone about that", it's still creepy.
Lizzy: It's creepy.
Lissa: It still feels invasive, but then I'll still click it if I really want to check out the thing.
Lizzy: Yeah, and I think some of that is... It's not that there's not transparency, because on all of these things, we all agree to the terms and conditions that we don't read, right?
Lissa: Yeah.
Lizzy: Or the privacy. Every single website, they have to, legally, have these policies, but we're just kind of conditioned to accept it, or unconsciously make the choice that that is worth the benefits we get from it. And so it feels sketchy and feels creepy, even though we've technically opted into it most of the time.
Lissa: Yeah. Something interesting, because I know we've been talking about Fitbit, Oura Ring, Apple Watch, fitness tracking for fitness enthusiasts, or for people who want to improve their habits. But one of the statistics that I had looked at when I was researching the show, it was so much broader, and it included things like glucose monitoring and things like that, where these are-
Lizzy: Life-changing devices, yeah.
Lissa: Yeah, life-changing devices that historically, you can only get this at your doctor's office or some kind of facility, but now they are making home versions or things that you can monitor... One of my friends has to monitor her heart rate, so they sent, I think her doctor's office sent her these patches to track it. When I think of it in that way, I feel like, yeah, this is all good. How could this possibly be bad?
Lizzy: I think so. I think there's examples where it's a lot more cut and dry, right? Like glucose monitoring. It's just an ease and a convenience thing, and that seems pretty straightforward to me. I'm sure there's still people who find it invasive, or who can nitpick it, but fortunately, it's an opt-in type of scenario.
Lissa: Yeah.
Lizzy: Yeah. I think personally, I think there's a lot of benefit, but more of the costs are that mental and emotional... Do we need to have the awareness of this stuff all the time? Is it one more thing layering into our day, or is it actually a positive? What are the emotions? Just yesterday, I was talking to my mom, and she has an Apple Watch, and I was saying something about... We went to Comic-Con on Saturday, and I got 18,000 steps, or something a lot. I was like, "Oh, my legs are tired." And she was like, "Oh, I didn't get that many!" And we're pretty much the same height, we were together all day long. And I was like, "Apple Watches track things differently than Fitbits." And she's like, "Oh, that must be why we were in Paris, and you got so many more steps than me!" But she's competitive and like, "Damn, I..." I'm like, "You walked the same amount that I did, no matter what the number tells you."
Lissa: Yeah.
Lizzy: But that's the mindfuck it plays, right?
Lissa: No, for real. And it's interesting too, because I am competitive too, and I enjoy statistics, but I never went to the lengths of adding friends on Fitbit. I think I have a couple, but they send you, on a weekly basis, how many steps you got and all of your statistics, but then it also has a leaderboard of, between you and all your friends, who was first, second, third, or if maybe you didn't make the top three in terms of steps. Then it's just like, "Dang, I couldn't keep up with your steps." But I've had surgeries in the past, I've had weeks and months where I couldn't actually work out.
Lizzy: Or just lifestyle differences. I remember you and Kels, the homie Kels, were on a kick for a minute, getting 20,000 steps a day.
Lissa: I think we did 15,000 a day.
Lizzy: Y'all were going after it for a minute. And in my head I was like, "That is never going to happen for me." It would just be such a time commitment, because I'm sitting at a desk so much of the day. That would be several hours. This is my free time, you know?
Lissa: Yeah. I've kind of calculated it, that it's about 100 steps per minute. So, if you walk for 10 minutes, you can pretty much just, at least for me, I could get about 1,000 steps.
Lizzy: You've got little legs.
Lissa: Yeah. So, if I walk for an hour and a half a day, spread out through the day, then I can hit my 10,000.
Lizzy: Okay. Okay.
Lissa: So, it's not too bad, especially if you're like, "All right, get up every hour and go take a 10, 15 minute walk."
Lizzy: Yeah, sure, sure, sure. It's manageable, yeah.
Lissa: It's manageable, except for... So, Los Angeles is not a walking city, so much as New York or London. And so it's funny because when I travel to places like that, I don't even have to think about getting the steps. I've got them. But here in LA, especially if you work from home, you're not walking around a lot. It's a struggle. That's why-
Lizzy: It is, yeah.
Lissa: ... by the end of the night, I'm like, "Man, I don't know if I can hit my goal."
Lizzy: And that's a good thing, right? To me, that part of it is a good thing for that awareness of I might feel exhausted at the end of the day, and I actually barely moved, because I was sitting there working. And to have that awareness like, "Oh, this isn't healthy for me." Without a tracker, I wouldn't be reminded of that. And I need to make an effort and be proactive about moving my body throughout the day, otherwise it might not happen, or it might not happen enough.
Even earlier this year, I was recovering from an injury, and I'm trying to get back in the gym and stuff like that, and it was recognizing how few steps I was taking, because I couldn't walk for several months. I broke my ankle. But then just by being more mindful and upping my steps throughout the day, how much easier it was to increase my calorie burn just by doing my normal stuff. Or I always find that on Saturday and Sunday, I burn way more and I get way more steps than a work day, just by nature of doing stuff around the house.
Lissa: Yeah, you're not confined to-
Lizzy: And it's a good awareness.
Lissa: Yeah. So, I would say, if I had to say a big benefit for me, in terms of the awareness, going back to the sleep stuff I was talking about earlier, I didn't realize until later that the reason I was always tired was because I wasn't getting enough sleep. And when I started to fix that, do the amount of sleep that my Fitbit was telling me to get and whatever, and when I started doing that on a more consistent basis, I realized that I don't need coffee. I could actually feel the change. And then when you look at it in that way, you can actually save money. It sounds crazy.
Lizzy: Yeah, interesting, yeah.
Lissa: It sounds crazy. It's convincing me not to drink as much, right?
Lizzy: For sure, yeah.
Lissa: So, I'm saving money by not getting drinks at dinner, and I'm saving because I'm not... Yeah.
Lizzy: Yeah. And I think, kind of related, another big benefit of this whole marketing thing around 10,000 steps is reminding people that walking is exercise. Walking is amazing for you, and you don't necessarily have to join a gym, or pay for some trendy, expensive fitness class to get exercise. You certainly don't need the fitness tracker either, but to be more mindful and feel like you accomplished something, and feel like you're doing good things for your health, without having to spend even more money, it's a positive, I think.
Lissa: Yeah.
Lizzy: Kind of.
Lissa: All right, I have this side story dilemma.
Lizzy: Okay?
Lissa: I have these tan lines where my Oura Ring and my Fitbit are, and so my wedding is in six months. And so sometimes what I'll do is if I'm walking outside and the sun's out, and I know I'm going to get a tan, I'll move those to my other hand and arm. Which, again, I think goes back to that obsessive nature of me, of I want to track, I want to use these, but it's also annoying, because it's-
Lizzy: So, you're not going to not track, you're just going to do it offhand.
Lissa: Yeah. So anyway, very, very minor problem. Do things like that bother you?
Lizzy: So, for me, it's a prioritization. Wedding is a different story. In your situation, I would fake tan the tan line.
Lissa: Oh, I guess, yeah.
Lizzy: To just resolve that, or put makeup on it. Because yeah, in your wedding photos, you want to look a certain way. But what comes up for me is I've had situations where I'm attending a wedding as a guest and I'm like, "I'm going to dance tonight. I know I'm going to dance tonight." So, it might be a black tie wedding, where I am very dressed up, but I'm like, "I don't want to not wear my watch and get all these steps."
Lissa: So, do you wear the watch?
Lizzy: Usually, I wear the watch.
Lissa: So, you have an Apple Watch, right?
Lizzy: I have a Fitbit.
Lissa: Oh, you have a Fitbit?
Lizzy: Yeah.
Lissa: So, what I've done in the past, so this Fitbit, this is not the band that it comes with. I have a leather band, and so it looks a little cooler. It looks like a watch. But in the past, I've bought other bands. We didn't even talk about accessories yet.
Lizzy: Oh, yeah!
Lissa: So, I've bought other bands, like Fitbit bands, that are metal looking.
Lizzy: Right, that look more dressy.
Lissa: That look dressy. And I've worn that when it's a nicer occasion. People still know it's a watch, but it's-
Lizzy: For the most part, I'm like, "I don't care, I want to get my steps." But there was an occasion recently, I can't think of what it was, where I was like, "No, I want to look like..." Yeah.
Lissa: I'm holding mine right now, because I feel weird not wearing it for so long. It's been like, 30 minutes without wearing it.
Lizzy: Obsessive!
Lissa: Okay, so how often do you buy... So, this is your first Oura Ring.
Lizzy: My first Oura Ring.
Lissa: How often do you buy a new Fitbit?
Lizzy: Okay, "buy" is an important word here, because this shit don't last at all. I've had eight or nine replacements? I don't even know. The number of times they've broken and through the warranty, or now I pay for insurance on it, because this is a higher-end one. This was originally given to me as a gift, maybe, I want to say 2020? It was a gift. And this is my third or fourth one, but I pay for the insurance, which is like 40 bucks. And so then they replace it.
Lissa: So, if it breaks, and you pay for this 40 bucks-
Lizzy: They just give you a free one.
Lissa: ... you get a free one.
Lizzy: Yeah.
Lissa: What's the price tag on that?
Lizzy: I think it's like $350?
Lissa: Okay, yeah. I usually get the cheaper ones.
Lizzy: We've talked about this before. I am so accident-prone that I have cracked the screen, or one of them just stopped working, and I don't really know why. But yeah, this is my third or fourth one of this one. In 10 years, I've probably had 12.
Lissa: Wow.
Lizzy: They break, bro!
Lissa: So then-
Lizzy: Sometimes they stop working.
Lissa: So, this is a $40-a-year cost, then? Ish?
Lizzy: They didn't always have insurance.
Lissa: Oh, okay.
Lizzy: But they used to have really, really good warranties. So, I got most of those replaced. I think I've purchased... I've probably purchased three, one was a gift, and then purchased insurance twice. But if you think about that, it's something I wear every single day.
Lissa: And use every day.
Lizzy: And use every day.
Lissa: So, do you open the apps every day?
Lizzy: Lately, not so much. It honestly depends. Here's another benefit, or cost, depending how you think about it. But when I'm using it, and I'm engaged, I'm more mindful of everything else. So, when I'm tracking my food on the app, it helps me and fuels me to make better decisions. This week, I meal prepped, right? Positive, healthy decision. But I didn't track my food today. If I were tracking it, I would have more willpower and be more aligned. I've just noticed that pattern for me. So, I've been really out of my routine the past month or so, five or six weeks. I've been traveling, I haven't been in the gym. So, knowing that, I just look at it less, because I'm not going to be hard on myself for whatever. But I would say still most days, if not every day, I look at it.
Lissa: That's a very healthy approach. I'm trying to get to where you're at, where if I can't hit my goals, I don't have to get mad at myself, I could just use it as a means to track the goals when I am on a regular routine.
Lizzy: I definitely used to be more that way. And I think some of it was I didn't have one for a little while. I was given an Apple Watch, I wore that, and then that broke, or I lost it? You know me. And so I had a gap. And maybe that is when it started to shift. Or just my mindset. But I am in a healthier place with it. You know I had a period where I was obsessive pretty much about everything health and fitness related, my food, borderline unhealthy degree. And so I've definitely been there.
Lissa: So, do you know anyone that is kind of anti-fitness tracker, or doesn't agree with them?
Lizzy: Yeah.
Lissa: You do?
Lizzy: It just came up. Yeah, I'm dating someone, and they were like, "This is the first thing we disagree on. You're wearing a computer to bed. What is this?" And they're just like, "I don't get it." I was like, "It tracks my sleep." And he's like, "What the fuck is that?"
Lissa: Like, "Why do you need that?" Yeah.
Lizzy: Yeah, "Why do you need it?" And I think just differing views on technology and stuff. So, that was kind of a first for me. I think there's people who don't see the value in it. I haven't met as many people who are like that, who are like, "What is this? Why are you doing this?" But it's interesting to know. I think of my dad and my brother, for example, who are very, very into fitness in different ways. But my brother competed in bodybuilding, and is super, super active, super fit, and I don't think he wears anything. He might have an Apple Watch, maybe? But I think it's more for the watch.
Lissa: Because he's probably already beat the game. He's already fit.
Lizzy: Right! But it's interesting though, right? And then, yeah, and my dad, someone got him a Fitbit, and he just doesn't ever wear it.
Lissa: Okay. That's interesting, because I couldn't think of one. I could think of people who probably don't care one way or another. And then I have friends who do care and have trackers, and they understand when I'm trying to get my 10,000 steps, they understand the goal.
Lizzy: Here's what I'll say. I can't think of anyone that I know personally who wears a tracker and who isn't all about it. I don't want to say obsessive, but who's just very casual about it. And that could be a reflection of my friends, or a reflection of the effect of tracking.
Lissa: So, if you have one, you're probably... You care. You care.
Lizzy: You care.
Lissa: I wouldn't call you obsessive, but you care.
Lizzy: And that could be self-selecting, right? The people who care are more inclined to buy one.
Lissa: Yeah.
Lizzy: Chicken, egg.
Lissa: Right.
Lizzy: But everyone I'm thinking of, which is all my closest friends, are like, "I need to know."
Lissa: I guess it's a generational thing too, then. Actually, for my fiance's mom, we had gotten her a fitness tracker, because she wanted to track steps sometime last year. She loves it. But I don't think, especially for generations older than us, that they'd even think about it as a tool, or something that's beneficial to your life, because you operate for so many years and decades not needing something like this.
Lizzy: I think it depends, because I think it's also aligned with just how technologically savvy and open to innovation you are, because, for example, my mom is all about it, and she's worn one almost as long as I have. And another friend's mom who got really into fitness, I know, was all about it. That just reminded me, though, on the note of sleep, this isn't exactly a sleep tracker, but now there's all of these mattresses that have apps and give you a sleep score. And in my household, this is an ongoing competition between my mom and my dad, of who has a better sleep score. And it's really funny, because my mom's always in the nineties, but a good night for my dad is like, 72.
Lissa: So, they have the bed that does this?
Lizzy: They have a Sleep Number.
Lissa: Oh, a Sleep Number.
Lizzy: A Sleep Number, and it gives you a score, right? So, that's another whole different kind of tracker. But it's just so funny how that competition is, and for them, he'll never beat her, ever, but it's relative, right? So, it's like for him, his win is an 80.
Lissa: I guess that's what I wonder. Obviously, I love my trackers, I have two of them. And I see the benefit of the gamification of it, and being competitive, because at the end of the day, you're fighting to be healthier. I want to get better sleep, I want to be more active, heart health, all this stuff. But I do worry about the obsessive nature of it for me, to like, can I ever just live? Can I go a year without my trackers? Would I feel healthy?
Lizzy: You would adapt. I think you'd adapt quicker than you think. But it would be a mindset shift, and that's really interesting, you know? I have another very close friend who can get really obsessive about health and fitness stuff when she's tracking. I don't know if she's that way with her watch that she wears, but if she's tracking food, it's very all or nothing, to the point where it's just not good for her to do. And that's a reality, it can become a problem. But I'm always reminding her in those situations, it's about being active. At the end of the day, what's your objective here? And so I think that helps too, right? Is your objective to get 10,000 steps every day? Is your objective to live a healthy lifestyle? And you can bring it back to that.
Lissa: Yeah. Last note, something I think is very interesting, is you know how for the longest time when we were younger, if you wanted to take pictures, you would have a digital camera?
Lizzy: Mm-hmm.
Lissa: And so you would have a phone and a digital camera if you went out in a given night. Then over the years, technology kind of combined those together. So interestingly, the watch thing, it's like no, not only do you have a pedometer, you also get-
Lizzy: A heart monitor.
Lissa: ... a heart monitor, but a watch, a timer. I use my timer on my watch probably every day for various things.
Lizzy: Really? Yeah.
Lissa: Yeah. So, it's really interesting, where this direction is going. Do you think more things are going to get conflated?
Lizzy: Oh, totally. Now people pay with their watches.
Lissa: Oh, right.
Lizzy: You know?
Lissa: Yeah.
Lizzy: It's funny that you say that though, because thinking about it, the number one use that I use it as is just a watch. When I am not wearing it, I realize how much I check my watch, and I never wore a watch before, ever, in my whole life. But I think you're right. I think more and more types of functionality are going to get integrated, which is just a wave of technology, of things becoming more and more and more convenient.
Lissa: Yeah. So, maybe a future episode, because we just talked about fitness trackers today, but wearables in general?
Lizzy: Wearables in general.
Lissa: Because it's not just fitness and health tracking, there's so many technological wearables now.
Lizzy: Yeah. You know something? When you were saying that, side note, but reminded me there is something to being tracked, as in your location. So, most of them have a GPS component, and that can be a positive, I think, in terms of if something happens to you or you're in danger. But one thing I've seen is people will track a run, and it'll track their route, and they'll post it on social media, or it's public on their profile of their Fitbit. That tells people where they live!
Lissa: That tells you where you live, because you're starting and ending there.
Lizzy: It tells you your route. That is a real dangerous thing to do!
Lissa: Yeah, someone can just go to... Yeah, they'll just know your route next Tuesday, because they know you do that route! Oh, I don't, because I've had a stalker before, told you this in previous episodes. But yeah, just a reminder for you guys out there, be careful with sharing that kind of-
Lizzy: Your GPS information.
Lissa: ... data.
Lizzy: Even in photos, it has your GPS.
Lissa: Man.
Lizzy: There's all kinds of stuff. But that's another cost-
Lissa: I didn't think of that.
Lizzy: ... and a risk that I think people overlook, and you'll see runners post their stuff, and it's like-
Lissa: Yeah, I just realized that, in the Fitbit Community, people post a lot. I think it's mostly stuff where you can't locate them, but it's very individualized, personal information. And I'm like, "Oh, I don't know."
Lizzy: That's the type of information that is sketchy when it comes to data, for sure.
Lissa: Yeah. Oh, good. I was worried that this episode was not going to have any-
Lizzy: That we were going to be an ad?
Lissa: Yeah, we're just going to be an ad for fitness trackers.
Lizzy: Yeah.
Lissa: But there are some negatives.
Lizzy: Yeah, for sure.
Lissa: All right. 20 cents?
Lizzy: 20 cents!
Lissa: 20 cents is the segment of the show where both Lizzy and myself, Lissa, each get 60 seconds to give our two cents on today's topic, whether it is a net positive or a net negative to have a fitness tracker. Where does 20 cents come from?
Lizzy: Because you get the opinion of two dimes, y'all.
Lissa: Two dimes!
Lizzy: Two dimes!
Lissa: Are fitness trackers worth it?
Lizzy: Big surprise, I think fitness trackers are very worth it. They have been really instrumental for me in transforming my health. The awareness and knowledge, and using that data to be more consistent, but also to literally just lose weight, because I had numbers and inputs, and knew how many calories I could eat. Or gain weight, when I was trying to gain, and really change my body in a positive way. And the benefit of just having that mindset, where I'm thinking about my health proactively and consciously throughout the day, I think has been a positive, or is in a very positive place now, even though there have been times when it skewed a little negative. But overall, net positive.
Lissa: Net positive. Yeah, I'm not surprised.
Lizzy: Yeah, big shocker.
Lissa: Yeah.
Lizzy: Yeah. All right, what about you? 20 cents.
Lissa: No surprise, either, I'm net positive. The one thing I will say, though, is I am actively trying not to use my fitness trackers as a crutch, because I want to be in tune with my body. I want to know when I've gotten good sleep because I can feel it. I want to know that I've burned enough calories today because I feel it. I want to know that, oh, today's going to be a rest day, because my body is not feeling it. For now, these tools help me, because I won't push it on a day that my Oura Ring is like, "Take it easy." I'll take it easy. So, I like that about it. But I do think that over time, if I could just use it as a tool but not a crutch, then I'll be a lot happier about them. But in the meantime, I'm still going to use them. So, for me, net positive.
Lizzy: Net positive. Yo, that reminded me about my experience starting with the Oura Ring, and it still gets it to this day, of there are times when I wake up and I feel exhausted. And it will say I got great recovery, and I'm ready to go! And I'm like, "What is this?" And that's really interesting, right?
Lissa: Yeah.
Lizzy: What is the disconnect between what is being measured-
Lissa: And what you-
Lizzy: ... and what I'm actually feeling? And trying to reconcile that. And so that is a really important point, is in spite of whatever your fitness tracker is telling you, at the end of the day, you got to listen to your body.
Lissa: Got to listen to your body. All right, this is what we think. At this moment in time, both Liz and I are net positive on fitness trackers, but no one can make that decision but you. What do you think?
Lizzy: Hit us up, let us know what you think. DM us on Instagram, @netnetpodcast, or email us at hi@netnetpodcast.com. And if you want to follow us individually, here's where you can find us.
Lissa: I'm @wealthforwomenofcolor on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.
Lizzy: And you can follow me @live_well_lizzy.
Lissa: All references, statistics, and resources mentioned can be found in our show notes. This podcast is for educational, informational, and entertainment purposes only, and should not be constituted as financial advice or health advice. Remember to always do your own research, consult a professional as needed, and feel empowered to make your own damn decisions.