Metrics of Fitness

Tracking fitness is a new metrics trend, and one that has obvious implications for any business that is focused on nutrition, exercise, weight loss, and activity. Being able to see the data behind your own fitness goals can be very addictive!

Services and devices like the Fitbit are one example of fitness data being placed in the hands of the consumer. For a $99 entry fee, anyone can buy a Fitbit and access its website for daily fitness tracking.

Fitbit (see Figure 20-1) allows you to track your daily activity (steps walked or run, miles covered, floors climbed, food eaten, mood, heart rate, sleep cycles, and more). Then Fitbit adds a layer of game theory to everything by allowing you to connect with friends who use the service to create a friendly competition and motivation through their leaderboard, as well as a social media layer with Facebook and Twitter integration (see Figure 20-2).

The simple Fitbit device also works with your smartphone for tracking on the go, the Withings blood pressure monitor and scale (both Wi-Fi–enabled), and other brands of Wi-Fi fitness equipment. For the true data junkie, Fitbit also has an API where you can write your own program to integrate with Fitbit or pull your data out for measurement and tracking outside of its website (the most applicable for this purpose).

This kind of personal activity monitoring also has positive implications for any company that encourages telecommuting or that wants to lower health insurance costs by encouraging wellness overall — offering data on when your employees are at their computer and if they have been sitting there too long, among other things. Companies that encourage off-line time for activity have happier, more productive employees.

Note: Fitbit is one of many devices that track your activity somehow and feed the data back to a computer wirelessly. It is simply one that is both affordable and accurate and that I can personally vouch for — that insomniac in Figure 20-1 was me during the final edit phase of this book!