Fitness trackers - Weight tracker - Food tracker - which ones are best? 3M Health Plan discount - Withings Scale Review

I've been using these technology driven attempts to encourage better eating, weight loss and better fitness for a couple of years. But it became even more important to us this year when 3M, my husband's employer started offering a discount on health insurance for employees who use them.  I decided to take the time and expense to test out several and try to make good decisions on what was the best to follow for now - if not the rest of my life - I'm sure there will be new toys on the horizon...

  The journey began in fall 2009 - 3 1/2 years ago. I lost about 10 lbs before a trip to Italy because we were planning to carry our clothes in backpack suitcases and I wanted to be able to walk at least as well as I could before with only "me" to carry. We packed light.... but after 3 weeks in Italy I had gained back about five pounds...

I often thought I should put a weight chart on the bathroom wall because I usually forgot what I had weighed the last time I looked... only I wasn't sure I wanted it there for everyone to see and just never got around to it. But our lives changed for the better when we bought a Withings Scale - that wirelessly sends our weights to the internet for viewing on our computers or iPhones. No escaping it now! It was a huge positive step. Rather than worry about each daily change, we could look at trends and we had to face which way they were going without rationalizing or guessing or pretending... Here's the scale we have used for 3 years now and LOVE! It remembers each person and keeps them separate without entering who it is - IF your weights are distinct enough. Luckily my husband weighs 40 lbs more than I do!

You can access your scale from www.withings.com or from a smart phone app.

Here's my first year with the scale - and I give about 33% credit to the scale, 33% credit to another app, and 33% credit to my working harder at cooking better meals.

And if seeing your weight change isn't enough - it also tells you body fat % at least to what seems like a fairly consistent measurement - mine went down as weight went down... and that was a positive for sure! Also calculates BMI.

And the scale wasn't the only things telling the tale - but it really did motivate me.  Here are 2010 summer pictures

  

And Fall of 2011

Next up - the other secret - Lose It! And our move into fitness trackers...
Here's where you can buy the Withings Scale