The best fitness trackers for women will teach you how to burn fat without losing muscle and can deliver all of the workout features every woman is looking for. Of course, this can heavily depend on the user. As an example, if you love swimming or kayaking, then you need a model that’s waterproof. While the avid runner will want a fitness tracker that allows them to map out their route, track the distance they’ve covered, or allow them to save waypoints so they can challenge their speed and stamina during their next run.
We’ve reviewed many of the leading models on the market and have narrowed down our choices to the top six.
In the past, the market was flooded with basic fitness trackers that were only able to clock the number of steps taken during the day or how active a person was for a determined period of time. But the newest models to hit the market have so much more to offer. Not only will they allow you to store clean eating lunch ideas, appointments, sleep habits, or steps taken, but you can also use them as a personal assistant of sorts and keep track of upcoming appointments, store your to-do list, or upload your favorite playlist.
Table of Contents
How We Narrowed Down Our Choices
Obviously, fitness trackers that are loaded with the most features automatically get a higher score from buyer’s but what we really paid attention to was how accurate and reliable these fitness trackers really are. Many years ago, fitness trackers got plenty of negative feedback for not accurately logging steps taken or caloric input.
But with advances in technology came newly improved fitness tracking devices that can not only accurately keep tabs on how often you move and how far you go, they can also determine how well you sleep, monitor your heart rate, and help you track calories more efficiently. One of the best fitness tips for girls and women who want to get in shape involves closely monitoring calories consumed versus calories burned.
These new fitness trackers allow you to use third-party apps such as MyFitnessPal in order to precisely count each and every calorie. This allows users to plan their workout intensity, type, and frequency, based on these results.
Aside from accuracy, durability was another important factor. In the past, fitness trackers were flimsy and didn’t have any type of weather or water protection. These days, many models of top fitness trackers can be worn when you’re out for a swim or in the shower. Durability is definitely a priority if you plan on taking your fitness tracker with you, wherever you go.
We’ve made it our goal to provide you with the best of the best. Before we head to our buyer’s guide, which details the features you should look for, we’ll give you a preview of our top choices.
Top-Selling Fitness Trackers Comparison Chart
Below you’ll find a list of the top six models of fitness trackers on the market, and how they stand up to the competition. We’ve focused on cost, user rating, GPS functionality, battery life, and smartphone compatibility. Right of the bat, these features can help you to determine whether or not a particular model will be the right fit for you. As an example, if you’re a runner or cyclist, then a model with onboard GPS will be a must.
- 【Superb Visual and Operational Experience】The unique curved 1.47-inch ultra-HD full touch screen of this fitness tracker offers you superb visual and operational experience. Immerse yourself in crystal-clear visuals, providing an intuitive and responsive interface that keeps you in control of your fitness metrics and settings. Express your unique style every day with over 150 watch faces in the App or your favorite photo in your phone album, keep your wrist as dynamic as your lifestyle.
- 【Comprehensive Health Metrics Monitoring】This slim, easy-to-use smart fitness watch packs heart rate, blood oxygen and blood pressure monitoring. You could check those real-time health metrics anytime, anywhere conveniently from your wrist and check recent data record in APP. You could also turn on 24/7 heart rate tracking in the App. Providing you complete information to help you manage your well-being.
- 【Intelligent Sleep Monitoring and Analysis】Get a better understanding of your sleep quality with graphs that record your fall asleep and awake time, REM time, duration of light sleep and deep sleep. The smart health watches for women and men analysis your sleep data and provide you suggestions to help you improving your sleep habits. You could set silent alarms that wake you up by buzzing without disturbing others. You could also view your daily, weekly and monthly sleep data in the App.
- 【All-day Activity Tracking and more than 120 Sports Modes】The activity & fitness trackers track your all day’s activity including steps, distance and calories burned to help you achieve your fitness goals more efficiently. Besides, the heart rate monitor watch could tracks more than 120 sports modes for real-time heart rate, steps, distance, calories burned, time of duration. You could get a map of your workout route and pace in app during outdoor activity by connecting to your phone gps.
- 【Calls and Messages Notification】Receiving a buzzing notification on your wrist for incoming calls, text and app messages including Facebook,Twitter, WhatsApp, Messenger and more. For inconing calls, you coulld check the caller’s name or phone number on the smart watches for women and men to decide whether you need to reach out for your phone to answer the call or not. For text and app messages, except for a buzzing notification, you could also read the whole messages on your watch directly.
- 【Large HD AMOLED Display】 Amazfit band 7 fitness tracker features a large 1.47” always-on display to fit more important information and reduce the scrolling. The viewable area of Band 7's large HD AMOLED display is 112% bigger than band 5, while the body remains slim and light.
- 【18-day Battery Life】 Say goodbye to daily recharge. When fully charged, the 232 mAh battery of the fitness tracker watch can last up to 18 days with a typical usage, and up to 28 days with a battery saver mode.
- 【Dominate Your Workout Goals】Large selection of 120 sports modes, get data for all your favorite sports, like running, cycling, yoga, and more. And Jump into action quickly with smart recognition of 4 Sports. With a water-resistance grade of 5 ATM, meaning it can resist the equivalent of up to 50 meters of water pressure. And whenever you fancy a trip to the pool, the Pool Swimming sports mode can scientifically track your swimming data.
- 【Harness the Power of Health】The activity fitness tracker is able to simultaneously measure three health indicators (Heart rate, Blood oxygen, Stress level) in one tap, for results in as fast as 45 seconds. Also, It can track your sleep quality through the light, deep, and REM sleep stages, as well as provide menstrual cycle monitoring.
- 【Almighty Assistance & Powerful Zepp OS 】Amazfit Band 7 has Amazon Alexa built-in, so you can easily set an alarm, get a translation and more to make every day easier. Light and low power-consuming Zepp OS enable supreme & seamless interaction, and the rich app ecosystem features over 10 mini apps to enhance your daily life.
- Inspire 3 is the tracker that helps you find your energy, do what you love and feel your best. All you have to do is wear it.Operating temperature: 0° to 40°C
- Move more: Daily Readiness Score(1), Active Zone Minutes, all-day activity tracking and 24/7 heart rate, 20+ exercise modes, automatic exercise tracking and reminders to move
- Stress less: always-on wellness tracking, daily Stress Management Score, mindfulness sessions, relax breathing sessions, irregular heart rhythm notifications(2), SpO2(3), menstrual health tracking, resting heart rate and high/low heart rate notifications
- Sleep better: automatic sleep tracking, personalized Sleep Profile(1), daily detailed Sleep Score, smart wake vibrating alarm, sleep mode
- Comfortably connected day and night: calls, texts & smartphone app notifications(4), color touchscreen with customizable clock faces, super lightweight and water resistant to 50 meters, up to 10 day battery life(5)
- ✅【Updated Version】 & Multi-Function: What’s updated than other S5: One-tap measurement for 5 vital health data, Brightness & Screen-off Time setting, MAI(a health index) test, Long press to change watchface. Multiple use: Customizable WatchFace/Fitness/Activity Tracker/ Female Health Assistant/Blood Pressure /Heart Rate/Blood Oxygen/Sleep Monitor, Sedentary & Drink Reminder, Pedometer/ Calorie/Step Counter/Alarm clock, Calendaring/Call/Message Notification. Google fit supported.
- ✅Heart Rate & Blood Pressure & Blood Oxygen & Sleep Monitoring: Fitness tracker can track real-time health date automatically, you can see the record in app: Runmefit(Need open the automatically measurement function in app). It can also track your sleep duration and consistency with comprehensive analysis of sleep quality data, helping you adjust yourself for a healthier lifestyle.
- ✅ All-day Activity & Sports Tracking: Jawploy activity tracker will record all-day activities like steps, distance, calories burned, health data, active minutes and sleep status, etc, it is not only a pedometer or step counter. 16 sports modes for specific activity can be selected, which meets your whole day needs. With fashionable high tech design, it is very adorable to wear it while exercising. 【You can get more colors of watch band on Amazon (Search: Jawploy S5 fitness tracker bands) 】
- ✅ Waterproof & Built-in USB Plug: No need of cable/charger, you can insert it in any USB port to charge.【About charging】Both 2 sides of watch band can be removed, but only one side with metal piece can be charged. When starting charging, watch will vibrate once, and the charging icon will show on screen, if not, turn the watch to another face and plug again. IP68 Life Waterproof, you can wear the tracker when running in rains and washing hands, showering, swimming, or diving.
- ✅See Calls & Important Messages on Your Wrist: Jawploy fitness tracker can receive call, calendar, SMS and SNS (Facebook, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter) notifications on display, never miss the messages that matter. Also equipped with call Reject function. (About pairing and notification methods, you can learn from instruction or see the video: youtu.be/J3oBwv0NmbQ)
- 【All-day Activity Tracker】: ENGERWALL IP68 Waterproof fitness tracker can record and track your daily steps, calories burned, exercise distance and time. It can also monitor your Body Temp, pulse, blood oxygen and blood pressure. You can set various SMART Notification and check detailed data in the App "Runmefit". IP68 WATERPROOF makes sure that you don't need to take it off during daily hand washing, cold showers, and swimming in pools, But do not soak in water or hot baths, saunas
- 【Heart Rate / Body Temp / Sleep Monitor】: This fitness tracker can monitor your heart rate and body temperature throughout the day. It can also monitor your sleep at night (Awake, Deep Sleep, Light Sleep, REM Sleep).
- 【Remote Shooting / Selfie】: You can use it to remote control your smartphone to take pictures/Selfies, and make sure all the smiling faces are in the photo without a selfie stick. This is the favorite feature of ENGERWALL users.
- 【Call & Message Notification】: You can get calls, SMS messages, and SNS notifications directly on your wrist (including Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Instagram).
- 【16 Sports Modes】: This fitness tracker with 16 sports modes to track the corresponding exercise. It will record your workout time, heart rate, and distance. With connected GPS, it can record your workout route, and so on.
- 【Smart Notification Remider】 With Bluetooth connection to your phone, it can support incoming calls/text alerts/APP message notifications (WhatsApp/Facebook/Instagram etc.), you will never miss your important messages. With the fitness watch, you can also perform sedentary reminder, water reminder, alarm clock, stopwatch, remote control photo, find devices, etc. to make your life healthier and smarter.
- 【25 Sports Modes】 Fitness tracker supports 25 professional sports modes, you can choose any number of sports modes as your exclusive sports modes in the app, such as walking, running, cycling, yoga, etc. and track your steps, heart rate, distance and calories to help you stay motivated, accomplish your sports goals, record your sports data, and make your sports more scientific.
- 【Smart Notification Remider】 With Bluetooth connection to your phone, it can support incoming calls/text alerts/APP message notifications (WhatsApp/Facebook/Instagram etc.), you will never miss your important messages. With the fitness watch, you can also perform sedentary reminder, water reminder, alarm clock, stopwatch, remote control photo, find devices, etc. to make your life healthier and smarter.
- 【Long Battery Life】The fitness watch uses magnetic fast charging to provide a better battery life experience. It takes 1-2 hours to fully charge and can be used for up to 7 days of regular use and 15 days of standby. Compatible mobile phone system: Android5.0 (included) and IOS9.0 (included) or above.
- 【1.1" AMOLED Touch Color Screen】AMOLED HD touch color screen is designed with clear and bright display, providing you with high quality touch and visual experience. This smartwatch includes a large number of original dials and supports custom dials.
![SAMSUNG Galaxy FIT 3 [2024] 1.6' AMOLED Display | 14 Days Battery Life | 100+ Watchfaces | 100+ Exercise Modes | International Model - (Black)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41s4LbRyUDL._SL160_.jpg)
- Display: 1.6" AMOLED Display. 256x402 Resolution. 302 PPI.
- 100+ Exercise Modes.
- 100+ Watch faces.
- Sleep Coaching.
- Internation Model.
- Move more: Heart Rate on Equipment via Bluetooth, 40+ Exercise Modes, Built-in GPS, Active Zone Minutes, Daily Readiness Score, 24/7 Heart Rate, All-day Activity Tracking, Cardio Fitness Level, Automatic Exercise Tracking, Workout Intensity Map and Reminders to Move
- Comfortably Connected: Youtube Music Controls, Google Maps, Google Wallet, Call, Text and Smartphone App Notifications, Vibrant Colour Touchscreen with Customizable Clock Faces, Timer and Stopwatch
- Health: our most accurate heart rate yet, ECG and irregular Heart Rhythm Notifications, Oxygen saturation (SpO2) Monitoring, Resting Heart Rate and High/Low Heart Rate Notifications
- 7 days of battery and Water-resistant up to 50m
- Stress Management Score, Nightly Sleep Score, On-wrist mindfulness session, Smart Wake alarm, Sleep and Do not disturb modes
Our Leading Models of Fitness Trackers
Below you’ll get a brief look at the best fitness trackers for women on the market. Each model has something special to offer, whether it’s the best battery life, workout options, or best value. Every fitness tracker that made it to our list comes loaded with standout features that make them not only versatile but some of the most reliable fitness trackers to date.
Best Fitness Tracker for Women-Garmin Vivoactive 4
- Keeps track of your energy levels, Pulse Ox (this is not a medical device and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or monitoring of any medical condition), respiration, menstrual cycle, stress, sleep, estimated heart, hydration and more
- Easily download songs to your watch, including playlists from Spotify, Amazon music or Deezer (may require a premium subscription with a third party music provider), and connect with headphones (sold separately) for phone free listening
- Record all the ways to move with more than 20 preloaded GPS and indoor sports apps, including yoga, running, swimming and more
- Get easy to follow, animated workouts right on your watch screen, including cardio, strength, yoga and Pilates
- Battery life: Up to 8 days in smartwatch mode; Up to 6 hours in GPS and music mode
Top Fitness Tracker for iOS Users-Apple Watch Series 8 Smartwatch
![Apple Watch Series 8 [GPS 41mm] Smart Watch w/Midnight Aluminum Case with Midnight Sport Band - S/M. Fitness Tracker, Blood Oxygen & ECG Apps, Always-On Retina Display, Water Resistant](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/317o8cxuiAL._SL160_.jpg)
- WHY APPLE WATCH SERIES 8 — Your essential companion for a healthy life is now even more powerful. Advanced sensors provide insights to help you better understand your health. New safety features can get you help when you need it. The bright, Always-On Retina display is easy to read, even when your wrist is down.
- EASILY CUSTOMIZABLE — Available in a range of sizes and materials, with dozens of bands to choose from and watch faces with complications tailored to whatever you’re into.
- INNOVATIVE SAFETY FEATURES — Crash Detection and Fall Detection can automatically connect you with emergency services in the event of a severe car crash or a hard fall. And Emergency SOS provides urgent assistance with the press of a button.
- ADVANCED HEALTH FEATURES — Temperature sensing is a breakthrough feature that provides deep insights into women’s health. Keep an eye on your blood oxygen. Take an ECG anytime. Get notifications if you have an irregular rhythm. And see how much time you spent in REM, Core, or Deep sleep with Sleep Stages.
- SIMPLY COMPATIBLE — It works seamlessly with your Apple devices and services. Unlock your Mac automatically. Find your devices with a tap. Pay and send money with Apple Pay. Apple Watch requires an iPhone 8 or later with the latest iOS version.
Women Specific Tracking Features-Fitbit Charge 5 Smartwatch
- Optimize your workout routine with a Daily Readiness Score that reveals if you’re ready to exercise or should focus on recovery (Requires Fitbit Premium membership).
- Get a daily Stress Management Score showing your body’s response to stress and take steps to improve your levels with an on-wrist EDA sensor mindfulness session. Band Size:Sm: Fits wrist 5.1"- 6.7" . Lrg: Fits wrist 6.7" - 8.3" in circumference
- Track your heart health with high & low heart rate notifications and a compatible ECG app (The Fitbit ECG app is available in select countries. Not intended for use by people under 22 years old.)
- With the Health Metrics dashboard, track SpO2, heart rate variability, skin temperature variation and more (Not intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition and should not be relied on for any medical purposes.)
- See your real-time pace & distance without your phone using built-in GPS during outdoor activity, then see a map of your workout route in the Fitbit app
Longest Battery Life-Citizen CZ Smart Gen 1 Hybrid smartwatch
- An impressive 15-day battery, this watch can keep up with anything your week throws your way. Utilize the Citizen Connected app to manage your notifications, change your dials and see your fitness stats..Supported Application:Heart Rate Monitor,Sleep Monitor,Distance Tracking,Alarm,Calorie Burn. Connectivity technology:Bluetooth. Wireless comm standard:Bluetooth
- Stay on track with the convenience of information at a glance on your hybrid smartwatch display. You can choose the dial that fits your mood or style and customize the information on display to meet your needs including, steps, weather, heart rate and more.
- All the activity tracking you want. Whether you’re at the gym, hitting the trails, or running into the office, heartrate and gyroscope sensors provide continuous heartrate tracking, and monitor your workouts with auto activity detection. On the app you can even challenge a friend to a workout. With advanced sleep monitoring you can monitor your sleep habits and recovery and syncs with Apple Health and Google Fit. The Citizen connect app will provide you with your fitness and sleep data.
- Personalization, notifications, and customization: Bluetooth connectivity allows you to quickly glance at notifications on your watch. Receive your texts, emails, calendar alerts, social media posts and phone calls displayed on the screen, as the hands move horizontally to get out of the way of your notification. Scroll through your message using the pushers or dismiss the message using the crown.
- Compatible with Android 5.0+ or iOS 5.0+. Watch must be within 30 Feet Bluetooth 5.0 LE range of the phone to receive notifications. Water resistance to 3ATM. Battery life is approximately 15 days and depends on consumer usage. This watch syncs with the Citizen Connected App. The CZ Smart hybrid watch includes many proprietary features and is developed by Citizen. Download the Citizen App from the Apple App Store or Google Play store.
Best Value-Amazfit Band 7 Fitness & Health Tracker
- 【Large HD AMOLED Display】 Amazfit band 7 fitness tracker features a large 1.47” always-on display to fit more important information and reduce the scrolling. The viewable area of Band 7's large HD AMOLED display is 112% bigger than band 5, while the body remains slim and light.
- 【18-day Battery Life】 Say goodbye to daily recharge. When fully charged, the 232 mAh battery of the fitness tracker watch can last up to 18 days with a typical usage, and up to 28 days with a battery saver mode.
- 【Dominate Your Workout Goals】Large selection of 120 sports modes, get data for all your favorite sports, like running, cycling, yoga, and more. And Jump into action quickly with smart recognition of 4 Sports. With a water-resistance grade of 5 ATM, meaning it can resist the equivalent of up to 50 meters of water pressure. And whenever you fancy a trip to the pool, the Pool Swimming sports mode can scientifically track your swimming data.
- 【Harness the Power of Health】The activity fitness tracker is able to simultaneously measure three health indicators (Heart rate, Blood oxygen, Stress level) in one tap, for results in as fast as 45 seconds. Also, It can track your sleep quality through the light, deep, and REM sleep stages, as well as provide menstrual cycle monitoring.
- 【Almighty Assistance & Powerful Zepp OS 】Amazfit Band 7 has Amazon Alexa built-in, so you can easily set an alarm, get a translation and more to make every day easier. Light and low power-consuming Zepp OS enable supreme & seamless interaction, and the rich app ecosystem features over 10 mini apps to enhance your daily life.
Fitness Tracker Buyer’s Guide
The best fitness trackers for women can help keep you on track so you can achieve your fitness goals. But these watches are so much more than just simple fitness trackers. They can help you stay motivated to meet your weight loss goals, send reminders so you can pick up the pace if you’re slacking, and they really can make you feel like you’ve accomplished something major when you do hit a goal.
These days, more people are taking steps to make healthier lifestyle choices, avoiding processed foods and increasing their activity level whenever possible. There are many health benefits linked to a more active lifestyle. But some people need more motivation and help along the way, especially if they’re significantly overweight or have trouble tracking their caloric intake for the day.
Why You Need A Fitness Tracker
If you basically live a sedentary lifestyle, it can lead to many health issues such as low energy, increased fatigue, low stamina, weight gain, back problems, and more. It can also have a negative impact on your mental health, especially if you continue to gain weight and it’s preventing you from doing the activities you love in life. Being more active can help you look and feel better, but finding that motivation deep down inside can feel almost impossible at times.
But a fitness tracker isn’t a solution to weight loss. It’s not a magical weight loss tool. Instead, it’s designed to help guide you along the way during your weight loss journey by providing you with reliable data that will show you exactly why you’re not losing weight, whether it’s due to a poor sleep pattern, lack of water consumption, consuming too many calories, or not moving enough during the day.
With the right model, you can learn where you’ve been going wrong all these years and make the important lifestyle changes that can help you finally reach your weight loss goals.
Staying Motivated to Work Harder
Do you need your own personal cheerleader that can help to motivate you and congratulate you once you’ve achieved your goals for the day, week, month, or year? Not only do fitness trackers track your activity levels, but it will also send an alert if you’ve been inactive for a certain period of time, giving you that push you need to get off your butt and start burning some calories.
For the past five years or so, the fitness tracker has been a fun way to keep track of your fitness progress. Depending on which model you go with, these trackers can monitor your caloric intake, distance traveled, sleep pattern, heart rate, calories burned, and steps taken. Some models also come equipped with GPS and will map your pace and distance. For some, a fitness tracker may seem like a frivolous purchase, but for those of you that need more help to get motivated to stay active, they can be an important tool that will finally help you to achieve your fitness goals. And once you do hit one of your fitness goals, the tracker will immediately send you a notification congratulating you on your success.
How they Hold You Accountable
With a fitness tracker, the only person you’re really competing with is yourself. These devices will track your progress and the goals you’ve hit, encouraging you to work harder than you did the day before, to run faster in order to maintain peak heart rate, or to walk more in order to beat a past record. Studies have shown that wearing this type of device can help people to increase their average level of activity by more than forty percent.
Customize Your Fitness and Weight Loss Goals
Do you already workout so you don’t think you need a fitness tracker? If you lift weights or run then you know you have to constantly challenge your body in order to get results. Maybe you usually run five miles a morning but you want to work harder to get bikini-worthy abs or you’re trying to challenge your body more in order to learn how to lose pad fat. A fitness tracker will push you to run faster and further than ever before. In fact, many models come with some great fitness tips and workouts. Even better, you can customize your goals so they’re realistic and attainable, which also works to keep you motivated. Set goals regarding caloric intake, steps taken daily, calories burned, or even your general activity level. If you’re not working hard and decide to take it easy, the fitness tracker will be sure you let you know it’s time to get moving and will send you alerts until you get up and going.
That Helping Hand You Need
If it has been months or years since you’ve gone for a run or made it to the gym, then starting up again can be stressful. For most people, it can take several weeks before they’re comfortable with being at the gym and committed to a workout routine. If you feel like giving up those first few weeks, a fitness tracker can provide the type of support you need to keep at it.
But if you’re busy with your nine to five job, going for a run, and lifting at the gym, then you may not notice your weight loss or gains. If you’re not sure you’re making progress or exactly how much progress you’ve made thus far, you can rely on your fitness tracker to give you the important details and stats that you need to keep you motivated to keep moving. It can also show you where you’re going wrong if you haven’t experienced the weight or gains that you’re striving for. Maybe you didn’t lose any weight one week. Check out the stats on your fitness tracker and you’ll see if there was a dip in activity, whether you skipped a workout or two or there were a few days where you consumed more calories than you burned. These stats can be important, helping to keep you on track as you continue to push yourself.
Fitness Tracker App Perks
Depending on the brand of the fitness tracker, their apps will allow you to keep a closer eye on your progress and goals, and they can also be a great way to connect with other fitness tracker users. Maybe you feel like you need an extra push. If you hit a plateau this clearly means you need to take your fitness up a notch or reduce your daily caloric intake, or both. Use the app to connect to other users and discuss what you’re doing wrong, or you can even challenge another user and compete with them for the week. These types of challenges can be very motivating for most people.
Fitness Tracker Styles
There are many models of fitness trackers on the market these days, as more and more people are choosing to live a healthier lifestyle, get active, and eat a diet that’s free of processed foods. These days, fitness trackers are more popular than ever, with dozens of models released every year. The type of tracker you choose should work with your lifestyle, activity level, weight loss goals, and your diet and fitness goals. It should also be based on the type of activities you like to do. As an example, if you walk, run, or jog, you’ll want a model that’s equipped with a GPS tracking feature, one that will map out your routes. Some will even come preloaded with some great routes in your area.
Syncing Workout and Activity Level Data
Once you have determined how you want to use your fitness tracker and the type of features you need, you’ll be ready to get started. With newer models, you don’t have to worry about dealing with an app to track your progress since many will sync automatically to your smartphone via Bluetooth. If not, the model you have will have the option to manually plug into your PC using a USB cord to upload data for the day or week.
Most Important Features
Battery Life
The tracker can be charged into an outlet, or your PC and have a decent battery life that can last for a few days up to one month before a charge is needed. Of course, some models will have a longer battery life than others. This tends to vary from model to model.
Sleep Monitoring
Years ago, when you tracked the quality of your sleep you had to go to a sleep clinic and get hooked up to a variety of wires in order to determine whether you’re in NREM or REM sleep. These days, a fitness tracker is able to determine your sleep quality based on how much or how little you move in your sleep. Getting enough sleep is crucial to your weight loss and fitness goals. The fitness tracker will closely monitor your movements as you sleep to determine how well you’re sleeping at night. Ideally, you should get a full three cycles of sleep during the night in order to maintain energy during the day while also giving the brain enough time to process and store everything that goes on throughout your day.
Fitness Goals
Before you hit that buy now button, put some thought into the type of activities you currently do and the type you want to do and think about what your goals will be. These goals should be realistic and achievable. As an example, don’t set a goal such as wanting to drop fifty pounds in a month. Set goals that are within your reach in order to stay motivated.
In terms of fitness goals, start off with the number of calories you want to burn and the number of steps you want to take in a day. Most people will choose the standard ten thousand steps a day, which is what most medical professionals recommend. These trackers can be very motivational for people who need to make healthier lifestyle and diet choices. If there is a certain type of activity you’re interested in or like, such as walking, then make sure the tracker you want is designed for that particular activity.
Activity Level
If you’re totally new to exercise, or you simply want to increase how active you are during the day, a basic pedometer style fitness tracker may be the best choice for you. Many of these models will estimate how many calories you’ve burned or how many steps you’ve taken, allowing you to easily track your progress with this basic info.
People who are normally very active should search for a model that offers advanced features including activity recognition and heart rate monitoring. These features will help to more accurately judge the intensity of a workout and the user’s overall progress.
If you taking your training and fitness very seriously, then you need a model that comes equipped with GPS. This feature will help to track everything from elevation, intervals, and pace. Models that have GPS are usually top of the line and come with heart rate tracking as well. Some even come with internal storage and cellular connectivity. This means you won’t have to worry about bringing your phone along if you want to listen to music or make a phone call.
Design Options
The majority of fitness trackers on today’s market are worn on the wrist, or they can come with a small clip that you’ll use to clip the fitness tracker to your shirt or pants. Some models will allow you to choose from either of these options. If you don’t want to wear the fitness tracker on your clothing or wrist then choose a model that can be worn as a pendant. These low-key fitness trackers are just as effective and will allow you to keep close tabs on your activity level and progress without it being obvious that you’re doing so.
The most basic fitness trackers are ones that you can wear throughout the day and not have to worry about adjusting or even interacting with it. Many of these basic models will only come with an LED light indicator to measure your progress. You will need to open the app in order to check your progress for the day as opposed to searching through the fitness tracker itself.
Higher end devices with come with large touchscreen displays. These fitness trackers look similar to smart watches with a square or round large face that houses the display screen. The display screen is often loaded with menu options, so you can easily interact with the watch and keep a close eye on your stats whenever you want.
Waterproof
If you want to keep your fitness tracker on whether you’re swimming or taking a shower, or just out on a rainy day, then you need a model that’s waterproof or water resistant. These models will usually come with a higher price tag, but it will come in handy in the event you get caught in a downpour or accidentally wear your fitness tracker in water.
GPS
A hiker, cyclist, jogger, or runner, who is serious about their fitness may want more in-depth data regarding their progress and how much ground they cover daily during a training session. In cases such as these, built-in GPS is essential. However, GPS relies on a satellite signal to operate, which means there may be a signal delay depending on weather conditions. Additionally, using GPS can quickly drain your battery. If you have to have a fitness tracker with GPS, read product reviews and find a model that can last over four hours even when GPS is in use.
Notifications and Music
Higher priced trackers will send notifications to your fitness tracker from your smartphone. These notifications will tell you if you’re receiving an email, text, or call. Some will even come with internal storage, allowing you to store your favorite music without bringing along your phone or an MP3 player.
Apps
Many fitness trackers will have an app you must download on your smartphone. These apps will show information regarding synced data. Some apps will even allow you to log details manually, after a workout. If you do a variety of exercises, then this feature will be a big plus for you, resulting in more accurate workout data regarding calories burned.
Food Logging
This is another popular feature. Compatible apps, such as MyFitnessPal will sync with your fitness tracker. On the MyFitnessPal app you’ll manually enter everything you eat. Your caloric intake will then be synced with your fitness tracker, for more accurate data regarding daily calories burned versus consumed.
Water Intake
Another great feature you’ll find on certain models of fitness trackers is the water intake feature. If you often struggle with water consumption and need to drink more water a day, this feature will help you stay on track. Not only will it allow you to manually log in how much water you drink daily, but it will also send you alerts that you haven’t had enough water or that it’s time to drink more. If you’re guilty of avoiding water at all costs and need gentle reminders to stay on track, then this can be a great feature and one that you’ll find yourself really relying on during the first few months of your weight loss journey.
Drinking water is not only important in terms of staying hydrated, it can also help to curb your appetite, lowering your daily caloric intake. Drinking more water a day will help with cravings and can even prevent muscle fatigue and cramps.
Smartphone Compatibility
Most models are designed to sync with a smartphone, however, you should make sure the fitness tracker you buy is compatible with your specific model of phone. Many of the fitness trackers will work with both Android and iOS devices, but not all.
What’s the Difference Between a Smartwatch and A Fitness Tracker?
Both smartwatches and fitness trackers have taken some features from each other, which can make it difficult to choose between each type of device, especially since they initially appear so similar. Yet, the fitness tracker is said to deliver workout data that’s more comprehensive. A fitness tracker can also hold a charge for much longer, compared to the standard smartwatch. A smartwatch is a better option if you want to stay in constant contact with social media, work, friends, and need a type of fitness tracker that focuses more on smartphone features than fitness-related features. With a fitness tracker, fitness data and related features come first, with smartphone functionality coming in second.
Can A Fitness Tracker Really Help With Weight Loss?
Just wearing your fitness tracker daily isn’t going to help you lose weight. In fact, for some people wearing the tracker isn’t going to have an impact at all. Regardless of which model you buy, these devices have the ability to actively monitor your activity level, but what you do with that information is up to you. You can ignore the alerts that let you know you’re far away from your daily goals, or that it’s time to get up and get active. If you’re serious about weight loss, these devices can be an important tool that will get you motivated and help to encourage you to be more active if you want to see results.
Why Fitness Trackers Should be Worn Around the Clock
The biggest mistake new fitness tracker owners tend to make is not consistently wearing their tracker. If your goal is to lose weight then the tracker must be worn every day. This means that it should still be worn even on your fitness recovery days. Wearing your tracker on your off days can be more important than wearing it on days when you’re more active. If you only wear the tracker on days you work out, then you won’t learn how to identify eating and activity level issues that you commonly run into during the week. Most people take a day off from working out and tend to go overboard both with being sedentary and with their diet. A cheat meal is one thing, a cheat day is another. Wearing your tracker will hold you accountable, and show you exactly how many calories you’re consuming. If you’re not seeing results, your cheat days can be to blame.
Many people also struggle with keeping track of how many off days they take a month.
Planning Your Meals
As we mentioned earlier, many trackers will allow you to log your meals manually or via a smartphone app that will sync the data to your phone for a more accurate caloric intake reading. If you plan out your meals for the week, it can be easier to log in what your meal plan is looking like for the following day. Make sure you list each of the foods you plan to eat for the day and be sure the total calories don’t exceed your recommended daily caloric intake. This will help you eat healthier the next day because you’ve already decided what you’re going to eat for the day, making it much easier to turn down empty calories and unhealthy snacks. Instead, you will be more likely to stick to the meals and snacks you’ve already planned out.
The Number of Steps Taken Shouldn’t Count as Your Exercise for the Day
If your goal is to be more active throughout your day, that’s great, but don’t use the steps taken per day and count it as a workout. The average person should take a minimum of ten thousand steps a day. Focus both on this goal, or set your own steps taken goal but be sure to include at least thirty minutes of exercise three to four times a week. This is how you’ll reach your weight loss goals. The key is to be more active regularly. Being more active and walking more is much different than a dedicated workout and it shouldn’t count as such. Challenge yourself.
The Importance of Separating Exercise From Step Count
Some models will keep the steps taken feature going when you’re working out, so these steps will go toward your daily step goal, however, if you want to lose weight then this can be a bad idea. There are a couple of ways you can go about burning more calories each day; non-exercise activities and exercise activities. In order to lose weight you have to focus on increasing both of these numbers, this means that you should burn calories from both your workout and the number of steps taken a day. The steps you take during a workout shouldn’t count towards your daily steps goal. If you wear your fitness tracker during a workout, you can easily go around this issue by increasing your daily steps taken goal.
Higher end models will automatically keep steps taken a day and steps taken during a workout separate.
Does Sleep Data Really Matter?
These trackers can provide you with an overwhelming amount of information. This can cause you to avoid looking at it often, or you may even ignore it altogether. If you’re overwhelmed by all of the stats, get rid of data you don’t really care about, such as sleep data.
Really, sleep data is only useful if it affects your weight loss plan. If you’re not sleeping well or getting enough sleep then it can cause you to consume more calories the following day when you’re exhausted. Lack of sleep can also negatively impact the number of calories burned throughout the day or from an activity. If this is happening to you, then you can take the important steps to improve your sleep and keep the sleep data active on your fitness tracker. If you don’t have any sleep issues then you can easily delete the sleep tracking feature and focus on the stats that matter.
Printing Progress
If you feel like you’re making progress, you’ll be more likely to stick to your fitness plan. But for some, having material proof of their progress can be very motivating. Once a week, plug into your PC and look at the area on the fitness tracker’s dashboard where all of your progress is tracked. In this area, you’ll find all of your accomplishments for the week. You can print this out and keep it out in a highly visible area, such as the fridge. This way, when you’re tempted to cheat on your diet or skip a workout, you can see just how far you’ve come and feel more inspired to stick to your diet or workout plan. If you’re struggling to stay motivated, this type of visual reminder can work wonders.
Final Thoughts
The best fitness tracker for women will have you on your way to hitting all of those important fitness goals such as steps taken a day, personal lifting goals, running or cycling time, and calories burned. It should be customizable, designed to track the type of workouts and activities you love, and it should come loaded with important extras like a waterproof design, meal planning apps, and more.
With the right model, you’ll have the perfect tool that can encourage you to conquer your weight loss goals and so much more.
TRAIN HARD AND SMART!
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