Five Stages of Grief

My FitBit Charge HR died yesterday.  Well, maybe not actually died, but it seems to have advanced Alzheimer's disease.  It can no longer communicate with other devices (so no longer knows the correct time and cannot upload data) and loses a full battery charge in less than two hours. 

I had come to really love my FitBit. I got it for my birthday in February and have been using it ever since.  I reported on it briefly in a previous post.

My FitBit Charge HR back in the days when it still worked.

I discovered the problem at lunch yesterday when I looked down at it, since I use it as a watch, and could get no display.  I was of course immediately in DENIAL.   The battery can't be dead already.  What is wrong??!!  The battery was totally dead even though I had recharged the battery less than two hours before. 

Of course I recharged the battery, rebooted, removed and reloaded software, etc. etc. etc., but to no avail.  Although I would have BARGAINED for a resolution, I was mostly just ANGRY at FitBit for creating a product that would not last more than a few months before dying. 

Now I am just DEPRESSED, since using the FitBit had become such a center piece of my existence (sad but true).  When originally setting up my FitBit account in February it asked for a weight goal.  Weight loss was not the major reasoning for using it.  What I really wanted to do was just be more active.  However, I played along and chose a number.  There was nothing very special about the weight goal that I chose other than it ended in zero and was so far out of reach for me to achieve that I wouldn't really worry about it.  Although I had already lost a little weight at that time, it would require losing an additional 22 pounds.  That was not going to happen so I wouldn't have to worry about it.

What do you know?  Using the FitBit in conjunction with logging all of my food made it very easy to compare how many calories I had eaten at any particular time on any given day with the number of calories I had burned. To lose one pound per week all I had to do was burn 500 calories more per day than I consumed.  I never dieted, just watched portion sizes, cut back/skipped dessert on those days I had not burned enough calories, or made an effort to do more exercise on other days.  I was religious about logging all of the food.  It also evolved into more and more walking.  It  was just a game and I was having fun.  As of last week I hit the arbitrary weight goal, i.e. I had lost 22 pounds.  WooHoo! 

Having reached the first goal, I of course set a new goal.  However, everything has changed again without the FitBit. We did our usual 6.5 mile walk this morning (yes, even though it is now unbearably hot and humid), but now I am flying blind.  I did not realize how much I had come to depend on my FitBit.  I can now only guess at how many calories I burned.  I can keep track of how many calories I eat, but what is the point if I don't know how many calories are burned? 

I have not yet ACCEPTED that FitBit is gone.  I wrote to FitBit's technical support earlier this afternoon and outlined my problem.  Now I wait.  They indicated it might take 2-3 days for a response.  If they cannot suggest a fix I am hoping they will replace it under warranty.  We will see.