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On more than one occasion, I was scrolling through Facebook and saw an add for this leaf thing. It caught my eye because it was so pretty. It looked like a beautiful piece of jewelry, but was also a health & fitness tracker. I was definitely intrigued.
So, I started researching. What was this thing and how did it perform vs. other fitness trackers? I read other users blog posts and lots of reviews. Years ago, I'd purchased a Fitbit (I think it was the original one) & used it, but found that it lacked versatility. I could wear it on my bra strap or my pants - that was about it. And on numerous occasions, it had fallen off of my pants/belt, but thankfully I'd notice and pick it back up. I found that my Fitbit was pretty accurate, but I didn't wear it as much as I should.
Once I became more dedicated to my fitness - I didn't really find a tracker necessary. I was working out 6 days a week for 30-60 minutes a day. I was active.
But, over the past year, I've been dealing with a knee injury & my workouts have been sporadic, at best. So, for Christmas, I figured investing in a new tracker might be a good idea because my Fitbit had died.
Bellabeat was the first thing that came to mind. I was happy with what my research had uncovered & for the past 2 weeks, I've been testing it out on my own. First, let's talk about the obvious. It's beautiful. It truly looks like a piece of jewelry. The Bellabeat can be worn as a wrap bracelet, a necklace, a pin (clipped to your shirt), or clipped to your pants.
Second, what does it track? Quite a few things, actually! It will track your activity (as in how many minutes a day you're up and moving), your steps, your sleep, your breathing and your monthly cycles & is also an alarm clock - how cool is that??? And, did I mention that your leaf comes with the leather wrap bracelet AND stainless steel adjustable chain??? Everything you need is in that little box!
Let's talk activity. Because of my injury, most of my activity during this test time was walking on a treadmill. The leaf senses movement and counts that as activity. So, a little common sense will tell you that the most accurate placement of the leaf, is clipped to pants near your hipbone. Anytime I worked out, that's where I placed it. When worn on my hip, I found it to be extremely accurate. Like any tracker, when clipped to your pants, you need to be careful that your pant material isn't too thick, otherwise it will stretch the clip out & we don't want that. All of my workout pants & capris are on the thinner side, so I was safe in that department. For my days, I tried the leaf out on my wrists (both of them) and as a necklace. On days where I was home & wore it on my wrist, it was pretty accurate. Being home with 5 year old twin boys certainly keeps me active. However, on weekends, I work as a cashier and found that the leaf grossly overestimated my activity (when worn as a bracelet & I suspect the same would hold true for any tracker worn on the wrist). I'm essentially standing for 8 hours. But my arms are moving all the time. So there were days where at work, it would tell me that I took 15,000+ steps when it was actually probably closer to 2,000 or 3,000. I also noticed that since I'm right handed, it would show more movement on days where I wore it on my right hand vs. left hand. I found at work, wearing it as a necklace was pretty accurate (it maybe underestimated my movement, but not by much). I tried it clipped to a sports bra a few times (around my house), but it never seemed to sense much activity when clipped there. So again, the most accurate activity tracking was done when clipped to my pants.
Next up - sleep. At night, it's recommended that you clip the leaf to your shirt for sleep. Again, the leaf senses movement, so having it clipped to your shirt will be most accurate and most comfortable. Based on how much movement the leaf senses at night, it will tell you in the morning what your sleep was like. It will show you how much time was spent in light sleep & how much in deep sleep. And then it will give you an overall summary of your sleep (tranquil, calm, restless, disturbed, etc).
Speaking of sleep, your Bellabeat leaf can also function as an alarm in the morning. I scare easily. So when my alarm goes off in the morning, I usually leap out of bed because it startles me. Not so with the leaf. It will vibrate gently to wake you up. Let me tell you, that's much more pleasant than a normal alarm. You can also set other alarms for the leaf. I have one set to go off if I've been inactive for more than an hour - so it reminds me to get up and MOVE. You can also set one to remind you to take your birth control pill (if you're on the pill).
And while we're on the subject, it also tracks your monthly cycles. Now, I will assume that everyone realizes that this is a piece of technology and can only guess at your cycles based on the informtion you're inputting. It will tell you when you're due (based on historical data) as well as your fertile and ovulating days (again, these are guesstimates based off of historical data). Should you be or become pregnant, you can also track your pregnancy.
And finally, breathing. Your Bellabeat app will suggest you do at least 10 minutes of deep breathing exercises a day. For these exercises, you need to wear your leaf clipped to your pants (so that the leaf can sense your belly moving in and out. The app has timed breathing exercises and will walk you through the whole thing.
Overall, I'm really loving my Bellabeat. I even started creating my own accessories for it. You all know I love my essential oils, so I'm working on some essential oil diffusing bracelets that are compatible with the leaf! Want to get your hands on a leaf??? Just click HERE!!!
