Thank you to all your sweet and amazing comments on yesterday’s post. We are so excited to see where this crazy life takes us! The planning is just beginning and all seems overwhelming right now, but I know we will get there.

I think if the temperatures keep staying below 0 we may have to speed up this moving process. This has been the coldest and most bitter winter we’ve ever had. I don’t even care about the snow, I’m just ready for it to warm up!

 

A few weeks ago I received something pretty awesome in the mail. 

MisFit Wearables sent me one of their Shine units for me to try. I have been looking around for an activity tracker for the past several months. I never seriously considered getting one because it just isn’t in the budget, but when this opportunity came about I was so excited.

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I had never heard of Shine when I was first introduced so I did a little bit of research myself to see.


How does it work?

Misfit Wearables 1

Shine is activity tracker that is made to wear in a variety of ways. It will track everything from walking, cycling, swimming, and even tracks your sleep.  As of right now those are the main four types of activity that Shine tracks.  

When you first get the shine your first step is to download the app for your iPhone or Android.

Shine

Once you get the app downloaded you simply sync your Shine device to your iPhone. This whole process took a total of about 2-3 minutes. The only thing you have to make sure you have turned on is your bluetooth. This is how it is able to link the two together.  You simply sign up and then tap your device to the phone and it does the rest of the linking for you.

Once your device is linked up you set goals for yourself based on your activity level.  It will then develop a certain points goal to obtain each day. It tracks both the calories burned and the points earned for each day.  

Shine Tracking

This was my activity for four days while using shine.  

 

How do you wear it?

Shine can be worn in many places.

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If you are running, walking or swimming they suggest wearing the device around your wrist.

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When you get your Shine it comes with a wrist band that the actual tracking mechanism fits in very easily.

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If you are biking it is suggested for best results to wear it around your ankle.  This will allow it to track it best due to the fact that you aren’t moving your arms most of the time when biking.

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I wore this primarily during biking and had no issues with it. It stays in place and I didn’t even notice it was there a majority of the time.

The one draw back in my opinion to Shine’s ability is weight lifting.  While it will try to give you credit when weight lifting, it is not giving you fully what you deserve.  

Shine does mention on their website:

“So far, we have focused on tracking walking, running, swimming and cycling.  But if you do other kinds of activities, the Shine will automatically do its best to give you credit towards your goal.  This means that we will automatically give you credit when you play soccer, but if you lift weights we may not give you all the credit you deserve.  We’ll be expanding on the set of activities we’ll be able to track on an on-going basis, allowing you to customize your app based on your own activities.”

It looks likes they are already working to improve this function!

 

How does it track your calories?

I actually asked my husband this as soon as I got it. I have always been interested in just how these activity trackers work.

I looked up on MisFit Wearables website and it stated:

“Shine estimates your total calories burned each day, which includes: (1) calories related to physical activities like walking, running, swimming, etc; and (2) the basal metabolic rate of energy needed to keep your body alive.

The calories consumed by your physical activities are based on their duration and intensity, which are measured by Shine’s three-dimensional accelerometry system.  BMR is estimated from your height, weight, age, and sex.  Since BMR usually accounts for the vast majority (at least 2/3) of calories we consume daily, one can typically expect the majority of calories on the app to be a reflection of BMR, with a more modest contribution from physical activity.”

You can read the full explanation here.

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When you first set up your Shine it will ask you the information needed to calculate your caloric burn: height, weight, age and sex.  That is how it knows what to base the calories it reports you burn off of.

 

Overall Reaction

I was really impressed by Shine.  It was so much fun to track my workouts, especially while I am incorporating more cross training.  I loved being able to go back and check what it recorded after I was done biking or swimming.

Overall, I loved it. I’m sure it is not 100% exact on the calorie burn, but for me it really isn’t about the calories. It is about the total activity I do throughout the day.  As I have started working part time I walk a lot more because both of my jobs involve a lot of movement. I have enjoyed tracking just how much I walk throughout a day or evening at work along with my normal workouts.

 

Try Shine for Yourself!

MisFit Wearables has been gracious enough to offer (1) Shine unit to one of my readers!

Simply enter via the rafflecopter giveaway below and I will select a winner on Wednesday, February 19th at 11:59 PM EST.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!

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