Steps
One of the key features of the Fitbit Alta is its ability to track your daily steps. This is especially beneficial for individuals who are trying to incorporate more physical activity into their daily routine.
By wearing the Fitbit Alta on your wrist, it uses an accelerometer to accurately count the number of steps you take throughout the day. This information is displayed on the device’s screen, allowing you to easily monitor your progress.
Tracking your steps can be a great way to motivate yourself to move more. The American Heart Association recommends aiming for at least 10,000 steps per day as a way to improve cardiovascular health and overall fitness.
The Fitbit Alta provides real-time updates on your step count, allowing you to see how close you are to reaching your daily goal. You can also view your step history over time to track your progress and set new targets.
Additionally, the Fitbit Alta has a feature called “Reminders to Move,” which sends you gentle reminders to get up and move if you’ve been stationary for too long. This is a great way to break up long periods of sitting and incorporate more activity into your day.
By tracking your steps with the Fitbit Alta, you can gain valuable insights into your activity levels and make positive changes to improve your overall health and well-being.
Distance
The Fitbit Alta is not only capable of tracking your steps but also providing you with information on the distance you have covered during your activities. This feature can be valuable for those who want to keep track of their progress and monitor their overall fitness.
Using a combination of your step count and stride length, the Fitbit Alta calculates the distance you have traveled throughout the day. This information is displayed on the device’s screen, giving you a clear understanding of how far you have moved.
Tracking your distance can be especially helpful if you have specific goals in mind, such as training for a race or trying to increase your overall endurance. By monitoring your distance, you can make adjustments to your workouts and gradually push yourself towards achieving your targets.
In addition to providing real-time updates on your distance, the Fitbit Alta also allows you to view your distance history. This allows you to track your progress over time, seeing how your distances change as you become more active and fit.
Having access to this information can serve as a great motivator. You can set distance goals for yourself and work towards achieving them. Whether you’re aiming for a specific mileage or trying to beat your personal best, tracking your distance with the Fitbit Alta can help you stay on track and accountable.
Furthermore, the Fitbit Alta’s distance tracking capability is not limited to just outdoor activities. It also takes into account any movements you make indoors, allowing for a comprehensive measurement of your daily distance.
By utilizing the distance tracking feature of the Fitbit Alta, you can have a better understanding of your overall activity levels and progress towards your fitness goals.
Calories Burned
The Fitbit Alta goes beyond just tracking your steps and distance. It offers the ability to monitor the number of calories you burn throughout the day, providing you with valuable insights into your energy expenditure and helping you make informed decisions about your fitness and nutrition goals.
Using a combination of your personal metrics such as height, weight, age, and activity level, the Fitbit Alta calculates the number of calories burned during your daily activities and exercise. This information is displayed on the device’s screen, allowing you to see the impact of your efforts in real-time.
Understanding your calorie burn is important if you’re looking to manage your weight or achieve specific fitness goals. By tracking your calories burned, you can make adjustments to your diet and exercise routine to create a calorie deficit or balance.
The Fitbit Alta also takes into account your resting metabolic rate (RMR), which represents the calories burned while at rest. This means that even when you’re not actively engaged in physical activity, the device continues to track your energy expenditure.
In addition to monitoring your daily calories burned, the Fitbit Alta allows you to set goals and track your progress over time. By visualizing your calorie burn history, you can identify patterns and make adjustments to your lifestyle to achieve a healthier balance.
Furthermore, the Fitbit Alta offers personalized insights by comparing your calorie burn to the recommended daily target based on your goals and activity level. This helps you stay motivated and on track towards achieving your desired outcomes.
By effectively tracking your calories burned with the Fitbit Alta, you gain a comprehensive understanding of your energy expenditure and can make informed decisions to support your fitness and wellness journey.
Active Minutes
The Fitbit Alta provides an insightful metric known as “Active Minutes” that goes beyond counting steps or tracking calories burned. Active minutes are a measure of the time you spend engaged in moderate to vigorous physical activity throughout the day.
The device uses its built-in accelerometer and heart rate monitor to gauge the intensity of your movements. It then calculates the duration of time during which you maintain an elevated heart rate, indicating periods of physical exertion.
Hitting your recommended goal of active minutes can have significant benefits for your overall health and fitness. Engaging in moderate to vigorous activity helps elevate your heart rate, strengthen your cardiovascular system, and increase your endurance.
The Fitbit Alta allows you to set personalized goals for active minutes, based on your fitness level and preferences. You can track your progress in real-time, as the device displays your active minutes on its screen throughout the day.
By monitoring your active minutes, you can ensure that you’re incorporating enough physical activity into your daily routine. The Fitbit Alta provides a tangible measure of your efforts, allowing you to make adjustments to your lifestyle if needed to meet your goals.
Tracking your active minutes can be particularly helpful for individuals who want to structure their workouts and ensure that they are spending enough time in the target heart rate zone. This information can guide you in planning effective exercise routines and maximizing your time spent in physical activity.
In addition to monitoring your active minutes during intentional exercise sessions, the Fitbit Alta also recognizes and tracks other activities such as brisk walking, dancing, or even climbing stairs. This means that any activity that elevates your heart rate and contributes to your overall fitness can be captured and recorded.
By paying attention to your active minutes with the Fitbit Alta, you can make informed decisions about your physical activity levels and strive for a healthy and active lifestyle.
Sleep
The Fitbit Alta is not just a device for tracking your daytime activity; it also provides valuable insights into your sleep patterns. Understanding the quality and duration of your sleep is crucial for maintaining optimal health and well-being.
The Fitbit Alta uses a combination of motion sensors and heart rate monitoring to track your sleep stages throughout the night. It can detect when you are awake, in light sleep, in deep sleep, or in REM sleep. This data is then analyzed and presented in a comprehensive sleep report.
By wearing your Fitbit Alta while you sleep, you can gain insights into the duration of your sleep, how many times you wake up during the night, and the overall quality of your sleep. This information can help you identify patterns and make adjustments to your sleep habits to improve your well-being.
Having access to your sleep data can be particularly beneficial if you struggle with sleep-related issues such as insomnia or restless nights. The Fitbit Alta’s sleep tracking feature provides a detailed breakdown of your sleep stages, allowing you to gain a better understanding of your sleep quality.
The device also offers a silent alarm feature, which uses vibrations to wake you up gently in the morning without disturbing your sleep partner. This can be a helpful alternative to traditional noisy alarm clocks and allows you to start your day feeling refreshed and energized.
The Fitbit Alta also provides personalized recommendations and tips to help improve your sleep quality. It can suggest changes to your bedtime routine, such as avoiding screens before sleep or creating a calming environment in your bedroom.
By taking advantage of the sleep tracking feature of the Fitbit Alta, you can make informed decisions about your sleep habits and work towards achieving a better quality of sleep, which ultimately contributes to your overall health and well-being.
Heart Rate
A standout feature of the Fitbit Alta is its ability to monitor your heart rate throughout the day. Tracking your heart rate provides valuable insights into your cardiovascular health and allows you to gauge the intensity of your workouts.
The Fitbit Alta utilizes an optical heart rate sensor located on the underside of the device to continuously measure your heart rate. This means that you can view your heart rate data in real-time on the device’s screen, providing instant feedback on your exertion levels.
Monitoring your heart rate during exercise can help you optimize your workouts. By staying within specific heart rate zones, you can ensure that you’re working at an appropriate intensity to achieve the desired fitness outcomes, such as fat burning or improved endurance.
The Fitbit Alta automatically calculates your maximum heart rate based on your age and provides heart rate zone guidance during workouts. This allows you to tailor your exercise routines to your specific goals and fitness level, ensuring that you’re getting the most out of your workouts.
In addition to exercise, tracking your heart rate throughout the day can provide valuable insights into your overall cardiovascular health. It can help you identify potential issues, such as high or low resting heart rate, and prompt you to seek guidance from a healthcare professional if necessary.
The heart rate data captured by the Fitbit Alta can also help you gain insights into how your stress levels and emotions impact your heart rate. By analyzing the patterns and fluctuations in your heart rate throughout the day, you can identify triggers and make changes to support your overall well-being.
Furthermore, the Fitbit Alta offers a feature called “Relax,” which provides guided breathing exercises to help you calm down and reduce stress. This can be especially beneficial for individuals who struggle with anxiety or need assistance in managing their daily stress levels.
By leveraging the heart rate monitoring capabilities of the Fitbit Alta, you can gain a deeper understanding of your cardiovascular health, optimize your workouts, and make lifestyle changes that support your overall well-being.
Exercise Recognition
The Fitbit Alta takes convenience to the next level with its exercise recognition feature. This innovative technology automatically detects and tracks various types of physical activity, allowing you to effortlessly monitor your workouts without manually starting or stopping a tracking session.
The device uses advanced algorithms and motion sensors to analyze your movements and identify specific activities, such as walking, running, cycling, or elliptical workouts. Once a particular exercise is recognized, the Fitbit Alta records and logs the duration and intensity of the activity for your reference.
This exercise recognition capability is especially beneficial for individuals who engage in a variety of activities and may forget to manually track each one. It ensures that your workout data is accurately captured, providing you with a comprehensive overview of your daily physical activity.
The Fitbit Alta’s exercise recognition extends beyond traditional activities. It also recognizes and tracks common daily activities, such as gardening, cleaning, and even playing sports. This means that your overall activity levels are continuously monitored, giving you a more accurate representation of your total daily exertion.
In addition to automatic recognition, the Fitbit Alta allows you to manually select and track specific exercises if desired. This gives you the flexibility to customize your tracking experience and ensure that no workout goes unnoticed.
By having a comprehensive record of your exercise and daily activities, you can gain valuable insights into your overall fitness level and progress towards your goals. This information can help you make data-driven decisions, such as adjusting your workout intensity or setting new targets.
Furthermore, the exercise recognition feature encourages a more active and mindful lifestyle by providing real-time feedback and reminders to move. It motivates you to stay active throughout the day, even if you don’t have a dedicated workout session planned.
With the Fitbit Alta’s exercise recognition, you can effortlessly track your physical activity, achieve a more accurate picture of your daily exertion, and stay motivated to reach your fitness aspirations.
Reminders to Move
The Fitbit Alta takes a proactive approach to promoting a healthy and active lifestyle with its “Reminders to Move” feature. This feature is designed to keep you motivated and prevent long periods of inactivity, which can have detrimental effects on your health.
Throughout the day, if you’ve been sedentary for an extended period, the Fitbit Alta sends you gentle reminders to get up and move. These reminders are customized based on your activity level and can be personalized to fit your preferred schedule.
By prompting you to move, the Fitbit Alta helps break up long periods of sitting, which has been linked to various health risks, including obesity, cardiovascular disease, and poor posture. These gentle reminders serve as a nudge to incorporate more activity into your day and avoid the negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle.
The reminders to move are especially convenient for individuals with desk jobs or those who spend a significant amount of time sitting. They provide a gentle and non-intrusive way to encourage regular movement and maintain an active lifestyle throughout the day.
In addition to simply reminding you to move, the Fitbit Alta also tracks and records the number of hourly steps you take. This allows you to see how often you’re meeting your movement goals and provides a visual representation of your daily activity patterns.
By being mindful of these reminders to move, you can make small changes to your daily routine, such as taking short walking breaks or incorporating stretching exercises. These small bursts of activity add up and contribute to your overall health and fitness.
Furthermore, the Fitbit Alta allows you to customize the reminders to move, allowing you to set the frequency and time of day that works best for you. This ensures that the reminders align with your schedule and preference, making it easier to integrate movement into your daily routine.
With the Fitbit Alta’s reminders to move, you can stay active and avoid prolonged periods of inactivity, supporting your overall health and well-being.

