Fitbit LITTERALLY saved my life

[dduttonnc]

I've had a flex since last year...

I know I'm overweight (6'4", 320lbs, 44 yrs old, never smoked, rarely drink, never done drugs except a bit of week between the ages of 18-25). I do NOT use BMI.. it's a horrifically inaccurate way to measure bodies. BMI would have us all looking like skinny twigs with no body fat (and almost  no muscle).

* First off... rant of the BMI system:

The BMI chart says I should weight somewhere between 180-187... that's sort of ridiculous. 4 yrs ago, I go down to 220. Everyone started asking me if I had cancer or something because I looked overly skinny and sickly.. yet 220 , according to BMI said I was still overweight. I talked to my DR, and he said ignore it as BMI charts do not take into account body frame (small bones vs large.. people with higher density bones vs less.. and people with more muscle mass vs less). He said go by BODY FAY %.

(this is for men)

* 5% is ABSOLUTE minimum.. anything below that is dangerous, and your body can start to eat its own organs

* 5-10% Athletes

* 11-14% Perfect, Healthy Range

* 15-18% OK

* 18-20% Borderline Overweight

* 21-24% Overweight

* 25-30% Very Overweight

* 31-40% Obese

* 40-50% VERY Obese

* Anything over 50 = Morbidly Obese

Depending on the category above.. women are allowed 2-10% more than men 24-30% is considered "acceptable for women" and 16-23 for women is considered "perfect/healthy and 8-15% is Athletic for women.

So I'm 6'4", 320lbs.. according to BMI I am "morbidly obese" (like those stories you hear about someone being so big they can't get off their couch and out of the house without a forklift)

So I schedule a body fat test using water displacement (about the most accurate way. The pinch tests and electrical current tests can be off by as much as 5-10% depending on how big you are).

To my shock... my body fat was only 27.2% or "Very Overweight" - which I would agree with.

DO YOURSELF A FAVOR... NEVER LOOK AT A BMI CHART AGAIN AND IGNORE IT ON THE FITBIT SITE!! GO BY BODY FAT percent! Get An aria scale that will send your weight and body fat over your wifi right into your fitbit account. It's not as accurate as a water test... and it can vary 5-10% for larger people (like me)... but I noticed on friends who are 25% or under, the aria tends to be accurate within 1%.

***END RANT ON BMI*****

I also started developing early on set symptoms of CHF (Congestive heart failure)... swollen ankles and legs... lungs filling with fluid... flash lung edema where I had to be rushed to the ER cuz I was drowning in my own fluid in my lungs...

So all sort of tests were run

Echocardiogram (aka Echo) = Normal (with a 1mm enlargement of the left ventricular wall). Dr said that's so minor.. i shouldn't worry and that would never shorten my life span... BUT it meant that I was entering early stages of CHF

Nuclear Stress Test (aka Thallium Stress Test) = Normal for the most part:

*Resting HR = 68 (VERY GOOD)
* HR at end of stress test 159 (Not so good. Should have been about 142. But that's because I'm out of shape)

* Arterial Occlusions = NONE... that shocked the heck out of me... none not even one artery at 10%... none they could find..Dr said I'm LUCKY as heck considering my age & weight. But the only ppl on either side of my family who died of heart attacks (or had them) were the smokers

* Resting Blood Pressure = 90/65 (VERY good)

* BP @ end of stress test = 145/110 (too high, but Dr said that's cuz I'm out of shape and should come down as I loose weight and improve my cardiovascular functions)

So all my tests showed my heart was just FINE. I had all sorts of lung tests... FINE... So why was  I building up water and showing signs of CHF when my heart and lungs were FINE?

Turns out they were fine when I was AWAKE... It was because of my FITBIT the REAL reason was discovered! My cardio dr asked what kind of watch I was wearing. so I told him what it did.. so he asked to see a typical night sleep.... and it showed most nights I was restless 100-200Xs and awake 50-75Xs... NONE of which I had any memory of. My partner also happened to be at my appt with me and told the dr that my snoring was LOUD and that I'd stop breathing for as long as 2-3 mins at a time.

So I was sent to a sleep Dr. He said that at night, my heart, body, brain, etc were all being deprived of oxygen from sleep apnea.. so during the night my heart wasn't beating properly.. hence the CHF symptoms...

So I got a cpap... this was just over a WEEK ago... since then

* I feel 15 yrs younger

* I have TONS of energy

* I dont pop oxycodone like candy any more for my lower back pain. I have a back injury and sleeping on my side or stomach lights it on fire.. but I've never been able to sleep on my back or I wake up choking (turns out that was apnea). So for ages I've had to take stronger and stronger pain meds as I have built up a tollerace because I can't move when I wake... I'd wake up... grab water and a pill from the nightstand.. want an hr for it to kick in .. then start my day

* Now I can' sleep on my back, and I wake up with 0 pain.. and I'm working on my pain DR to get off the meds so I dont go into withdrawal from the many years on narcotics (I was on them so long that 1 30mg oxycodone did NOTHING for me, 60 helped a little.. but I really needed 3 30mg (90mg) to properly kill the pain to start my day). Now I'm ill be on suboxone for a few months to get me off without the horrific withdrawal

* My snoring is gone, my hands no longer shake during the same, my memory has improved

* My new fitbit flex (set on sensitive), shows me restless only 1-2Xs a night and only awake ONE time a night and that is a middle of night bathroom stop;.

One thing that I must do on my own: LOSE WEIGHT. I have 1 YEAR to get my body fat down to 20% or less... since it's (I'll round up) 28%.. that means out of my 320 lbs, I have 89.6lbs of fat... taking it to 0 would kill me 🙂 I'd like to be 15% with some more muscle...If I didn't gain or lose muscle, and dropped down to 240lbs that'd be an 80lbs loss... that would put me under 6%.... so lets change it to 260lbs... that's a 60lbs loss of body fat and that would leave me with 29.6lbs... Which would put me into a good body fat range (around 13%).. Hence why BMI is useless... granted I also have a LOT more muscle on me than a guy who's 320 @ 50% body fat

It's funny.. all those conditions were from sleep apnea... I'm sure they would have EVENTUALLY figured it out.. but because of my fitbit.. they figured it out in less than a week of testing

I know this sounds corny.. but I owe fitbit DECADES of my life... had this not been caught and treated in the next year or two, I'd have lost a couple DECADES off my life, and I would have had irreversible heart damage

[patzwz]

Wow... on another website I recently got into a bit of a discussion with someone who said fitbit (and other) trackers are nothing but more expensive 'gimmicky toys'. I totally disagree with that statement and your story only drives that home.

I'm happy for you they finally found out what was really wrong and that you feel so much better now! Thank you for sharing your experience.

[Jabrat]

I feel the same way - I was headed for disaster and a life of blood pressure medication, etc. - congratulations - very happy that we both found Fitbit or shall I say my cousin turned me on to the Fitbit One - stay healthy 😊👏

[slysam]

Thanks for sharing!

[Jabrat]

50 pounds down with the Fitbit One !

---

@dduttonnc wrote:

I've had a flex since last year...

I know I'm overweight (6'4", 320lbs, 44 yrs old, never smoked, rarely drink, never done drugs except a bit of week between the ages of 18-25). I do NOT use BMI.. it's a horrifically inaccurate way to measure bodies. BMI would have us all looking like skinny twigs with no body fat (and almost  no muscle).

* First off... rant of the BMI system:

The BMI chart says I should weight somewhere between 180-187... that's sort of ridiculous. 4 yrs ago, I go down to 220. Everyone started asking me if I had cancer or something because I looked overly skinny and sickly.. yet 220 , according to BMI said I was still overweight. I talked to my DR, and he said ignore it as BMI charts do not take into account body frame (small bones vs large.. people with higher density bones vs less.. and people with more muscle mass vs less). He said go by BODY FAY %.

(this is for men)

* 5% is ABSOLUTE minimum.. anything below that is dangerous, and your body can start to eat its own organs

* 5-10% Athletes

* 11-14% Perfect, Healthy Range

* 15-18% OK

* 18-20% Borderline Overweight

* 21-24% Overweight

* 25-30% Very Overweight

* 31-40% Obese

* 40-50% VERY Obese

* Anything over 50 = Morbidly Obese

Depending on the category above.. women are allowed 2-10% more than men 24-30% is considered "acceptable for women" and 16-23 for women is considered "perfect/healthy and 8-15% is Athletic for women.

So I'm 6'4", 320lbs.. according to BMI I am "morbidly obese" (like those stories you hear about someone being so big they can't get off their couch and out of the house without a forklift)

So I schedule a body fat test using water displacement (about the most accurate way. The pinch tests and electrical current tests can be off by as much as 5-10% depending on how big you are).

To my shock... my body fat was only 27.2% or "Very Overweight" - which I would agree with.

DO YOURSELF A FAVOR... NEVER LOOK AT A BMI CHART AGAIN AND IGNORE IT ON THE FITBIT SITE!! GO BY BODY FAT percent! Get An aria scale that will send your weight and body fat over your wifi right into your fitbit account. It's not as accurate as a water test... and it can vary 5-10% for larger people (like me)... but I noticed on friends who are 25% or under, the aria tends to be accurate within 1%.

***END RANT ON BMI*****

I also started developing early on set symptoms of CHF (Congestive heart failure)... swollen ankles and legs... lungs filling with fluid... flash lung edema where I had to be rushed to the ER cuz I was drowning in my own fluid in my lungs...

So all sort of tests were run

Echocardiogram (aka Echo) = Normal (with a 1mm enlargement of the left ventricular wall). Dr said that's so minor.. i shouldn't worry and that would never shorten my life span... BUT it meant that I was entering early stages of CHF

Nuclear Stress Test (aka Thallium Stress Test) = Normal for the most part:

*Resting HR = 68 (VERY GOOD)
* HR at end of stress test 159 (Not so good. Should have been about 142. But that's because I'm out of shape)

* Arterial Occlusions = NONE... that shocked the heck out of me... none not even one artery at 10%... none they could find..Dr said I'm LUCKY as heck considering my age & weight. But the only ppl on either side of my family who died of heart attacks (or had them) were the smokers

* Resting Blood Pressure = 90/65 (VERY good)

@* BP @ end of stress test = 145/110 (too high, but Dr said that's cuz I'm out of shape and should come down as I loose weight and improve my cardiovascular functions)

So all my tests showed my heart was just FINE. I had all sorts of lung tests... FINE... So why was  I building up water and showing signs of CHF when my heart and lungs were FINE?

Turns out they were fine when I was AWAKE... It was because of my FITBIT the REAL reason was discovered! My cardio dr asked what kind of watch I was wearing. so I told him what it did.. so he asked to see a typical night sleep.... and it showed most nights I was restless 100-200Xs and awake 50-75Xs... NONE of which I had any memory of. My partner also happened to be at my appt with me and told the dr that my snoring was LOUD and that I'd stop breathing for as long as 2-3 mins at a time.

So I was sent to a sleep Dr. He said that at night, my heart, body, brain, etc were all being deprived of oxygen from sleep apnea.. so during the night my heart wasn't beating properly.. hence the CHF symptoms...

So I got a cpap... this was just over a WEEK ago... since then

* I feel 15 yrs younger

* I have TONS of energy

* I dont pop oxycodone like candy any more for my lower back pain. I have a back injury and sleeping on my side or stomach lights it on fire.. but I've never been able to sleep on my back or I wake up choking (turns out that was apnea). So for ages I've had to take stronger and stronger pain meds as I have built up a tollerace because I can't move when I wake... I'd wake up... grab water and a pill from the nightstand.. want an hr for it to kick in .. then start my day

* Now I can' sleep on my back, and I wake up with 0 pain.. and I'm working on my pain DR to get off the meds so I dont go into withdrawal from the many years on narcotics (I was on them so long that 1 30mg oxycodone did NOTHING for me, 60 helped a little.. but I really needed 3 30mg (90mg) to properly kill the pain to start my day). Now I'm ill be on suboxone for a few months to get me off without the horrific withdrawal

* My snoring is gone, my hands no longer shake during the same, my memory has improved

* My new fitbit flex (set on sensitive), shows me restless only 1-2Xs a night and only awake ONE time a night and that is a middle of night bathroom stop;.

@one thing that I must do on my own: LOSE WEIGHT. I have 1 YEAR to get my body fat down to 20% or less... since it's (I'll round up) 28%.. that means out of my 320 lbs, I have 89.6lbs of fat... taking it to 0 would kill me 🙂 I'd like to be 15% with some more muscle...If I didn't gain or lose muscle, and dropped down to 240lbs that'd be an 80lbs loss... that would put me under 6%.... so lets change it to 260lbs... that's a 60lbs loss of body fat and that would leave me with 29.6lbs... Which would put me into a good body fat range (around 13%).. Hence why BMI is useless... granted I also have a LOT more muscle on me than a guy who's 320 @ 50% body fat

It's funny.. all those conditions were from sleep apnea... I'm sure they would have EVENTUALLY figured it out.. but because of my fitbit.. they figured it out in less than a week of testing

I know this sounds corny.. but I owe fitbit DECADES of my life... had this not been caught and treated in the next year or two, I'd have lost a couple DECADES off my life, and I would have had irreversible heart damage

---

[msfarkee]

That is a great post with very important information.   Thanks for taking the time to write it. 

[Tinman53]

Congratulations!  I am a heart patient who has just ordered the Surge.  Regretfully it is on back order so it might be a few weeks before I receive it.

I suffer from Congestive Heart Failure, a low Ejection Fraction (how much blood your heart pumps out to your body) and have two blocked arterties supplying my heart.  I have an ICD (Implanted Cardioverter Difibrilator and Pacemaker).  When I exercise I need to make sure my heart rate does not excess certain limits, hence the desire for the Surge.

Looking forward to getting it and using it.  I walk at least five miles each day and am looking to increase that amount. 

[youngWerther]

About the now old BMI - morbide obese 'rant'.

I got curious and googled "morbid obese complications" and got in the second hit a short list, showing that BMI is maybe a better predictor than body fat only:

Without proper treatment, obesity can lead to other serious health problems (than being overweight), such as:
- osteoarthritis
- heart disease
- stroke
- diabetes
- sleep apnea (when you periodically stop breathing during sleep)

[RivalDealer]

Thanks for sharing that, I wasn't sure how accurate the fitbit was for tracking something like that.

When I started I would get a lot of restless minutes, I had been diagnosed with sleep apnea but have had two operations for it (broken nose caused some messed up cartilage blocking my breathing) but I have noticed as I have lost weight my restlessness has dropped significantly and I am thinking that it may have reduced my sleep apnea.

Previously I couldn't sleep more than 4hrs without waking up with a banging headache that lasted a good hour. Now I can sleep for 8hrs and wake up feeling fresh.

I agree with the BMI thing, at 6'4" for a big guy, BMI is going to be wildly wrong. It's designed for average (think medium size t-shirt) people, even sub 20% body fat I am classed as obese on the BMI chart.

[VivisFitbit]

My sister was diagnosed pre-diabetic and arrhythmia, I gave her an HR to track her exercise and her doctor was amazed with her last results, she learned how to keep her heart in a safe zone while she exercises. The behavior of her heart is more normal now.