Alcohol intake tracking on Fitbit device

[richardbartram]

I will be brief .

Following a post tittled features for an average fitbit user found here
https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-HR/Features-for-the-Average-Fitbit-user/m-p/823473

I was recomended to post here.
I said I will be brief. My demographic is 50 year old moderately well off family men in the UK. We use to play sports and still have the time and money to play a little tennis say. We can afford the top of the range fitness gear. We would like not to keel over before we are at least 70. Us Brits do like a sherbert ot three. It's our culture (and to a lesser and sometimies greater degree is the culture of many Europeans ).

Steps, activities, stairs,calories you are looking at fitness in a holistic way, trying to empower your users .

A  simple optional tile, maybe separate or at least seperatable from the general food log allowing drilling down into not just the calories a beer or a single malt has but the frequency of intake and units of alchohol imbibed would in my opinion be usefull for an overview of our general health.

I appreciate that some marketeers might be resistant. My demographic looks bad in lycra and dont look good in adverts!

Is your average fitbit user a fit woman or man who wants to maintain that or an unfit and unhealthy woman or man who wants to improve their wellness?

I take a guess that blokes like me will buy more of your top end devices ( and sign up for premium services) than our kids will!

Richard 
Time for a Scotch and an episode of Madmen.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject and updated label

[SilasC]

This 'thread' has been running for years and yesrs.  Yes, yes, and  yes again: we would like a way of counting our alcohol intake on our FitBit app.   And also to count our caffein consumption.

It is time that a Moderator tells us that sometbing is being done to include this, or these suggestion(s).

  I worry that FitBit mught be afraid that their App is insecure, and that our alcohol consumption might become publuc knowkedge.   If si, then all our stats must be 'hackable' !

[ecbpdx]

Doesn't look like FitBit plans to add an Alcohol Tracker. On the Food Log, I track alcohol calories under "Anytime." I don't put any other calories there. And when I'm on a weight loss plan, it's easy to see where extra calories are adding up! 

[Whimp]

Good idea. Thanks. It would still be better to have an alcohol category but I’ll try out your suggestion.
—Wimp

[SilasC]

Dear "Moderator edit labels",

  You are too dismissive of a good suggestion.  After many yesrs, it is time that you answered his helpful suggestion.  Can we plesse, on our FitBit app, have a device or log, in which our alcohol intake can be recorded?

[AnnGreene]

+1

Just started using fitbit and it's already helping me realize how precious the calories are we can consume and to be more wise. However... I do like to have a few drinks over the course of the week. Much like with food, having a specific category would be VERY HELPFUL (as has already been stated by most everyone commenting here). If it is a matter of a person being underage and seeing it or may be triggered by seeing it, can't it just be an option to turn on or off so it can be a part of the regular stuff or alternatively not there to look at at all? Fitbit is a pretty successful company, you can not convince me that this is out of reach for programmers or financially. I and others would absolutely benefit if this were a more easily logged option rather than calculating everything out. The point of having the convenience of dropdowns with food is to make it more user friendly, not all of us people trying to be healthy are straightedge teetotalers!

[Whimp]

I agree with AnnGreen. There is no valid reason for not making it easy to count calories from alcohol on Fitbit.

[Joogles]

Great post. Who needs water lol

Sent from my iPhone

[ciarahurley]

I'd love to see this feature. I'm 25, fit and healthy, and love using Fitbit to keep everything maintained. Alcohol tracking just makes sense. I'd like to be able to enter specific units, as drinks vary so much from brand to brand, and be able to programme in my favourites for quick adds. 

I agree with what people have put above, I'd like to set a goal maximum for the week and maybe get a notification when I'm coming close to my weekly goal limit. It would also be great to see a month view of intake. It could be a good way of spotting patterns or whether you're drinking more/less than you think. 

[Whimp]

You’ve given some well spoken reasons for adding alcohol consumption tracking to Fitbit. I don’t understand why Fitbit doesn’t make it easy to track this popular class of beverages.

[GrandpaDon]

Like most people I enjoy social drinking and I am aware that there are health guidelines on the number of units regularly drunk on a weekly basis, as overdrinking of alcohol is a significant health risk for many people.    I would like to see a separate entry on the app, to go with water consumption  and food eaten, that would enable me to log my alcohol consumption with the goal of keeping within recommended guidelines.   As there is a tendency for most people to underestimate there consumption when asked at random, an app to collect the data and present a graph on my Versa Lite against my goals for improvement and current Public Health advisory limits would be very useful.

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @GrandpaDon, thanks for taking the time to share why you would like to see the option on Fitbit trackers. This feature suggestion already exists, I’ve moved your post here as it is not currently planned. Learn more about how Fitbit decides what suggestions get released in our FAQs. I hope to see you around.

[Whimp]

Lots of people like you have given good reasons for Fitbit to add an entry for alcohol. Fitbit should at least explain its position on ignoring this popular request, or hopefully announce its addition.

[Lolalo28]

Alcohol can have a huge effect on health so should be part of it. Many already exist so could just partner up.

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @Lolalo28, thanks for explaining why you would like to have this option. I've moved it into a similar suggestion which has been updated as "Existing Feature". You can learn more about here. You can find more information about it here: Tracking Alcohol intake   Keep adding your suggestions!

[Joogles]

But it will get ignored. What the end user wants they don’t get 😫

Sent from my iPhone

[Whimp]

Yes, I agree Fitbit should include measuring calories from alcoholic beverages. I drink beer nightly and could benefit from knowing its impact and have a motive to cut back.

[Whimp]

So far you’re right. It appears Fitbit has an undisclosed reason for not including data from personal alcohol intake despite many others of us who’ve requested the feature.

[SilasC]

I suspect that the "undisclosed reason"why Fitbit will not let us collect our intake of alcohol on their e-sites is that they fear that third parties may be able to access this (possibly enbarrassing) information....  And if Fitbit told us their fear, then we might deduce that NONE of the data that Fitbit holds on us is impregnable to third parties.   ... And that could lead to lawsuits against Fitbit.  ...   And that could lead to the end of FitBit!  S.C.

[BTLB]

I think it would be very helpful to have a separate way of recording alcohol drinks/units and 5-a-day fruit/veg as a way of keeping healthy without having to record all food consumption which is laborious. It would be good to have this as part of the Fitbit dashboard and available to do for the Charge 3.