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Comment by brianmwang | Hacker News Reader

Hi, co-founder/CEO of Fitocracy chiming in here.

I'm incredibly curious about how the HN community views devices like the Fitbit and similar products commonly associated with the so-called Quantified Self movement. Not counting the folks who simply want to track their behaviors for data geekery's sake, I assume that many people who use these devices do so for the purposes of weight loss, improved health and fitness, better body composition, etc.

Assuming that that's the case, I wonder how effective these devices really are for the average person?

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Hi Brian,

This is Joe from the Healthy Games panel. I used a Fitbit, until I lost it. I just got the Fuelband. What I found with both is that they are helpful to gauge level of activity ("it's noon and I only have 1000 steps, move!"), but lack a second gear. What I'd love to see in products like these is a coaching feature - If my goal is to lose 10 pounds, how much more do I have to walk?

It would also be great to see a similar thing in Fitocracy. I have no idea how to start with lifting. Your UI is really nice, but assumes I have a plan. Pre-populating it with a starter plan would be a huge step forward. Same for Nike and all these other products.

Hey Joe,

Great to hear from you. A coaching feature is most certainly planned on our roadmap.

It should be no surprise, but one of our key learnings has been that when a user signs up for Fitocracy and has little to no experience with exercise, they are incredibly likely to drop off. However, if they stick around long enough to start interacting with the community, the story completely changes. So our core belief is that minimizing the friction to get to that point is key, and that will most likely involve greasing the wheels by providing easy-to-follow starter plans for new users.

For me, and everyone else it's always been about the need to passively keep stats. Remembering to note when I start or finish an activity is just something I've never got used to ( and I've 'used' runkeeper since it first came out and you couldnt do background audio. ) So the advantage of just leaving it clipped and occasionally pressing the button on the walk to the gym, or as you're going to bed has been the selling point for me.

I think your point is valid though, and alas, I can't really say, the average people in our group aren't quite as active as the people who're more interested in the stats.

One of the problems I have with what are essentially glorified pedometers is that while tracking your steps / "activity level" throughout the day is a good first step, it is grossly insufficient for inciting the sorts of changes that are necessary for most folks to reach their particular goals.

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