Reddit reviews Xiaomi 1S Band

Growing up poor, I saw first-hand the pain of trying to lose weight with less money. Between the Herbalife-style products being marketed to you by that one aunt, to the infomercials with the weird exercise equipment that doesn't work and cost your $60 savings on your birthday, to knowing the $40/mo for a gym would be impossible on your budget, to not walking outside because that's how your one friend got mugged, it felt like you tried a million things to lose weight.

Now that I'm doing financially better, I'm testing out cheap fitness bands and programs along with CICO (and a food scale) to see what poor people would be more likely to try, since I have that experience from my past.

What they need first:

• Food scale ($20 for bare minimum scale in a dept store)
  
  
  
• Showing them where/how to get decent to good running shoes, by showing them seasonal sales. (FILA shoes in my area run $20-25/avg). Keeping it simple, since everyone knows how to walk.
  
  
  
• MyFitnessPal for calories ($0, I pick this one for a reason)
  
  
  Then they need some apps or gadgety things to make them feel like they bought something to get ahead. Or the free equivalents. I'm going by android apps since I don't know any poor people who could afford any sort of iPhone.
  
  
  Google Fit app ($0)
  
  Pros:
  
  
• Free.
  
  
• Quick download - No wait like you would have buying a fitness tracker online.
  
  
• Tracks steps in the background, no need to open up to track.
  
  
• Syncs with MFP to give calories (Add app, then set as Step tracking source)
  
  
• Auto-tracking can pick up bouts of running, biking, and walking, with maps.
  
  
• Shows you what percent of people you were more active than in your area. (You were 99% more active than people in LA last week, with 123,000 step count)
  
  Cons:
  
  
• Your auto-tracked path won't show up until 30 mins later, Google Fit needs time to "think" about your GPS path.
  
  
• Calorie timing shows to your timezone in your timeline, but calories seem to be pushed based on Google HQ time (PST). So if you are east coast, you get your 9pm-midnight calories put into the next day.
  
  
  Xiaomi Band 1s ($22.99, can be found cheaper on Gearbest if you can wait)
  
  Pros:
  
  
• Heart rate and step counter for dirt cheap
  
  
• Shows step progress to your goal if you lift your hand up.
  
  
• Has SMS, phone, app, etc alerts available to buzz at you to check your phone.
  
  
• Has a wake-up alarm.
  
  
• Can make some feel like they "moved up" since they now have a fitness tracker "like everyone else."
  
  
  Cons:
  
  
• No screen display, just 3 LED lights
  
  
• Overcounts a bit. Lower your exercise calorie consumption to 30-50% rather than 50-75% because of this
  
  
• App display is simpler than Fitbit's.
  
  
• Heart rate is on demand. You can get a $2.49 app called Mi-Band Tools that can let you set heart rate, specific vibration app alerts, and even a smart alarm. It works with all Mi Bands.
  
  Wokamon($0)
  
  Pros:
  
  
• Tamagotchi-type game where steps give you XP to raise alien critters.
  
  
• Syncs with Fitbit.
  
  
• Syncs with Google Fit (and through that, Mi Bands)
  
  
• Free
  
  Cons:
  
  
• No online discussion community, so you'll have to figure out the little parts of the game yourself.
  
  
  I'll test one more one day, which is the Xiaomi Band 2. Looks like it'd be a good "cheap" Fitbit Charge HR replacement with an actual screen on it. I didn't pick it first since its non-sale price is around $40, and that's a huge amount for the super-poor. Might be good for someone starting around black Friday when it goes down below $25, though.
  
  
  Its taken me so many months to research and try all this but it was worth it. Now I have a back-up plan if times ever get tough again. And I can show others that don't have much cash how to lose weight and get active without a gym membership. :)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B019Z5UZ8M/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1453474658&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=Mi+band+1s

Get one of these. It's extremely cheap and well supported and does exactly what you're looking for and more. It pops off the band like this and it has 30+ day battery life.