A mum-of-two says she GAINED weight using a fitness tracker – but has now lost eight stone after ditching it.
Fiona Benbow, 39, rewarded herself with huge sugary cakes and family-sized choc bars if the FitBit told her she had burned lots of calories.
And in just a month her weight went up a stone to 19 and a half stone and her waistline expanded from a size 20 to 22.
Fed-up Fiona stopped using the device and turned to power walking for 30 minutes every lunchtime – and her weight is now down to 12 stone.
And she is now selling the £69 FitBit Flex, which tracks steps and calories, to buy some workout gear.
Fiona, a school’s design technology technician, admits the wrist-worn gadget became her ‘Bible’ for a month.
She said: “If I walked a lot, the FitBit would typically tell me I’d burned around 3,000 calories.
“I remember one day I was shopping then went to a party in the evening and danced, and it told me I’d burned well over 4,000 – I couldn’t believe it!
“If the FitBit said I’d burned 3,000 calories I would reward myself with a family-sized chocolate bar or a huge sugary cake.
“According to its calculations, I was still burning off more energy than what I was putting into my body so I couldn’t see why I wasn’t losing weight.
“Before I started using the tracker I was 18 and a half stone and then a month later I was at my biggest – a size 24 and 19 1/2 stone.”
Fiona from Horsham, West Sussex admits “out of control” snacking was always her downfall and she “got bigger and bigger” after having children.
She added: “Getting divorced made me more determined than ever to lose weight.
“I had managed to keep my weight stabilised but couldn’t seem to lose any.
“But after I ditched the FitBit and started listening to my own body things started to fall into place.
“My method was simple: I’d power walk with a friend and we’d chat to keep each other motivated.
“There was no counting steps, just good old-fashioned walking until we were really out of breath.
“Now I’m a slim size 12 and eight stone lighter.
“I have more energy for playing with my two girls, and we’ve even started doing Kung-Fu classes together.
“I am no longer the embarrassing ‘fat mum’.”
She said: “As I turn Fit at 40 next week, I’ve decided to auction off my FitBit to buy myself some nice workout clothing.
“Hopefully someone will buy it for Christmas and get more from it than I did.”
