Accountability: The Jawbone® UP24

Accountability is a key component to successful life change. Some people choose a personal trainer or a life coach; others choose support groups, blogging, or other peer-supported environments. And some choose to simply hold themselves accountable, which can be the most difficult choice of all. Fortunately, there are many tools out there to help keep you accountable.

I have been using the Jawbone® UP24 for about three weeks now, and overall, I think it’s very effective. The UP24 app syncs right to my phone (which is Android, but it works with iPhone also), and I have everything in one place. That’s my favorite aspect of this device: one-stop shopping.

The device tracks three things: steps/activity, sleep, and food. It has its own tools for these categories, but syncs with many other popular apps, so if you’re already using one, it’ll simply sync up and you won’t have to do much. Setting it up is incredibly easy, as is charging and updating the software. It comes with a special USB device to connect to your computer, but communicates with your phone via Bluetooth.

The steps/activity tracker is very useful, and fun if you’re a competitive type. You set a step goal, and it’ll track all your steps, tell you the percentage you’ve completed, and even encourage you to up your goal if you consistently meet it. You can also set a stopwatch during exercise, and simply tell it the type of workout you did and the intensity level, and it’ll calculate your calories burned. It also tells you your resting burn, active burn, and then total burn for the day. You can also set timers to make the device vibrate, reminding you to get up and move around.

The sleep tracker is a real eye-opener (pun very much intended). Sleep is an integral part of living healthy, and so many of us sacrifice too much of it. When you can see the impact your sleep is having on your goals, it can be motivating to get into bed a bit earlier. It tracks the total percentage of your sleep goal, your deep and light sleep, how many times you wake up, and how long you’re awake.

The built-in food tracker is my least favorite. I do like that it gives you a “food score,” which is a score (out of 10) on the healthfulness of your food choices, but the actual food logging tool is not only hard to navigate, but it’s incredibly inaccurate on nutrition data. The good news is that it syncs with MyFitnessPal, which is a far better, far more comprehensive food tracker. UP24 also recently added a weight goal aspect to the food tracker, so you can set caloric intake. While it’s a bit disappointing to have to use an outside app for the most important component of healthy living, it’s not so inconvenient as to be a deterrent.

UP24 also gives you fun little tips, motivational messages, and even cautionary words every day based on your progress. Today it told me to be mindful of my 4.8/10 food score (in my defense, I’m on vacation), and to keep tracking to make improvements. It encouraged me to surround myself with healthy friends to increase my chances of staying healthy, and it challenged me to take 12,009 steps today to beat my 7-day average.

With the exception of a few minor annoyances, this was a worthy purchase. If Jawbone can clean up the food tracker database and make it more accurate, it’d be near-perfect. You can even sync it with your social media accounts to share your information with your friends and family. It’s versatile, inconspicuous (just looks like a cool bracelet), and user-friendly.

Happy tracking!