Show me an app or device that could encourage me to get fitter, or track my eating (so I know when I’ve overdone things, and how), or chart my milestones to keep me motivated, and I’m hooked. In fact, I have more fitness and eating apps and gadgets than I can manage, but yet I’m always keen to try “the one”.

My latest little helper is the Fitbit, which has just arrived in South Africa (it’s very big around the world). There are a few Fitbit devices – the Flex, Zip, One and Aria (scale) – and I’ve been using the Flex, which fits around my wrist comfortably.

This is not just a device for fitness junkies, which is why I’m writing about it here. Whether you’re wanting to increase your daily steps, or trying to lose weight by cutting down on food, then the Fitbit helps with that. Also good to know is that you can earn Discovery Vitality points with the Fitbit – you just need to upload a workout and you’ll get 150 points.

The Fitbit Flex (R1299) tracks your steps, distance, calories burnt and even monitors your sleeping. All your info can get synched with an app on your iOS or Android phone, or on your desktop, and your results or tracking might look something like this:

It’s quite useful to set daily goals and reach them (even if it means doing star jumps late at night to reach your required steps – I’ve done this before), and it’s also cool to “compete” with yourself from week to week.

There are some things that bug me, such as not being able to access the info from the device itself (you need to sync to your phone via Blutooth, and the fact that you can’t share or post stats to social media.

I’m still using it daily to get to my 10 000 steps a day, and more, and when I’m feeling less guilty about what I’m eating, I’ll start logging my food diaries too.

Fitbit devices are available from the iStore.