If you need some (or more) push to achieving that fitness goal, go get yourself a smartwatch tracker. Sure, you can measure or weigh yourself and take photos to monitor your progress but there is nothing like numbers telling what level of effort you are currently doing.

When people talk of health and wellness trackers, top of mind is Fitbit and the Charge 5 and its features go well with my own fitness priorities, which is to remain healthy and strong.

For those who are not into clunky smartwatches, you’ll find this Fitbit Charge 5 comfortable to wear even when sleeping. For those who have poor eyesight like me, Fitbit made sure that information and features are big enough to be viewed. Check out the choices of clock screens below. They are colorful and provides you with a user interface that is colorful and puts your priorities in place.

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What makes Fitbit Charge 5 extra useful is its Daily Readiness Score. Sure, you gather all data — heart rate, steps taken, calories burned — but this particular tracker helps you understand these pieces of information with the Daily Readiness Score. Basically, the score (based on the data gathered from your daily activities) informs you if your body is ready to work out or you should take extra time to recover. This, however, is available for Premium subscription, which comes free for six months upon purchase of your Fitbit Charge 5.

Fitbit Charge 5’s dashboard on the watch and on the app is easy to understand. It gives you a view of your progress and you can easily edit depending on your priorities. A quick glance will give you a rundown of what you have done for the day or if you achieved your goals or if you fell short.

I’m aiming for fat burn so during the Tabata and Elliptical workouts, the smartphone will alert me if I’m already in the Fat Burn Zone. For Yoga and Pilates, I can check if I’m on a low-impact stage so I can modify the intensity of my workouts.

Fitbit Charge 5 offers 20 workout modes and so far, I have used Tabata, Yoga, Pilates, and Elliptical. (I’m excited to use Run because I haven’t been exercising outdoors since the pandemic. That’s almost two years.) The autodetection mode for exercises is helpful in that you don’t have to constantly turn the exercise mode on every time you go on a workout. It detects Aerobic, Elliptical, Swimming, Outdoor Bike, and Run (It has built-in GPS and makes sure to turn it on when the app asks you to). For the tracker’s dashboard, you can customize the exercise mode on the app. You can put six. Now, if you fail to turn the exercise mode on or the app couldn’t detect it, there is a manual entry feature so you get to log all your fitness activities.

The Zone Minutes uses your heart rate to tell the level of intensity of your workout. Zone MInutes feature motivates me to elevate my workout at times when I feel like the exercise is good enough.” According to the Fitbit guide, “Active Zone Minutes counts the time spent in any heart-pumping activity. The default goal is based on the widely accepted recommendation of 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week.”

The Fitbit Charge 5 vibrates when you are in the aerobic mode or fat-burning mode so you can easily tone down or amp up the level of your activity so you won’t get disappointed at the end of the workout that you missed your goal.

If you are doing interval workouts, use Fitbit Charge 5’s Timer or Stopwatch instead of another app. It helped in my Tabata Workouts so I can use the rest time as water breaks instead of configuring the timer app on the phone.

The Always On display allows me to check on my progress without even touching the screen so if I’m on the Elliptical I don’t have to remove my right hand to check the watch.

There are some free short workout videos that you can check out on the app but the Fitbit Premium subscription gives you access to a wealth of health-related videos and other workouts.

I don’t wear any accessories to bed but I wanted to see how I’m sleeping these days so I did wear it. The Sleep Management Tool gives me a snapshot of how well did I sleep (Sleep Score) or how many hours were I in deep sleep or awake (Sleep Stages). It’s pretty awesome for me to know how my body is doing during those rest times.

The Mindfulness Tools is, so far, my favorite. I haven’t been meditating for quite some time so the library of sleep sounds and guided meditations remind me to do it. I also love the electrodermal activity (EDA) Scan (sweat level) wherein for three minutes I can measure my level of stress. Fitbit Charge 5 detects microburst sweats when I’m stressed and it relays that information to the tracker. This way, I would know how long I need to meditate or sit still to reduce the stress level. I just pinch my fingers on the sides of the app for a good three minutes and it tells me if my heart rate went up or down during those times.

Fitbit Charge 5 promises up to seven-day battery life. While for me it’s not seven days because I kept on glancing and checking my data, it lasted more than I could hope for. It means that I don’t have to lug around a power bank should I go out for a longer period.

Ultimately, Fitbit Charge 5 has become a tool for me to finally crush those fitness goals that have been on my mind since I stopped running because of the pandemic. My workout appetite was on and off and only did the easiest ones — 30-minute Power Vinyasa or Stationary Bike. As a data-driven person, I like seeing my goals and results in numbers.

And as the time for the holiday feast is only a few weeks away, it’s time to get a Fitbit Charge 5 and make your fitness goals come January.