Fitbit's fitness trackers are being handed out to British soldiers in the hope that it will help them lose weight and avoid being thrown out of the army for carrying too much timber.
We don't know whether troops are being given a new Charge 2 or maybe something more rugged like the Fitbit Surge, but it's hoped that wearing a Fitbit tracker will prevent soldiers from failing military fitness tests.
Between 2011 and 2014, more than 32,000 male and female officers failed the basic fitness test with 60 soldiers said to have been discharged for being considered obese since 2002.
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According to the Mail on Sunday, one infantry unit has already given out the fitness tracker to soldiers letting them monitor steps and how many calories they've burned.
It follows the recent news that a 28-stone soldier was sacked for not being fit enough to fight. According to Ministry of Defence figures, around 25,000 soldiers (18% of the Armed Forces) are said to be overweight or obese. In addition to that, 1,000 troops are suffering from type 2 diabetes.
Along with dishing out the fitness tracker, special 'fat clubs' are being set up as well as hiring fitness instructors to help burn off the calories. So what's to blame for the drop in fitness levels? Apparently it's down to poor diets being dished out in military cookhouses.
Fortunately, Fitbit does let you log meals and create food plans as well so soldiers can keep a closer eye on calorie intake while they ramp up those daily steps counts.
Source: The Telegraph
How we test
By Michael Sawh
Michael Sawh has been covering the wearable tech industry since the very first Fitbit landed back in 2011. Previously the resident wearable tech expert at Trusted Reviews, he also marshaled the features section of T3.com.
He also regularly contributed to T3 magazine when they needed someone to talk about fitness trackers, running watches, headphones, tablets, and phones.
Michael writes for GQ, Wired, Coach Mag, Metro, MSN, BBC Focus, Stuff, TechRadar and has made several appearances on the BBC Travel Show to talk all things tech.
Michael is a lover of all things sports and fitness-tech related, clocking up over 15 marathons and has put in serious hours in the pool all in the name of testing every fitness wearable going. Expect to see him with a minimum of two wearables at any given time.