Fitness bands have become somewhat of a craze over the past year. As people are becoming more and more health conscious, they are looking toward the consumer market to find things that will help keep them on track.

While so many people are buying these fitness bands, it's questionable whether they know how to correctly use them. A fitness band has the capability to count your steps, track your sleep, keep track of how many calories you are burning and track your heart rate throughout the day. You can hook it up to your computer, smartphone or tablet and use it to set up a fitness regiment that is unique to you.

Heidi Applebaum, association aquatics director for YMCA organizations throughout the greater Metropolitan D.C. area, wears a Garmin Vivosmart band. She uses it to check her text messages, track her calories, count her steps and mileage, and even listen to music.

Applebaum said she originally wanted it because she can't always have her phone on her and it would allow her to check messages and emails during meetings. She now uses it for a different reason.

"I use it because with the current chemo drugs that I'm on, I don't remember to eat," Applebaum said. “It vibrates to let me know that I burned a certain amount of calories so I remember to eat at that time so that I don't wait until the end of the day."

Applebaum uses the phone app primarily to track everything. She uses the alarm and sets it five minutes before she is supposed to wake up so that it vibrates and she can casually wake up before her actual alarm goes off.

Sophomore History and Criminology double major Ilana Bier wears a black Fitbit Flex around her wrist. She primarily uses it to track her daily exercise and monitor her sleep habits. Bier recognizes that she doesn't take full advantage of all of its capabilities, but says it's okay because that's just not what she is trying to get out of it anyway.

"Sometimes I track my food and water intake, but I'm not good about remembering to do it all the time," Bier said. "I forget to put in my daily calories and water intake to see if I'm living the healthiest lifestyle that I can be living. It's enough though to keep me conscious about wanting to eat healthy but not obsessive about how many calories I'm taking in."

Both the phone and the computer app have the same functions. Bier said she primarily uses the phone app because she has it on her while she's out and wants to track her steps or milage.

Both Ilana and Applebaum love their fitness bands and would recommend them to others. They say that they work for what they need them for and even surprised them by being useful for reasons that they didn't originally expect.