Most of us already know that tracking your food intake is an important aspect of a weight-loss plan, but tracking overall daily health and fitness is also important, even if you don't want to drop pounds. That could be the reason why so many fitness trackers are available for you to choose from; the Nike Fuel Band, Larklife, Fitbit, and Jawbone Up, for example, are all popular fitness gadgets equipped with accelerometers and sensors to track you all day (and night) long. Here's why these trackers can be a good aid for anyone wanting to live healthier.

1. You can see your fitness holes: It's one thing to have a sense of how healthy you are, but it's another thing to see the numbers. Many fitness trackers can record your steps, calories burned, and sleep, so if you're not meeting your goals in one or more of those categories, you'll be able to see it in no time. Fitness trackers force you to be aware of your fitness shortcomings so you can modify habits as necessary.
2. You can track your progress: Investing in a fitness tracker forces you to think about what you'd like to get out of your workout routine. Many trackers allow you to add goals — like steps per day or calories burned — so you can keep tabs on whether or not you are progressing. It's nice to have numbers backing up just how much more fit and active you've been feeling and to use as a basis for future goals.
3. You can push yourself safely: Listening to your body is the best way to know your limits, but having extra help doesn't hurt. Many fitness trackers compile the data they collect from your daily habits to show you trends over time. That means that if you find that you're being too sedentary on your nonworkout days or that you aren't burning as many calories as you thought in yoga class, you'll be armed with the information you need to modify your workout routine or your daily activity habits.

When Jawbone expanded its products from headsets to speakers, audiophiles swooned. The Jambox Speaker wooed us initially as a stylish solution for Bluetooth-powered music on the go, and to our delight it keeps getting better. On Aug. 28, Jawbone is introducing Jambox the Remix ($199), personalized versions of the palm-sized speaker available in 100 color combinations. Choose from 13 grill and nine cap colors to create a combination right for you.

In addition to the new color options, Jambox the Remix features the standard durable hardware that first made it popular, a stainless steel exterior with a sturdy rubber casing. Create a design in your school colors for unique dorm room tech accessories or match them to your home decor.

As 2012 approaches, you'll no doubt have some sort of resolution to get healthy. Rather than go it alone, why not employ some kind of smart technology to keep you at the top of your game? The UP might be just what you need. The Jawbone UP (yes, that Jawbone) is your wearable fitness monitor — it tracks your fitness levels, monitors your sleep and eating habits, and keeps you challenged with community activities.

Built with something called MotionX technology, the UP is said to be wicked accurate for monitoring your daily activities like walking, your pace, distance, calories burned, but also gets really detailed with your sleep habits since you wear the thing 24/7 (even in the shower — it's water-resistant!). No kidding — the UP doesn't just monitor the numbers of hours you've slept, but can also pinpoint how long it took you to fall asleep, the various different phases of sleep, and your overall sleep quality. The band even vibrates to "nudge" you awake at the optimal time during your natural sleep cycle. So thoughtful.

And as you may have guessed, the UP integrates with your iPhone to provide you with on-the-go stats and totals, but you can also use your camera to snap pics of the food and snacks you eat to compile your own virtual food journal. Fact is, when you know you have to take a picture of what you're eating, you're more likely to skip that piece of pie at the office potluck. Speaking of office, you can set the UP to remind you to get up and away from that computer screen during specific intervals throughout the day to get the blood flowing.

Coming in seven colors — blue, white, silver, brown, black, and two tones of red — the Jawbone UP seems to be the front-runner in the wave of new fitness gadgets, and by far the most wearable for the ladies. Get yours (or add it to your wish list) on Nov. 6 for $99.

Summer is in full swing, and if you're still trying to shed the last of your Winter weight, don't go it alone. These three tools can help you track calories in and out while awake and even sleep (in some cases), which will not only help you drop pounds, but get improve your overall health.

Up by Jawbone

This newly announced fitness bracelet by Jawbone (seen here) stylishly monitors your movement, activity, sleep patterns, and nutrition in order to get a holistic view of where your calories are being burned, or more importantly, where they aren't. There will be a mobile app to use in conjunction with the bracelet so you can sync and see your totals on the go. The Up should launch sometime later this year with price TBA.

See a few more tools after the break.

Jawbone, manufacturers of Bluetooth Headsets and most recently the awesome Jambox Bluetooth-enabled speaker, has just released the first motion-controlled Bluetooth headset with HD audio. The Jawbone ERA features top-quality noise cancellation and volume control that automatically adjusts volume for both sides of the conversation.

Its MotionX technology uses a built-in accelerometer to give users control of the device; shake the ERA to connect to any Bluetooth-enabled device, tap to answer phone calls, and more. Pressing a button on the device gives users an audio update of how much battery life remains. It packs 5.5 hours of talk time or 10 hours of standby time.

Each of the ERA's four designs is available for $129 and is in Apple, AT&T, and Best Buy stores now.

Yesterday, Jawbone released a new app that combines texting and talking for a whole new way to send messages. Thoughts for the iPhone encourages users to record thoughts or messages and then send to a friend or group of friends, similar to how you would send a text message, but without the hassle of actually typing the message. According to Jawbone, "It's like having a real conversation, but without the hassle of getting everyone together at the same time." And, if it's inconvenient for you to listen to the message, you can even have the app transcribe it for you — 10 transcriptions are included with the free app, and you can purchase more at any time.

While you do need to download the app to send a Thought, you don't need it to receive them; users can elect to have their Thoughts delivered via email or SMS, too. While I don't necessarily think that we need yet another way to send a message to a friend, the concept behind this is kind of fun. What do you think?

Take a look at the funny instructional video after the break.

If you thought that Jawbone only made products that allowed you to speak with friends, family, and colleagues (or secretly to yourself — you know you've done it) while on the go, think again. Today, Jawbone introduced its Jambox, the first music player to come from the mobile communications company. Connecting to your computer, laptop, iPod, cell phone, or any other Bluetooth device, you can rock out to your favorite tunes wirelessly from anywhere. And since it's made of stainless steel with a sturdy rubber casing, you can leave it at home, take it on the road, or post it up at the office without worrying that it will get thrashed by rowdy co-workers.

Not only does it play music, but the Jambox can also be updated with apps and software from Jawbone's online platform, MyTalk, which lets you update your Twitter account and send texts with your voice, and listen to podcasts on your Jawbone devices.

Find out pricing and availability details on the Jambox when you read more.

Since most of the nation is hands-free, at some point you're going to need a Bluetooth headset in order to chat and drive. Although the bulky and tacky monstrosities are all over the place, you don't have to subject anyone to that tech fashion faux pas. Thankfully, Aliph has a long history of providing chic and stylish Bluetooth headsets, and didn't disappoint with the Jawbone ICON ($100), which hit stores yesterday. Not only are these babies nice to look at (and have some cute names), but they're also super smart — you can customize your headset settings online (or with an app) with the MyTalk platform, while the ICON delivers state-of-the-art noise cancellation in one of six beautiful packages. Plus, with the MyTalk app on your iPhone, you can see your ICON's battery life right next to your iPhone's battery life meter so you know when to cut the conversation short.

Find out more details when you read more