Every New Year, lots of people dive into new diet and exercise regimens; but few really follow through. Here's a gadget that blends sensors, cloud computing and an iOS app to keep one on track.

Priced at $99.95, the Fitbit Ultra personal fitness tracker consists of a digital pedometer that measures activity, iPhone app that tracks calorie intake, and Web tools to monitor your fitness on a granular level.

Fitbit Ultra

The pedometer is a tiny rubbery clip-like device that you wear at all times (it can be placed in the seam of your pants or attached to your belt). Based on the premise that 10,000 steps a day (roughly 8km) is a good fitness goal, the Fitbit Ultra logs not just steps walked, but the number of stairs you've taken and the calories you've burned. A progress bar on its OLED screen, designed to look like a growing flower, gives you quick visual feedback of your progress.

The Fitbit Ultra can also track movements during the night that might indicate interrupted sleep. Other features include a clock, stopwatch and random motivational messages that appear each time you pick up the device, like "Walk Me," or "Vamos!"

While it's rugged and simple to operate, the Fitbit Ultra is not waterproof. And its small size makes it easy to misplace.

The Fitbit Ultra comes with a wireless base station/charging dock that connects to your PC or Mac via USB. When the pedometer is within 15 feet, it uploads your activity logs to the Fitbit Website.

iPhone and Web Apps

In any fitness regimen, diet is as important as exercise. Fitbit's iOS app and Website let you track calorie intake and exercise. The iPhone app is a clever way to figure out how many calories you're consuming. Like Weight Watchers guides, it forces you to mull over food choices and their corresponding caloric payloads.

The Fitbit database provides information for 100,000 items, including foods from popular restaurants. Most of these are American chains, so you can't access the menus from Swiss Chalet or Harvey's. But FitBit does list many items from Tim Horton's (70 calories for one Chocolate Glazed Timbit!).

The app also lets you enter other information, including workouts (Pilates, spinning, kickboxing etc.) and water intake. It syncs constantly with the online component.

The Fitbit Website is much more comprehensive. It provides a great overview of progress, motivational touches like achievement badges, attractive graphs, and a social-media component that lets you brag about how many kilometres you walked yesterday.

Mini Motivator

Overall, the Fitbit Ultra, its online and iOS app components create a slick and easy-to-use ecosystem that puts activity and food intake front and centre.

It's been said that pedometer users go out of their way to add more walking time to their day so they can get closer to their 10,000 steps; and I can see why.

Being able to monitor your activity and food intake, and get real-time progress updates, is a great motivator. Does it work? After using the device for four days, I've lost four pounds; and I hope the novelty doesn't wear off.