Question for Fitbit Users
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RLF022012
Posts: 70 Member
I got a Fitbit Flex for Christmas and, so far, I'm using it independent of MFP. I know there is a Fitbit group. Most people in that group have linked them. But, I'm wondering, have others in this group who have one linked it to MFP? I'm not sure I understand what the benefit would be to linking. So, I'd be really interested to know, if you did link your Fitbit and MFP, can you tell me why?
Thanks!
Rose
Thanks!
Rose
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Replies
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I'd be interested in answers about this too. I thought about getting one, but I am notoriously bad about resenting any piece of equipment that nags me, and I figured I might get annoyed one day and just back the car over it.
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I link mine. I have a Charge. I usually do two types of exercise: walking and stationary bike. For the stationary bike, I manually enter the info from the bike in MFP because it takes into consideration the difficulty level while I pedal. I like the ease of map logging for this over fitbit. Fitbit will adjust the activity level when linked to add the "net" calories burned.
If I walk the track (level indoor surface), I just let fitbit count that. It will take into account the speed of my walking and length of my steps and come up with the net calories burned. When I walk outdoors, I use MapMyWalk which takes into account hills, but I link it to mfp. And thus to fitbit making the adjustment.
Why I like this is that I can better regulate daily my most accurate calorie burn. As you probably see, at least for me, is that 10,000 steps is not a magic number. I can easily walk 10,000 steps but not burn enough calories to allow for a pound a week deficit.
Is it necessary to link? No, but it helps me maintain at least a 500 calorie a day deficit. This will be even more important when I hit maintenance and I like to see it all come together. MFP now also records your fitbit steps for you and logs that in your progress and reports section.0 -
do you need to have a smartphone to link in the fitbit? I have a laptop computer and an android tablet, but no smartphone. I don't have a fitbit yet, but I'm thinking about it, and wondering which type to get. I swim a lot, so I would need one that is water resistant.0
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I got a Fitbit Flex for Christmas and, so far, I'm using it independent of MFP. I know there is a Fitbit group. Most people in that group have linked them. But, I'm wondering, have others in this group who have one linked it to MFP? I'm not sure I understand what the benefit would be to linking. So, I'd be really interested to know, if you did link your Fitbit and MFP, can you tell me why?
Thanks!
Rose
I definitely link mine. In fact, after over a year on MFP, it is only the only way I track my exercise. The FitBit records my steps, as my exercise is mostly walking and bicycling. It counts my steps/calories and automatically calculates the number of calories I am allowed that day. Works perfectly. It doesn't nag, but you definitely know when you are not moving enough.
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Charlie & Yvonne, Thanks for sharing your experience. Your info is making me think I might give linking a try and see how it works for me too.
Cris... I don't feel like the Fitbit nags really. For me, it's more of an incentive to get more activity in my day, and I really like the sleep tracking feature. I'm finding that information very enlightening. I had no idea how little sleep I've been getting.
Yvonne, I don't think you need a smartphone. My main way to sync is on my PC at home. I do have the app on my phone, but I use the computer as my main source of info. I'm not so sure about the swimming. The website says the Flex is "water resistant" but I've heard otherwise from people who have it.0 -
You don't need a smartphone, although I have fitbit on both my smartphones, my tablet, and my laptop. I had the flex, but I now have the Charge. It has a display so you don't have to sync to know at any moment how many steps you have taken, calories you have burned, flights of stairs you have taken, or distance you have walked.
There is a huge difference between waterproof and water resistant. Water resistant I found meant you can walk in the rain, but my Flex never worked after the first time I forgot to take it off before my shower. I do not think any fitbit trackers are waterproof. There was one brand I looked at that that said it was good up to 3 meters below the water surface, but it wasn't fitbit and I don't remember which one it was.0 -
I got a Fitbit Flex for Christmas and have linked it to MFP. I really like the auto tracking of exercise throughout my day. When I work really hard it seems to document it accurately and it adds calories needed to my daily consumption allotment. In fact this week I recorded 5 dots on my activity level and I was really tired at the end of the day. It ended up adding over 600 cals to my allotment to consume - which was pretty much impossible to eat at that point of my day.0
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Some more info...I just got a Garmin Vivofit. It does link with MFP on the computer but NOT on my android tablet. It says waterproof, but I haven't swum with it. There are a lot of choices out there. Only had mine for a day and half, but really like it.....it reminds me I'm in it for the long haul this time (again)
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i linked mine to get an accurate calroe burn with no exercise and then i can see if i still have sufficient deficit to lose weight0
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Cadownham - please let us know how that works out! I feel my my baseline calorie burn is a lot lower than the MFP guidelines.0
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I linked mine. It freed me from having to record anything beyond my food intake. Fitbit knows how much I eat and MFP knows how much I've exercised. I also use Fitbit's idea of how many calories I have left .. It's more stringent that MFP and when I used it I was better with my intake0
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My fitbit, which I had problems with last year, finally died in the move. Got a new one for Christmas and they sent the wrong one! I have returned it and waiting for the replacement. I did link mine and found it was a big help for me!0
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Getting the fitbit One turned the tide for me. Seeing when I got credit for active minutes helped me guage the quality of the 10000 steps. It helped me learn what it takes to burn more efficiently. Linking it to mfp was the other big help.
My husband got me the Charge HR for my birthday. I'm really liking it, as I always wear a watch anyway.
I use fitbit to track all walking-based activity. I enter calisthenics-type exercise separately. Once i log calisthenics, MFP deletes the calories burned that fitbit sends over. For example, MFP will show 300 calories burned from fitbit steps. Then I enter a Skimble Workout, or Sworkit will send over the burn from a workout completed. The fitbit burn is lessened to accommodate the workouts. As the day goes on, the fitbit step burn credit increases again as I walk more.
I link Sworkit and Map my Walk to MFP, as well as Fitbit. I rarely use Mapmywalk, because I jog fast in place while my dog sniffs around or waters the bushes, and it was throwing off the speed.
The HR is showing more burn for my walks than the One did. It is showing about the same burn for hilly walks without dog as Mapmywalk did. My walks outside have become brisk as I got fitter, and we are walking on steeeeeep hills and the One does not credit burn for altitude change. The HR shows about the same burn for tennis as the manually entered tennis on MFP.
I feel the calorie burn numbers MFP is crediting from the HR for general living activity (housework, cooking, laundry) are too high so I'm disregarding them if my activity is equivalent to what MFP and Fitbit One showed.0 -
I used a Flex for several months until it apparently got caught on something and came off, never to be seen again. I linked it to MFP and noticed how the Flex gave me many more calories for exercise than MFP. My husband uses a Garmin and his device was much more compatible to MFP which made me think that the Flex was encouraging me to eat too much! When I get a new device, it will have GPS and a real buckle!0
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My replacement fitbit arrived in the mail yesterday! Unfortunately, my computer is not yet hooked up and I am using my husbands until his new desk arrives! But soon I will have it back and am looking forward to it!0
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grandmothercharlie wrote: »You don't need a smartphone, although I have fitbit on both my smartphones, my tablet, and my laptop. I had the flex, but I now have the Charge. It has a display so you don't have to sync to know at any moment how many steps you have taken, calories you have burned, flights of stairs you have taken, or distance you have walked.
There is a huge difference between waterproof and water resistant. Water resistant I found meant you can walk in the rain, but my Flex never worked after the first time I forgot to take it off before my shower. I do not think any fitbit trackers are waterproof. There was one brand I looked at that that said it was good up to 3 meters below the water surface, but it wasn't fitbit and I don't remember which one it was.
Just a note I have had a fitbit flex since 9/13 it has not been replaced and I
swim or do deep end water aerobics 5 days a week. The only time I remove
my flex is when I get in a hot tub. I have had no problems with it at all have
only had to replace a charger. From my experience I would say the fitbit flex
is waterproof working just fine for 15 months.
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I went through two Fitbit Zips last year, and then when my last one started eating battery life like batteries were free (they aren't) I asked Santa for a Fitbit One (rechargeable battery). He delivered
I credit the Fitbit for a huge part in my weight loss effort because it challenges me to get and keep moving. I don't belong to a Fitbit community, nor do I compete against anyone other than myself. I sync it with MFP - it syncs to Fitbit.com through a 'dongle' (fits in your USB drive on your PC & I just leave mine plugged in) and/or your smartphone via bluetooth, and then automatically does the calorie adjustments with MFP.
I have noticed that the Fitbit One is giving me less 'credit' for the same activity than the Zip did
primarily due to a difference in 'active' minutes.
One of the things I appreciate is that MFP will show what the Fitbit is estimating for my daily calorie burn. I base most of my calorie intake decisions off of that, aiming for at least 1000 calories less daily. My exercise is almost exclusively walking, so the Fitbit is perfect. Just about anything else (Zumba, strength, aerobic) you'll need to enter manually. Fitbit One does record sleep habits, but I quit messing with that after two nights. It's not waterproof. What few nags there are on mine (it goes in my pocket so I don't have to look at it unless I want to, and even then don't have to pay attention to any 'nags') are sent via smartphone notifications, which can be turned off. Fitbit nags are more motivational than nagging (Only xxx steps until you reach your daily goal! or Overachiever! You've exceeded your goal by xxxx steps today!). And YOU set your goals.
In case you can't tell, I
my Fitbit! 0 -
I too am thinking of getting a fitbit ...... Seems to be the way forward ...I love my pedometer but liking the sound of the extra incentive, challenges and competition with friends which I hear a fitbit provides
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Wow, sousiechef that's great! Mine didn't stand up like that and I assumed it was the water since that was when it quit. I actually looked and it does say up to 10 meters deep so it must have been another problem with mine. I just took water resistant to not mean waterproof, but I would call that waterproof! It does say that even though it is water resistant that it does not accurately log swimming calories so you still have to log swimming, right?
I have started using the silent alarm on my Charge in the last week. I like that feature and when I got it, didn't think I would have any use for it!
Now to further this discussion, does anyone use the Aria and, except for the wireless feature, any other advantages?0 -
Yes I manually log the swimming and any water exercises0
