Should I track exercise through MFP or Fitbit??

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  • nicolen160
    nicolen160 Posts: 197 Member
    I am so confused! I am new to fitbit, only had it couple of weeks now and I have it set to sedentary and it is set to enable negative adjustments, however I do not know if I should log my exercise or not. I do use a HRM when I exercise, but for example when I do the elliptical it also registers steps for that. I don't want to overestimate calories burned and eat more than I should. Should I not enable negative adjustments and does the calories from the elliptical override the step calories for the time when I worked out? Any help is appreciated! Thanks
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    nicolen160 wrote: »
    I am so confused! I am new to fitbit, only had it couple of weeks now and I have it set to sedentary and it is set to enable negative adjustments, however I do not know if I should log my exercise or not. I do use a HRM when I exercise, but for example when I do the elliptical it also registers steps for that. I don't want to overestimate calories burned and eat more than I should. Should I not enable negative adjustments and does the calories from the elliptical override the step calories for the time when I worked out? Any help is appreciated! Thanks
    @nicolen160

    Because of the motion of an elliptical (more of a gliding than an actual step), Fitbit's will not be able to give you a reasonable estimate of the calories burned during this activity.
    When you log exercise, you are asked to input the start time and duration so that it can overwrite whatever the Fitbit had tracked during that period. This prevents any doubling of calories. If you want to test it, log a 30 min workout with 1 calorie burn and then look at the graph on Fitbit that shows you your calorie burn in 15 min segments. You should see that there is now a gap that looks like you burned nothing (just delete the workout and you will get the tracked information back).
  • Isi1975
    Isi1975 Posts: 2 Member
    earlnabby wrote: »
    RunRutheeRun wrote: »
    Vossii wrote: »
    OK Im not logging any exercise (i run) but i thought my fitbit just automatically transferred the calories burned throughout the day to MFP? Do I add my exercise on MFP because then wouldnt the calories burned be off? im so confused
    if you run then you are absolutely right, Fitbit does the work for you :) if you did log it, it would add on to the steps you've done and double them up. You're doing things right. Logging is only necessary for non step related workouts, ie biking, strength training, circuit training etc

    If you log it for the actual time of day you exercised, it does not double them up. It defaults to the logged exercise and ignores any burn from steps taken during the same period of time.

    The only way you get double count is if you actually log into both Fitbit and MFP.

    So if I log a run via Map My Run into MFP it will overwrite the steps for that period from my fitbit?
  • mrsnatashajameson
    mrsnatashajameson Posts: 1 Member
    I personally think it depends on which Fitbit you have. When I had the Fitbit One I logged exercises in MFP. But then I got the Fitbit Charge HR.
    I hit the timer when I start a work out and it monitors my HR so I get a better knowledge of my calories burned. It syncs to MFP and adds my cal burned for me:)
    It doesn't show in news feed but oh wells. If I were to log in MFP it would give me 50-100 more cals than I've actually burned. I also don't have mine set to do the negative adjustment. I eat around 1400-1550 a day. Am set on lightly active and to lose 2 lbs a week. I'm a SAHM but take around 5,550-10,000 steps a day plus go up the stairs at least 2 times a day,laundry, housework, errands, and my work outs for 30-60 min so that is why I'm on lightly active. I was at sedentary until I got my Fitbit HR and started moving more! Any who yeah logging in MFP vs Fitbit depends on the kind of Fitbit and how accurate you want your number to be I suppose!!
  • diane1rock
    diane1rock Posts: 3 Member
    I eat whatever mfp tells me I have left after steps, and log cardio, bike. I set no e at lightly active, and I eat 1800-2000 cal a day. Need to lose 1 lb. A week. Have not lost anything
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    another zombie thread - from 2015...sometimes I wonder how people find them...


    @diane1frock - if you are not losing weight then the amount you are eating is too much - these gadgets and apps just give us rough predictions of what we can eat to lose, either they are over estimating your burn or your tracking of calories isn't accurate i.e you're eating more than you think. Are you using a food scale?

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