Fitbit users...general question

adriana_hackney

How much to do you trust your fitbit adjustments? I wear mine daily to track activity and sleep (today makes like day 3 of wearing it), but it's adding A LOT of exercise cals. It added 859 for today. What?! For instance, today I ate 1689 cals (or something around there) I worked out. Nothing to major. I completed day 10 of the squat challenge and did about 30 minutes on my elliptical. However, my net cals are under 900. Is this for real, or should I take the fitbit adjustments with a grain of salt?

I have the fitbit ultra and I wear it on my bra (just in case that matters)

Thanks!!
Adriana xx

Echo17121

Mine seemed to underestimate a lot of my workouts but overestimate a run so I got a heart rate monitor for my workouts. I just record the activity on my fitbit and then adjust the difference. Any HIIT workout or strength training is usually very low on the fitbit. At least on mine. I wanted to get the most accurate numbers which is why I got the hrm.

FredDoyle

Mine seemed to underestimate a lot of my workouts but overestimate a run so I got a heart rate monitor for my workouts. I just record the activity on my fitbit and then adjust the difference. Any HIIT workout or strength training is usually very low on the fitbit. At least on mine. I wanted to get the most accurate numbers which is why I got the hrm.

Except HRMs aren't accurate for strength training, only elevated heart rate cardio...
The fitbit seems pretty accurate for day to day activity level type measurements for me. I use a Polar HRM for cardio.

adriana_hackney

Thanks!! I do have a hrm. I don't always use it. I probably need to start.

I basically use my fitbit to see how generally active I am throughout the day, but If it's logging correctly then I'm not eating enough. I'm all for eating, but I don't wanna eat more that what I already am and set back my weight loss.

How do I adjust?

adriana_hackney

[/quote]
Except HRMs aren't accurate for strength training, only elevated heart rate cardio...
The fitbit seems pretty accurate for day to day activity level type measurements for me. I use a Polar HRM for cardio.
[/quote]

So I don't need to use my hrm on days when I strength train. Good to know (:

Hahaha. I completely jacked that quote up. My bad. I'm sort of new to the message boards.

MysticRealm

It's probably because your activity setting on MFP isn't accurate in comparison to what the fitbit thinks you burn. So if your fitbit is set to 20% cal deduction from TDEE and you tdee is 2400, then it wants you to eat 1920.
But MFP has you set to eat 1320, then fitbit adjusts that calorie count up to 1920 which would add 800 "exercise cals"

I could be wrong as I don't have my fitbit synced to MFP

adriana_hackney

It's probably because your activity setting on MFP isn't accurate in comparison to what the fitbit thinks you burn. So if your fitbit is set to 20% cal deduction from TDEE and you tdee is 2400, then it wants you to eat 1920.
But MFP has you set to eat 1320, then fitbit adjusts that calorie count up to 1920 which would add 800 "exercise cals"

I could be wrong as I don't have my fitbit synced to MFP

That sounds like what it's doing to me.

gfroniewski

Except HRMs aren't accurate for strength training, only elevated heart rate cardio...
The fitbit seems pretty accurate for day to day activity level type measurements for me. I use a Polar HRM for cardio.

_________________________

So I don't need to use my hrm on days when I strength train. Good to know (:

Hahaha. I completely jacked that quote up. My bad. I'm sort of new to the message boards.

Umm no. Please don't take that advice. If you have an HRM you should always wear it. Also, if you are strength training correctly you SHOULD have an increased heart rate. Otherwise you aren't working very hard..

Ready2Rock206

I think my FitBit is very accurate - but it depends on how you have your activity setting. If I have it set to sedentary it will give me a lot more calories than if I say I'm active. I get about 50-200 calories a day or so.

I never actually use my HRM anymore - just let FitBit do its thing. Strength training doesn't burn enough calories for me to care about the few calories FitBit is missing.

beattie1

I never actually use my HRM anymore - just let FitBit do its thing. Strength training doesn't burn enough calories for me to care about the few calories FitBit is missing.

I agree with this. I had a shock when I got my Fitbit as it was adding far fewer calories for exercise than I'd calculated using MFP's database. But I gather this is not unusual, as the database tends to be rather generous.

What annoys me about the Fitbit (I have Fitbit One) is that when I finish the day's eating and exercise and sign out of my food diary I have, say, 50 calories to spare, but during the evening, the Fitbit takes away calories, so I end the day say, 20 calories in the red. Annoying, as I do try to get close to my goal but not go into the red.

It looks as though you could eat more to me - or exercise less, or less intensely.

LazyBearGrrr

I find my Fitbit extremely accurate...to the point where I tell people that I think it might be magical! Seriously! Ok...not seriously :-)

I work on my feet and have had days where I have walked 10,000 steps (and sometimes even more!) at a fast, rushed pace. My Fitbit will give me about 1000 extra calories to eat on those days. However, I went to a festival on one particular day off, and walked 10,000 steps at a very slow pace as I meandered through the crowds. The Ftbit gave me only 500 extra calories to eat that day. Meaning, not only does it count steps, but it adjusts for speed too. It knows what it's doing! Also, I have counted steps manually up to 500, and the Fitbit was off by one singly step. If you connect it to MFP, you can feel safe in knowing that the calculations it gives you are accurate.

Just a note based on a previous post. The Fitbit doesn't use the TDEE -20% formula. It uses the same formula as MFP, which is total daily calories burned and then subtracts a number based on what you set it for....500 for 1 pound weight loss a week, 1000 for 2 pounds a week etc. Just make sure you have both programs set to the same goal. Also, the way the Fitbit dashboard tells you how many calories you can eat is approached differently as the days goes by, so the number of calories you can eat often looks very different, but as the days comes to an end, the numbers slowly start to match up.

Just remember, the Fitbit is meant to calculate your baseline activities. It replaces the guesswork in MFP when you have to choose between sedentary, lightly active, active, very active ect. by giving MFP an exact number in real time. It is NOT meant to give you a way to record your exercise*. For that, you have to use the MFP database, or use a heart rate monitor. When you do this, just remember to add a start time so that Fitbit knows when this increased activity occurred, and it can adjust your dashboard and goals accordingly.

I set MFP to sedentary and watch the Fitbit give me more and more calories as I do more activities.

There seems to be a LOT of confusion on these forums about how Fitbit works, and a lot of this stems from the fact that people don't understand how MFP works either. You need to make sure you know exactly how MFP calculates the number of calories you should be eating every day, and why it does it that way. Once you know this, you will easily be able to see what variable MFP is replacing with the Fitbit. It also doesn't hurt to learn exactly what the Fitbit is calculating, how it calculates it, and how it's predicting your calories for the day. It's much easier to blindly trust the Fitbit when you understand all these items.

There are a million posts on these forums with people explaining the math/calculations/process of the Fitbit in a million different ways. Read a few of these, and I'm sure it will all make sense.

*Apparently, you can use the Fitbit to record running, treadmills, and any exercise that has a similar motion to walking.

FredDoyle

Except HRMs aren't accurate for strength training, only elevated heart rate cardio...
The fitbit seems pretty accurate for day to day activity level type measurements for me. I use a Polar HRM for cardio.

_________________________

So I don't need to use my hrm on days when I strength train. Good to know (:

Hahaha. I completely jacked that quote up. My bad. I'm sort of new to the message boards.

Umm no. Please don't take that advice. If you have an HRM you should always wear it. Also, if you are strength training correctly you SHOULD have an increased heart rate. Otherwise you aren't working very hard..

The algorithms for HRMs are meant for steady state cardio. they are inaccurate for strength training. Believe what you want but they won't be accurate for lifting.

MissSusieQ

i dont eat back my fitbit calories, because i dont count walking around work to be exercise.

that said, i find the actual step count very accurate. i wear mine on my bra like you, and a few times i've been about to hop into bed and realised i'm ridiculously close to my step goal, so i'll count out those steps around the house, and the fitbit always counts them exactly the same

adriana_hackney

Thanks so much for the replies (: I greatly appreciate it.

I have my mfp account set to active, because even though I'm a stay at home mom, I'm constantly up and moving (and that's not including actual exercise). Plus there's the fact that 1200 cals just isn't going to do it for me. haha. This girl likes to eat. However, I try my best to eat as clean as possible. Just a guesstimating, but I would say I eat around 80% clean. I'm really glad to hear that you guys trust your fitbits. I love mine. It gets me moving even more. It's nice to know it's accurate.

Again, Thanks SO much for the input.

stumblinthrulife

Hard to judge accuracy of something without a known-accuracy benchmark. But you can compare to expected outcomes.

I use MFP exercise cals for my cardio and strength, plus Fitbit adjustments for NEAT. I eat to those requirements to make a 500 calorie deficit. My weight has been consistently dropping by 1 pound a week. [note that my FB has been lost for a few weeks, if you look at my diary]

So for me at least, the actual outcome meets that predicted by the data. Implying that the data is accurate.

There is one place you can create errors. If you wear you fitbit when you workout, and then log the workout separately, you must enter the correct start time and duration. Otherwise you will double up on the burned cals and the Fitbit adjustment.

lcfairbairn74

Are you adding your exercise during activity using the activity logs? My Fitbit thinks I am running when I use the stationary bike and adds loads more calories than I burn. Using the timer and then adding the activity into mfp manually then means I have accurate calorie burns

g68christina

I use mine as an overview of my daily exercise. as for the calorie adjustments, it makes me confused so I dont pay mind to the changes it makes. I make sure I hit my calorie goal as well as I can. If i was a hard core exerciser then I would adjust my calorie intake per my work outs.

Amerielle

I have been pretty much letting the Fitbit do it's thing. I still wear my hrm for cardio but I use it for heart rate only. I never wear it for strength training and I also don't log strength training in MFP (any calorie burn is just a bonus to me). If I did an activity like cycling or swimming I would probably log that activity into mfp since those aren't step based.

I think everyone ends up with their own preferred method that works for them. I love my fitbit so much and I think that it is the best thing ever for figuring out my actual TDEE.

Personally, I just aim for an average of 1600 or so calories per day which is my TDEE minus 500 and that works for me. My favorite thing is the "weekly" tab in fitbit where I can see the fitbit calories burned compared to my calories eaten which gives me the big picture.

scrapjen

I've been very active with my Fitbit for years, but still putting on weight (even with it saying I'm hitting 3000 calories a day with consistency) ... it wasn't until I started tracking my food here on MFP that I realized I probably WAS still eating more than I was burning. If you don't track (and eat junk food) it does really add up quickly.

I have MFP set to sedentary even though I'm anything but ... as the Fitbit catches ALL activity (not just your exercise) I figure I'll get calorie credit for anything other than just sitting, and I've found it to be quite accurate. As I workout, I write down what my machines say (and I know they can't be trusted 100% either) and IF I've recorded a workout as an activity (starting/stopping the timer, which I only do every so often to double check the numbers) the Fitbit estimate is generally just a little lower than the machine readout. But at the end of the day, the total l seems pretty close to what I would have estimated by adding it all up on my own.

Thus far, (since I've been tracking my food and being better) all the numbers seem to line up perfectly with the calories in/calories out idea and the scale is finally moving in the right direction.

I love the Fitbit so much I talked my mom into getting one, and we're getting one for my dad for Father's day. I got one for my 14 year old (not to encourage activity, just to SEE how active he is, and he has been beating me on a regular basis even with my 100min of elliptical each day). My 17 year old wanted the Flex, but as it has been hard to find, he got a JawboneUp.

I am so grateful for MFP and the Fitbit sites working together, as Fitbit on it's own wasn't working for me.

iquiltoo

bumping for reading again later - I just ordered a fitbit, waiting for it to arrive, so this stuff is good to know!

z4dow

Fitbit is adding every calorie from your daily activity to your BMR. Every step counts because for every step you burn calories.
I use mine for 4 months. My main exercise is ...walking and fitbit one is built for this. It's VERY accurate, at least for me.

I've lost these months 15.5 kgr/34 lbs simply subtracting from my everyday burned calories 750 in the beginning, then 500 and the last month 250 and eat the rest.
Walking, log food intake with accuracy -and honest- and that did the trick for me.
So after 1580 km/980 miles walking and 4 months -following my fitbit numbers - i am at my goal weight.

A random's week report (the amount of weight loss is exactly my calorie deficit):



PS. Sorry for my English