Fitbit users...general question

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  • JudieJudes
    JudieJudes Posts: 174 Member
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    I use a Fitbit and until recently I felt it was accurate ... more recently it isn't registering when I wake during the night.

    jjx
  • JudieJudes
    JudieJudes Posts: 174 Member
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    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):

    Screenshot_01062013_06_46_38.png

    PS. Sorry for my English :)

    Well done on your progress :)

    jjx
  • LazyBearGrrr
    LazyBearGrrr Posts: 35 Member
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    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

    So, to be quite frank, why even have a fitbit? The whole point is to calculate a baseline activity level so that you have a more accurate way to know how many calories you should eat. Walking around at work absolutely does count as part of your baseline activity level. If you're not letting Fitbit help you determine your calories in vs. out, then it's pointless to have one.
  • adriana_hackney
    adriana_hackney Posts: 232 Member
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    Wow!! You guys really are the best!!! I think I have a much better insight to my fitbit now. And after hearing what you all think, I feel very confident in trusting my fitbit.

    I actually did my own step test today at the park and fitbit recorded the same amount as I did manually.
  • adriana_hackney
    adriana_hackney Posts: 232 Member
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    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):

    Screenshot_01062013_06_46_38.png


    PS. Sorry for my English :)


    Thats awesome!! Congrats!!!
  • judychicken
    judychicken Posts: 937 Member
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    I order mine waiting for it to come.
  • adriana_hackney
    adriana_hackney Posts: 232 Member
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    One more question.

    I couple of people have brought up the stop watch feature. How do I use that for exercise? I know how to use it for sleep but does it work the same way for exercise?
  • KAS0917
    KAS0917 Posts: 172 Member
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    I just got my FitBit 4 days ago, but I love it so far!

    One thing, for me, is that I turned on the 'allow negative' calories feature. Because I sync with my iPhone, I have no issues syncing on a regular basis. I don't love that it 'takes calories away from me,' but it gives me motivation to get up and walk around at work, and I think it's a more accurate picture of actual calories burned. We have 2 bathrooms on our hall - one is 30 steps further away. I walk to that one now, just so I can get those extra 60 steps in! :smile: I think the negative calories is helpful, especially if you work out really hard, but then sit at your desk all day.

    For example, this morning I burned 650+ calories in a fitness class (calculated using my HRM). So I added that to MFP. But my FitBit has me at -103 calories right now (650-103=547 additional calories I can eat) because I haven't been that active the rest of the day. My guess is that it will be in a positive place by the end of the day, but that negative makes me go move some more! :)

    The other thing that is important is if you track your workouts (I track when I do planned activity, using my HRM - so Insanity = yes. Walking around the mall = no) make sure that you record it with a time and a duration. That way your fitbit knows that you already added that specific time and spike in activity, and it will adjust accordingly so you're not recording the same event twice. Hopefully that makes sense.
  • Shadowcub
    Shadowcub Posts: 154 Member
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    So, I've looked at the Fitbit site and think the Flex would work best for me. My only question is whether or not it's really worth $100 as an adjunct to MRP?
  • stumblinthrulife
    stumblinthrulife Posts: 2,558 Member
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    So, I've looked at the Fitbit site and think the Flex would work best for me. My only question is whether or not it's really worth $100 as an adjunct to MRP?

    Totally worth the price. It makes matching you intake to your output so much easier. I lost mine a couple of weeks back, and it's been a complete pain in the butt.

    Not to mention that although the price is high, the customer service is stellar. I told them I lost my FB1 (entirely my own fault) and they are sending me another - free of charge. How many companies do that?
  • jody664
    jody664 Posts: 397 Member
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    One more question.

    I couple of people have brought up the stop watch feature. How do I use that for exercise? I know how to use it for sleep but does it work the same way for exercise?
    You use it the exact same way you use it for sleep. Long hold on the button until you see the timer start and long hold to stop. It notices that you are moving a lot more than if you were asleep so it assumes you are recording an activity. It's pretty cool. I use it when I work out so I can override the calories with what my HRM says (although to be honest the calorie count are between the HRM and the FitBit are pretty close).
  • BarbieAS
    BarbieAS Posts: 1,414 Member
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    One more question.

    I couple of people have brought up the stop watch feature. How do I use that for exercise? I know how to use it for sleep but does it work the same way for exercise?

    I'm not 100% sure on all models, but on my Ultra, yes, it's exactly the same. The Fitbit can "tell" whether it's a sleep or activity entry based on, you know, if you're walking around and stuff :wink: .

    I really like mine. I've had it for about a year now and I feel downright naked without it. One of the things I love is that I've taken months of data and come up with a TDEE using that, and set my goal to TDEE -30% (I have pretty high body fat). I love that I don't have to guess whether I'm "lightly" active or not. FWIW, my TDEE comes out to about mid-way between lightly and moderately active, which feels exactly right.

    I use my Fitbit for workouts as well, I haven't even bothered with logging an additional exercise for a really really long time. My primary exercise is a combo of lifting (which I also agree that it's not worth logging calories for) and treadmill or elliptical, which the Fitbit handles perfectly. Even when I do trampoline aerobics what it comes up with is super close to what the online calculators do. I could compare it to an HRM, but I think I have an accurate enough picture, even if it's not 100% perfect.
  • rwc4912
    rwc4912 Posts: 35 Member
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    I've been using the Fitbit one for about 2 weeks and this thing is phenomenal.

    I set MFP to sedentary and allow the Fitbit to apply negative calories as I have a desk job mostly.

    It's great once you understand what it is doing.
    I run on Mondays, Wednesday, and Friday mornings and the distance is spot on.
    Calories look good on that too.
    On Tuesday and Thursday nights I practice Kempo karate and am pretty sure it low balls the crap out of those workouts.
    That's fine though, I don't worry too much about it.
    What I really like about it is that as I have my baseline set as sedentary in MFP and have my deficit set to 2 lbs per week it matches well to my settings in Fitbit with that set at a 1000 calorie deficit.

    Honestly it was short money for me and so far is proving to be the best compliment to MFP I have used so far.
    Can't say enough good things about it.
    The sleep tracker works great too
  • rwc4912
    rwc4912 Posts: 35 Member
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    One more question.

    I couple of people have brought up the stop watch feature. How do I use that for exercise? I know how to use it for sleep but does it work the same way for exercise?

    I'm not 100% sure on all models, but on my Ultra, yes, it's exactly the same. The Fitbit can "tell" whether it's a sleep or activity entry based on, you know, if you're walking around and stuff :wink: .

    I really like mine. I've had it for about a year now and I feel downright naked without it. One of the things I love is that I've taken months of data and come up with a TDEE using that, and set my goal to TDEE -30% (I have pretty high body fat). I love that I don't have to guess whether I'm "lightly" active or not. FWIW, my TDEE comes out to about mid-way between lightly and moderately active, which feels exactly right.

    I use my Fitbit for workouts as well, I haven't even bothered with logging an additional exercise for a really really long time. My primary exercise is a combo of lifting (which I also agree that it's not worth logging calories for) and treadmill or elliptical, which the Fitbit handles perfectly. Even when I do trampoline aerobics what it comes up with is super close to what the online calculators do. I could compare it to an HRM, but I think I have an accurate enough picture, even if it's not 100% perfect.

    Absolutely this too
    Since I got it the only thing I have to log is swimming.
    I really like not having to log stuff
  • KAS0917
    KAS0917 Posts: 172 Member
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    So, I've looked at the Fitbit site and think the Flex would work best for me. My only question is whether or not it's really worth $100 as an adjunct to MRP?

    That all depends on what you're looking for. I looked at the Flex, One and Zip. I ended up getting the (cheaper) Zip model. I didn't care about the sleep tracking or alarm - I think I sleep pretty well, and if it told me otherwise, I'd probably sleep worse stressing about it. :tongue: And I like waking up to music, so I don't need the silent alarm.

    I really just wanted it to track steps & approximate calories burned.

    And the Flex would give me an added tan line I don't want! So I went with the cute pink one that I can clip onto my bra. But if that's your profile picture...that probably isn't an option for you. haha!
  • Lois_1989
    Lois_1989 Posts: 6,410 Member
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    I haven't read all of the replies, so I thought I would say it anyway. I noticed you said you have only been wearing it for 3 days! Mine took about a week to settle down and learn how I walk, how long my strides are, the difference between running and walking etc. I would say read this past posts on fitbit and give it a week to settle down, take this week with a pinch of salt.

    Have fun with your fitbit! I love mine, more than anything!
  • adriana_hackney
    adriana_hackney Posts: 232 Member
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    So, I've looked at the Fitbit site and think the Flex would work best for me. My only question is whether or not it's really worth $100 as an adjunct to MRP?

    Totally worth the price. It makes matching you intake to your output so much easier. I lost mine a couple of weeks back, and it's been a complete pain in the butt.

    Not to mention that although the price is high, the customer service is stellar. I told them I lost my FB1 (entirely my own fault) and they are sending me another - free of charge. How many companies do that?

    ^^^ this ^^^ The customer service at fitbit really is the best!!!
  • spally2
    spally2 Posts: 22
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    How does the fitbit distinguish activity from sleep. Just bought one and when I set the timer when I travelled home on the bus it registered on the fitbit as sleep
  • beattie1
    beattie1 Posts: 1,012 Member
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    How does the fitbit distinguish activity from sleep. Just bought one and when I set the timer when I travelled home on the bus it registered on the fitbit as sleep

    If you press and hold down the button on the fitbit it switches into sleep mode. You can tell it's in sleep mode as the display flashes. To exit this mode you hold down the button again and the display stops blinking.

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